Re: [tlug] linux and zarus?

[Al Hoang <hoanga@example.com>]

Scott VanDusen wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Thanks for the tips so far. I downloaded the Zaurus presentation from
> the tlug server but for some reason cant get the audio to work, maybe
> I'm missing a codec or something...
>   
   I'm afraid I didn't record a copy but if you're interested in the 
presentation slides I'd be happy to forward those to you.

> On 6/29/06, Micheal E Cooper <mcooper@example.com> wrote:
> [snipped]
>
>   
> >         I don't think you have many choices, other than Zaurus.
> >         Someone fill me in.
> >         
> >     
>
> I'm planning on going for a Zaurus, but have yet to decide on the model.
> Is there a "standard"? 
>   
   Ask a bunch of gadget geeks what the standard is and I'm sure the 
reply is 'latest and greatest but not breaking my budget'  :-)
> Also haven't heard of Archos before- just had a look at their site,
> looks pretty cool. However doesn't appear to have built in keyboard.
>   
   I always thought the Archos was merely some multimedia player that 
was overpriced.  Now there's a version that runs Linux and now I have 
convince myself whether it's overpriced or not still  :-)  (Built-in 
video recording capabilities is a nice thing)


   I'm not exactly sure what you want your Zaurus to do for you but 
after goofing around with both of my zaurues (760 & 3000) for awhile 
I've got an idea of what I would get if I had enough money to buy only 
one Zaurus  with the experiences I've picked up from owning my current 
Zaurii.  I'd either target the C1000 or  >C3000.  My reasons are as 
follows...

1. USB-Host capability - Having USB Host capability opens you up to 
plugging in all the USB devices that Linux supports and getting them to 
work somehow with your Zaurus.  This rules out any of the 
5000/6000/7x0/8x0 models since they don't have USB-Host capabilities as 
far as I know.
2. Decent Flash size support.   The 760 was quite easy to test other 
Zaurus distros since it had a flash size of 128M if I recall correctly.  
Many of the alternate Zaurus distributions rely on this extra space in 
flash in order to install themselves onto the Zaurus correctly.  Which 
puts the SL-C3000 (the only model btw) out of the running.  Just for 
note, I just bought a SL-C3000 and am finding its limited flash memory 
makes it difficult if you want to just play with different Zaurus 
distros since reflashing back to the default Sharp ROM seems less trivial.
3. The microdrive...  
  o One thing that no one told me although I guess I could have guessed 
is that the microdrive on the 3000 runs hotter than the pure flash 760 
version.  It's not as hot as a Macbook but it's noticeably warmer than 
my 760.  I'm not sure if this will cause issues later or not but for now 
it seems okay but it does worry me unnecessarily
 o 4GB is very nice when it comes to dumping a few video files to watch 
on the train.  With the 760 it was always  hassle to keep enough space 
for files or other data I wanted to keep, have some music to listen to 
and a few video files to watch.
 o The 3000 feels a little bulky to me compared to the 760.  A C1000 I 
imagine will be less bulky because of no microdrive but I've not picked 
one up and compared it yet.
4. The dictionary.  For many TLUGers, learning (suffering?) Japanese is 
just part of the price for being part of TLUG so tools to help learn 
Japanese are very valuable.   The Zaurus's built-in dictionary is very 
nice and from what I've seen the 3000's dictionary looks a bit better 
than the one that came with the 760.  However, if you play with 
alternate distros you might lose the dictionary.  I imagine the 
dictionary slowly slides along the more entries and hopefully better 
than the older versions as new versions come out.

Hope that helps,
Alain