Messages

1

Software / Curl (sharp Rom)

« on: January 11, 2012, 11:04:28 am »

Sounds great.  I look forward to trying it out once I get a chance to reflash my rom.  (Just something I have been meaning to do for a while)

Thanks for the hard work in keeping the program updated and current!

2

Off Topic forum / I Don't Get It, No Body Posts But Ussually About 20 Users Online?

« on: October 22, 2011, 02:13:23 pm »

Although my Z does not get too much use, I think the Z can do most things that the ipod Touch/android devices can do...like play music, movies, set alarms, web surf, etc... but the thing holding it back from everyday use is the lack of a touch-screen style "mode"...something where you do not "need" a stylus.

Funny thing is that the screen does respond fairly well to touches (at least for simple clicks) but most apps are designed to maximize the screen by making things smaller (buttons, menus) and thus requiring a stylus.  

Don't get me wrong, using a stylus and having lots of info on the screen is great, but for things like alarms, and other very basic tasks, I wish the fonts/buttons were large enough to make the stylus unnecessary.

Too bad there's no Android "Super-Lite" mode we could use... because for me (and others I would guess) that would make the device find it way into many of my everyday tasks.

Cheers

... 13 semi-regulars and counting ....

3

Off Topic forum / I'm Back

« on: October 09, 2011, 12:22:38 pm »

Sorry if this is a dumb question:

How do you know which Zaurus generation and which OS/Rom (Cacko, PdaXRom, etc.) a given IPK is compatible with?

4

For Sale / Wanted / A Bargain At Any Price... Okay Maybe Not *any* Price ;-)

« on: October 02, 2011, 12:45:06 pm »

Oh, I have way more toys to play with than I have time.

You and me both.  It's especially time consuming when many of the great Z websites are now dead links.  I am very glad to see this forum is still alive, though I often wonder if it too might someday be unavailable... but luckily that seems unlikely.  It's too bad the wiki did not have more actual downloads (rather than links to external sites) as that would have prevented alot of god zaurus apps/OSes/etc. from falling into oblivion.  Granted most stuff still seems to be *findable* on the web, but not in a format that is usable by newbies to the Zaurus.   Like many Z owners, I have toyed with putting up a new zaurus site/archive... but as you mentioned, time is tough to come by.  

It's amazing how fast devices and their accessories disappear these days...

Considering the Zaurus's past popularity and still quite significant capabilities, it amazes me as well.  Perhaps this is due to the non-US status of many of the more popular/powerful models, but even the 5500 (which was available in US I believe) appears to have a very small following.    Kinda strange considering that many of the *really* old and (comparatively) slow Radioshack TRS-80 models seem to have many more sites/groups.  But then again, those were probably sold in the millions of units so percentage wise the active community may actually be about the same.

One thing that I think may eventually be the death knell for the Z is the availability of batteries.  And it seems that the 6000L is the poster child for that issue.  

[Begin Rant]
Why manufacturers cannot standardize on battery formats is beyond me...and why the government(s) have not mandated standardization is even more of a mystery.  For years we have had A, AA, AAA,C, and D cells as the primary battery sizes and 90% of devices could make due with those.  But now every single device has it's own shape, power, and pin requirements (even different for each generation of the same device).  Which is just absurd.  

I realize the old sizes may not be usable today, but I am also certain that a new group of standardized formats could be found to allow manufacturers to standardize on a group of about 10 or so (at most).  And let's not forget the AC adaptors that are all plugged into the walls sapping a trickle charge while waiting for the one dedicated device they serve.  Of course, the manufacturers cannot be expected to switch without being forced to, but that is why the governments need to push them... it's not a huge issue for them to switch and standardize, but since corporations are money-making institutions, not conscience beings, they look for competitive advantage and customer lock-in, which is at odds with any standardization mentality.  

Let's face it, the ecological impact of all these wasted batteries (and devices that must get tossed when batteries disappear) has got to be insanely huge and will only get worse over time.  

It will probably take a new generation of tech-savy (Facebook/iPhone/Android generation) politicians to start addressing these obvious flaws in our culture and pointless abuses to the environment and resources.  

Don't get me wrong, I love technology, I just wish we were just a little bit smarter in our execution.  

[End Rant]

Okay, I feel better, it was nice to get that off my chest...  sorry for the somewhat off-topic rant, but sometimes it is good to just let it out. ;-) ;-)

5

Software / December

« on: September 21, 2011, 09:43:03 pm »

Koan,

I have been meaning to install your countdown timer... I love the fact that it appears to countdown upto 99+ hours (at least it looked that way in the screenshots).  Plus the important buttons look big enough for fingers (instead of a stylus)... and that's a big plus IMHO.

