New Zaurus Announced: Sl-c1000

[ev1l]

It looks like Sharp wants a cheaper alternative to the 3000, which makes sense given that the C-860 has been dicontinued.

Sharp product page
The all important specs
(it seems a but thinner than the SL-C3000. It has the same specs as the C860, but a larger ROM: 128MB vs 64MB, and  will probably have USB host capability).

Rebski found more links:

http://ezaurus.com/
http://ezaurus.com/lineup/sl/index.html#slc1000
http://ezaurus.com/lineup/sl/slc1000/index.html
http://ezaurus.com/lineup/sl/slc1000/01.html
http://ezaurus.com/lineup/sl/slc1000/02.html
http://ezaurus.com/lineup/sl/slc1000/03.html

What I can say regarding ROM supprot is that the new Cacko ROM is more likely to appear for the C1000 than C3000 simply because: I like C1000 more (it's black! , it's cheeper, I already have a microdrive and it has layout similar to current Zaurus models, which means easier transition.
www.oesf.org/index.php?act=findpost&pid=70191

Let me know if I've missed anything.

To me it looks like an incremetal upgrade to my C-860. Apart from the cool new color and a whole 16mhz improvement to the CPU, I don't see the point in upgrading (I don't know what the IPC's look like for the PXA270 compared to the 255, though)

What do you all think?

[zaurusaurus]

is it smaller than C3000?
if it is, I really want one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[adrian]

I'm curious if USB Host will be supported...

[zaurusaurus]

oops sorry

[ev1l]

Seriously, my coworkers in my office have seen my C750 and wow-wow-ed it like anything and then they go and buy a Palm, cause they cant seem to look beyond being spoon-fed with ready tailor made commonality, and of course won't buy from Japan, since theres no support (though I dont ever know what kind of support they get on their Palms apart from when they break their Palm's).

The palms are more *useful* to them, because they are much more newbie-friendly, and they integrate better (ever tried a Treo?). Their default PIM apps are better IMHO (although KDEPIM has them beat in features, it lacks integration), and so is the handwriting recognition.

[loopy29]

Does does make me fear for any slc-3000 custom harddrive based roms (apart from openBSD and debian)

[uczmeg]

Does does make me fear for any slc-3000 custom harddrive based roms (apart from openBSD and debian)

I'm not sure you should worry.

It looks like the 3000 and 1000 are essentially the same machine, the 1000 just doesn't have a hard drive, so it should be little work to make ROMS work on both.

It is nothing like the 860/3000 scenario that we currently have.

Cheers
Marc

[maslovsky]

Chill out guys, there will be a Cacko ROM for C3000 anyway, but simply after the one for C1000. In fact with the new model released, the new ROM is even closer because it's much more likely that I'll buy it. The main reason is that C3000's price was beyond the limit I could allow myself to spend on a toy (we all agree that Zaurus are toys for big boys, don't we . C1000 price is much more resonable, considering that I already have 4Gb microdrive. And have I mentioned that it's black?

Whenever a Cacko Rom for C1000 is out it will only be a matter of little efforts to port it to C3000. And I won't have to buy one, I should be able to just loan it for some time.

[DaveAnderson]

Looks good to me; microdrive never attracted me.  I don't want a hard drive in my PDA.  I just assume buy a bunch of SD cards, really.  I want bigger memory, not a hd.  But even so, this still isn't enough reason for me to change from the C860.  C'mon, Sharp, give us something more.  I don't even care about bigger screen, but I do want a faster cpu.

[speculatrix]

I'm not convinced it's an upgrade for the 860 in any particular way except for USB host capability.
I would suspect that it's a 3000 with the microdrive replaced with a compact flash memory card of some sort.

As I understand it, the 3000 has a small flash boot loader (like the older Z's) and relies on the microdrive to store the OS and all the applications, rather than being flash-based like the 700/750/760. Take out the microdrive and you're left with half a brick.

So, in this case, yes, you might find an internal CF slot in the SL-C1000, *but* it might already be filled with a memory card. If you can find a CF memory card + bluetooth combo, *then* we've got a winner.

If not, the 860 is the better device for the moment on the strength of its hardware is well understood, whereas the new PXA cpu and support circuitry is still being "discovered" and so Cacko isn't here yet.

Of course, I might be wrong... it's been known to happen :-)

[iamasmith]

I'm not convinced it's an upgrade for the 860 in any particular way except for USB host capability.
I would suspect that it's a 3000 with the microdrive replaced with a compact flash memory card of some sort.

As I understand it, the 3000 has a small flash boot loader (like the older Z's) and relies on the microdrive to store the OS and all the applications, rather than being flash-based like the 700/750/760. Take out the microdrive and you're left with half a brick.

