Linux PDA Resurfaces in U.S.

An anonymous reader writes "A high-end Linux-based Sharp Zaurus PDA thought to be discontinued in the US is actually available from two sources. The SL-6000L is available from stock from 10East, a seller of vertical market systems for the railroad industry which has established a direct manufacturing relationship with Sharp Japan, it says. The Wi-Fi equipped SL-6000L is also available in single quantities from SDG Systems, which, incidentally, is porting Linux to several PDAs that normally run Windows, including the super-rugged TDS Recon."

Comments

SL5500 owner response

[dink353]

I own a Zaurus 5500 and have used a 5600, and judging from my use of these two systems, I would not recomend doing much with these PDA's if you want to add much software that does not come with it.

I was overjoyed with the prospect of linux on a PDA and got it, and the build in keypad seemed to be a great asset. Compact flash AND SD card slots made me think that this little thing was a diamond in the rough. But it went downhill. They keypad would sometimes malfunction and require a reboot to get it to work again, package finding for the zaurus is a nightmare, and don't bother trying to find a belt holster for it without getting one custom made.

They are great using for little apointment scheduling, wireless lan sniffing, network diagnosis (what I do with it) and playing the odd game of destroyer, but really, if you are thinking about the wonderful linux stability and versitility, you may have to think again.

Re:SL5500 owner response

[Pralix]

I have to agree with this. I have an SL-5000 and was happy with it at first. I then started noticing things about it that I didn't like. My biggest gripe were with applications. When I was using mine, I had most of the TKC apps to replace the stock sharp ones. The TKC apps were for the most part pretty good, but I got tired of the customer service I saw om the mailing lists by the prez of TKC. There were FOUR PDA database formats for the Zaurus. There may be more now. One of the great things about Palm is that all of the replacement database apps can work with the standard Palm database format. They will add the fields they need, but still leave it in a state that can be read by any Palm PDA app including the default app.

Another problem was you still had to configure lots of stuff by editing a text file. This is supposed to be a PDA? I went back and forth through the many ROM versions, Sharp, OZ, TKC and my own custom rolled solution. The closest one that did what I wanted was my own. I doubt many people are going to try that.

I liked how I could really hack on the Zaurus, but I really needed to have a good set of PDA apps. At that point I made the decision to go back to the PalmOS platform and buy a Zodiac2.

The Zaurus would be great as a vertical market handheld or a hacking (traditional sense) tool It just wont be right for the average user who wants to replace his day planner with an electronic device. Right now my Zaurus is in a box along with lots of accessories. I will probably put it on eBay soon.

Re:SL5500 owner response

[Heian-794]

If you can read Japanese, you might wanto check out places like Yahoo Auctions:

http://search3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/search/auc? p=SL-6000&auccat=23336 ...where, as I type this, there are two SL-6000s available for about US$600, with no bids. Don't be put off by the "will not ship internationally" bit; that's the default setting on Yahoo! Japan auctions, so some sellers don't realize it. Ask politely (in Japanese if you can) and they'll send you the goods.

Re:SL5500 owner response

[Erris]

I would not recomend doing much with these PDAs if you want to add much software that does not come with it.

I'm not sure what that means, but Open Zaurus has more software than you can shake a stick at. About three weeks ago, they released 3.5.3, the second release using Bit Bake. Even GPE works well now, though Opie is better developed.

if you are thinking about the wonderful linux stability and versitility, you may have to think again.

Some of the commercial software that comes with Zaurus may not be the best. As a Debian user, crashes are a shock. OZ, when things are working, does much better. I can say for sure that 3.5.3 is working. If your choice of three platforms, the ability to compile your own applications, multiple input and output and linux fs and mount flexibility is not good enough for you, I'd like to know what you consider better. Do you know of any other PDA you can ssh into and export X sessions?

The company offering these is obviously a solution provider. They have picked a good tool for the job.

Sure, nothing works for everone. The "average user" may not need this but that's because they don't need a PDA. The average corporate drone and my wife are happy with Palm. That and the utter uslessness of Winblows based PDAs are why PDA sales are down in the dirt. Those who lug around an eight pound laptop simply to text message, web browse, email, text edit and spreedsheet, would do well with one of these.

