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Author Topic: 5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?  (Read 5636 times)

Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« on: January 16, 2004, 05:09:09 pm »
So I am ready to buy one of these. I am leaning towards the 5600, but I am worried that there is not enough free software out there for it. I.E. there is a lot of software out there for the 5500 that cannot be used on the 5600. Is this true?
Also, can you do line in recording for the 5600?
Is there any way to have a usb device be plugged into the 5600 through one of the slots?
I found a patch that allows the Targus Wireless PDA keyboard to work for the 5600. Does it work?
Any and all comments would be great.
Of course if I was really patient I would wait for the 6000. But I aint.
Thanks, Brad.
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tumnus

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2004, 06:32:56 pm »
Just about all the software that was initially written for the SL-5500 will work fine on the SL-5600.

I think the SL-5600 still has a combined headphone/mic socket, so you can still plug an audio input into it.

The only way to use a USB device with any of the current Zaurus models is by getting a USB host CF card, but there\'s only two different makes and they\'re very expensive. I\'ve not heard of anyone having bought one either.

Don\'t know about the keyboard.
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# Search the Zaurus Howtos ## Search the Zaurus FAQs ## Find Z software at ELSI #
--------------------
UK SL5500 with Sharp ROM 3.13, SL5600 with Sharp ROM 1.32 - SuSE 9.0 Pro, Windows XP Home
Qualendar for Calendar and Todo
Socket Bluetooth CF Card (Rev F), Kingmax 512MB MMC Card, Palm Tungsten T Stylus,
Pretec CF->Smartmedia Adapter, Semsons Universal Battery Extender

Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2004, 06:39:57 pm »
get the 5500
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Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2004, 06:42:49 pm »
Would you mind stating why I should get the 5500 over the 5600 (besides it costs less)? By the way I do not know how to mess with Linux code and hope to keep my interaction with code very minimal. So hopefully the one I choose will not require a steep learning curve. Thanks, Brad.
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VeeDubb

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2004, 06:56:36 pm »
I say if you have the dough, get the 5600, there\'s no real advantage tot he 5500 except that it\'s slimmer because of the smaller battery.

Beyond that, there would only be one reason to get a 5500.  The default software from sharp that is now installed on the Z, does not sync with a Linux desktop, you must either use a very old rom, which isn\'t  possible on the 5600, or a third part rom like OpenZaurus, and several people have had trouble with OpenZaurus on the 5600, so ultimately, syncing with a linux desktop is easier with the 5500.
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VeeDubb

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2004, 07:10:49 pm »
Side note that just occurs to me due to another thread that just started.

All 5600 are NOT created equal.  It was originaly released with a pxa250 xscale, which had a serious design flaw, making it slower that the old 5500.  Very bad.  This was Intel\'s fault, not Sharp\'s.

Anyway, Almost a year ago now, Intel stopped all production sand sales of the pxa250 processor, in favor of the pxa255, which has been upgraded since.  (I believe the mythical 6000, should it ever come out, is supposed to have a pxa 263 or some such thing)

Anyway, many of the new sl-5600 have been upgraded (without a word at all from sharp) to the pxa255 which is about twice as fast in terms of actual performance.

So, you want to look for one of 2 things, either a PXA-255 X-scale,

OR

A an X-scale with \'C-1\' stepping.
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lardman

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2004, 07:47:43 pm »
Neither machine is ideal IMHO.

But I\'d get an SL5500 as it has 64MB of RAM as opposed ot the SL5600\'s 32MB. That siad, if I were you I\'d get a C750/C760/C860 if I were you - that\'s the way I\'ll be going once I\'ve enough spare cash.


Si
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C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
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Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2004, 08:04:10 pm »
Quote
Neither machine is ideal IMHO.

But I\'d get an SL5500 as it has 64MB of RAM as opposed ot the SL5600\'s 32MB. That siad, if I were you I\'d get a C750/C760/C860 if I were you - that\'s the way I\'ll be going once I\'ve enough spare cash.


