Dell Axim X50 Running Linux

Venture37 writes "the guys at handhelds.org have managed to boot the linux kernel on a Dell Axim X50 handheld, the project is at alpha stages, you can grab a copy of the files from handhelds.org or fisherss.com."

Comments

Re:to boldly go...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.freeos.com/articles/3800/

Re:to boldly go...

[bobinabottle]

Well it would seem it is the next logical step for this group if they haven't already. Their mission statement of TFA is as follows:

What is handhelds.org? Our goal is to encourage and facilitate the creation of open source software for use on handheld and wearable computers. We welcome participation and sponsorship by individuals, groups and companies seeking to further this goal. (About handhelds.org)

By wearable computers this would naturally cover a wristwatch with an IC inside it.

Windows Mobile 2003 SE is Great - So why?

[Deviant]

I have a Dell Axim X30 and I could not be more impressed with MS's latest PDA OS offerings. The unit is cheap, light, fast, stable and with pretty respectable battery life. It has loads of impressive software availible for it. I had a Palm based PDA/Cellphone hybrid for two years and had gotten used to Grafiti - the Transcriber handwriting recognition that lets you just write whole sentances on the screen simply amazing and on an entirely different level. On top of normal note taking and scheduling I can view/edit word documents and excel spreadsheets. I can surf the web including secure online banking sites and check my email with a 802.11b wireless VPN connection. I can watch videos and play music. I can take over PCs using RDC or vnc and connect to them with ssh and ftp. I can read books and manuals in either the Adobe or MS e-book formats. I have never had a problem with any of these things - a testament to how well it has stood up to my extensive use.

From what I gather from the site Linux is nowhere near there on most, if not all, of these points. For your average user Linux might be there on the desktop, and it is my desktop OS, but it certainly is nowhere near there on the PDA. I enjoy tinkering with my PC OS but when it comes to my PDA it has to just work and it is for getting serious work done quickly. It is the device I turn to when all else fails to get the job done. This is one Linux user that is not going to be running Linux on his PDA. I think it is many years away from being close to functional in the way that I need it to be and the way MS's product is today. I give credit where it is due and MS is due it for their Windows Mobile OS.

Re:Windows Mobile 2003 SE is Great - So why?

[Mr. Hankey]

You have a point about Linux for typical PDA use. I've used Linux on PDAs in several incarnations but I'm still most productive with my PalmOS-based Sony Clie. It does everything I want, is easy to use and has been very stable. On the other hand, I think it's great that there is further development with Linux on mobile devices such as this.

Although most people may not know this, the port of Linux to the iPaq brought forth several nice embedded systems and even commercial products. Fluke for example created a Linux-based wireless network scanner using an iPaq. We use one at work, it's much lighter than a laptop and works with much less configuration. Odds are the device would have been slower to market and probably have had fewer features if the Linux port to iPaq handhelds had not existed.

This story may not be interesting for everyone here, but to state that a Linux port to the PDA is irrelevent would be short sighted at best. There are many possibilities for a device which can be hacked up and turned into new products, and that's what excites me to see stories like this.

Re:Windows Mobile 2003 SE is Great - So why?

[Karakth]

The Axim X50v has some extremely nice specs which are, unfortunately, completely unused by Windows Mobile 2003 SE. Things like the graphics card, the 600Mhz acceleration, the VGA graphics...All completely wasted under Windows.

Re:Windows Mobile 2003 SE is Great - So why?

[Felinoid]

My mother uses a Zaurus in tandum with her PalmOs PDA.
She dosen't use a desktop.

She started using a Palm 7 with the intent of using a wireless PDA exclusively for her Internet access.
She's upgraded a few times.

Her next planned upgrade is to a PalmOne Treo 650. This PDA/Phone can be used as a wireless modem for a computer. The Zaurus can be that computer.

The plan is to set up so mom can use her Zaurus when her Treo isn't powerful enough.

Step two is to build a camra that supports bluetooth. The Linux PDA will act as a server pulling video in and spitting it back out as a video feed.

Re:to boldly go...

[nofx_3]

your # makes me think it could also make a decent voip phone. Can it run skype (IIRC skype requires a full xserver and qt3)?

-kaplanfx

As an X30, X30H and iPaq (HP) owner

[tod_miller]

I am very keen to remove my reliance on the poor (yet just usable) tools. The RAPI, the cecopy etc was a bitch to get a real development cycle going, using Java (superwaba.com.br).

As a veteran of 3 wireless applications that link to a remote interface I have seen a great deal of potential in the handheld paradigm, there was a slashdot link about a many to many pradigm in computing screens, where angles dictate what you saw, well my idea if different handhelds have differnet views on a computer system, like thin clients.

Right now the ipaq is an up and coming bluetooth tv remote control, which shows the tv guide on the ipaq, and allows you to email using the qwerty keyboard, or web surf (built in apps).

Right now it is a bad set of programs, and hacks, with linux opening up the system, I can make customised system designed for this.

Imagine, watching seinfeld on xvid through your RF link to you 42" screen, from your PC, but then watching satellite channels on yoru handheld, while you check for latest news on an earthquake, and then at a push of a button send the image you are seeing to the tv screen.

Yes, it is already here, but not working nicely.

Wray for linux!

H1940 also on this list

[RedPhoenix]

The IPAQ H1940/H1930 has also had some recent progress - Opie/GPE can now be booted via an NFS-mouted root, or from a ext2 loopback filesystem, mounted on a FAT16 SD card. Still a little work to be done, to replace the flash with a boot image though.

H1940/30's are pretty cheap 2nd hand these days, and would make a reasonable linux handheld.

Red.

Re:to boldly go...

[RedPhoenix]

For some selected applications, sure.
For the average user? Probably not.

A couple of possibilities:
* Getting openvpn to run, so that you can connect back to a linux gateway, whilst on the road.
* Being able to share contact/appointment data between evolution and the handheld (multisync/synce is a bit touchy at the moment).
* Being able to install applications without needing a windows box hanging around.
* Wireless LAN sniffing for security evaluations (kismet, etc).
* Coding on the road (if you're VERY desperate...)
* Having control over your data, not having it stored in some wierd proprietary format, and potentially being able to import the stuff back into your linux box.
* Custom applications (warehouse floor, inventory control, etc.) may be easier to code in some cases.

Red.

Re:to boldly go...

[vhogemann]

Once the port gets done you'll be able to use Opie or GPE with it.

Opie is the OpenSource fork of Qtopia, the same interface that powers the Sharp Zaurus. It's quite usable, and I installed it on my iPaq 3970 without any problems. As a matter of fact, handwriting recgnition is better than WindowsCE one.

Check those screenshots http://opie.handhelds.org/gallery/

GPE is a GTK+2 based enviroment for handhelds, is a little bit cruder than Opie, but it uses a X server instead of the frame buffer, so it's easier to port software to it. There's already stuff like SNES9x, Quake and Doom running on it!

Again, some screenshots http://handhelds.org/~gpe/gallery/

Also, one may guess that Nokia's Maemo could get ported to it.

So, there's lot of usefull things to do with it once the port is stable.