Overview Of Distributions (roms) For Newbies

[jan]

Hi,
I'm relatively new to the Zaurus community, I'll receive my first Zaurus SL-C860 plus Wifi CF next Monday.

Typical newbie thoughs: "Choosing the hardware was tough, but at least the options are limited here. Now it comes to choosing software, unlimited options: Oops! OK, I need to start somewhere. I don't want to live with Sharp's ROM forever. I want more and better applications but stable. As a linux user I expect bash and X but of course I want a PDA like environment, too. And once I started using it I can't break compatibility with my data...."

Surfing the net it's really hard to get an idea of the pros and cons and what's good for me. I'll probably try cacko, then OZ/Opie but there's much more. I think what's really missing is good comparision of ROMs and feeds. (Does anyone object calling them distributions?) I tried collecting what I read on the wiki:

Wiki: Distributions

Please correct and extend the page. Remeber it's intended for new and potential users not long term power users. I want to keep the page model independet because most software is available for all models. I'm mainly interested in the table in section Applications on the bottom. (I want to read this table as "What 's the browser used in distro X?" or "How well is Y suited for PIM?") Anything above is intended to make things understandable for a general audience.

What do you think about the idea?

[brashley46]

As a still-relatively-newbie myself, I think it's a great idea. All the essentials about all the ROMs in one place, including which models they work on, installation/flash methods, software compatibility, etc. ... however as we are almost all essentially *hobbyists* with these devices, it would take a whole bunch of effort. Who's prepared to put all the effort in, especially considering we have at least 4 different software repositories to mine?

Hi,
I'm relatively new to the Zaurus community, I'll receive my first Zaurus SL-C860 plus Wifi CF next Monday.

Typical newbie thoughs: "Choosing the hardware was tough, but at least the options are limited here. Now it comes to choosing software, unlimited options: Oops! OK, I need to start somewhere. I don't want to live with Sharp's ROM forever. I want more and better applications but stable. As a linux user I expect bash and X but of course I want a PDA like environment, too. And once I started using it I can't break compatibility with my data...."

Surfing the net it's really hard to get an idea of the pros and cons and what's good for me. I'll probably try cacko, then OZ/Opie but there's much more. I think what's really missing is good comparision of ROMs and feeds. (Does anyone object calling them distributions?) I tried collecting what I read on the wiki:

Wiki: Distributions

Please correct and extend the page. Remeber it's intended for new and potential users not long term power users. I want to keep the page model independet because most software is available for all models. I'm mainly interested in the table in section Applications on the bottom. (I want to read this table as "What 's the browser used in distro X?" or "How well is Y suited for PIM?") Anything above is intended to make things understandable for a general audience.

What do you think about the idea?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=114460\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

[jan]

As a still-relatively-newbie myself, I think it's a great idea. All the essentials about all the ROMs in one place, including which models they work on, installation/flash methods, software compatibility, etc. ... however as we are almost all essentially *hobbyists* with these devices, it would take a whole bunch of effort. Who's prepared to put all the effort in, especially considering we have at least 4 different software repositories to mine?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=114511\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

You are absolutely right. However I think many Zaurus user do invest a whole bunch of time mining software repositories anyways, at least I will because I really need to impress some people still undecided between M$ Windoze Mobile and maybe Zaurus. And people did write web pages and forum posts comparing distros before, just that most of it is model specific and outdated.

Personally I will try at least OZ/OPIE and Cacko for let's say a week each. I should be able to wirte somewhat of a summary afterwards.

Jan

[bluedevils]

I think it needs to be added here.  There is info already there, but a unified writeup might be good.

zaurususergroup is my friend

[bam]

I think its a matter of tastes, but more info is better than less info, I have done stock, pdaxrom and cacko. Stock, eh, not great, cacko is what stock should be, and pdaxrom is nothing but incredible, havent played with openzaurus yet, but might soon, not sure gotta do more research first.

pdaXrom, big plus, there are alot of people compiling programs for it, I figure its the fastest growing of all the software(rom builds) out there. As for windows managers there are blackbox, fluxbox, matchboc, xfce4, e17, icewm and a few others.

cacko, is what the stock should be, and if you want to run x-apps too there is meanies X/Qt packages(just amazing), a few windows managers for this as well. you can run debian pocketworkstation in dual boot mode or in x/qt.

openzaurus, i hear that they are tring to get thew 2.6 kernel running and all the bugs ironed out, heck maybe they have already done it, again I have to do more research.


oops my bad, OpenBSD, not sure about this, but hear that its more configurable than linux, which is not an easy task(warning: not for beginners, thats why I havent played yet...)

again this is what I observe, opinions may vary, and there is a ton of info out there to make a decision. But dont forget, its the journey that counts, not the destination, discovery is a wonderful thing.