Best Rom For 5500

[jedeye]

Hi,

I have just bought a second hand 5500 and would rather use an open source ROM on it.

My three questions are:

1) Which ROM will run best (smoothest/fastest) on the 5500, and is best suited for use with the 5500?

2) With the opensource ROM's, can you still run all Zaurus software designed to run with the sharp ROM?

3) Is there a version of pdaXrom for the 5500, and does it run very fast. If there is a version, will it allow me to run apps like Gimp on the 5500.


Thanks for any replys.
 

P.S. Great forum, and the Zaurus seems to have a great community.

[ken]

1) Which ROM will run best (smoothest/fastest) on the 5500, and is best suited for use with the 5500?

personally, I find the tkcrom works pretty well.  I updated to the latest sharp, then updated to the latest tkc

2) With the opensource ROM's, can you still run all Zaurus software designed to run with the sharp ROM?

OZ uses *only* the oz feeds.  sharp/tkcrom uses non-oz-feed ipk stuff.

3) Is there a version of pdaXrom for the 5500, and does it run very fast. If there is a version, will it allow me to run apps like Gimp on the 5500.

afaik not yet.  there's rumors of a beta being in the works, but if it is, I wouldn't hold my breath.  Things take time.

[Mickeyl]

I have no idea what the 'best' image for you would be, but the only open source images are pdaXrom and OpenZaurus. Try both in all flavours (i.e. Opie and GPE for OZ) and then judge.

You may even want to join the developer team, if you like one of the alternatives...

[lpotter]

There is also a rom image of qtopia 2.1.1 at qtopia.net - very soon to be updated to 2.1.2

[jedeye]

2) With the opensource ROM's, can you still run all Zaurus software designed to run with the sharp ROM?

OZ uses *only* the oz feeds.  sharp/tkcrom uses non-oz-feed ipk stuff.
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Does this mean that if i use Open Zaurus I cannot use any of the software listed in the [a href=\"http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/]Zaurus Software Index[/url]



Also with the sharp ROM, does it come with terminal.


Cheers, and thanks for the replys

[Mickeyl]

Does this mean that if i use Open Zaurus I cannot use any of the software listed in the Zaurus Software Index

That's correct. It doesn't matter too much though, because

* 80% of the packages in that index are one or more of { missing, badly packaged, hardly working, compiled with outdated tools, illegal, and - which is really the most serious problem - unmaintained and abandonded }.

* 95% of the open source software mentioned in these archive is available through the OpenZaurus feed. If you miss a package, notify us.

[ken]

* 80% of the packages in that index are one or more of { missing, badly packaged,

actually the problem is it can't be updated.  Except by killefiz, who is absent from the scene at this time.  Use killefiz to search for what you want, then use elsix.org to grab it.  I've been updating the files on elsix, so you may have decent luck finding it there, once you know what you want.

I've been pleasantly surprised to find a number of those packages are still alive and being developed.  A number of issues deal with changes in home pages, etc.

[jedeye]

Does this mean that if i use Open Zaurus I cannot use any of the software listed in the Zaurus Software Index

That's correct. It doesn't matter too much though, because

* 80% of the packages in that index are one or more of { missing, badly packaged, hardly working, compiled with outdated tools, illegal, and - which is really the most serious problem - unmaintained and abandonded }.

* 95% of the open source software mentioned in these archive is available through the OpenZaurus feed. If you miss a package, notify us.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=87905\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

So to get this right (for my small brain) most of the software in the software index is avalible for use on open zaurus through feeds (which are a bit like yum and rpm's). Or most of the software in the index is crap, and better software which does the same things is avalible on open zaurus.

Really i am interested in programs like a pascal compiler, apache mysql and php servers, java compiler and html editor, plus quake if i am lucky. Am i likely to get these for openzaurus because if I have the choice i would much rather use and support an open source project.

And one last question, do any of the ROM's support the sandisk connect plus wifi cf card straight out of the box.

Thanks for the reply Mickey

Jedeye

P.S. Is there a link to somewhere where I can browse the apps avalible in the OZ feed.

