Messages

16

Software / Kde-pim/pi 2.1.0 Available!

« on: April 24, 2005, 08:03:02 pm »

Thank you, sir!    

You are right!

But I will enable it again and move the "simulate"  main menu entry to the "play beeps" submenu.

z.
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17

Software / Kde-pim/pi 2.1.0 Available!

« on: April 24, 2005, 05:20:45 pm »

I want to thank Lutz for the work on Kopi. It has almost completely supplanted my dependence on Outlook as a memory enhancement tool.  

I have one question on 2.1.2.  The kopie-alarm menu item "What's Todo???" has been  commented out in simplealarmdaemonimpl.cpp and I was wondering if it would be back? I just found it very easy and convenient to have the todo call in the menu. I added a script & .desktop file on the Zaurus to run "kopi -showTodo" but it doesn't fastload. I would go back to an older version but I like the new alarm dialog in 2.1.2. I suppose it was taken out because of the larger font size? Just wondering. Thanks!

-neq

18

General Discussion / More Choice In Linux Based Pdas And Smartphones

« on: March 20, 2005, 10:02:00 pm »

This is an awesome concept but as discussed in other threads, it smacks of vaporware. No one has seen a prototype (that pic is a rendering), the website is thin on details and they do not respond to e-mails. I wouldn't hold my breath on this one. There are supposed to be 20 Linux cellphones on the way this year. It's almost April. Where are they? I'm hoping at least one of them is close to the specs of this device or at least offers phone, WLAN and keyboard. I'm tired of carrying my phone, PDA & MP3 player around. Give me one device to rule them all.

Edit: Humorous anecdote removed

19

General Discussion / More Choice In Linux Based Pdas And Smartphones

« on: March 20, 2005, 02:47:28 pm »

adf. lpotter didn't write anything about QVGA and 200-300mhz defining a handheld and neither did anyone else. For a regular PDA, VGA is great. Heck, go crazy and make it SVGA if you want to go cross-eyed trying to read stuff. But that doesn't apply to a smartphone, which is what I was referring to.

A smartphone with 4" VGA screen and the dimensions of a brick isn't going to fly for average Joe.  Joe wants something he can fit in his pocket that "just works". He wants a toaster with PIM, games, & email.  He doesn't care about all the marvelous benefits to be had by running Gentoo on his phone. That said, i don't think it's "silly" and "overkill" to want to be able to do that if you have the technical proficiency and the spare time. If someone wants to run X, Debian & Firefox on their wristwatch, more power to them.

As far as support goes, Joe isn't going to want to go to a forum to get support and be told "RTFM". He needs a number to call, so he can have his hand held. What I'm getting at here is you need Qtopia or MontaVista over Linux to make Joe happy and an SDK would be nice to make uber-geek happy. Expect to get either indifference or resistance to anything else from hardware makers.

In regards to a "Linux pocket computer", I think more OQO like devices will be made and in smaller sizes, so there is a market for that and it might even get corporate support. You are not going to get enough customers for an "all geek" PDA to make it profitable.

Thanks for clearing up the smartphone legality issue, lpotter. That reveals why Linux smartphones are so few in number despite the free OS and why Sharp dropped their phone.  

PDA's are evolving into convergence devices and with that comes lockdown due to DRM and communications legalities. People brought this on themselves by stealing IP. Linux will have to comply with DRM or be left out. It sucks, but that's the future.

20

General Discussion / More Choice In Linux Based Pdas And Smartphones

« on: March 18, 2005, 10:04:33 pm »

I don't think there are enough people here to justify a ZUG branded version of anything and expect to sell 1000 units per year. Most are happy with their imported Zaurii and, unless you offer something substantially better, it will be a tough sell. It would be an astounding feat to offer something both cheaper and better than the current Zaurus line of PDA's and hope to show a profit.

The one product that is missing in Sharp's offerings are smartphones. I find it puzzling that they dropped the prototype they were working on because that's where the industry and money is going.  

The specs of those devices mentioned won't appeal to many here. A smartphone comparable to the specs of a low end Z with Windows Mobile as an option is probably the best solution. The Windoze market has very few smartphones with an integrated keyboard, so offering a dual OS option would increase exposure and sales. ZUG people are in love with the 4" VGA screen, but my guess is it's pretty expensive to integrate.

What's wrong with using Qtopia as the default? Uber-geeks are going to flash to new ROMs anyway as they become available and Qtopia phone edition is simple enough to get the Joe Sixpack's and suits of the world on board. There are a lot more Joe's in the world than uber-geeks.  Who do you think the lion's share of Zaurii are being sold to in Japan? Joe + sales = future toys.

An ideal smart phone (to me) must have:

PXA255/PXA270
128MB of RAM, 64MB of flash ROM
At least a QVGA screen.
Qtopia phone edition
IR
docking station or cable synching method
OK / Cancel / Navigational buttons

Should have:
Integrated WLAN
SDIO slot
non-membrane keyboard that can be localized (swappable).

