OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: WM_vs_Linux on February 22, 2006, 01:11:56 pm
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I've been hesitating between these two devices for several weeks. As a WM ppc user i'm mostly familiar with win mobile interface. But i like taste different OSs. The prices of Zl 1000 and Dell x50v are almost identical in china, both are about $400(750 and 860 being even cheaper).
What i prefer in dell are PXA624 CPU, 16MB video memory, BT, WiFi, more softwares, avilability of more periferals, batteries etc.
What i'm supposed to like in zl 1000 are: qwerty keyboard, gssilicon vga screen, pdaxrom(with my favorite abiword and firefox). But there are certainly much fewer softwares( correct me if i'm wrong. i'm a newbie to linux pda area). And the price will add up to get it enabled BT and WiFi functions.
As i have money enough for one, there is no way of getting two of them. Please give your advice to help me decide between them.
From the posts i read about zl 1000, i've felt either the software or the hardware is not very good enough for media playback.
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media playback is decent.... and I'd think that there is more software for linux than wm. If you mean that there is software you wnt for tge axim, then buy the axim and be happy.
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I've seen the dell and from memory it had pretty smooth playback compared to the Z. With that said, the new Zs are much better than the older ones.
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BTW both are vga, but the zaurus is more natural in landscape mode. Accessory options are more with the Z because of usb host.
The better software for WM are commercial (cost money), but I suspect you already have the software you need. When I last looked for software on my hp rx3115, there was very little good freeware.
My Z (not all Zs) can run comfortably for long periods of time at 624MHz.
The dell is much smaller, but the Z keyboard is worth it.
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I owned a x50v, in my closet though. The only two selling point for the x50v is the vedio play back and GPS map application, which comes with a not so cheap price tag. Neither are critical for me. So I use the Z counterparts, admittedly with certain compromise.
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If memories serve me well, Dell has stopped introducing new PDAs while Sharp still continues supporting Zaurus in Japan.
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I've found that there are 6GB of PPC softwares in my PC. Dictionaries are more than plenty. As for media player, i always use TCPMP, Real Player and WM player. It is a pity that TCPMP has no Linux version. Another thing i'll miss in Z is MDict with over 600MB of dictionary database. It'll have been a great pleasure if pdaxrom is available for dell x50v.
I wonder why sharp don't use that 624mhz cpu and intel2700G. Besides they should've used a 800*600 screen.
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there is bedict, which may not be as extensive, but seems fine to me. It also has translations to different languages like english to french, german, japanese...
I thought I saw a thread just recently about someone wanting tcpmp on the Z (was it you?).
sharp probably did not use 624 by default to extend battery life.
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I thought I saw a thread just recently about someone wanting tcpmp on the Z (was it you?).
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That was me and Legodude522.
If you check out any of the "Palm" based forums, you'll see that TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player) is one of the hottest piece of software going now, and is also free.
It takes plugins for almost all formats that aren't "proprietary", or "locked"
Jon
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picard (TCPMP programmer) was talking about a linux version, however i think it would be better to add iwmmxt mplayer, i am aware that it has been done and i have seen the resaults compared to TCPMP. but i am mostly intrested in 2.6 on the c3k and i have yet to test if bvdd works under 2.6 (i have yet to find out what it even does)
after i wrote that i relised that palm is moiving to linux so TCPMP is quite likely, i just hope palm uses gtk like i have seen in the pics and not somthing they came up with themselves
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I owned a x50v, in my closet though. The only two selling point for the x50v is the vedio play back and GPS map application, which comes with a not so cheap price tag. Neither are critical for me. So I use the Z counterparts, admittedly with certain compromise.
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I'm a former X50v owner as well, and decided to trade it off for my current C-760. While I think the X50v was better for video/gaming, and had great battery life (with an extended battery, mind you), it's future seemed pretty bleak. Dell is slacking with WM5 updates and I can very realistically see the X50v being stranded with WM2003 (WM5 for the X50v sucks, to be frank) and as a former HPC owner I know how annoying it is to be left with a previous generation's OS.
Plus, the Z has a built in keyboard and IMO more options for software expansion.
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Thank you all for your good advice. The only thing that keeps me hesitating still is my unfamiliarity with whole Linux platform. Nonetheless i keep reading in this platdorm as much as i can so that i'll be familiar with PDAxrom.
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I was also victimized twice by WM. First time it was the shift from wince2000 to PPC2002, second time from 2002 to 2003. I was unable to upgrade my device and was forced to buy new device for the new OS. Both PDA manufacturers and Microsoft have been smart enough to rip me of my money.
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Thank you all for your good advice. The only thing that keeps me hesitating still is my unfamiliarity with whole Linux platform. Nonetheless i keep reading in this platdorm as much as i can so that i'll be familiar with PDAxrom.
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IMO, if you have the time and energy learning Linux is more enjoyable that learning Windows ever could be. I think you have to be a certian kind of person too... someone that enjoys learning, troubleshooting problems, and thinking of new ideas.