OESF Portables Forum
Model Specific Forums => Sharp Zaurus => Zaurus - pdaXrom => Topic started by: worri on October 28, 2004, 12:10:08 am
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Can it?
And can it dual boot with the original Pocket PC OS?
I found there are some beautiful ppc machines(such as hx4700, E830) while I just like linux.
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Yes, it should be able to if someone wanted to.
At present, the best Linux OS support for iPaq PDA is OpenIpaq or familiar if you prefer. It will buid with Open Embedded perhaps in a few weeks or a few months (if the Familiar maintainer finally wake up from his one year sleep).
GPE Opie or Qtopia are the three proposed free Linux desktop for iPaq and SL-5000/5500/5600. Their applications are designed to fit in their small 320*240 screens.
pdaXrom use matchbox desktop, the same desktop as GPE so pdaXrom desktop could run on iPaq. pdaXromuses different applets and better suited windows manager for bigger screen. Only issue so far: pdaXrom applications expect at least 640*480 screens and pdaXrom binary are at present optimised for Intel PXA processors and would just need to be recompiled. Most iPaq running Linux at present use the older Intel StrongARM processor and their screen is only 320*240, so if you were running pdaXrom on them, you would still need to use all tiny GPE applications.
New 640 * 480 iPaq with very fast PXA processors have hit the market but as you should guess none of them have Linux support. Linux porting on those PDA is done by enthousiastic people but all of them only have old iPaq device. I still have an iPaq 3870 but didn't want to buy anything new from HP/Compaq because their new device don't support Linux.
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I know there are OZ for IPAQ certain models...But I doubt the config of it w/out a keyboard....
There are all those command need to be type and only on screen keyboard is available....that would be a pain the ass...is it?
Sure flash it in 4700 is nice
Large ram and rom, fastest PDA CPU...(I wonder why 3000 not using the 647 mhz CPU, yet the price is > then 4700.....)
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There are tiny keyboard that can fit into the iPaq bottom. They become a kind of Zaurus SL-5x00 but they need extra hardware for this . Most old iPaq don't have CF but MMC/SD extention port. You need a jacket for CF cards or PCMCIA cards.
The iPaq is not used the same way as a Zaurus. If you test Pocket PC or PalmOS, you will understand the difference in the way they see things. Apparently, it's this difference that created the "PalmPilot wave"... and people dropped their Psion device with keyboard for those pen driven only interface.