Author Topic: Probably A Stupid Question (Read 5653 times)

Ferret-Simpson · « **on:** February 16, 2006, 08:27:06 am »

Â£400 to Â£500. ebay UK have them at that price, and I am of course referring to the SL-C3100, New and converted to English OS.

You see, my SL-5600 is getting a bit dated. It's buggy processor is slow, and it can't run the most uptodate software. It only has one IO socket, so If I get an icuiti, I won't be able to run it at the same time as a network. Memory for it is Expensive, and pretty unpredictable as far as reliability goes.

The thing is, I could get a full laptop for 400 to 500 quid, these day's I could get a pretty good laptop for that. If I buy a 3100, I'm going to have to wait another 3 months before I can get my TabletPC. My other option, is an updated iPaq. There's no keyboard, and no internal harddisk, but there's ttwice as much memory, and more than 200mhz extra on the old processing speed, but it's hard to get linux running on it.

You're all zaurus zealots, so You'll probably MOSTLY tell me it's definately worth it, and how great it is, but I guess I need to know why. Student budget, already got an SL-5600, is there much cause to update?

Mjolinor · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2006, 09:36:29 am »

I've tried all sorts of Palm and Pocket PC devices and dropped them all for an Ipaq with Linux on but not as quickly as I dropped the Ipaq for a Zaurus. There really is no comparison. Currently I have a 5000 an 860 and 2 X 3000. The only one I would sell at this stage is the 5000.

I've never had a 3100 but don't really see any advantage over a 3000 anyway particularly as I took the microdrive out and put a flash card in instead.

It really doesn't matter how fast the processor s are if the SW that runs on it is crap then the device is crap. Linux support for the Ipaq is still (I think) really only for the older models with a lot of headaches if you try to put it on newer ones.

bluedevils · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2006, 10:04:11 am »

What do you need it for? PIMs? programming? How important is pocketability? How much linux do you know or use?

If you don't carry your Z everywhere with you and you don't use it for pims, why not just buy the tablet PC first?

I have an HP rx3115 that I bought as an interim device when the 760's sound was broken. I didn't like it nearly as much, but I think that is more of culture shock. I *do* appreciate that it has built in wifi and bluetooth in a much smaller package and it has very good battery life (compared to the Z). Still it is now relegated to being a glorified alarm clock.

I can overclock the 3100 up to 600MHz and only lose battery life. The 64MB of ram can be offset somewhat with a swapfile on the hard drive. The functionality I get from all the Z freeware is so much more than the hp. A friend of mine spent $50 to get a decent explorer for his dell x50v. And it looked and behaved like tree explorer!

To upgrade on a student's budget? How much do you rely on your current Z? If it is *essential* to your school work then yes. the vga,hdd and usb host are worth it. If you're using it for side projects or entertainment, then no. You will get more return for your money on the tablet pc.

DoTheDog · « **Reply #3 on:** February 17, 2006, 11:00:22 pm »

I concur with Bluedevils. It all depends on what you want to use it for. The question I have is 400-500 GBP seems awefully high. You can get one from conics.net for USD 588.70 with $50 shipping. Even with VAT you should be better off. And they will do the English conversion for you. You can also check pricejapan.com. They list it at \57,000 Yen or about USD 475. Anyway/ might be worth checking out.

tombraider · « **Reply #4 on:** February 18, 2006, 02:33:28 pm »

Get the TabletPC. I just have a C1000 so I can't comment on the 3100 or 3000, but to me there isn't much difference between the software I can run on my SL-5500 and the software I can run on my C1000. In fact, since most of the Z software is very old, it runs better on my 5500 than on the newer device. For instance, with the Cacko ROM on my C1000, I get a black screen for about 4 or 5 seconds before the old apps will even start up; either that or they don't scale to the landscape screen properly.

JMHO

Quote

Â£400 to Â£500. ebay UK have them at that price, and I am of course referring to the SL-C3100, New and converted to English OS.

You see, my SL-5600 is getting a bit dated. It's buggy processor is slow, and it can't run the most uptodate software. It only has one IO socket, so If I get an icuiti, I won't be able to run it at the same time as a network. Memory for it is Expensive, and pretty unpredictable as far as reliability goes.

The thing is, I could get a full laptop for 400 to 500 quid, these day's I could get a pretty good laptop for that. If I buy a 3100, I'm going to have to wait another 3 months before I can get my TabletPC. My other option, is an updated iPaq. There's no keyboard, and no internal harddisk, but there's ttwice as much memory, and more than 200mhz extra on the old processing speed, but it's hard to get linux running on it.

You're all zaurus zealots, so You'll probably MOSTLY tell me it's definately worth it, and how great it is, but I guess I need to know why. Student budget, already got an SL-5600, is there much cause to update?
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adf · « **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2006, 06:06:33 pm »

Bluedevils pretty much hit it on the head. It depends on what you wanrt to do.