[jedeye]

* 80% of the packages in that index are one or more of { missing, badly packaged,

actually the problem is it can't be updated.  Except by killefiz, who is absent from the scene at this time.  Use killefiz to search for what you want, then use elsix.org to grab it.  I've been updating the files on elsix, so you may have decent luck finding it there, once you know what you want.

I've been pleasantly surprised to find a number of those packages are still alive and being developed.  A number of issues deal with changes in home pages, etc.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=87912\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Thanks for the reply ken.

Does the software on elsix.org work with open zaurus or is this also for the sharp rom

[ken]

Does the software on elsix.org work with open zaurus or is this also for the sharp rom

essentially only for the sharp rom.  If you use OZ, you *must* use the oz feeds, and not the other things.  You can use elsix/killefiz to look at what you're interested in, but you must *only* use oz for those packages.

There's a few things that haven't made it to OZ yet in terms of updates (it's probably just a matter of time), like zbedic.  It's a few versions back, which for me would make me unhappy.  For most it probably isn't a big issue.

[ken]

Really i am interested in programs like a pascal compiler, apache mysql and php servers, java compiler and html editor, plus quake if i am lucky. Am i likely to get

I think there shouldn't be a problem in either sharp or OZ for apache, mysql, php, and the html editor.  I believe I saw a pascal compiler on the sharp rom, although I'm not sure how useful it is.  java should be on both platforms.  quake I think I saw on the sharp rom.

[lpotter]

Does this mean that if i use Open Zaurus I cannot use any of the software listed in the Zaurus Software Index

That's correct. It doesn't matter too much though, because

* 80% of the packages in that index are one or more of { missing, badly packaged, hardly working, compiled with outdated tools, illegal, and - which is really the most serious problem - unmaintained and abandonded }.

* 95% of the open source software mentioned in these archive is available through the OpenZaurus feed. If you miss a package, notify us.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=87905\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

So to get this right (for my small brain) most of the software in the software index is avalible for use on open zaurus through feeds (which are a bit like yum and rpm's). Or most of the software in the index is crap, and better software which does the same things is avalible on open zaurus.

Really i am interested in programs like a pascal compiler, apache mysql and php servers, java compiler and html editor, plus quake if i am lucky. Am i likely to get these for openzaurus because if I have the choice i would much rather use and support an open source project.

And one last question, do any of the ROM's support the sandisk connect plus wifi cf card straight out of the box.

Thanks for the reply Mickey

Jedeye

P.S. Is there a link to somewhere where I can browse the apps avalible in the OZ feed.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=87913\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Actually, the current OZ made itself incompatible with everything else out there, and sadly, this actually does matter...

The qtopia 2.1.1 rom is compatible with existing applications.  Just waiting for the 2.1.2 release, so I can update the rom over there. It even comes with fullscreen input method, which you won't find anywhere else except the X11 based romimages.

[Mickeyl]

So to get this right (for my small brain) most of the software in the software index is avalible for use on open zaurus through feeds (which are a bit like yum and rpm's).

Exactly.

P.S. Is there a link to somewhere where I can browse the apps avalible in the OZ feed.

Sure, see http://openzaurus.org/official/unstable/3.5.3/feed
It isn't a sophisticated interface, but you'll see what's there and what not.

[jedeye]

When looking on the elsix.org website, and I click on "Download the latest release" for any given software, it then gives me an option for OZ. If after clicking the OZ option, and it says "All the required libraries are accounted for." does this mean that the software is avalible for OZ, and I can then download it from the feed or elsix.org?

Cheers for all the replys, they have been more than helpful.

 

[ken]

When looking on the elsix.org website, and I click on "Download the latest release" for any given software, it then gives me an option for OZ. If after clicking the OZ option, and it says "All the required libraries are accounted for." does this mean that the software is avalible for OZ, and I can then download it from the feed or elsix.org?

nope.  the only place you can get packages for oz is in the oz feeds.  the use of elsix is so you can read what those packages do, not to grab it from there.