Unfortunately, I think I first have to set aside some time to blast a new OS on it as many apps are not working anymore...  Not sure why, but I think they might have gotten installed on the CF instead of the SD, so they are not available due to different CF installed (smacks forehead...argh!).

6

For Sale / Wanted / A Bargain At Any Price... Okay Maybe Not *any* Price ;-)

« on: September 21, 2011, 09:37:22 pm »

Glad to hear the purchase worked out for you...  

Generally a Li-ion battery stored at 40% charge (optimal charge for storage) loses about 5% of capacity per year.
However, if it was stored at 100% it will have lost more.  

But either way, many compatible new(-ish) batteries are available on eBay, so even if it isn't a good battery, that's probably the most minor problem you could hope for, right?

Besides, if you're like me, chances are you have few extra lying around from your other one anyway...

Any plans for the new one since you already have one for your common tasks?  I have been seriously toying with the idea of setting up QT environment and do a little dev to make my dream alarm clock or such project ;-)  

But of course, time is always in scarce supply... *sigh*

7

For Sale / Wanted / For Sale: C860

« on: September 14, 2011, 01:11:26 pm »

It's in italy and I prefer to sell to italy

David,

Although you prefer shipping to Italy, you might want to add an amount for shipment elsewhere (specifically US and Japan) as it would probably increase you audience/bids.  

I would suggest just estimating based upon the cost plus the inconvenience factor.  

Then again, if shipment outside Italy is more of a rule than a preference, then I would skip it and just state that in your auction (and posts).

Anyway, it's just a suggestion.  

Best of luck with your auction.

8

Linux Issues / UPDATED: SOLUTION: HOW TO setup 4GB (Muvo) Microdrive

« on: September 08, 2011, 01:25:13 am »

Just wanted to mention that I updated these instructions (in original post above ) with a few comments and corrections, since I just had to do this for another drive I had lying around.

9

For Sale / Wanted / A Bargain At Any Price... Okay Maybe Not *any* Price ;-)

« on: August 24, 2011, 01:43:31 pm »

There's a box to make an offer, which I used and got a SL-C1000 from that guy on eBay for less than half of the BIN price. It was still overpriced considering the age and low demand, but he wouldn't take anything less. (I'm not going to say publicly what I paid.) I tried about 6 times to bring him down to earth, but he was stubborn. If it's not worth it, I'll complain and send it back. I didn't use stupid paypal, so it should be easier to get my money back.

Basically, I wanted another for when my current one breaks since I use it daily for my PIM and music. There are pretty much only 2 sources now - fleaBay and pulster.de - that I found. Pulster.de wanted too much, especially with shipping from the EU to the USA.

Did you ever watch videos on it?  

I have watched many a movie on my C860, and even at 15 to 20 FPS, it was still quite enjoyable.  With a C1000, I bet it is quite fantastic (probably a solid 30FPS, which is what most DVDs are anyway).  Plus with Handbrake it would be a breeze to encode them.

10

General Discussion / Resurrecting The Old Z... As A Webcam Server

« on: August 24, 2011, 01:40:31 pm »

I was looking to buy one of those new baby monitors that can stream video to your iphone/android phones but they are somewhat expensive and most have pretty bad reviews.  I was thinking that there must be a better solution.  I haven't carried my C1000 in over a year and was thinking it might make a pretty good low power personal webcam server.

Could anyone recommend a compatible USB camera that works in low light?  Also, I've more or less defected from linux to Mac so I'd also like recommendations for the software?  I'm guessing Debian is still going to be my best bet for the OS.

I'm starting to get excited about the project.  It might be my last chance to geek-out for a while, and I'm looking forward to giving my favorite old toy a new job.

Long live the Zaurus.
Cal

Cal,

How did it go, did you ever get this working?  

If so it would be nice to hear your solution for hardware and software.

11

General Discussion / Want To Use My Sl-c1000, Any Ideas?

« on: August 23, 2011, 01:12:24 am »

My typical use would be as an e-book reader (PDFs mostly).

I used OPIE Reader for EBooks.... I even  read Z4CK using that program back in the day...

Weird thing is that the arrow up/down on mine are backwards IMHO (ie:down arrow makes text go Up and vice versa)...

But that's not a big deal when you get used to it.  (confusing at first though).

