Messages

1

C1000/3x00 General discussions / C3000 Usb Serial

« on: October 14, 2005, 02:47:46 am »

P.S. I assume you had to fight your way through the "configure" process somehow (and if so, how did you do it in the crosscompile environment)? Or was there an easier way for you to get all this working?
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As I recall I just did the usual "make config" (or maybe it "make menuconfig") but made sure I used the correct example config file (for the Spitz I think.)  That was, of course after a successful run of "./configure".

That way you set the options for video4linux (which I see you also need...) and everything else before the final make.

Best of luck with your robot project - keep us posted.  I got my C3000  to compile [a href=\"http://www.voti.nl/jal]JAL[/url] programs and then program the Microchip PIC series of microprocessors in my robot cars through a USB<>serial cable.  It then interacts with the operating robot cars through the same interface - no vision though  

Jonathan

2

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Internal battery

« on: October 07, 2005, 04:15:55 am »

Nice work, Johnathan.
Where did you get the Zaurus plug end?

thanks,

scot
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Plug came off an old wall brick transformer.  I looked in various electronics component catalogues but I couldn't find the plug anywhere.  I did recently see a few of these plugs in a backstreet shop in a Hong Kong though, if you fancy a trip...  

Jonathan.

3

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Internal battery

« on: October 06, 2005, 12:50:27 am »

Hi all,

I asked the same question on this forum some six months ago and was dissapointed even then.  The lack of internal battery is the *one* thing I would definitely change on my C3000.  

I use three C3000 batteries and an external changer, so the "instant reset feature" when changing batteries has been a real pain.  

My solution has been to carry around a little emergency power supply for a mobile phone that has had the original moulded phone plug cut off and a zaurus power plug attached.  This takes 4 of the smaller size penlight batteries (AAA in the UK, size 4 in Japan) so its not very heavy.  I've used it for six months without changing the penlight batteries.  Since it's only used for a few seconds each time I expect the little penlight batteries will last a long time.  The battery phone changer was bought for 100yen from the local "100 Yen Shop" here in Japan (that's about $1US or 50UK pence.)  Cheap DIY solution.

Attached are pictures for anyone interested.

Jonathan

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4

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Comparison Sl-3k Vs Dell Axim

« on: June 30, 2005, 12:37:14 am »

I have both the C3000 and the latest Dell Axim x50v.  

I wrote a short summary of differences (from my point of view) on another thread here:

C3000 vs Dell x50v

A couple of months on from that post I use the C3000 every day and the x50v stays in its cradle.  I only use the x50v for a GPS receiver for long journeys in the car - better than the C3000 for this job.  Quite frankly the Windows OS is so incredibly limiting and annoying - not to mention the expensive software you need to buy to make it useful - that I get kindof angry using it.  Lack of keyboard is also real downer - although I have the nice-enough BT foldup keyboard, it's a pain to carry.  

If the C3000 died and I needed to use the x50v on a daily basis I'd probably rush out and pick up a C1000.  

Hope that helps,

Jonathan.

5

C1000/3x00 Hardware / Sl-c3000 Screen Flickering

« on: May 06, 2005, 01:37:28 am »

Daniel,

Oh yes, I have exactly that.  

I didn't have this "feature" with my previous C3000 which had to be replaced for a different, more serious, problem.   I'm so glad to have my C3000 back that it doesn't bother me.  On mine it's linked to hard disk activity, which is noticably loader on the replacement C3000.  If I lower brightness by one notch then it goes away.  Also seems a bit dependant on which my 3 batteries I use.

I don't think it means you (or I) have a bad one.  Just that we're both near one end of the statistical distribution of screen flicker.  Others have no flicker, but could have other problems lurking in their machines...  

I will adopt the atitude: "if it ain't broke then don't fix it!"  

You do have the option of complaining to your supplier, but no guarantees that any replacement you can get will be better.

Jonathan.

(I don't overclock this machine.  Flickering only occurs when on battery, not ac)

Hi,

if I set the screen brightness to maximum, the light flickers a bit (not annoying, but noticeable).

Is this a common thing?
Does it mean I have a bad one?

Thanks

daniel
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6

C1000/3x00 General discussions / C3000 Usb Serial

« on: April 26, 2005, 11:08:26 pm »

Nope, the pl2303 drivers work for pl2303 (and pl2303x) devices only.  

But I did compile all the other serial drivers in the kernel source at the same time and they should be included in this file:

usb-serial (zip)
or
usb-serial (tgz)

Give them a try.  Instructions included in these archives.

(Note that pl2303_DT.o is a special driver for a pl2303 device with aaa0 id.  It was compiled for DreamTheater and you're unlikely to need it.)
 
