Messages

31

General Discussion / Is The Z, Archos Pma, Etc Dead?

« on: August 25, 2007, 04:35:22 pm »

Except I absolutely despise glasses. And I need them -- so I opt for contacts. Even if my glasses could perform some awesome computing, I would never wear them. But perhaps others are more willing than I...

That's the problem with all of these mobile technologies. There will never be a perfect device. If it's really usable, it's too big. If it's small, the screen is too small to be usable and the controls are awkward. People are fickle. As much as I dislike the iPhone, it seems to be the only device trying to revolutionize mobile computing -- which is needed in order to have a really usable yet mobile device. New input methods allow for more screen real estate, making the device more usable for mobile computing. The Z is great, but if I didn't have a backpack (I usually do since I'm a student) I probably wouldn't carry it around with me. It's just too big. Plus, if it got any smaller, it wouldn't be usable.

It's a catch-22. Until we get magical chips implanted in our brains that overlap computing images over top of the images seen from our eyes, thereby making a truly invisible and mobile computer that we can't even feel, nothing will be perfect. Plus, what kind of moron would get a chip implanted in their brain?

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General Discussion / Hooray~! I Installed Icewm On C1000

« on: August 25, 2007, 04:26:30 pm »

pdaXrom is also actively maintained -- not just Angstrom.

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General Discussion / Is The Z, Archos Pma, Etc Dead?

« on: August 24, 2007, 06:29:22 pm »

You consider these crappy Windows UMPCs the greatest?

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Accessories / 16 And 32 Gb Sdhc Cards Announced

« on: August 23, 2007, 06:23:21 pm »

dougeeebear, I don't think the SDHC card would be slower than regular SD cards, just not as fast as SDHC cards are meant to be. Of course, I might be crazy and there is no speed limitation at all, but if there is, I would expect the SDHC cards to have a similar if not slightly faster performance than regular SD cards.

BUT...I have never used an SDHC card, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

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Accessories / 16 And 32 Gb Sdhc Cards Announced

« on: August 22, 2007, 10:44:17 pm »

That has been beaten to death on other threads. Many people thought the same, but apparently it's a software thing. I think the idea is that SDHC card will work in regular SD slots but not as fast or something like that. Anyway, theoretically it works.

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Accessories / 16 And 32 Gb Sdhc Cards Announced

« on: August 22, 2007, 08:26:06 pm »

Angstrom is the only one that's close as far as I can tell. Whether or not it actually works -- that's another story. I use pdaXrom, so I haven't tested it. koen mentioned they had support for SDHC cards but I haven't heard of anyone actually trying it (although I haven't really looked).

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General Discussion / Is The Z, Archos Pma, Etc Dead?

« on: August 21, 2007, 08:25:23 pm »

Haha, your point about the phone+PDA converged device just reminded me why standalone PDAs are now dieing. The dumb masses don't realize that the more devices converge the crappier each function gets. My mom insists on having a DVD/VCR converged device (granted it's hard to find a quality VCR that doesn't contain a DVD player). But when you have a huge high-definition TV, you get way better quality if you buy a good standalone DVD player with more outputs than just component and S-video. (By the way, I'm not calling my mom stupid -- just technologically illiterate)

Perhaps when there is a UMPC/PDA/phone/television/toaster that fits in your pocket (and doesn't burn the toast) more people will buy UMPCs, but not until then. (Another problem, again relating to my technologically illiterate mother -- I'm always told that the screen on my Z is too small. It would be the same problem with UMPCs until they master that roll-out screen)

[edit]And yes, 20 years was just a made-up date. I tried to make it later in the future than I would think possible and for good reason. They said by 2000 we would live like the Jetsons. In the movie 2010: The year we make contact (or whatever it's called) their spaceships are like those in Star Trek (No, I'm not a Trekkie. I hate that show -- and I definitely don't speak Klingon). Although I can't deny that in 2010 we will have that kind of space technology because it is only 2007, I am, needless to say, VERY doubtful that we will have that technology in 3 years. Yes, basically I'm trying to cover my butt.[/edit]

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General Discussion / Is The Z, Archos Pma, Etc Dead?

« on: August 20, 2007, 03:38:19 pm »

Yes, but UMPCs aren't doing very well. I've never seen a UMPC out in the wild -- the smallest laptop I've seen is a Libretto. The masses just aren't geeky enough to spend that kind of money on something when they could get a laptop for much less. Maybe in 20 years everyone will have a very small UMPC that does everything they need and then they can just hook it up to a docking station when they get home and use it as a full PC. But that day has not come, and right now all of these gadgets are for geeks. There just isn't a market for it yet.

