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Linux Finds Its Way to More Handheld Devices

Posted by timothy on from the promises-promises dept.

LXrider writes "The coolest new handheld to pick Linux as its OS is the Pepper Pad. This device was one of the most exciting products to be found at this year's otherwise lackluster C3 Expo in NYC. The Pepper Pad runs MontaVista Linux on a Intel XScale PXA270 (624 MHz) processor and it used for viewing multimedia, surfing the net, and controlling your home's electronics."

9 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It may run Linux... by erroneus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Really? I guess it "sorta" does but let me clue you in a helpfule way:

    Get mplayer, the codec collection and the plugin for mozilla/firefox. You will find that you can play it back just as nicely, if not better, than in Windows. Worked like a champ for me.

    If it helps:

    I run FC4, nVidia-something-er-other proprietary drivers (RPM packages from ATRPMS.net) mplayer, mplayer plug-in (RPM packages from livna) and the codec collection (tarball from mplayer.hu). Most all of this done without any technical skills -- I just followed the directions from http://home.gagme.com/greg/linux/fc4-tips.php --here.

    Don't know how easy it is with other distros, but FC4 is a pretty easy place for me to start anyway.

  2. Re:Is it just me by `Sean · · Score: 4, Informative
    Can you install linux app packages? Is there access to a shell? It doesn't seem so.
    Yes, you can. And yes, there is. www.pepperhacks.com
    --
    PepperHacks - Hacking the Pepper Pad
  3. Re:Free (as in beer and speech) mobile distributio by `Sean · · Score: 4, Informative

    We went with MontaVista because, at the time, it was the best pre-compiled solution with RPM support that ran mostly out of the box. We're exploring other options and have used various cross-compilers to build binaries for the Pepper Pad. In theory, if another distribution will build, it will run. :)

    We're not officially working on any other distributions at the moment but we're exploring our options in our (lack of) spare time.

    --
    PepperHacks - Hacking the Pepper Pad
  4. Re:"Linux Finds Its Way to More Handheld Devices" by `Sean · · Score: 4, Informative

    OK, I guess you won't be interested to hear about the full dev environment we include on the Pepper Pad and standard crosstool cross-compiling support.

    --
    PepperHacks - Hacking the Pepper Pad
  5. Re:Where's The Niche? by arodland · · Score: 2, Informative

    What Zaurus? I haven't met a Z yet that wasn't able to run OpenZaurus, which nowadays gives you the choice of Opie (Qtopia but free), GPE (a GTK+ handheld environment), or TinyX. The only major caveat is that if you're running on a 5000D/5500, and I think maybe the 6000, then you're screwed for SD/MMC support.

  6. Patent pending? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    From their technology page: "The Pepper Platform includes Pepper's own patent-pending Application Framework for plug-in application programs..." Software patents are not cool.

  7. Re:Over priced, Under powered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    I work for Pepper.
    1. Wait a few months, you'll get 2.6. FWIW Montavista has backported most of the exciting stuff from 2.6 to the 2.4 kernel we use, so we're not missing out on all that much.
    2. 1024x768 on an 8" screen gets a bit small, and the LCDs are hard to find.
    3. It has video out, read the spec sheet. DVD playback is best accomplished by copying the DVD to the Pad. Perhaps someday there will be a better solution.
    4. We're working on it
    5. The XScale only supports USB 1, so adding USB 2 requires more chips = more space, more power, more cost. Stay tuned.
    6. Firewire may not be the best high-speed bus to add. We'll see.
    7. Read the spec sheet, it has bluetooth. Works, even!

    Who's going to provide support for Knoppix? You? We're a step ahead of you in that department, we already have a Linux that works, we control what packages are included, and we've locked down the UI for normal users so they don't know it's Linux underneath. Hackers can get underneath just fine if they really want, we like them.

    DVD drives take up space, cost money, and use a godawful amount of power. It's a *good* thing we didn't include one, trust me.

  8. Re:Where's The Niche? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I'm planning to buy one of these because a) I plan to use it as an e-book system, and b) I hope to get a developer's kit and write a couple programs that would be nice to have in a machine with this form factor. This mainly depends on good Linux development support from the manufacturer, but given that they're running Linux on it already that seems like a reasonable thing to expect.

    I'm guessing that this thing will only be as successful as the after-market software environment; if they make it easy to add programs the community writes, there will *be* a community. If they keep it as closed as a miser's wallet then relatively few people will bother.

    My number of one wish would have to be a good e-book reading program that supported the Open eBook standard...

  9. Re:Free (as in beer and speech) mobile distributio by hacker · · Score: 2, Informative
    "I do know that OpenBSD runs on the PalmOne Treo 600"

    I call bullshit. Show me a citation with working links to back up your assertion here please.

    The Treo 600 works WITH NetBSD, just like it works with Linux, FreeBSD, and OSX... but the Treo 600 does not RUN NetBSD... and nobody that I know of has ported it over to do so. I would know, I manage this little project, and I'd be one of the first to find this out.