Which Rom To Use? Which Is Best? Why?

[TonyOlsen]

I'm thinking of making the big switch from my QTopia ROM to another ROM (possibly pdaXrom) so that I can run Thunderbird, Firefox, etc...

But this isn't a decision to be made casually, especially I thought I've heard of people making bricks out of their Zaurii by performing the ROM installation incorrectly.

So, what ROM is the best and why?

Which ROM offers the most Linux capability and looks and behaves the most like a full Linux desktop counterpart?  KDE looks pretty cool, but I'm guessing they don't have that for the Zaurus yet...

Do any of the ROMs run OpenOffice?  Which ones can run Mozilla's Thunderbird and Firefox?

Let the battle begin!    

[nathanwms]

Though I am a Cacko-ite and voted as such, each Rom has it's own benefits that appeal to a broad spectrum of people.  I have found that as my needs change and the way I desire to use my Z changes I am paying more attention to the pdaXrom development.  Who knows, I may jump ship one day and swim in those waters.  The thing I love is that with a CF card and a little time, I can change Roms and treat myself to a whole new experience...anytime I feel like it.

[w14]

I won't actually register a vote here, because there is no best rom. This weeks best is next weeks also ran. Its amazing the amount of development going on at the moment. Very cool!

I would put a negative vote against tkcROM if I could, not because its crap, which it isn't, but just because it isn't actively developed any more.

When I had my 5500, OZ was by far and away the best rom I tried on it. But things may have changed since then.

On the c7x0, Cacko 1.22 lite or pdaxrom are the ones I have most experience of. I'm currently using pdaxrom, only because I got bored of the qtopia user interface. I like the customisability of X. I looked at GPE, but I wasn't sure which, if any, applications would work on there outside of those supplied in the feed.

After quite a short period of experimentation, it was clear that I could do everything on pdaxrom that I was doing with my Z using Cacko 1.22 lite. So that's my day to day rom at the moment and I'm happy as the proverbial pig in sh**.

By the way, should you not list Watapon on there?

Mike.

[Sirius Black]

Can you overwrite the ROM in your handheld with another, or do you have to uninstall the ROM in your handheld and then install the new one.
If I am not a developer (yet) do I need to change Rom or I can do just fine with what I have, why do I will want to change ROM's, I am using ROm V 1.01 JP and Qtopia V 1.5.4.

TIA

[Meanie]

I'm thinking of making the big switch from my QTopia ROM to another ROM (possibly pdaXrom) so that I can run Thunderbird, Firefox, etc...

But this isn't a decision to be made casually, especially I thought I've heard of people making bricks out of their Zaurii by performing the ROM installation incorrectly.

So, what ROM is the best and why?

Which ROM offers the most Linux capability and looks and behaves the most like a full Linux desktop counterpart?  KDE looks pretty cool, but I'm guessing they don't have that for the Zaurus yet...

Do any of the ROMs run OpenOffice?  Which ones can run Mozilla's Thunderbird and Firefox?

Let the battle begin!   
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=77913\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

You can use Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice without switching ROM. That's what I am doing on my stock Sharp ROM. For details have a look at my website.

As per this thread, I agree that there is no best ROM. They all depend on individual's needs.  Switching ROMs is like wiping your whole OS on a PC and reinstalling from scratch which has put me off cause it also destroys your partitions and files. This probably is not a problem for most Zauri since they don't have a harddisk to worry about, but on the C3000 this is a nightmare. Just my 5c

[TonyOlsen]

I won't actually register a vote here, because there is no best rom. This weeks best is next weeks also ran. Its amazing the amount of development going on at the moment. Very cool!

I would put a negative vote against tkcROM if I could, not because its crap, which it isn't, but just because it isn't actively developed any more.

When I had my 5500, OZ was by far and away the best rom I tried on it. But things may have changed since then.

On the c7x0, Cacko 1.22 lite or pdaxrom are the ones I have most experience of. I'm currently using pdaxrom, only because I got bored of the qtopia user interface. I like the customisability of X. I looked at GPE, but I wasn't sure which, if any, applications would work on there outside of those supplied in the feed.

After quite a short period of experimentation, it was clear that I could do everything on pdaxrom that I was doing with my Z using Cacko 1.22 lite. So that's my day to day rom at the moment and I'm happy as the proverbial pig in sh**.

By the way, should you not list Watapon on there?

Mike.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=77921\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I've never heard of Watapon before.

I'm confused... I thought Cacko and PdaXRom were both different ROMs.  If so, then how can you have Cacko "on" pdaXrom?  (I must not understand what pdaXrom is....)  Is Cacko just a desktop environment (like KDE for knoppix?), and pdaXrom is the linux and libraries underneath?

[TonyOlsen]

I'm thinking of making the big switch from my QTopia ROM to another ROM (possibly pdaXrom) so that I can run Thunderbird, Firefox, etc...

But this isn't a decision to be made casually, especially I thought I've heard of people making bricks out of their Zaurii by performing the ROM installation incorrectly.

So, what ROM is the best and why?

Which ROM offers the most Linux capability and looks and behaves the most like a full Linux desktop counterpart?  KDE looks pretty cool, but I'm guessing they don't have that for the Zaurus yet...

Do any of the ROMs run OpenOffice?  Which ones can run Mozilla's Thunderbird and Firefox?

Let the battle begin!   
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

You can use Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice without switching ROM. That's what I am doing on my stock Sharp ROM. For details have a look at my website.

As per this thread, I agree that there is no best ROM. They all depend on individual's needs.  Switching ROMs is like wiping your whole OS on a PC and reinstalling from scratch which has put me off cause it also destroys your partitions and files. This probably is not a problem for most Zauri since they don't have a harddisk to worry about, but on the C3000 this is a nightmare. Just my 5c
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=77954\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Thanks for the link.  I'm reading [a href=\"http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/]http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/[/url] with great anticipation on how to install OpenOffice and Firefox/Thunderbird on my QTopia.  Thanks.  

[TonyOlsen]

Meanie, your website is truly awesome!   Thanks for a great contribution to the Zaurus community!

[davidmcnaught16]

I fully agree - Meanie - you are a legend!  I don't have the first clue about linux, so all those command lines look  scary, but I'll certainly have to try xQT and Openoffice etc! (Never had any success with getting xQT to work with anything in the past!)   You should get together with some other clever people and make a way for thick people like me to easily install openoffice, firefox, thunderbird etc from an IPK - I'm sure a good few people would pay for it!

Why don't Sharp include ways to do all this stuff simply in their default Rom?