Re other issues (like updated software). I use pdaxrom..and most of that would be pretty hard to use on a 5500 (like firefox with an mplayer plugin). The software is pretty new, etc. I expect this holds true of OZ and the cacko stuff actrually developed for or ported specifically to cacko.

I usually have desktop computer access somewhere, so the pocketablilty of the Z weighs in pretty heavily with me. I also keep a server up at home and hosted webspace, so the z is able to connect to lager and more powerful systems and storage when needed.

Look at pricejapan or other importers (flashing tp pdaxrom aint hard) if you want a z.... and consider putting the savings towrd a refurb desktop ( a good p3 can be had cheap...and so can a huge ide drive) If pocketability is important get a z. If luggable screen realestate and processing power is your need get a refurb laptop or new tabletpc.

Ferret-Simpson · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2006, 05:48:23 am »

Currently, I have the mother of all desktop PC's sporting somewhere around 13 processors. XD. Power is not an issue. Most of my work is done on the Z, but I get tired of the crap keyboard quite often. I want to be able to run Firefox and OpenOffice, as well as XFCE or Blackbox, because to be fair, Qtopia, Hancom office, and Opera 6 all STINK. I considered getting a USB port board for the CF slot, but they were 150 quid and only USB1.1, so I wasn't too bothered. I WILL probably be getting both, it's just a case of which one first XD. Damnit, Why can't Sharp release one with Wifi and Bluetooth built in? Mjolinor, you took the HDD out and put in a flash card? So the HDD takes up the CF slot? Or is there a second slot internally for it? I need all the port sockets I can get, because I use Bluetooth and a CF GPRS, not to mention I'm drooling over the Icuiti. . . If The HDD takes up the CF slot, then sod it, I'll get a cheaper Z, such as the 1000 (It as OTG aswell, right?)

bluedevils · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2006, 10:38:13 am »

- hdd for 3100/3000 is internal. You still have one external cf slot to use.

- YMMV, but I find apps like openoffice using debian and xqt are extremely slow to startup. Unusuable for me. I thought I remember a thread that pdaxrom doesn't have openoffice. I could be wrong.

- I enjoy the keyboard on the clamshells much more than the 6000 or 5500. USB keyboard helps, but you will need to readjust the keymappings (the default is the same as the Z's keyboard).

Ferret-Simpson · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2006, 02:13:49 pm »

>- YMMV, but I find apps like openoffice using debian and xqt are extremely slow to startup. >Unusuable for me. I thought I remember a thread that pdaxrom doesn't have openoffice. I >could be wrong.

If i need to I'll damn well recompile it myself XD That way I could get Openoffice 2.0, which was my next question.

>- I enjoy the keyboard on the clamshells much more than the 6000 or 5500. USB keyboard >helps, but you will need to readjust the keymappings (the default is the same as the Z's >keyboard).

I also found a USB-VGA adaptor that people have tested working. . .

I'm going to be the geekiest bloke on the planet.
SLC-3100
Ambicom RTM-8000
Sun Type 6 USB (best hacking keyboard. EVAR! ^^ cept for type 5c, but that's hard to do)
Full TFT screen, in 640x480 res.
I'm considering a CD-RW, but i think that might be TOO geeky. Oh, but I'm DEFINATELY getting a webcam ^^

bluedevils · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2006, 04:00:03 pm »

openoffice pdaxrom work

Antikx · « **Reply #10 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:15:15 am »

Quote

I also found a USB-VGA adaptor that people have tested working. . .

Tell us more, please.

Ferret-Simpson · « **Reply #11 on:** February 24, 2006, 09:21:03 am »

Quote

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I also found a USB-VGA adaptor that people have tested working. . .

Tell us more, please.
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[a href=\"http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/]http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/[/url]

Ferret-Simpson · « **Reply #12 on:** February 24, 2006, 09:51:44 am »

I'm guessing that porting openoffice 2.01 to Zaurus/X is going to take more than just recompiling in a cross compiler. XD

Yasee, I'm not sure I can be assed with all that work for an out-of-date version of the program. (One of those who was using openoffice 2.0 from the first beta)

I wish I was better at coding, otherwise I'd just port it myself.

bluedevils · « **Reply #13 on:** February 24, 2006, 10:17:10 am »

and porting that would be *greatly* appreciated by many pdxrom users.

Antikx · « **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:47:10 pm »

Quote

Quote
Quote
I also found a USB-VGA adaptor that people have tested working. . .

Tell us more, please.
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

[a href=\"http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/]http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/[/url]
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=115976\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

ahhh. Meanie, yes. I've kept up on his progress. I thought perhaps you had a new source of info. Sorry.

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Author Topic: Probably A Stupid Question (Read 5653 times)