So Which Rom Should I Use For 3200? Options

[RLamb]

Hi all,

Have been reading this forum heavily since I have got my Zaurus a month or so ago and finally figured out how to get validated today (thanks again admin for the fast response!) so heres my first post

So university is almost finished, and I'm looking forward to getting properly into using the Z now my work/revision will be done. Anyways I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the ROMs available; I have read lots of posts on this forum and gone to the ROM sites but still don't know which ROM to install and what will suit me best.

I would really appreciate if anyone could give me a quick rundown or summary of what each ROM is in a nutshell, what it is good/bad for, and ideally peoples experiences with them as well?

To put my needs into context I am starting a web development company with my friend after university so reliability is important, as is the ability to sync data between machines and ideally use a fully fledged browser like firefox if possible. I'm not very linux savvy but I have been using Fedora a bit in university, and have ubuntu feisty fawn as my primary OS now but I'm still right at the beginning of my linux adventure. The linux side of the Zaurus was partly why I bought it though so I am willing to learn!

Sorry for the length of the post but I really would appreciate any and all suggestions for how I can make the most out of my Zaurus with a new ROM. The default is OK but I don't like the contact manager issues with English alphabet, as well as the missing text in some menus/configuration that should be in Japanese it gets very confusing. Also just excited about trying something new!

Thanks in advance to any and all who contribute.

Richard.

[speculatrix]

here's my "devil's dictionary" guide to ROM distros

Sharp ROM - for those who are too scared to flash
Cacko - for those too scared to flash more than once
pdaXrom - for people who love flashing as often as possible
OZ - for people who love flashing, don't like documentation, don't mind being beta testers, and don't want a web browser
Angstrom - for people who love flashing, don't want ANY documentation, love being alpha testers, and don't need any particular software at all

[HoloVector]

here's my "devil's dictionary" guide to ROM distros

Sharp ROM - for those who are too scared to flash
Cacko - for those too scared to flash more than once
pdaXrom - for people who love flashing as often as possible
OZ  - for people who love flashing, don't like documentation, don't mind being beta testers, and don't want a web browser
OZ  - for people who love flashing, don't want ANY documentation, love being alpha testers, and don't need any particular software at all

Nice. Ya finally had the nerve to post it. Good for you.

Is OZ 1 supposed to be OZ Opie and OZ 2 supposed to be OZ GPE or Angstrom? OZ 2 sounds a alot like Angstrom to me.

You forgot BSD:

BSD - for people who like to use Linux as a bootloader and don't trust other peoples packages.

[speculatrix]

here's my "devil's dictionary" guide to ROM distros

Nice. Ya finally had the nerve to post it. Good for you.

actually, this was a bit toned down!

Is OZ 1 supposed to be OZ Opie and OZ 2 supposed to be OZ GPE or Angstrom?  OZ 2 sounds a alot like Angstrom to me. 

oops, yes, it was done a bit hastily.

You forgot BSD:
BSD - for people who like to use Linux as a bootloader and don't trust other peoples packages. 

[RLamb]

OK thanks I'l be sure to check and double check that the download isn't corrupt. I saw there was a checksum.txt file on the pdaX3ii site do I just need to use that or is there other things I should be doing to?

Sorry about the endless stream of questions I just want to be very sure before I do this for the first time

[HoloVector]

OK thanks I'l be sure to check and double check that the download isn't corrupt. I saw there was a checksum.txt file on the pdaX3ii site do I just need to use that or is there other things I should be doing to?

Sorry about the endless stream of questions I just want to be very sure before I do this for the first time 

Yes, make use of the checksum.txt.

Please note that before Meanie provided these checksums I flashed my 3200 with an incomplete initrd.bin and another time I flashed my 3200 with an incomplete hdimage.tgz. In neither of these cases did it ruin my Z.

The clamshell Zaurii are quite resilient to screwups and nearly unbrickable. Heck, Sharp even burned a backup copy of the Diagnostic Menu on the ROM so, you can recover from some very nasty screwups.