Jonathan.

Jonathan,

does your driver work with ALL usb-to-serial cable ?

...
Rename this file (pl2303_DT.o) to pl2303.o and use in place of the one in my archive.  Maybe it will work...

Best of luck.

Jonathan.
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7

C1000/3x00 General discussions / C1000 -> No Internal Hdd Option

« on: April 11, 2005, 02:35:54 am »

Hi all,

Just for information, you can get most bits of the C3000 case here:

Zaurus shop in Japan

I expect the black C1000 case parts to turn up some time soon.

Mind you, when you add up the (4, I think) parts you need it's not going to be very cheap.

I've bought from these guys recently and everything came quickly and neatly packaged.


Jonathan
(Who likes the white case of his C3000 and won't open it up until after the warranty expires... probably)

8

Software / Ann: New Kanjidic 1.7

« on: March 24, 2005, 08:33:05 pm »

Haha!  Got it!

For both zten and zdict I just changed the "image scale" menu option to something other than the default and, TADA!, the kanji bitmaps appear.

Now if only all problems in life were so easy...


By the way, are there major benefits of zten over zdict (or the other way round)?

I understand that zdict is built on zten source but is a little bit more useable (e.g. automatic copy of selected text to search buffer ready for next search)  

How about ztenv?

Having used zdict with edict and kanjidic, it seems I don't need zten at all.

Thanks,


Jonathan.

9

Software / Ann: New Kanjidic 1.7

« on: March 24, 2005, 09:23:20 am »

Hi all,

I too tried halx's new Kanjidic and I get the same black boxes for the bitmaps as q333 does in both zten (v1.6.2) and in zdict (v1.0), but... if I highlight the bitmap and some text around it, the bitmap shows up in inverse.  See shot below for example.

Er, does that mean the kanjidic files are wrong, or the dictionaries?

Do I need ztenv?

Thanks,

Jonathan

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10

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Screen Problems?

« on: March 18, 2005, 09:32:29 am »

M-Morino, I also didn't overclock my Z.

Perseus, as I already wrote, I started to notice the display problems with the x-desktop but if you look real close when moving a floating window in Qtopia it also shows (in case a not so bright background has been set). For example when you select the "Reboot" option from the Qtopia menu, a confirmation requester appears. Don't you see a darker area above this window (in landscape mode), even better to be seen when moved around?

I attached a screenshot  [ Invalid Attachment ]  of an empty x-desktop, could you please view this bitmap fullscreen on your Z, set brightness all the way up and examine if your screen is still without disturbances? I'm really interested in the result although it differs from the "backlight flickering" problem you described.
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I did as you asked and viewed your image on my C3000 full screen.  One or two tiny flickers at the beginning then just a perfectly clear screen.  So no real problem here.

One thing I did notice about my new C3000 (it's just been replaced) as opposed to my previous C3000 is that this one does flicker the screen a bit when running on battery and with brightest screen.  This happens when the hard disk starts to spin-up.  It may also be contributed to by the wifi card (a relatively high power Buffalo wl12-cf-s11 model) but I can't seem to replicate the conditions now.  My previous C3000 model didn't have any screen problems whatsoever, but did have another fault.

If I pull down screen brightness one step then this flicker (more a step change really) goes away.  As an electronic engineer I'm not entirely suprised by this artifiact of the power supply system.  There is quite a lot in the C3000 for the electronics to supply constant voltage and adequate power too (screen, processor, hard disk).  Maybe I'll try another battery.  

Perhaps the C1000 will be better since there is no hard disk...

Jonathan

11

C1000/3x00 General discussions / C3000 Built-in Japanese Dictationary Wanted!

« on: March 18, 2005, 09:16:32 am »

Seems to me that there are are people who delete the Japanese dictionaries and will never use them:

Someone who wanted to delete dictionary

I don't know the legality of it, but you may be able to buy their unused dictionary software from them.  

Personally, I paid for mine and am using them.  They are part of the reason I got my C3000 instead of a cheaper C860.  I do not want to give them away.

Jonathan.

12

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Request For C3000 Dict2

« on: March 09, 2005, 07:59:32 pm »

Just noticed that the overnight upload of dict2.zip has succeeded to yousendit.com

here's the link for the whole thing in one file:

  http://s3.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1QPBQ5V14V3842WEX3SU5TT9B8

No login or registration required.

At over 400mb this file may take some time to download...  

Jonathan.

13

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Request For C3000 Dict2

« on: March 09, 2005, 07:49:16 pm »

mammothrept,

I did send a couple of private mails on this but maybe they didn't get through.  Anyway, I've uploaded the Dict2 in 5 large chunks to an upload site.  You can private mail me for the details.  The files disappear next Wednesday.

