Messages

841

5x00 General discussions / Kicking myself in the teeth. Bricked... Permanently

« on: March 06, 2004, 09:51:17 am »

Thats terrible, hell, I\'d open my wrists if that happened to me.  See if Sharp USA can help, I think they\'d fix it for a fee, but less than a new one, check their price against ebay.

My sincere sympathy, had I not commited to giving my 5500 to my friend I\'d have worked out something with you.

Maybe someone here who has upgraded to a newer model can help, come on guys...

842

5x00 General discussions / Can we change the resolution of 5600

« on: March 06, 2004, 09:40:46 am »

No, as far as I am aware. But I **think** you can use higher resolutions with rdesktop, 640x480?, never had the need to try myself, anyone out there want to verify this?

843

Software / Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) OS

« on: March 06, 2004, 09:10:04 am »

I have to accept that people have different views.

But I don\'t see the point in hunting down probably one of the most obscure computers out there which only runs Linux and then start wondering \"why oh why\" Windows can\'t run on it. I mean, correct me if I\'m wrong, there are trillions of these mass produced Windows PDAs out there, some are incredibly cheap too. Why buy a Z in the first place?

I have never, and never will, understand who needs more than 1 PDA, unless your job gives you one.

But, like I say, each to their own I suppose.
 

[span style=\'font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\']Why bash Windows? mmh, let me see...[/span]

844

General Discussion / Show Your Appreciation (No Money Involved)

« on: March 06, 2004, 08:59:59 am »

Flaming nora!

But we live in a consumer orientated world which is based on blind greed and instant self-gratification...

However...

My special thanks HAS to go to Tim Wentford who wrote OpieReader, my favorite app, I\'ve read and learned so much just by using that one little program. Also a big shout to \'proto\' who did tkcROM - nice. Oh and dont forget the nice chaps behind this site, a lifeline for Z lovers.

;-)


\"I\'d like to teach, the world to sing, in perfect harmony, la la laa....\"

845

General Discussion / Announce: USB Storage package for SL 5500/5000 is available

« on: March 06, 2004, 08:29:17 am »

I\'ve been setting up a 5500 to give to a friend coz I\'m getting a 860 with this feature, I cannot get it to work on SuSE, it causes all manner of grief with SuSEplugger in fact to plug it in and get it detected is a long tiresome process, it takes almost five minutes but it is not mountable, dmesg as above.

Also when selecting CF as the device to be used as mass storage, the CF icon vanishes from Doc tab, tried ROM 3.10, tkcROM 1, and the latest tkcROM beta, gonna try ROM 3.10 now. Failing that, sod it, I\'ll go back to using a CF reader.

846

General Discussion / Poll: Will the Zaurus be relevant in 2 years?

« on: March 06, 2004, 08:08:48 am »

I\'m happy with the Z the way it is, it\'s a small community of enthusiasts, it reminds me of the british home computer revolution in the 80\'s, with little niche groups viciously defending their ZX Spectrums, Acorn Electrons and VIC-20\'s.  I quite like that, is it elitist? I don\'t really care.

If it was \'common\' like palm and pocketpc/wince or whatever they call it this week, it would loose it\'s charm and uniqueness. Since I can\'t stand this bluetooth/wiffy wifi trend I am a happy customer and can add those options if and when I decide.  A mini UNIX workstation in my pocket? wow!  Good enough for me.

Then again I used the HP 200LX for about 7 years and didn\'t give a flying hoot about the fact it was no longer made or supported.

These issues are important I suppose for palm etc. users or the kind of (odd) people that buy a PDA every week just because it\'s cool or like to brag about a their growing heap of PDAs, thats my view anyway, dont flame me. I buy for the long haul, I got my 5500 cheap second hand off ebay after ditching a Sony Clie (which was obsolete before I got it out of the box), I am now investing in an 860 to save getting a Linux laptop and PDA.

As long as Sharp make these as a service(?) to the Linux community I am happy with the current situation.  If they stop making it, well I\'ve got mine, so I\'m alright jack.

