Topics

1

General Discussion / Which Rom To Use? Which Is Best? Why?

« on: May 02, 2005, 03:02:14 pm »

I'm thinking of making the big switch from my QTopia ROM to another ROM (possibly pdaXrom) so that I can run Thunderbird, Firefox, etc...

But this isn't a decision to be made casually, especially I thought I've heard of people making bricks out of their Zaurii by performing the ROM installation incorrectly.

So, what ROM is the best and why?

Which ROM offers the most Linux capability and looks and behaves the most like a full Linux desktop counterpart?  KDE looks pretty cool, but I'm guessing they don't have that for the Zaurus yet...

Do any of the ROMs run OpenOffice?  Which ones can run Mozilla's Thunderbird and Firefox?

Let the battle begin!    

2

Software / Mozilla Thunderbird, Firebird, And Sunbird For Z?

« on: February 26, 2005, 06:50:08 pm »

This may be a stupid question, but why don't we have a build of Mozilla Firefox (Browser), Thunderbird (E-Mail) and Sunbird (Calendar) for the Zaurus (or do we and I just missed it?)?  These products look set to overtake Internet Explorer (IE), Outlook Express (OE) and possibly even Outlook & Outlook Calendar in an event that only happens once every decade!

Has this subject already been discussed elsewhere?  Does the Zuarus have enough power (400+ MHz), memory (64 MB Ram), disk capacity (4+ GB and up), and display resolution (640x480 VGA) to handle these?  If so, wouldn't that give the Zuarus the kind of software that would make them almost supperior to their Windows desktop counterparts?

Maybe the Zaurus could then stand on its own as a computer and not just a cool-looking appendage of a desktop computer.

What are your thoughts?  What are some of the facts on this matter?

Is the Mozilla Suite's source code available?  Are they open source?  Do we have the power and ability to compile them for the Zaurus?

This may turn into an exciting topic!  

3

General Discussion / Zaurus Linux Shell Scripting Questions

« on: December 16, 2004, 09:21:31 pm »

I'm a UNIX/Linux shell scripting newbie.  I've seen a few Zaurus User Group How-To pages on some script examples and I think I unterstood 85% of what I saw...

• How many different kinds of shell script (.sh... are there other extensions too?) languages are supported under Linux in the Zaurus?
• What are the differences between them?
• Why use one over the other?
• Where can I find "Shell Scripting For Dummies" kind of resource/page/site?

Thanks!  

4

Software / All Audio Codecs That Play On Zaurus?

« on: December 15, 2004, 10:39:19 am »

What are all of the audio codecs that are supported under Zaurus?

So far I know of:

• MP3 (MPEG-Layer 3) - plays on default audio player and most (all?) audio players
• WAV (Uncompressed) - *gag*
• OGG (Ogg Vorbis) - plays on "MediaPlayer" after installing special plugin

OGG is roughly twice as good as MP3, but neither of them are very good at doing what I need.  I have many audio books I want to listen to on my Zaurus.  Previous to my Zaurus I used 5 kbps RealAudio and/or 5 kbps Windows Audio.  MP3s can only go down to 16 kbps (and most encoders can only go down to 32 kbps).  Ogg Vorbis can only go down to 9 kbps (and forces the file to remain stereo), and even this is only possible if I encode the audio file to an 8 KHz uncompressed WAV file and then encode OGG using the lowest audio quality (this is the solution I'm currently using and the quality is fine for audio books... but it is a waste since it requires stereo even though the source is in mono).

Are there other audio codecs that are supported under the Zaurus through any means, hacks, installations, etc?

OR...

Is there a way to encode MONO OGG files (so I can get down to 4-5 kbps?)

5

General Discussion / Kdeveloper On Zaurus. Other Options?

« on: December 10, 2004, 12:03:26 pm »

I'm still very new to the whole open source / Zaurus / Linux world.  A few days ago I stumbled across KDeveloper (on my Knoppix CD ... really cool, by the way  ).  KDeveloper looks really cool and it says it can work with any existing compilers... so...

Could KDeveloper work with VGA Zauri?  (It would be a little bit tight, but it should still fit on the screen)  Have anyone tried it?

If so, which compilers are the best for:
C++?
Java?
etc...?

