opie vs gpe on oz 3.5.1, need advice Options

[uberjoe]

I'm excited by the new oz release and can't wait to reflash, however I'm torn between the opie version and the gpe version. I've never used gpe but am intrigued. It looks very usable and clean, and that it is X based would be great. I've been using opie for the last year or so and am currently using the hentges 3.3.6 pre1 rom and am mostly happy with it.

I prefer to think of my z as a micro-laptop rather than a pda. I don't use pim apps at all. Mostly I browse the web with the wifi network on campus here, play games and mp3s.

I would much appreciate the input of other users as to whether I should get the opie rom or wait for the gpe.

What are you going to do?

[Cwiiis]

The main advantage of the GPE rom at the moment is that it runs on X and uses gtk2 - This allows you to run the vast majority of desktop applications without modification, which is always useful (Think Firefox and Thunderbird as your browser and e-mail client). It also looks much nicer than Opie, although that's just personal opinion.

The disadvantage of GPE is that the core applications aren't nearly as developed as the Opie ones at the moment, so their stability/features aren't that great. If the PIM functions mean a lot to you, I'd say go with Opie - Software support (at the moment at least) is also much greater on Opie. However, if you like the potential to run most Linux applications and the power that's afforded to you by running an X server and having the gtk+2 library, go with GPE.

There's also the case that out of the two images (not counting bootstrap-image of course), GPE is the only one at the moment with working media-players (gpe-nmf for audio, or totem for audio/video). opie-mediaplayer1 segfaults on startup and opie-mediaplayer2 segfaults as soon as you try to play anything - These errors will be fixed in due time of course, but for now, this is the case.

[Airwolf]

hi there, any update on when the GPE image will be available for download?

[Hrw]

users of opie-image can use xmms-embedded for audio

[Cwiiis]

hi there, any update on when the GPE image will be available for download?

Today, as soon as mickeyl wakes up and has time to upload the image/build the feed

Hrw - ah, my bad, forgot about that

[Airwolf]

thanks for the update I am looking forward to it.

Where would i get applications like Firefox and Thunderbird from?

Am i way off beam here but would these run on a 5500 with its screen resolution/ size issues?

[Cwiiis]

I very much doubt Firefox or Thunderbird would be useful on a 5500 screen, but I've not tried it so I couldn't say - I was more trying to allude to the possibilities there are when you're running in an X/gtk2 environment. They'll be available from the OZ feed, hopefully shortly after the 5500 gpe-image is uploaded.

[Elleomea]

While Firefox might be impracticle on a SL-5500, something like Minimo might be a better option, since PDAs are its intented target audiance.

Cwiiis, is the GPE image now at http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~cil103/pub/ the final version then? Or do I have to curb my enthusiasm longer?

[Cwiiis]

That is indeed the final version There's no feed for it yet though (the current feed has some outdated software) - I'm working on a few more updates while mickey is sleeping though, if he doesn't wake up fairly soon I'll upload one.

[uberjoe]

Well I think you've settled it for me. I will go with the GPE image. The ability to run x apps as well a minimo, and the ssl capability of gpe mail have sold me (ssl required by my isp for email). All this combined with the lack of a viable media player (i don't care for xmms e) on opie have sold me. Thank you all for you imput and I'll let you know how it goes

[cstrand1]

Hello all

I downloaded the image and flashed my SL-5600. I noticed, that when it was flashing the image, it never reached 100%. It came back and said "Success", etc. Now when I did format, it started to boot then a lot of messages fly by. I am not able to read what it is, but they fly by continuously.

Thanks

[Teletubbie]

Hi,
I am using opiemail3 to access my Imap account on secureport 993. I also use an ssl smtp server with that. I never tried ssl with pop3 etc., but this should also work.
Opiemail is in the feed.
I dont want to deal with your decision, but for other users it is helpful to avoid the assumption that there is no ssl mail support with the opieimage, since opiemail is one of the most powerfull mailclients on zaurus (thanks to Alwin and the other guys did great work).
Cheers,
Sam

[lardman]

I downloaded the image and flashed my SL-5600.

Assuming you grabbed the image which is called gpe-image-collie-20040921001728.rootfs.jffs2 then that would be why.

Collie = 5500 & 5000D, not 5600, nor any other machine. I presume that Cwiiis only has a 5500 to test with and that the images for the other machines will follow soon.


Si

[cstrand1]

Thanks!

It would help to read... I saw Collie and it did not register.

Thank you...

[gromituk]

OK then.. if GPE is based on X, what's the point in the pdaXrom? </naive question>