Will it be relevant in 2 years? Moreover, does it really matter? As long as WE, the people who love them still get to play with them?

847

Software / Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) OS

« on: March 06, 2004, 06:36:43 am »

yes, use a tin opener to open the skull, lean forward and watch the brain fall out on to the floor, keel over dead, process done.

yawn....

848

General Discussion / Considering a switch from a Clie UX-50 to a Z

« on: March 06, 2004, 06:29:12 am »

I had a NX-70 Clie, the Sony specific stuff was nice but it felt like an old Palm Pilot that was souped up to the max, the hardware was nice, but the screen was wobbly and the bling silver paint wore off quick, I ditched it and went for a Z 5500 (my new C-860 arrives next week).  For me, in my opinion, there is no comparison, one is a glorified Casio-esque databank, one is a UNIX workstation. mmmmh.. workstation..

I am happily running my 5500 now with the internal RAM kept empty, 32MB MMC for storing apps and fonts, 512 CF for MP3 and OGG music and DivX, MPEG, ASF movies and about 300 books, got the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries on it right now and several albums, its the kind of pocket computer I always dreamed of as a kid (back when I had a Casio PB-100).

I REALLY recommend tkcVideo and tkcPlayer, they are superior to the Sony offerings IMHO.  I don\'t miss the Clie at all, it was a nice looking paperweight that turned heads, the Z is a workstation and that is how I look at it and use it, much to the envy of my salivating friends who are desperately waiting for theirs.

I do not use Bluetooth or such stuff, so I can\'t help there.

849

General Discussion / Linux for desktop?

« on: March 06, 2004, 05:28:40 am »

Well if you don\'t want the faff-on you\'ve had already, I advise SuSE 9.0.

I have used SuSE as my ONLY desktop OS since Win2K came out and kept redetecting my hardware every single time I booted the damn thing, and now I **REALLY** don\'t run windows, the dual boot thing wasn\'t how a wanted to use a computer.  

The way you have to look at it, is if you want to go the Linux route, you have to leave the PC world behind (sounds a tad trite but stay with me), it\'s like buying a Mac, you have to buy hardware and peripherals with Linux in mind, not \'any ol\' crap off the shelf for windows pcs\'.  So many Linux newbies get disheartened when they can\'t get X or Y to work. (Although I tend to avoid USB, usually, like the black death, coz I can NEVER get it to work the way I\'d like, and I don\'t like WiFi/Bluetooth, there\'s enough radiation cooking my brain already)

With the right hardware choices you can get Linux to work smoothly, SuSE (IMHO) is the best, I\'ve worked with R&D labs in Germany and the engineers worshipped it, as do I now.  I don\'t know where in the world you are, but I get every new version from eBay for less than 5 pounds. I\'ve used 7.1, 8.0, 8.1 and now 9.0, it\'s great and I have a TV card, my Zaurus, a CF reader and broadband router all working great.

A posting above mine mentions scanner and video card, again correct purchasing choices avoids this, same if you want a digital camera etc. you have to think it through. I purposefully bought a camera with a compact flash card in it to plug into my card reader to transfer images.

VMware is a good software choice for Linux, it lets you run your Windows stuff if you want, but in the way it **should** be run, inside a virtual machine where it can\'t do any damage. But it costs (unless you hunt... bla bla)..

As for all this X config, stuff, why bother? SuSE\'s installer is SO easy and setting up the graphics card stuff it a matter of clicking icons.

I notice a couple of respondants are suggesting \"unstable\" this or \"latest\" that, DO not bother, for the love of Shai-Hulud, don\'t go that way, get a distro you like and get it to work, and leave it until the next version comes out, THEN decide IF you think it\'s worth upgrading. Constantly updating and modifying will leave you feeling knackered, your computer WILL be a science project and not a tool for getting work done or playing, imagine if you had to reinstall, you\'d spend a week just adding all the modifications back, no no no, I ran SuSE 7.1 for 18 months and ONLY updated because I like the new colour scheme. (LOL!)

Hope this insane rant helps ;-)

Rebel against everything