6

Personal Java/Jeode/J2ME Personal Profile / What's The Lowest Common Denomiator For Java?

« on: November 27, 2004, 10:55:04 am »

Is it possible to write a Java application that will run on Desktops, Java Enabled PDAs, and Java Enabled Cell Phones, etc?  (...including Java Enabled Toasters?    )

What do I write the Java Application in: Personal Java, J2ME, or something else?

(Everyday I become a little more disalusioned regarding the actual portability and backwards compatibility of Java.  It isn't as portable as the hype said it was.  Nevertheless, it is the best portability language I know of so far...  or is there something better?)

7

Cxx0 General discussions / Linux Directory Structure

« on: November 25, 2004, 02:39:42 pm »

What's the basic/general Linux directory structure?  I'm still trying to figure it out and I keep forgetting where in the maze of directories to find certain things Im looking for.  I've noticed the that directory structure appears to change slightly from one Linux Operating System flavor to another.  Is there a link to an image of the directory structure and it's meanings?  Which directory contains what subject, etc?

With this information I should be able to navigate through the Terminal screen better.

Thanks in advance!

8

Linux Issues / Why does the Linux MMC/SD driver not work for all?

« on: September 27, 2004, 03:05:30 pm »

What's the difference between some of the SD/MMC cards so that some work and some don't?  I bought a 1 GB MMC card and it works fine on Windows, but not in my SL-C860 Zaurus.  The Zaurus can physically access every single bit on the card (surface scan returned perfectly), but as a mounted VFAT file system it has trouble writing to the card.

(See these links for more details).
Original thread
2nd Thread (much more advanced and technical)

My question is, what's the difference between the various MMC cards that make some work and some don't.  Ditto' on the SD cards.  I thought they all were part of a standard and that the hardware physically couldn't tell the difference between MMC card A and MMC card B if they are both the same size.  ...but this doesn't appear to be true.

So... what are the differences?  Why does the Linux driver work with some and not with others?

Also, is there an update driver in the works to fix this?  (So the links above for more stats and debug information on my situtation).

9

Cxx0 General discussions / WMV Videos for default Zaurus SL-C860 Video Player

« on: September 26, 2004, 06:29:55 pm »

There are a few people with new Zaurus SL-C860s out there and one of the first things I wanted to do when I got my new Zaurus SL-C860 was try out the default video player (which supports MPEG4... a big step up from the usual MPEG1 video players on most/many PDAs).  ... but there weren't any video files available.  It was many weeks before I was finally able to test out the Video Player on something that worked.

I now finally have the ability to create the special video format that the player supports, and I want to do what I wish was available when I first got my Zaurus...

...post links to publically available (with permission) WMV video files that work on that video player.  The purpose of this thread is to list all links to (legal) video files that work on the default Zaurus QTopia SL-C860 Video Player.

Here are some details on the needed video format:

• Video Codec: MPEG Layer 4 (note that this IS different than DivX and Microsoft's Video codec)
• Audio Codec: MP3
• Max Theoretical Bitrate: 300 kbps (but the CPU sometimes can't keep up and the video is sometimes choppy because of that)
• Recommended Bitrate: 250 kbps or lower...

(I don't know if this format works on the default players of other Zaurii)

Here are 3 videos that are ok to share (warning: they are religious in nature, so don't click if you have a weak stomach for spirituality!     )

3 Public Videos for the default Zaurus SL-C860 video player

(This is my home computer, which sometimes crashes (bad power supply), so if the link doesn't work, try again later...)

Note that since the Zaurus SL-C860's screen can only do 16-bit color, the 24-bit video never looks as good on the Zaurus as it does on a 24-bit color desktop.  That being said... it is still pretty cool!

Ok, now it's your turn.  Post some links here.  (But make sure they're ok to be posted publically, so that we don't get into trouble  )

10

Cxx0 Hardware / Does SL-C860 support MMC?

« on: September 18, 2004, 02:26:46 pm »

Last week I bought a new 1 GB MMC card (I chose MMC over SD because I don't support the DRM SD movement).

I put the MMC card in my wife's camera and it recognized the whole 1 GB (I was pleasantly surprised since she had an "older" camera.  When her camera hooked up to my windows (yeah, I know   ) desktop, windows recognized the 1 GB as well.  I formatted it with Fat32 and did a simple scandisk.  All seemed well...

