Pocketworkstation Basics, (for the newbie) Options

[grog]

Hi all. I'm really interested in trying out PocketWorkstation and/or PocketWorkstationXQT on my C860, but can I please get a few questions answered first?

For starters, I am in the right forum (X/QT = PocketWorkstationXQT)? And what's the diff between the above two? Do the above pages have the right info to get me started, or should I go through the main pinned topic first? It seems that if I want a 'true' X desktop I'll have to go the PocketWorkstationXQT way, correct?

And what's pdaxqtrom all about? That seems to be entirely pdaxrom based, right?

And it seems either needs a 'base' install of something else. Do I have to use the official sharp rom, or can I use cacko? Can I use OZ/OPIE? And after I get comfortable with debian, do I ever have to boot back into the other for any reason? Is there any way to install just PocketWorkstation to flash?

thanks in advance

[Meanie]

Hi all. I'm really interested in trying out PocketWorkstation and/or PocketWorkstationXQT on my C860, but can I please get a few questions answered first?

For starters, I am in the right forum (X/QT = PocketWorkstationXQT)? And what's the diff between the above two? Do the above pages have the right info to get me started, or should I go through the main pinned topic first? It seems that if I want a 'true' X desktop I'll have to go the PocketWorkstationXQT way, correct?

And what's pdaxqtrom all about? That seems to be entirely pdaxrom based, right?

And it seems either needs a 'base' install of something else. Do I have to use the official sharp rom, or can I use cacko? Can I use OZ/OPIE? And after I get comfortable with debian, do I ever have to boot back into the other for any reason? Is there any way to install just PocketWorkstation to flash?

thanks in advance

PocketWorkstation is a Debian distribution, in short, Debian on the Zaurus (PocketWorkstation is not X/Qt). PocketWorkstation is almost a complete distro, except it does not come with a kernel and boot loader so you need to boot off some other distro and then load PocketWorkstation. This is usually done by either using a pivot boot (which was invented by the OZ team I think) or the conventional chroot method. Since PocketWorkstation is running X11, it needs a X server. This currently is implemented in two ways, a vnc frambuffer or X/Qt which is also a framebuffer via Qtopia (QT/E).
The PocketWorkstation originally and by default uses a vnc framebuffer. To do this, you need to exit the current GUI environment (which is Qtopia on Sharp/Cacko). By using X/Qt instead you do not need to exit Qtopia so you can access both environments at the same time.
Because PocketWorkstation runs in chroot. its essentially a separate distribution and you can update its libraries indedenpently from the parent environment.
pdaXqtrom is an extension of X/Qt. It runs natively on the Sharp/Cacko ROM and uses its libraries and adds extra ones that are needed to run many of the popular X applications. pdaXqtrom mimics pdaXrom, ie it has the same library packages and versions as well as the applications. The goal for pdaXqtrom is to allow people who need Sharp/Cacko (because there are applications that only work on these) to run X11 applications without having to switch to pdaXrom or OZ/GPE.
So both PocketWorkstation and pdaXqtrom alllow you to run X11 applications under Sharp/Cacko ROM. Which one is better? It depends. The way PocketWorkstation works is similar to say using Windows XP inside VMware under Windows 2000. Both the parent and child environment are independant in a way. You need to update both separately and each has their own file system, user accounts, network settings, etc.... but there are a lot of packages for Debian (PocketWorkstation). You will need around 512MB - 2GB for PocketWorkstation depending on how many extra applications you want to install. In most cases you don't want to install that many applications on your Zaurus anyway since it does not have that much space unlike a desktop PC where a few hundred gigabytes is not a problem at all.
On the other hand, pdaXqtrom is just a collection of extra packages added to Sharp/Cacko. All the pdaXqtrom files are available as individual packages which you can install manually or from a feed. http://www.thegrinder.ws/Meanies_XQT/pdaxqtrom/feed/
In order to simplify the installation and also to save space pdaXqtrom is also available as compressed images which you just need to mount and create symlinks to (all done for you by the pdaXqtrom installer). There are less applications available thru pdaXqtrom than PocketWorkstation. pdaXqtrom has about 40 applications only.
Of course, there is nothing stopping you from installing PocketWorkstation under pdaXqtrom so you get everything.

[stormer]

I suggest that we rename and sticky this thread as it is the most comprehensive and accessible description of the relationship between the various ROMS to date!