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New Zaurus Linux PDA Available In the U.S.
pdawerks writes "The Sharp Zaurus SL-6000L handheld, which runs Linux in the Trolltech's Qtopia environment, has finally made it to the U.S. at a pricepoint of $699, according to a PDALive.com article. It has a 4-inch 480 x 640 CG Silicon reflective screen that is much larger than the one in the 5x00 models, and the screen supports rotation on the fly (portrait and landscape modes). Sharp has also incorporated a sliding thumb keyboard into this model."
That is a price of a cheap laptop.
considering that none of that $699 pays for an OS
The flag just makes more sense than the constitution. - Judas Gutenberg
"Sharp has also incorporated a sliding thumb keyboard into this model."
Didnt all the 5x00 series have the same type of keyboard?
It seems lots of companies are jumping on the Linxu PDA wagon these days (Powerplay V, Softfield VR3, Zaurus, etc). This is great for those of use that use Linux, but the the main problem I see with all of these devices is that they only Sync with Windows out of the box.
Empower Tech, Softfield, Sharp, and now Royal should all be providing software to Sync with Linux (as well as Windows for the Other 95% of the population).
Why is this this so important? Well what has annoyed me the most about linux PDAs is that all the dev tools are in Linux, then you have to transfer your apps over to a Windows Partition to use there Windows transfer software load it (or use Wine).
No Linux PDA will be successful until it Syncs (and Syncs well) with Linux. Heck, some Palm PDAs are easily to sync to with Linux then the current Linux PDA offerings.
The market already has successful PDA platforms that Sync with Windows (Palm, Pocket PC, Psion). Why not finally make one that Syncs with Linux out of the box?
Somehow I doubt Royal will step up to the plate in this regard.
main(0)
im trying to decide what the real advantage of a pda that costs 700 dollars is? portability aside where it the payoff? oqo had an intersting idea in full pc power in a sub laptop size but that has seemingly become vaporware.. what is the true advantage to this device other than it being (linux)?
to see 802.11g and USB 2.0 standard jack. Or do those suck too much power?
I'm surprised that the Sharp web site doesn't list this product yet. But this page spells out a few more specs.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
My Zaurus is not a PDA but a PDT (Person Digital Tool), and anyone who says otherwise is getting a foot in their arse.
A PDA is a glorified address book that plays music and sells for 300$. My Zaurus (SL-5500) costs less than 200, runs a mobile X-11 server, allows for quick coding (802.11b CF card + ssh) when I am off campus and can't log into something heavy, plays movies, serves webpages, and runs Linux. The Zaurus is very hackable and has a high fun value attached to it. $699 is alot to spend for it, but in 6 months you can ebay one for about 300 which would be more inline.
There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's getting caught where the trouble lies.
With built-in java, linux (command line and all), all scripting languages (Ruby, Perl, Python, etc), an awesome screen, handwriting recognition, sound input/output, infrared (I think), built-in wireless, this is a great platform for vertical applications.
.. wireless audit tool.. voice navigation system .. inventory.. roaming sysadmin tool (like a laptop that fits in your pocket).
Think of the specialized stuff you could do with this
I think that's what they are pitching toward. IBM has some tools that run on it as well.
Why...
$50 premium over the top of the line iPaq (and only because it is brand-new), similar specs on mainboard, much better screen, flexibility of a REAL OS with a mulitude of opensource apps.
Bad Ass PDA = $699
Open Source Flexibility = Priceless
I dunno, what's more useful? A PDA/micro-notebook you can use to manage your entire business/life,play games, surf the web, use email, run X apps, listen to music etc for $699 or an Ipod that you listen to music on but can cost $500? Somehow everyone here seems to think its worth it for a pleasure item like an Ipod why isn't it useful for something you can do so much more with?
Like Apple users are always telling me, if you have to question the value of something based on price you weren't part of the target market to begin with.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Now that I have my zaurus up with ssh and ftp, I can drop in all sorts of linux utilities and literally pull the whole thing (as opposed to "most" of it with the windows backup utility) down to my SuSE box, change what I want and either ftp or rsync back. Or at least that's what I'm hoping to make happen once I get networking to stop horking up so consistently.
I wish they'd include more out-of-the-box support for linux, but it's not that big a deal. And with four replacement OS's for this, if you don't like what you get at first you can flash the rom with any of the alternatives.
I would rather be able to sftp and ssh into the zaurus and use CLI utilities than deal with some KDE GUI app that supposedly does file transfer. Give me those, and there's nothing I can't make happen.
Now can anyone just clue me in about getting cardservices to allow an Netgear MA701 CF card to connect to a network? Dang thing won't associate with an AP no matter what I do! I'm about ready to flash it with Gentoo or OZ or something!
No! "Synch'" is a term for not having to piss around with cli tools but instead I can just plug in my pda and it just synchs. That's how it should work.
The presence of hacking tools is just a bonus: not a substitute for synch'-ing.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
My kid spilled a full glass of water over my Zaurus 5500. I picked it up and watched water run out of the earphone jack and CF ports. Needless to say I was not exactly happy with my kid. Well, immediately took the battery out, SD card, wireless CF card (which was in there at the time), took the thing apart, dried up what I could, and let it dry for a day. Put it all back together and boom, it's run fine with no problems. I like a piece of electronics that can take that kind of abuse.
P.S. My kid lived through it.