I'm Almost Ready To Order My C1000 But...

[Dromede]

i'm almost ready to order my c1000 but there are some things i'm worried about...
i've been reading this forum for quite some time now and i have learned many things about it. about all the compiling issues, hardware problems, etc... the thing that bothers me is the screen size and the 640 X 480 resolution. to put it simply... how small is small on the zaurus screen? since i intend to use pdaxrom on it i'm worried that things on the screen will be too tiny for normal usage. and when i say normal usage, i mean not having it directly in front of my nose to read stuff from it. now...i saw some pretty scary pictures regarding this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geeko/146125665/

what would really help me decide is a real size picture of the screen.

my first pda/phone is a motorola a925 which i still use. now, the a925 has a ~3inch  touchscreen with 208 X 320 screen resolution and im pretty much used to using that screen with my fingers when im on the move. screen smudges dont bother me. so, will i be able to use pdaxrom on a c1000 with my fingers? using a stylus is really awkward IMHO. and another thing...i've been following the pda and the umpc market for quite some time and there doesnt seem to be any Z replacements on the horizon. so my question is, should i buy a Z c1000 now, or should i wait for something  new? i think waiting is kind of a risk since the Z line has been canceled and the prices are rising, but then again, im scared of investing money in something that could be obsolete in a year or so...
and last but not least, germany is the closest country to my own (Croatia) so my  best options are pulster.de or trisoft.de. im thinking trisoft would be a better choice cos i think they offer better customer services...

thanks in advance.

[gr8ful]

i'm almost ready to order my c1000 but there are some things i'm worried about...
i've been reading this forum for quite some time now and i have learned many things about it. about all the compiling issues, hardware problems, etc... the thing that bothers me is the screen size and the 640 X 480 resolution. to put it simply... how small is small on the zaurus screen? since i intend to use pdaxrom on it i'm worried that things on the screen will be too tiny for normal usage. and when i say normal usage, i mean not having it directly in front of my nose to read stuff from it. now...i saw some pretty scary pictures regarding this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geeko/146125665/

what would really help me decide is a real size picture of the screen.

my first pda/phone is a motorola a925 which i still use. now, the a925 has a ~3inch  touchscreen with 208 X 320 screen resolution and im pretty much used to using that screen with my fingers when im on the move. screen smudges dont bother me. so, will i be able to use pdaxrom on a c1000 with my fingers? using a stylus is really awkward IMHO. and another thing...i've been following the pda and the umpc market for quite some time and there doesnt seem to be any Z replacements on the horizon. so my question is, should i buy a Z c1000 now, or should i wait for something  new? i think waiting is kind of a risk since the Z line has been canceled and the prices are rising, but then again, im scared of investing money in something that could be obsolete in a year or so...
and last but not least, germany is the closest country to my own (Croatia) so my  best options are pulster.de or trisoft.de. im thinking trisoft would be a better choice cos i think they offer better customer services...

thanks in advance.
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Here's a link to Meanie's excellent Zaurus resource site:

[a href=\"http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/]http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/[/url]


There is a link on his page that gives multiple screenshots of various applications running on the Zaurus.  This should give you a good feel for how applications will look on the Zaurus screen.  Also, keep in mind that the clamshells have a zoom capability.

Here is the direct link to the screenshots:

http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/jumbo/pdaxqtrom.html

[desertrat]

Also, keep in mind that the clamshells have a zoom capability.

Note that the zoom is only available on the Sharp roms (and derivatives) and is not present in pdaXrom.  pdaXrom is more tweakable than other roms and it should be possible to change the size of display fonts etc. Also your choice of window managers and theme will determine the size of the gui elements (scrolls bars, buttons etc).

As for the Zaurus being obselete, one could argue that it was already obselete even when Sharp had them in production because they didn't really make software updates for it, and 3rd party software support had already been lacking. Obviously end of production means spares and repairs will be probably be harder to come by.

[Drake01]

Note that the zoom is only available on the Sharp roms (and derivatives) and is not present in pdaXrom. 
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Weird.  I thought that pdaXrom did have zoom.  I'll have to check now, since I never use it.  If pdaXrom is a true X server, I don't see why it would be difficult to support.  I can do it on my desktop PC.

[HoloVector]

I don't have problem at all with the screen in pdaXii13 on my 3200 or my 1000.  PdaXii13 is a bug fixed version of pdaXrom beta 3 which is based on the 2.4 kernel.  PdaXii13 does have Zoom capabilities like the SharpROM but, instead of pressing Fn-2 you press SuperKanji-2.  The SuperKanji key is the key to the left of the - key on the keyboard.  I have attached a screencap from my 3200 to give you an idea of the native size when running pdaXii13.  Good luck with your decision.

[desertrat]

PdaXii13 does have Zoom capabilities like the SharpROM but, instead of pressing Fn-2 you press SuperKanji-2.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the pdaXrom zoom switches between 640x480 and 320x240. The Sharp rom zoom changes the text size used in some/all(?) apps. IOW they're different.

[daniel3000]

Font sizes in mist applications under pdaXrom can be adjusted.
So no need to use the zoom feature there.
It's just a little work to adjust the font sizes of each applicatoin seperately.

Using the GTK framework, font sizes of GTK menus etc. can be changed in one place for all GTK programs.

daniel

[Capn_Fish]

To zoom, you can issue the "xrandr -s 0/1" (using 0 or 1, not 0/1) command.

[HoloVector]

PdaXii13 does have Zoom capabilities like the SharpROM but, instead of pressing Fn-2 you press SuperKanji-2.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the pdaXrom zoom switches between 640x480 and 320x240. The Sharp rom zoom changes the text size used in some/all(?) apps. IOW they're different.
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I stand corrected desertrat.  I was under the impression that a resolution switch was what SharpROM and Cacko were doing when you Zoomed.  Serves me right for commenting a feature that I never used when I was running Cacko.

See Dromede, I never even used the Zoom feature when I had it because I never had a problem with the fonts being to small both under PdaXii13 and Cacko.

[Capn_Fish]

Using pdaXrom with your fingernail works fairly well, but is not as easy as using the stylus IMO.

[speculatrix]

the good thing is that, unlike WinCE/MS pocket PC that the user interface (whether Cacko, OZ/Opie, pdaXrom etc) is scalable, so tho' the screen isn't huge, unless you have sight problems, it's very useable.

any handheld device is a compromise. if you want a bigger screen, consider the 6000 (which is lovely, but then adds the bulk of the slider) but whose keyboard is *relatively* poor

if want bigger yet get a Nokia N800 (which has no keyboard at all), if bigger yet the Sony UX, then an OQO, flipstart or Kohjinsha (sp?), then a Fujitsu Siemens or a Sony TX2...

however, you quickly lose the one-hand handheld aspect: the Nokia is not quite pocketable...

here's some relative sizes of the C thousand against a Palm T3 and a Sony TX2: http://www.zaurus.org.uk/sizes.html

[Dromede]

thanks guys, most of the info you gave me was quite useful. i forgot to ask about the keyboard. do the keys feel more like cellphone keys(hard) or more like calculator keys(soft)?

[Capn_Fish]

On the Cxx00 series, the keys are relatively soft and quiet, so more like a calculator I guess, but not so mushy.

[Dromede]

great. thats all i needed to know... guess im taken now...

[speculatrix]

the key caps are hard plastic, but pressing them is kind of soft, not spongy, but not clicky either. the travel is quite short, but the action is plenty positive enough to make you know that the key was pressed properly. with a bit of practise, unless you have big sausage-like fingers you can get up to a reasonable speed!