Si

But wasn\'t 1/2 of the RAM reserved for /home?  So you still only get 32MiB of program ram, and you lose all your data if the (puny) battery dies...
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lardman

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2004, 08:24:56 pm »
Quote
But wasn\'t 1/2 of the RAM reserved for /home? So you still only get 32MiB of program ram, and you lose all your data if the (puny) battery dies...

No. I use an OZ 64-0 ROM, so I have no RAM-disk, I use flashROM or MMC/CF for my storage, and I have no problems should my \'puny\'    battery die....

Si
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C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
WinXP, Mandriva

Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2004, 09:10:03 pm »
Well I hope I did the right thing. I just ordered the Zaurus 5600 from Amazon for $299. I like the better battery and the fact that it is new. I also bought the camera for $14 (see deals list) with shipping of 14 for a grand total of $29!! Now I need a fold up keyboard and a wifi and I am ready to go.  Thanks for all of your insight. Brad.
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Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2004, 10:07:41 pm »
Quote
No. I use an OZ 64-0 ROM, so I have no RAM-disk, I use flashROM or MMC/CF for my storage, and I have no problems should my \'puny\' battery die....

OK, well I can see how the extra 32mb would be useful, depending on what you are doing.  On the other hand, Linux has a reputation for being pretty efficient with RAM, and I think the extra flash is potentially more useful.  I\'ve had a iPaq with 32 meg flash for a while, running the handhelds.org Linux, and it\'s pretty cramped.  Of course, I also have the memory of running Linux on a 386 with 4 megs \'back in the day\'  
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DinoZaurus

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2004, 10:53:02 pm »
Quote
Side note that just occurs to me due to another thread that just started.

All 5600 are NOT created equal.  It was originaly released with a pxa250 xscale, which had a serious design flaw, making it slower that the old 5500.  Very bad.  This was Intel\'s fault, not Sharp\'s.

Anyway, Almost a year ago now, Intel stopped all production sand sales of the pxa250 processor, in favor of the pxa255, which has been upgraded since.  (I believe the mythical 6000, should it ever come out, is supposed to have a pxa 263 or some such thing)

Anyway, many of the new sl-5600 have been upgraded (without a word at all from sharp) to the pxa255 which is about twice as fast in terms of actual performance.

So, you want to look for one of 2 things, either a PXA-255 X-scale, 

OR

A an X-scale with \'C-1\' stepping.



Hi, upon reading your post,i would like to ask for some clarification about what u said:

1) How do u actually look out for thw two above mentioned things,ie. PXA-255 X-scale or x-scale with C-1 stepping? Anyway to obtain this information by checking system info??or do u need to perform surgery on the z to get the info??

any advise is highly appreciated!
thanks..

regards....
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VeeDubb

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2004, 03:02:27 am »
Dino, sadly, there is noeasy way to tell unless the seller tells you so.  Im sure that it would be possible to find out the manufacturing date fromt he serial number, but I don\'t know how and I dont know thatsharpwould tell you, and for buying on tline that\'s not much help.

Come to think of it now, I have to agree with lardman.  Get the 5500.

There are a lot more ROM\'s that play nice with the 5500 than the 5600, and if you install a rom witha a 64/0 split like OZ which runs oh so nice on the 5500, then you\'ve got double the ram of the 5600, and your odds of successfully purchasing a 5600 with a pxa255 are pretty slim if you don\'t already know some better way to check.

Of course, once you have the unit in your hands it should be \'eas\' to check, and buy easy, i mea you should be able to install software that will let you access the cpu stepping from the console andfind out if it\'s C1 or not.  (c1 means it\'s the good one)
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Anonymous

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2004, 09:24:50 pm »
Well I got mine from Amazon and it looks like I have the 250. Any advice? Bummer. I have never messed with Amazon before. I wish I had gotten the 5500 now.
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meangene

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5600 or 5500? Which one to buy?
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2004, 09:49:46 pm »
The box will clearly tell you if it has the PXA255 processor.  Did it ship from Amazon\'s warehouse in Kentucky?  That\'s where my SL-5600 with a PXA-255 shipped from.
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