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General Discussion / Linux Filesystem And File Access Privileges

« on: August 20, 2007, 03:32:58 pm »

That's why he added the -R option, which does recursively make all directories/files belong to the user (unless I'm mistaken). I always do chown -R user:group, but your syntax looks fine (assuming your data is mounted at /hdd3).

You may also want to check your fstab file to see if it is mounting it read-only or something like that.

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New products and alternatives / Mez2000

« on: August 17, 2007, 05:09:26 pm »

Well, most will probably not be interested in this, but Aceeca has released details about two new PDAs that will run Linux (note that they also run WM -- ie you get a choice). The reason I say most people won't be interested is because Aceeca is kind of an odd company. They sell rugged and waterproof PDAs as far as I know, and previously sold only PalmOS PDAs. See their website here: http://www.aceeca.com/home/mez_comparison.php

The MEZ2000 looks like a powerhouse of a PDA to me with all the fixin's (although quite big). I guess if you're into kayaking or something and need to check your e-mail (wow, that's an odd scenario) this may just be for you. A little expensive too ($700), but it's basically customized for you (I think).

Let me just say that I know very little about this company, but just happened across their new PDA offerings and figured I'd jump on the bandwagon and report.

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General Discussion / Is The Z, Archos Pma, Etc Dead?

« on: August 17, 2007, 04:39:04 pm »

It's sad and disgraceful how MS's dirty habits are influencing other manufacturers and the way people think about technology in general. I was looking at a PMP the other day and within a few moments of playing around with it crashed, "thoughtfully" the manufacturer gave the unit a reset button. When I pointed out to the salesman that the unit crashed he said "yeah, when it crashes just use the reset button" and then he continued "it's software, windoze does that all the time and 'all it takes' is a 'quick' reset to put things right again". I was thinking WTF.

You definitely have a point there. That's in line with some UMPC manufacturers including a dedicated Ctrl+Alt+Delete button (If you need one, there's a problem). I've been using Linux since February (yes, I'm a bit of a newb), and Linux has never crashed on me once. Ever. I managed to crash X Windows exactly once in all that time, but Linux was still running and I just issued a startx and all was fine again (to be fair, I was running KDE on a very old PC with a 333 MHz processor and a crappy video card). Now that I don't use Windows at all, if I had a device that crashed on me every two seconds I would not consider it acceptable.

My Z occasionally closes open apps upon resume (only when I have a lot open -- ie Firefox with many tabs open) because it basically runs out of memory on resuming, but that's it. My Palm T3 never crashes unless an app is specifically responsible (although it would be nice if only the app crashed and not the whole OS). The Z is an oddball in the market and the T3 is pretty old now -- back from the era where Palm actually made stuff that worked instead of making fancy bricks.

My new dumbphone that I just got a few days ago has already frozen the front-mounted LCD on more than once and all it has to do is sit in my pocket waiting for a call. The phone still functions, but I have to open and close the phone to get the front LCD to turn off -- and if it's sitting in my pocket I can't tell if the screen is on or off and the battery starts dieing. Such is the future of gadgetry, unfortunately.

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General Discussion / Is The Z, Archos Pma, Etc Dead?

« on: August 16, 2007, 05:06:54 pm »

I don't know much about the iPhone, but I've heard you need to use your actual fingers to tap on the screen (like the iPods etc.). Well, when it's -20 degrees Celsius up here in Canada, I REALLY don't want to have to take off my gloves to make a phone call. But I guess the wow-factor makes the dumb masses forgiving of stuff like that.

[edit]Also, if I'm lying in bed trying to read information on some website while lying sideways (it may be far-fetched to some, but I do it with my Z all the time -- comfortable reading without having to sit up. ), I really don't want the screen to automatically flip sideways preventing me from reading the site without doing logic puzzles (ie reading upwards) or yoga (ie awkward positions).[/edit]

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Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pidgin

« on: August 16, 2007, 04:59:39 pm »

Pidgin is for X windows. You'll need to flash a distribution that runs X windows to use it -- or, alternatively, you can run it in X/Qt Jumbo which is available for Sharp/Cacko (or maybe not -- I've never used the Sharp/Cacko ROMs, so I'm no expert in this area).

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General Discussion / Htc Shift: The Dream Machine!?

« on: August 12, 2007, 12:25:59 am »

That is one beautiful machine. Really. Too bad it runs Vista instead of Linux (I could live with the Windows Mobile part for instant-on to check things like my calendar etc., but using Windows Vista every day would start to tick me off). Is native Linux a possibility (ie not embedded)?

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Accessories / Any G Cards That Work?

« on: August 10, 2007, 10:05:24 pm »

I think most people who wanted 802.11g on the Z have given up. There are no working g cards as far as I know [at least not for pdaXrom] -- I'm not sure why (maybe driver problems?). Maybe koen will prove me wrong with another one-liner.

If you are going to try to get a g card to work, I will say good luck!