But, since I now notice you're in Japan too, I can easily burn a copy of the CD and put it in the post.  Private mail again if you want to give me your postal address.

Jonathan.

14

C1000/3x00 General discussions / C3000 As Photo Viewer/editor?

« on: March 03, 2005, 08:10:09 am »

Hi Mike,

I have been doing oh so many things on my C3000, including writing and compiling C and Perl progs (using dev-image-1.5 or the newer 1.6), PIM use, ebook reading, interfacing with robots and harddisks, etc, etc.  It performs the role wonderfully.  For a pocket-sized toy it really is amazing.

But my one angle that may be of more interest to you is that I also have a new Dell Axim x50v.  That's the newest Pocket PC model with VGA screen 600+Mhz processor and build in wi-fi and BT.  I got it last month in an effort to burn up the remainder of a soon-to-expire budget.  So now I have two hot new PDAs to play with.

Now for an quick unbiased(!) comparison of the two...

Axim x50v
Pros: so small and light - noticeably smaller and lighter than C3000. Excellent syncing with windows.  Very fast.  Cheap.  Docking cradle (which also has bay for recharging extra battery) .  Battery small and light but seems to last a long time.  Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.  Built in mic.  Nice VGA screen.  Stable operating system.  Built-in battery backup (you don't know how useful that is until you need to swap batteries in the field.)  I keep a 1GB sd card and 4GB microdrive in the slots and they work faultlessly.
Cons:  Lobotomised operating system - oh so frustrating.  Bits of software crippled by M$ to make life hard for those with any imagination or ambition.  No keyboard - really annoying.  Built-in handwriting input not so efficient.  PDA apps simple but good enough (but I hate blocks for appointments without any text in them in week and month view - plenty of space for text like on C3000).  Free but good software difficult/impossible to find.  Needs to be docked to install most software.  Build quality reflects price - but still nice enough.  No USB host.  Occasionally can't read downloaded text files (Why?).  Fails to read pics from my new Canon A95 camera - very annoying.  Large files very slow to load into Word.  BT keyboard had to be replaced already.  Web browser seems to only have one window - annoying in the extreme.

SL-C3000
Pros: beautiful screen.  Extremely useful and tactile keyboard.  Really nice flip screen that keeps it from getting hurt.  Great build quality.  Built in hard disk.  USB host (very very useful).  Excellent free software easy to find and easy to install stand-alone. Much better set of built-in software.  Better Word/Excel clones than those on Axim!  Incredibly powerful operating system.  If you need Japanese then the C3000 includes excellent dictionaries/encyclopaedia.  Easy to write programs standalone.
Cons: Mine had a problem and has had to go back (see my other posts in past) but this problem doesn't seem at all common (again, see the replies to my other post).  Built-in PIM software not so fast - Qalender much faster and more versatile. No wi-fi or BT built-in is a bit annoying.  No mic.  No backup battery - Aaaah!


Well the C3000 has been away for the last week or two (they're taking a long time just to get me a replacement...but it was bought through the corporate system here in Japan and things can drag on a bit) and I've had to use just the Axim.  Oh how I miss the C3000!

The bottom line is that if you just want a PDA then the Axim is great and the C3000 is very good.  If you want to do almost anything else outside what M$ thinks you should do then things get much much trickier.  It's quite amazing how restricted the operating system is compared to the C3000.  It's a philosophy thing - M$ spoon feeds you sweet goo while holding your hands behind your back while Sharp gives you a tasty and nutritional meal but makes you learn how to use a knife and fork yourself.  

If I had the choice of with the Axim or the C3000 I'd go straight to the C3000.

There, that was quite unbiased, wasn't it...?

Jonathan

15

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Won't Resume From Suspend

« on: February 18, 2005, 10:51:30 am »

If you are overclocking the 3000 then search the forums a little. There are some notes on this causing lockups on resume too.
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Thanks Iamasmith,

No more overclocking for the moment - my problem occured many times before I changed the kernel (which I changed *specifically* to see the startup messages so I could try to debug this problem  - see [a href=\"https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=10543]Boot C3000 Into Text Console, and how to see startup messages at boot[/url])   Been back with original kernel and default system for a week and this problem still happens once or twice a day.  Actually Tetsu's special kernel was just as stable (or unstable, with respect to my problem) as the stock Sharp kernel.

As an aside, it was interesting that the factory reset via the OK menu wouldn't work with Tetsu's special kernel installed.  I had to reflash the original Sharp kernel and only then could I do a factory reset.  Had me confused for a time.  Seems the factory reset procedure needs a friendly kernel to talk to.

Many thanks again,

Jonathan