Agreed - I just sold mine on eBay. It rated highly on the hackability scale, but pretty low on the usability scale.
For one thing, trying to install one of the open-source linux distros on it was like trying to install linux on a PC circa 1998 - ultimately frustrating.
Basic installation was easy, but after that you had to tweak, and tweak, and tweak. Neither of the two main distros (GPE and OPIE) come with a web browser in the default installation, so you must install them separately. OPIE had a version of konquerer that I couldn't install for about 2 weeks as the package dependencies couldn't be found in the openzaurus package repository. Proceed to google groups and start searching for threads to solve the issue. Once konquerer was installed, it sucked. It would crash constantly, to the point of being unusable.
So, want to try GPE? Well, until the latest release a few months ago, suspend/resume didn't work right on the Zaurus, which basically made it unusable.
Want to sync the Zaurus with a PC? You can tweak a bunch of config files and settings to try to get multisync working if you're running GPE, and even then syncronization is spotty. Running OPIE? You could sync fine, if you wanted to use the somewhat outdated Qtopia Desktop as your PIM software on the desktop.
Did you remember to install a hack that puts your root filesystem onto removable memory, like an SD card? No? Whoops - you're out of internal memory space! Start again!
The Zaurus probably would have given a much better experience if I'd had some idea of the state of Linux on the Zaurus - I had expected it to behave a lot like a modern linux distro on a PC. As it is, the learning curve for establishing even basic functionality (like getting a working web browser and some kind of sync solution up and running) was so steep that a month after I got it, I was still trying to work out the kinks.
Well, it was fun to play with if you like to tinker, anyway.
They sell their book as either a PDF or a physical book, the PDF being cheaper. You can buy the beta PDF and when the book is released you'll get the final PDF. Or, a little more money, you can buy the PDF and get the physical book when it comes out.
Considering the normal cost of technical books, I think it's a sweet deal. These are not small books.
who's going to be the first with the scorched-earth policy of disabling CD-rom use?
Given that all these utilities are freely downloadable off the internet and so anyone with a cd burner and 10 spare minutes could make their own cd of "ssh and other linux hacking utilities", I'm guessing... nobody?
Do you really consider things like ssh "linux hacking utilities", or were you just trolling?
These are not unskilled workers looking to take whatever work they can to feed their family. I assume to get a programming job at EA you at least have to have a college degree in Computer Science or something similar. These kids are not huddled outside the building in the rain hoping the foreman will come out and pick a few of them up so they can buy their kids some soup to eat.
I don't agree with EA's position, but I have seen the "coal miner" argument used in this debate too much. The situations are not analogous.
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Agreed - I just sold mine on eBay. It rated highly on the hackability scale, but pretty low on the usability scale.
For one thing, trying to install one of the open-source linux distros on it was like trying to install linux on a PC circa 1998 - ultimately frustrating.
Basic installation was easy, but after that you had to tweak, and tweak, and tweak. Neither of the two main distros (GPE and OPIE) come with a web browser in the default installation, so you must install them separately. OPIE had a version of konquerer that I couldn't install for about 2 weeks as the package dependencies couldn't be found in the openzaurus package repository. Proceed to google groups and start searching for threads to solve the issue. Once konquerer was installed, it sucked. It would crash constantly, to the point of being unusable.
So, want to try GPE? Well, until the latest release a few months ago, suspend/resume didn't work right on the Zaurus, which basically made it unusable.
Want to sync the Zaurus with a PC? You can tweak a bunch of config files and settings to try to get multisync working if you're running GPE, and even then syncronization is spotty. Running OPIE? You could sync fine, if you wanted to use the somewhat outdated Qtopia Desktop as your PIM software on the desktop.
Did you remember to install a hack that puts your root filesystem onto removable memory, like an SD card? No? Whoops - you're out of internal memory space! Start again!
The Zaurus probably would have given a much better experience if I'd had some idea of the state of Linux on the Zaurus - I had expected it to behave a lot like a modern linux distro on a PC. As it is, the learning curve for establishing even basic functionality (like getting a working web browser and some kind of sync solution up and running) was so steep that a month after I got it, I was still trying to work out the kinks.
Well, it was fun to play with if you like to tinker, anyway.
They sell their book as either a PDF or a physical book, the PDF being cheaper. You can buy the beta PDF and when the book is released you'll get the final PDF. Or, a little more money, you can buy the PDF and get the physical book when it comes out.
Considering the normal cost of technical books, I think it's a sweet deal. These are not small books.
Yes. This is commonly called a "playlist".
to comment on one of the most unintentionally funny/"don't editors look at these things before posting" moments on ./ I've seen in a while.
Bravo.
Given that all these utilities are freely downloadable off the internet and so anyone with a cd burner and 10 spare minutes could make their own cd of "ssh and other linux hacking utilities", I'm guessing... nobody?
Do you really consider things like ssh "linux hacking utilities", or were you just trolling?
Your analogy is flawed.
These are not unskilled workers looking to take whatever work they can to feed their family. I assume to get a programming job at EA you at least have to have a college degree in Computer Science or something similar. These kids are not huddled outside the building in the rain hoping the foreman will come out and pick a few of them up so they can buy their kids some soup to eat.
I don't agree with EA's position, but I have seen the "coal miner" argument used in this debate too much. The situations are not analogous.