Nice to have:
a dedicated on/off button
mini USB host
Bluetooth
jog dial
Screen protection

A high-end model might have:
built-in HDD or large flash
built-in camera

Supposing the money pops up and 1000 people agree to buy. Who is going to do support and repair? You have a very nice selection of products on your site, by the way, Nikolaus.

21

C1000/3x00 General discussions / New Zaurus Announced: Sl-c1000

« on: March 14, 2005, 09:54:59 pm »

robint,

In answer to your question, the Z is still being produced but for the Japanese market only. They are, however, converted to English and exported by several companies to U.S. & Europe which you will find if you search through these forums.

What I want to know is why won't Sharp add wi-fi to these new C models? Does it really cost that much to include? Would Salaryman be offended if the Z came with wi-fi and he had no use for it? He might find it useful if he went overseas on business trips. Sharp knows third party exporters are shipping a boatload of these to the rest of the world.  Just toss in wi-fi on the highest level model and charge a little more. I'd buy it & so would many of my geek brethren.    

It's too bad they didn't further develop that cellphone. In its prototype state, it was committee ugly, but it had great potential. I guess it was a "safe" move on Sharp's part to axe it, but the future is in smartphones, not PDA's. They are going to have to evolve to that soon or risk dropping the Z biz altogether.

22

Sharp ROMs / My SL5000D after flash ROM,can help?

« on: February 20, 2005, 04:17:22 pm »

Did anyone ever get this problem to work? The above solution isn't possible cuz the zaurus doesnt even finish the flash! It gives the error right when the lights are turned off and doesn't let u reset cuz it spits out that whole error message. I have the same deal. I think the problem might be internally with maybe the sd card connection. Not sure though. What to you guys think
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You have also tried flashing from a different CF card, right?

When the lights go off, the flash is finished. Do not turn the unit on. Hit the reset button. Close the cover. Wait a few seconds until the battery light comes on.  Turn on the Z.  Let the errors scroll by. Follow the RepairFS# instructions.

23

General Discussion / New Linux Pda

« on: February 19, 2005, 06:36:13 pm »

From a German news site:

To information of the manufacturer the ROAD S101 is to come in October (2005) on the market. The price will be then scarcely below 1400 euro

...

It would be almost the perfect convergence device if it makes it out of vapor stage.  Such a tiny company might have problems expanding into global markets.  I hope other companies follow this trend.  

To me, the perfect device woud be a PMA400 with built-in keyboard and phone.  

24

Sharp ROMs / My SL5000D after flash ROM,can help?

« on: January 31, 2005, 10:33:41 pm »

It looks like /dev/mtdblock1 was not formated to be ext2.  Try booting up to the Repiers Fs prompt and running mke2fs /dev/mtdblock1, after that try mounting it somewhere.  Hope this helps.

JP

How do you get to this prompt? I don't know about Repiers, but do you mean ReiserFS? I have a C750 now, but I'd like to give reviving the old 5500 a try.
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"Repiers Fs" is a spelling error. JP means RepairFS# prompt.  The following worked for me on the 5500:

Put 3.10 OSPACK on CF card and flash Z.
When lights go out, press reset once. Put in "Normal Operation" mode.
Turn on Z. You will get errors e.g. "Couldn't find ext2 superblock, trying backup blocks... "
Eventually, you will see the RepairFS# prompt.
Type mke2fs /dev/mtdblock1

You will get the errors:

ERROR: /usr/share/etc/launch.conf -- cannot open file
ERROR: launch.conf -- cannot open file
/sbin/launch: launch.conf not found
INIT: ID "ln" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes.
 
Turn off Z. Put in "Replace Battery" and Hit reset button.
Put in "Normal Operation".

Some more errors scroll by -- fixing blocks. Eventually you get RunLevel 5.

Hope this works for you.  

25

Sharp ROMs / My SL5000D after flash ROM,can help?

« on: January 30, 2005, 02:51:29 am »

I ran into this same situation attempting to upgrade my 5500 to 3.13.  I flashed it but got the "bad superblock" error. That gave me a tingly, gut wrenching feeling of terror much like the time when I applied a MS patch on the server at work which corrupted the registry hive.  I thought I had charcoal briquetted my friend, Mr. Z.  

Tried hard reset and no luck. Did mke2fs as JP wrote, got the repeating launch.conf error, but hard reset and presto! It worked.  

Thanks JP! You da man! What's the deal with 3.13? I'm afraid to flash anything again after that nasty experience...

It looks like /dev/mtdblock1 was not formated to be ext2.  Try booting up to the Repiers Fs prompt and running mke2fs /dev/mtdblock1, after that try mounting it somewhere.  Hope this helps.

JP

26

General Discussion / Japan To Lend Zaurus To Visiting Tourists

« on: December 31, 2004, 12:26:08 am »

Here is a short article concerning Japan's attempt to encourage tourism by providing translation through a loaned Zaurus:

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/041229/afp/0412...51hightech.html

No details about who gets "selected" to be lent a Z.   :mellow: