We sent an SL-C3100 to What Laptop magazine for a review - just been published. The review was very positive - the hardware (particularly the screen) and the software (particularly the fact it ws linux) getting plus points. Downsides of price and lack of built in networking were pointed out. Overall the device got a 7 which translates to "an extremely good machine" by their terms.

Hopefully this will help increase awareness of these cool devices! We'll post a link to it on our site in a month's time - when the magazine is off the shelves.

Rob

Excellent stuff Rob - although don't spread the word too much, the exclusivity is some of the appeal

BTW, did you ever make your mechanism of converting the Addressbook to full English public, or is it only available as your "full English" pack?

I notice that on your site you list the Zaurus as having USB 2.0. Unfortunately it does not.

Hi iCruise,

A quick look at /proc/bus/usb/devices which you plug the Z into a PC or laptop confirms that the Zaurus does have USB 2.0:
T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 11 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=02(comm.) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=16 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=04dd ProdID=9031 Rev= 0.00
S: Manufacturer=Sharp
S: Product=SL-C3000

Confusion normally arises from the point that the Zaurus is USB 2.0 as a client and USB 1.1 as a host.

Cheers

As you can see from the speed line though, it is only operating at USB Full Speed not USB High Speed:
T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 11 Spd=12 MxCh= 0

So it's 2.0 but running at 1.1 speed!

Edit: Your last post came in while I was writing this one. If it is running at USB 1.1 speeds, then for all intents and purposes, it is USB 1.1. In any case, it seems a little misleading to claim that it'll make file transfers faster.
___________________________

The FAQ on Sharp's own web site says that it is USB 1.1 (link in Japanese).

Translation:

Q: Is (the Zaurus 3100) compatible with USB 2.0?
A: No it isn't. The SL-C3100 supports USB 1.1.

And I certainly haven't noticed USB 2.0 speeds when copying files over a USB connection to my desktop. Are you sure you're not mistaken?

Yes fair point I agree - I'll review the text on the site. Seems to be down right now though


Well, Sharp may have been talking about host, or just being clear that the speed is the same as 1.1. Unless there is a bug in the Linux usb subsystem though I'm pretty sure it's 2.0.

The usb kernel module can decide what to report itself as. Ideally you'd want to see what the chipset is capable of (are there differences between USB 1.1 & 2.0 other than the speed?) and then ensure that the driver is reporting the correct info.


Si

Actually, the very next entry in the FAQ says that there "is no USB host function" on the 3100, so they weren't referring to that. Of course, we all know that it does in fact have USB host, so you can't take what they say for gospel. (They even say that the 3100 can't be used to access the Internet outside of Japan!) Basically, they like to be very conservative about the claims they make, so they don't have to officially support things like USB host.

But in this case, I don't think there is any functional difference between USB 2.0 with USB 1.1 speeds and being "only compatible with USB 1.1". Maybe the Zaurus can't support higher speed transfers, but they used a USB 2 chip for some other reason (like it being cheaper, smaller, or using less power).

The usb-on-the-go FAQ here suggests that an on-the-go device must be 100% USB2.0 compatible.
http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans6/

So the Z must be 2.0 compatible if it claims to be On-The-Go. It has an On-The-Go port, but no logo or mention of it in the manual etc. The USB.org site doesn't provide any high level information to suggest any practical difference between USB1.1 and USB2.0 other than speed.

Site is back up now - can you point out where we're claiming this, I couldn't find it! Ta.

How about the English addressbook, Rob? Is that available from your site to download, or only as part of the Full English? (Sorry to push the point)

Sorry chiark - distracted by the USB discussion! No, you can't download the addressbook improvements from our site at the moment - some of the improvements we make are publically available already, some were found by trawling the web and experimenting, some were software development projects we undertook at our own expense. I'm sure you appreciate we need to try and recoup the cost of these before giving it all away for free.
Cheers

Well, the very fact that you list it as having USB 2.0 is going to make people think that it transfers at USB 2.0 speeds. But also on the main page you say "And, since the Zaurus' HDD is recognized by Windows as a plug-n-play device, moving data by the USB 2.0 connection is fast and easy." I think "fast" is a pretty optimistic evaluation. I'm not trying to be a pain or anything, but I could see a customer getting upset that it doesn't transfer as fast "USB 2.0" would imply.

Hi Rob, thanks for the reply. Sure, I appreciate that you've got to recoup the cost of development that you've put into this, but if you could release the modification at a lesser cost then I, for one, and possibly the rest of the community would appreciate it

USB 2.0 support does not predicate that it supports "hi-speed", as I understand it...

Who said that computer geeks were pedantic, bordering on the retentive, eh?

Yes. It would appear that even old USB 1.1 devices can claim to be USB 2.0 compliant (I presume there are some minor differences between the 1.1 and 2.0 requirements).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Version_history

This is a bit of a shame, as now one has to look for an explicit speed, or the difficult to remember named speed descriptions, (rather than just the 2.0 or 1.1 (or 1.0!)


Si