PDA for Tech Savy Students?

Kichigai Mentat asks: "When I was a student in High School, I was quite disorganized. I found that a good organizer helped me out, and eventually got myself a reliable Palm m105. As I'm about to go into college, I'm considering picking up a new machine to replace my nearly-dead PDA. However, the selection seems to be either Palm OS, which I find rather limiting in terms of what you can and cannot do on the system (I LIKE being able to organize things into sub-folders), or Window Mobile, which isn't Linux or Mac OS X friendly. What sort of third-party options are available that work with existing PIM apps, will work without Windows, and won't cost an arm and a leg?"

Comments

Re:A few things

[Mr. Slippery]

The manufacturer is Sharp, and they no longer distribute them in the US.

However, there are distributors that import them and do the English language conversion, such as conics.net.

The SL-C3xxx clamshell models with built-in harddrives rock. It's like having a laptop that was exposed to a shrink ray.

I installed KO/Pi on mine as an scheduler/organizer, and use the provided "Hancom Word" word processor to maintain my journal and do other writing. I got a WiFi card for it, and I can even hook up my cell phone via it's USB port and do a SSH session from anywhere I can get a signal.

I think their success in Japan versus the U.S. is due to the fact that in Japan, the clamshell form factor seems to be very common for electronic dictonaries, while Americans are still looking for something that looks like a Palm Pilot. It's a shame and a crime that such a wonderful piece of technology, which draws admiring stares whereever I go, isn't more widely available in the U.S.