So, in this case, yes, you might find an internal CF slot in the SL-C1000, *but* it might already be filled with a memory card. If you can find a CF memory card + bluetooth combo, *then* we've got a winner.

If not, the 860 is the better device for the moment on the strength of its hardware is well understood, whereas the new PXA cpu and support circuitry is still being "discovered" and so Cacko isn't here yet.

Of course, I might be wrong... it's been known to happen :-)

I doubt it, it would be much cheaper for Sharp to fit 128Mb of NAND flash to the mobo and save on the CF connectors + also it would stop after sales market from retro fitting the HDD which I'm sure Sharp wouldn't want. If they used a CF card then they would still need some NAND flash for the initrd/zimage so you would probably see it specced as 192Mb storagre (or maybe not).... anyway I have feeling it's going to be traditional NAND type flash...

..actually one more thing. Don't hold out too much hope of (even if there is a connector) fitting your BT/WLAN card inside.

Even if you can find one that fits the form factor and doesn't have the large protrusions that most of them have then you will have two problems.

i. The Z case/electronics is going to screen out the reception/transmission and probably introduce a lot of noise.

ii. The BT/WIFI transmission may interfere with the Z - I would suspect that the HDD area on the 3K is screened off in some way but isn't designed to accomodate a comms card. Pull a device apart that is designed for integrated WIFI or BT and you will find that the designers have screened the antenna away from the mobo and placed it at one end of the device.

- Andy

[maslovsky]

Even if you can find one that fits the form factor and doesn't have the large protrusions that most of them have then you will have two problems.

i. The Z case/electronics is going to screen out the reception/transmission and probably introduce a lot of noise.

ii. The BT/WIFI transmission may interfere with the Z - I would suspect that the HDD area on the 3K is screened off in some way but isn't designed to accomodate a comms card. Pull a device apart that is designed for integrated WIFI or BT and you will find that the designers have screened the antenna away from the mobo and placed it at one end of the device.

You have valid points. But as for the bluetooth - even a shorter range will be sufficient for my needs (a couple of meters will do just fine) I can live with external CF wifi card and internal bluetooth (if it fits).

[speculatrix]

I would suspect that it's a 3000 with the microdrive replaced with a compact flash memory card of some sort.

I doubt it, it would be much cheaper for Sharp to fit 128Mb of NAND flash to the mobo and save on the CF connectors + also it would stop after sales market from retro fitting the HDD which I'm sure Sharp wouldn't want. If they used a CF card then they would still need some NAND flash for the initrd/zimage so you would probably see it specced as 192Mb storagre (or maybe not).... anyway I have feeling it's going to be traditional NAND type flash...

I think you misunderestimate the cost of connectors vs the cost of making substantially different devices, and that the Z isn't a very high volume/low margin product.

CF cards are *cheap* commodity devices*, so if the 3000 and 1000 are identical except for one is uDrive the other CF (and a different case cover), there's huge economies of scale in having them identical right up to the last second of deciding to fit an uDrive or a CF and picking the right colour of case.

* Ok,  a 128MB card is, what, US$20? and connector US$1, and the flash chips  alone would be ?$5, but then you've got to solder the flash and go through further testing, whereas the CF card could be programmed ready to go.

Localisation is also easier, just in case they do decide to offer an English version again.

It also makes it easier to repair when bricked, which I guess is perhaps the most common reason for repair - just swap or rewrite the CF.

[uczmeg]

I think you misunderestimate the cost of connectors vs the cost of making substantially different devices, and that the Z isn't a very high volume/low margin product.

CF cards are *cheap* commodity devices*, so if the 3000 and 1000 are identical except for one is uDrive the other CF (and a different case cover), there's huge economies of scale in having them identical right up to the last second of deciding to fit an uDrive or a CF and picking the right colour of case.

* Ok,  a 128MB card is, what, US$20? and connector US$1, and the flash chips  alone would be ?$5, but then you've got to solder the flash and go through further testing, whereas the CF card could be programmed ready to go.

Localisation is also easier, just in case they do decide to offer an English version again.

It also makes it easier to repair when bricked, which I guess is perhaps the most common reason for repair - just swap or rewrite the CF.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=70244\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I am with iamasmith on this one.

I think it would be cheaper for them to put a larger amount of NAND memory on board too, and even if it wasn't there is a good reason why a CF card is unlikely...

I'm pretty sure CF cards have a limited number of writes, so you are putting a potential timebomb in your system if you start to rely on them as storage for something like an operating system.

Cheers
Marc

[gerenb]

Here are all the juicy details:

Juicy Details

My two cents - same size as SL-C3000, lower power consumption, more flash, same speed, cheaper.

The more Zaurus models, the better!