Anyway, the feature that I loved about OPIE Reader was the auto scroll was editable, so you could set it a adjust the pace to match your comfortable reading speed and easily pause resume by tapping button at the top of the screen. The button is even big enough to tap with you finger (so you don't need to hold the stylus...  Sharp was amazingly  "Before it's time"!  ).

Anyway, I recommend OPIE Reader... and hey, some of the problems many have even been fixed in latest version as I am sure mine is extremely old version.

12

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxrom Rom's Getting Hard To Find?

« on: August 21, 2011, 03:31:40 pm »

deluxe,

Thanks for the link...

Does anyone know if ipkg's from earlier flavors of pdaXrom will install and work OK in pdaXii13

BTW, while following the link you posted, I came across this info, so I thought I would note it in this thread.

According to:
http://zaurus.daemons.gr/menaie/mirror/pdaxii13.html

Excerpt:
"Below is a list of pre-installed applications that are part of the pdaXii13 full installation. The following packages are in addition to the applications installed by the default pdaXrom beta3. These applications are not all pre-installed on pdaXii13 base.
[...]  
There are many more packages beside the ones on the official feeds. Many user contributed packages exist and can also be installed. beta1/beta3 packages are compatible with pdaXii13. Some packages for pdaXrom beta4 and r121 will also work on pdaXii13 but be careful with those since some can also break pdaXii13 due to library version incompatabilities."

13

General Discussion / Nasty Blip In Audio

« on: August 20, 2011, 04:44:51 pm »

I'd give it a try, but I just noticed my C860's music player app has gone away...it says it is not installed when I click the app.  

I previously I had always used Cacko's rom (1.23 version I believe) and back in the day I had used the music player alot...and I don't recall ever hearing popping between tracks (or at least not any that I could hear at moderate volume).  

However, most of the time I used it was while commuting so there was a good amount of background noise.  But even so I am about 95% sure there was no systemic problem with blips between songs.

Hope this helps.

14

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxrom Rom's Getting Hard To Find?

« on: August 20, 2011, 04:37:53 pm »

...anyway, wanted to say that I have found (somewhere, page since forgotten) the base build for Menaie's latest pdaXii13. Anyone is welcome to a copy if they need it, just send me a message. Adding applications may be tough, as I can't find a single working feed any more for that particular flavor. Does anyone know if ipkg's from earlier flavors of pdaXrom will install and work OK in pdaXii13

I also have a full install of an earlier pdaXrom flavor, that a kind seller of a Z on Ebay zipped up and sent. Thanks greenwirenet. Again, let me know if you want it, alternatively it's hosted temporarily on rapidshare: http://rapidshare.com/files/409360675/pdaxrom.zip
neill1234 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com

It's been a while since I was looking at ROMS... What the difference between pdaXii13 and pdaXrom?  

I've been running Cacko since forever, but I recently realized that a couple of my most used IPKs no longer work (like music player), which is really odd..  So I figure it may be time for a re-blast.

15

For Sale / Wanted / A Bargain At Any Price... Okay Maybe Not *any* Price ;-)

« on: August 20, 2011, 04:09:49 pm »

Agreed, $499 is more than a bit steep.  

However, I looked up that SL-3200 auction you mentioned... at least I think it was the same auction, if you are referring to this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260822185572

And although it was described as "looking new", it was kind of implicitly being sold as "Used/AS-IS" since the seller could not get it to completely boot up.  The canned EBay blurb about "fully operational and functions as intended" was not exactly consistent with the seller's description.

Speaking of which,  the description is so minimal it's laughable... I mean, here's the entire description text of that auction:
"This and everything that comes with it look like brand new. The manuals are in Chinese. I plugged it in and a light comes on but that's all I know about it. I don't know how to operate it. "

While that is obviously in part due to the seller' s lack of knowledge, I think that that unit went for lower than normal due to it's unknown working condition, not too mention the non-existent description of the devices features/capabilities/etc.     But really, at then end of the day, I think with EBay it really comes down to how many buyers are looking for that particular model (or any Zaurus) at that particular time.

As for the C1000s in the OP, I think the quality of the used condition needs to be verified.  Mainly because they are using a stock photo.  Let's face it, there's used and then there's USED.  I find when the description is lacking actual pictures or details, it is better to assume the worst and make the seller prove you wrong.  That's why I mentioned in the OP that anyone considering buying these should ask for at least a few closeup detailed pictures (with it powered on) before making any offers.  (And of course check the seller's feedback comments and ratings).

But yeah, I totally agree... I would say that a C1000 is probably not worth more than $100/used or at most maybe $150 if it's in like new condition.