Topics

1

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Qtopia For Pdaxrom?

« on: February 28, 2006, 04:04:18 am »

Having tried both cacko and pdaxrom, I'm leaning towards pdaxrom, because of its large library of packages, and because things seem to work right out of the box the first time:  'it just works'.  However, I am not very taken by the visual appearance of pdaxrom.  My eyesight is not great, so it is very difficult for me to make out the fonts and letters.

 Furthermore, though I enjoy the thought of using my C3100 Zaurus as a handheld Linux box on the go, I also need it as a PIM, and here is where I think QTopia shines.  QTopia works so well, that it feels as though it was designed for the Zaurus.  The Zaurus Cancel and OK buttons are well integrated into QTopia, making it a breeze to navigate through the programs with only a few thumb clicks.  This is not the case in pdaxrom, where I found that I had to guide the stylus across the screen and point to menu and window items very precisely, lest I accidentally select the wrong item.  Ergonomically, I think QTopia works very well: quickly, simply, and intuitively.

I've tried Meanie's X/Qt package in which he bundles an X-windows and Linux environment to run on top of Cacko.  I wonder if the opposite is possible:  Is there a way to run a QTopia-like window manager from pdaxrom? The pdaxrom window managers I've looked at still resemble scaled-down full-screen desktop window managers, rather than QTopia or other handheld-oriented window managers.

Ideally, I would start in pdaxrom, but launch a QTopia-like window manager, for ordinary usage.  I would then switch out of that environment, and back into native pdaxrom mode for more serioius Linux work, such as launching a bash window to peform some task.  Is this possible on pdaxrom, or are there plans to provide this capability?

Fry

2

C1000/3x00 General discussions / D-link Dcf-660w Cf Wifi Problems

« on: February 19, 2006, 11:15:14 pm »

I picked up an used D-Link DCF-660W compact flash WiFI card for my Zaurus C3100 recently. My Z is running the latest Cacko ROM. When I insert the card, my Z recognizes it, but I seem to be having trouble with it.

At home, I have a Linksys WRTP54G wireless router. I am able to obtain a network connection on this router, but I notice the following problems:

1) I have to disable security on the router. If I try to enter a WEP key in the WEP tab of a Wireless LAN -TCP/IP entry in >Settings>Network, I find that I can never get the Z to connect.

2) After I Disconnect the network connection, cannot hit Connect again and get the network connection back. I have to select 'Eject card:0 D-Link 660 11Mbps WLAN Card', manually pull out the CF WiFI card, and re-insert it, bnefore the Z detects the card and permits me to set up a new network connection.

3) When I go on the road and visit different places, I am unable to get the Z to set up a network connection on any other wireless LAN. I suspect that this is because the signal strength is not as strong in these areas, compared to when I am in the near vicinity of my own wireless router.

Has any one experienced these problems with a CF WiFI card? DO I have a bum card, or is my C3100 not configured correctly?

Thanks for any help,

Fry

3

Cxx0 Hardware / D-link Dcf-660w Cf Wifi Problems

« on: February 18, 2006, 10:59:37 pm »

I picked up an used D-Link DCF-660W compact flash WiFI card for my Zaurus C3100 recently. My Z is running the latest Cacko ROM.  When I insert the card, my Z recognizes it, but I seem to be having trouble with it.

At home, I have a Linksys WRTP54G wireless router.  I am able to obtain a network connection on this router, but I notice the following problems:

1)  I have to disable security on the router.  If I try to enter a WEP key in the WEP tab of  a Wireless LAN -TCP/IP entry in >Settings>Network, I find that I can never get the Z to connect.

2)  After I Disconnect the network connection, cannot hit Connect again and get the network connection back.  I have to select 'Eject card:0 D-Link 660 11Mbps WLAN Card', manually pull out the CF WiFI card, and re-insert it, bnefore the Z detects the card and permits me to set up a new network connection.

3) When I go on the road and visit different places, I am unable to get the Z to set up a network connection on any other wireless LAN.  I suspect that this is because the signal strength is not as strong in these areas, compared to when I am in the near vicinity of my own wireless router.

Has any one experienced these problems with a CF WiFI card?  DO I have a bum card, or is my C3100 not configured correctly?

Thanks for any help,

Fry

4

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Pdaxrom Compatibility In Cacko?

« on: February 10, 2006, 02:13:21 pm »

Having recently purchased a C3100, I've flashed the cacko 1.23 ROM to get started.  I've been happy with it, but I've also been reading about  the pdaxrom distribution.  From what I've seen pdaxrom makes the Zaurus look like another Linux box.  The advantage of this, of course is the plethora of software available for Linux that can be easily ported to the Zaurus.  When it comes to day-to-day use as an organizer, I sthink QTopia with cacko works and looks much nicer. However, occasionally I would like to do something more PC-like on the Zaurus. For example: downloading Prolog, Squeak, or OCaml to program in.

Is it possible to get the best of both worlds?  Can I run Cacko and QTopia ordinarily, but be able to enter a Linux compatibility mode, replete with xterms and X-windows managers, like pdaxrom, which can then load in all available pdaxrom packages?

That to me would be the ideal distribution for a Zaurus:  it acts like a regular PDA that the casual user wants it to, but then offers a Linux mode for more programming-intensive efforts.  Is there a way to do this?

5

Software / New Owner Of Sl-c3100 (need English Os)

« on: January 31, 2006, 06:46:59 pm »

I purchased an SL-C3100 when I was in Tokyo earlier this month.   It came preloaded with the Japanese OS.  I would ike to convert it to an English OS.  I've searched on the web and found an English user's guide, at http://www.triesoft.de, but it appears to be written for an SL-C3100 that has already been converted to English.

I think I'm caught in a chicken-and-egg problem.  I can't read Japanese, so I can't understand the rudimentary Japanese OS commands on the Zaurus to figure out how to configure or load in the appropriate packages to convert to an English OS, but the English Zaurus OS manuals assume that the conversion has already been performed.

Can someone point me to a simple step-by-step guide that bootstraps in an English OS for the SL-C3100, so that I don't feel as if I'm groping inthe dark each time I power it on?

Many thanks,

Fry