Hi everyone,
I think I have a fairly good knowledge of linux, that is assuming a typical server which's hardware is supported by stock kernerls. I never used all those fancy things from USB to wireless. Just to let you know where I am. Next week I REALLY want to have a working Zaurus with wireless and all: Zaurus vs N770 comparision is on the schedule.
At first glance I was about to start with OZ/OPIE and drop the idea for lack of documentation. There is oefs.org wiki which seems written with poodle (and only poodle) in mind except for the model specific pages which mostly hardware related. Not good. There's openzaurus.sf.net which has some basic doc but it's scary to a newbie (like you when it says you must install Sharp stock ROM first or your Zaurus may burn in hell) and not well organized. Then, there is some good documention for the projects OE or OPIE but it's focused on development. You'll find more sources with google but there are mostly like "Look that's my zaurus. Your mileage may vary."
pdaXrom looks good. Nice web site, all in one place. Applications I know. Too good? First, I want a PDA, not a PDA trying to be a (XGA) desktop. And second, hmm, I get the feeling pdaXrom must be complicated to setup (stupid me, I worked as a system administrator). So I delayed trying pdaXrom.
Cacko. Hmm, stock ROM compatible, OPIE, good driver support. Looks like a good point to start with. Repartitioned. Flashed. Worked. Not it's getting to setting things up from usbnet (done but took me ages) to wireless (net yet). But -- no documentation at all? Is this at all possible?
I'm not blaming the developers. They did good work and probably a lot of it. I can't blame sharp because they wrote a (Japanese) manual. But something must be done about it. I volunteer. I've seen discussions about writing doc but none seems active.
What?
* The Zaurus BIOS, i.e. the Japanes or English menus you get by
Secret_Key_Combinations (found nowhere)
* using interfaces: CF, USB, Bluetooth. ("It should work" is not enough)
How?
* be general, discuss differences between models and distributions where neccessary
* be verbose, but point the user to quick solutions where available.
Theese are just my thoughts. What I have always like about FLOSS is it's great documentation. I can't write the ultimative Zaurus user manual. No one can unless (s)he's really got too much time. But we should make sure to document as much as we can. I'm trying to correct the wiki and expand it where needed. This could be done whenever a forum questions is answered. Small steps.