OpenBSD Zaurus port

[west.to.east]

also making progress

Re:applications and wireless ?

[PepsiProgrammer]

Yes, both are included by default, and the sl6000l has built in 802.11b

I love mine, bought it about a year ago for 400$ off ebay brand new.

Some links of interest

[Wabbit Wabbit]

The SDG Systems product page.

The manuals (pdf).

Re:applications and wireless ?

[PepsiProgrammer]

Opera embedded, its quite nice for mobile browsing, I rarely even have to turn on the 'mobile layout' mode. Yes you can get lynx/links/elinks for it as well though.

Parent is not informative

[Anonymous Coward]

Not true, my friend. The Zaurus PDAs are some of the most flexible PDAs out there today, with a wide variety of software, with everything from SNES emulators to FTP servers. You won't get very far with the default software, however. I recommend installing something like OPIE or Watapon for the 5600. Some of the software is very mature. I hope to see more Linux PDAs in the States. They are all about customization.

If you're looking for a start, try the OE forums. After you get a new OS image on there, you will probably be much more satisfied.

Re:applications and wireless ?

[arodland]

Opera, or Konqueror/Embedded, that I've run into. I'm still waiting for mini-firefox though ;)

Re:Once bitten

[davidkv]

OpenZaurus just released version 3.5.3. I'm running it on my SL-6000L and I'm quite happy with it. Compared to the original ROM, it's a heaven of flexibility.

How about a HD-equipped PDA?

[wikinerd]

Tiny 300-gram Qtopia Linux-based PDAs with 4GB HDD, 416MHz CPU, 65K-colour 640x480 screen, mini QWERTY keyboard, CF/SD/USB/IrDA and what-else are commonplace in Japan but you can buy them for 800 Euro in North America and Europe if you click here or here or here, and their interface is even translated in English. If you feel like installing your own Linux distribution on this PDA, click here. But you can also install OpenBSD on it, as you can see if you click here.

If you can't get it,...

[wertarbyte]

...just run linux on another PDA, e.g. an iPAQ. I'm running the Familiar Distribution (http://familiar.handhelds.org/) on my 5450, and it's great. Although I still have to decide which UI is better, GPE or Opie, since the storage space is only enough for one of them. But well, it wouldn't be Linux if you do not have a choice, I guess it's vi vs. emacs, gnome vs. kde all over again, and it all now happens inside your shirt pocket :-)

some detailed reviews

[krunk4ever]

did a search on google and found these reviews:

Sharp's Zaurus SL-6000L: A Free Software PDA
Zaurus with VGA Screen, Wi-Fi Now Available in U.S.
Sharp Zaurus SL-6000L Linux PDA
Review of Sharp Zaurus SL-6000
Sharp Zaurus SL-6000L Review

------------------------
here are all the reviews from customers on amazon.com.

pdaXrom for SL6000L

[laze-pdaxrom]

We (the http://pdaxrom.org/ team) are in final testing of the pdaXrom support for the SL6000L - everything is working 90% (only a few apm problems and configuration utils are broken).

People, it's Debian you want to run on this!

[kcurrie]

Everbodies's complaining about lack of software, etc, etc. Folks, you can run a full install of Debian on even a 5500 (which is what I have). I run firefox, thunderbird and just about any other app I want as they're all available from the Debian arm archive! I went into a big rant on /. once about it, got so much email about it I put it up on a web page. Anyway, a karma-whoring I go, see here:
http://undertow.2y.net/zaurus/

On my page you'll find cool stuff like my (unmaintained) SLapASS program (wireless app that uses kismet to sniff out networks and then associate with 'em, among other things), an ext3 driver I compiled after getting sick of long fsck's on my 1GB SD card, and I've compiled the great passive OS fingerprinting app "p0f" for the arm platforms and made it available there as well.

Anyway, enjoy crushing my web server :-)

Re:Ad for Disconinued Models or Clearance?

[dangerz]

There is plenty of support.

http://www.elsix.org/
http://www.oesf.org/

Support doesn't always have to come directly from a company.