New User Guide

From OESF

Revision as of 18:09, 21 April 2006

Hardware

Operating System

Most likely, you purchased a Japanese model, and you will want to convert into another language, usually English. The Sharp ROM can easily be converted to English.

Another popular option is to replace the Sharp Rom with "Cacko". Cacko is based on the Sharp rom, but features:

• 100% English
• Updated versions of the default Apps
• More device drivers
• Compressed filesystem, freeing up more space on the internal flash for your own needs

There are other OS options, like pdaXrom and OpenZaurus, these are more like full linux distributions rather than PDA-like distributions.

QTopia Environment

The operating environment for the Zaurus is QTopia from TrollTech. This is based on the QT library (Which the Linux desktop environment KDE is also based).

It's important to note that QTopia is not based on XWindows (X11), unlike most Linux desktop environments. Some of the ported applications do depend on X, and will not run in plain QTopia. X is available to be installed on QTopia.

Qtopia can run in either portrait (PDA-style) or landscape (desktop-style) modes

Navigating in QTopia

The QTopia desktop (palmtop) is a familiar environment. Applications are represented by icons, and there is a bar across the bottom of the screen with a QT menu button in the bottom left corner, and a system-tray thing on the right. A button to the right of the QT button allows you to bring up an on-screen keyboard or handwriting area on screen.

However, there are some key differences between QTopia and the typical desktop environment:

• Only one window can be displayed at a time, and there's no minimize-like functionality
• There's no obvious way to right (or middle) click

Suspend / Resume

Booting a Zaurus takes several minutes, not convenient for an on-the-go device. Fortunatly it can be instantly suspended or resumed. To suspend, simply select the menu option. On the clamshell models, closing the shell puts it into suspend mode (unless there's a frozen app that doesn't suspend properly, see the section on app recovery)

Software

Once you have your Zaurus, you will want to install various applications on it. Zaurus software can be found in various places. Good places to start are the ELSI Index and the OESF forums.

IPKG

IPKG is the Zaurus Package manager format. Many software packages are distributed in this format. It's similar to RPM on desktop Linux, except that it doesn't warn about dependancies when installing.

Feeds

Feeds are places on the internet where a net-connected Zaurus can automatically install packages from .

Dependancies

Many packages require other packages to be installed to run. These are often libraries. Make sure you install all the needed dependancies before running your software.

SDL

SDL is "Simple Directmedia Layer", it's a library that many Zaurus packages, especially Games and Emulators, depend on. There are quite a few SDL ipkgs floating around. But some are more optimized for the Zaurus than others. Some will barely work at all. The best SDL packages to use are:

• (TODO: Add links to known good SDL ipkgs)