I then put the MMC card in my SD card slot in my SL-C860 and the Zaurus recognized without trouble.

But then odd things started to happen.  I wasn't able to write to the card.  Sometimes Linux had trouble ejecting the card.  I thought that perhaps the card's fat table was corrupted (since my desktop DID crash while I attempting to surface scan the card).

I tried:

bash-2.05$ mkdosfs /mnt/card
mkdosfs 2.8 (28 Feb 2001)
mkdosfs: unable to open /mnt/card

I can't find the SD card (nor the CF card) under /dev/hd... anywhere

Any ideas?

Does the SL-C860 support MMC cards?  How do you format SD/MMC cards in your Zaurus terminal?

MMC Specs:
My Flash
Multi Media Card
1 GB PC Data
0408AD6

Thanks in advance...

11

Cxx0 Hardware / Does SL-C860 support MMC?

« on: September 18, 2004, 02:25:10 pm »

Last week I bought a new 1 GB MMC card (I chose MMC over SD because I don't the DRM SD movement).

I put the MMC card in my wife's camera and it recognized the whole 1 GB|(I was pleasantly surprised since she had an "older" camera.  When her camera hoojed up to my windows (yeah, I know   ) desktop, windows recognized the 1 GB as well.  I formatted it with Fat32 and did a simple scandisk.  All seemed well...

I then put the MMC card in my SD card slot in my SL-C860 and the Zaurus recognized without trouble.

But then odd things started to happen.  I wasn't able to write to the card.  Someimte Linux had trouble ejecting the card.  I thought that perhaps the card's fat table was corrupted (since my desktop DID crash while I attempting to surface scan the card).

I tried:

bash-2.05$ mkdosfs /mnt/card
mkdosfs 2.8 (28 Feb 2001)
mkdosfs: unable to open /mnt/card

I can't find the SD card (nor the CF card) under /dev/hd... anywhere

Any ideas?

Does the SL-C860 support MMC cards?  How do you format SD/MMC cards in your Zaurus terminal?

MMC Specs:
My Flash
Multi Media Card
1 GB PC Data
0408AD6

Thanks in advance...

12

Software / Can't get Wyvern Java Client running on SL-C860

« on: September 15, 2004, 06:37:07 pm »

I can't get the Java Wyvern Client working on my SL-C860.  I installed it from Killefiz.de.  Has anyone gotten it to work?  If so, how?

When I double click on the icon, it starts to load up in magnified scren (240x320) mode, flashes something really quickly (startup logo screen?) and then promptly closes...

Thanks in advance...

13

Security and Networking / WARNING! Don\'t buy SD Audio Players!!

« on: June 08, 2004, 10:56:22 am »

See:

http://www.sdcard.com/b2b/TextPage.asp?Page=8

Specifically, note the following diagram:

[img]http://www.sdcard.com/b2b/FAQ/faq_checkin.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

SD Cards are evil... but they can still be used for good in some devices.  \"SD Audio Players\" aren\'t one of those devices.

Fight the new standard!  Don\'t buy SD Audio Players or anything else that supports the copyright protection on SD cards!

By the way, does the Zaurus enforce this copyright protection on the SD cards?  Can you play, copy, or move audio from a SD card on the Zaurus?  If so, then the SD is \"good\" in the Zaurus...

...but beware of the evil hardware!!  You have been warned.   :twisted:

14

Cxx0 General discussions / QTopia screensavers? How to change default screensaver?

« on: June 01, 2004, 11:08:49 am »

My Zaurus screensaver is the time display at various places on the screen.  It would be cool if I could instead have my screensaver be the fish tank application.

This isn\'t a big thing... it is easy to get by without a screensaver... but my Zaurus has spoiled me.

What are the various screensaver options for the Zaurus?

15

Cxx0 General discussions / Does QTopia\'s E-mail program work with Exchange (Outlook)?

« on: May 31, 2004, 05:59:10 pm »

Does QTopia\'s E-mail program work with Exchange (Outlook) e-mail Servers?  If so how?

If not... is there a Zaurus e-mail prgram that DOES work with Exchange/Outlook?

(I mentioned this before on another thread, but it was sort-of a side-note to the main subject)

Thanks,