Full X11-Based Distro For PDAs

omin0us writes "over at http://cacko.zaurususergroup.com, we are working on a Full X11 based Linux distro for the Sharp Zaurus SL-c7x0/860 series of PDAs. The screen has a usable full VGA resolution of 640x480 and the distro uses Openbox/ROX Desktop as its Native WM. But others such as Fluxbox, Afterstep, and XFCE have been compiled for it and run nicely. You will also find a WIDE variety of compiled apps in the Feed on the Cacko website such as a native GCC Compiler, XMMS, Mplayer, prboom, Gimp, Gkrellm, Abiword and numerous others. Many different screenshots of it in action may be found here. This is truly bringing desktop linux to the PDA. Also, another project that has branched from Cacko Linux is Gentoo for Zaurus. This project, at the moment is based on the Cacko X11 environment, but will eventually become a full Gentoo environment. "It can emerge packages, sync, or create Gentoo packages using the -B switch in emerge." This should be an interesting project to watch."

Comments

Interesting project to watch?

[ObviousGuy]

Yeah, watching Gentoo emerge packages on a crappy PXA250 is a whole lot of fun, I'm sure.

Is the Linux desktop really the right metaphor for a palmtop device? Apple knew a desktop was wrong, Microsoft finally figured it out with PPC2002.

When will the good folks working on these Linux ports figure it out?

Re:Interesting project to watch?

[MS_is_the_best]

Actually, with a keyboard, as this device has, a terminal with all powerful command line tools (bash, ssh, text editor, IS very usable. Ok, being able to use multiple windows (which don't fit together on 640x480) is not very useful, but the mentioned window managers can do a lot more which can be useful to the geek and on a pda (tabs, proper keybindings etc. etc.)

Re:Interesting project to watch?

[yerM)M]

X11 is not the desktop. X11 provides the layer on which the desktop can run. I can prototype my own desktop on my linux box, reconfiguring FVWM or windowmaker to match the PDA metaphor and then run it on the PDA.

Hell, having a remote PDA desktop is a killer app. Forgot your contact information? No problem, just page your pda to get it out of sleep mode, and then ssh a new xclient to it.

Integrated WiFi

[AsnFkr]

If it had WiFi built in I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I know I can add it, but at the cost of one memory slot. Thats a heafty price to pay. Very cool stuff though.

What packaging system?

[Debian Troll's Best]

There is a very important point which is glossed over in the article...what type of packaging system will be used in the Zaurus X11 distro? Yes I know that it's based on Gentoo and you can emerge software, but it's not a true package management system, like, say, apt-get.

emerge apt-get!

Re:heh

[acidtripp101]

I'm sorry, but I swear that if I see another one of these 'Their server must be running on *Insert device in article here*' trolls, I'm going to shoot somebody.

It's not funny, nobody cares.

Re:Why not KDE?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because some people don't like KDE, which is their right, and you won't force them to port it if they don't want to.

Besides, you've got all sorts of KDE apps (Konqueror and all) that already run beautifully on Opie, so why would it be bad that people help non-KDE apps catch-up?

That's one giant leap backwards...

[dublin]

X is all wrong for devices like this. Qtopia, on the other hand, which is what Sharp was smart enoug to put in them to start with, is a very good fit. This is simply a hacking tour-de-force. Sure, you can do it, and run X on an X-scale PDA, but it's *stupid* to do so. Especially since Qtopia lets you port Qt applications with minimal fuss. I suppose this gives the rabid QT haters somethign to do with their spare time, though, so it's not all bad...

They still don't get it

[Feint]

The point of a PDA is a digital assistant. By porting X/gcc/etc to it, you get a nice demonstration of C/C++ portability, but you also end up with (another) underpowered desktop.

The reason for PDAs is not to shrink the desktop to fit in your pocket. They exist to provide pinpoint functionality at your fingertips without having to boot ro lug around your laptop/desktop.

If the same amount of manhours was put into getting a real PDA environment on top of linux (ie. syncs with outlook, has a taskpad, reads word docs etc) instead of repeated ports of X/perl/gcc/emacs to a handheld, the linux would already dominate the handheld market...
if you want something starting to get close, look at opie.handhelds.org... They aren't there yet but at least its not another "port the kitchen sink to handheld xyz" project.

Slash gets it backwards, as usual

[Bitmanhome]

This is truly bringing desktop linux to the PDA.

That's not a PDA, that's a micro-laptop. It has a processor, lots of RAM, a display, and a keyboard. Granted, we surpassed those specs 5-10 years ago, but it really is a laptop. So it's natural a full Linux distro would work, as would DOS and Windows.