Breathing Life Into An Old Z

[omro]

Hey guys,

I have a C1000 with a 1gb SD and a 256mb CF.

I'm desperate to give my Z new life. I love all these new UMPCs and I've even got one (though it's rather large really with a 7" display), but they are big, clunky, limited battery life and XP takes a good age to boot up or come out of hibernation.

I still take my Z places, switch it on (instantly), two taps and I have the app I need open. Plus it's way easier to type a little note or email on a crowded commuter train with your Z in your hands using your thumbs than with my UMPC needing a lap. lol

So what's the best thing to suggest? Stick with Cacko?

Or is there *finally* a similarly stable and responsive alternative?

Killer and essential apps:

Word processor
Spreadsheet
Web browser
PDF viewer

I've tried the pdaXii and all credit due it's very nice, but wasn't quite to my taste.

I think I need something a little more lightweight. Think Z for a mac user.... it just has to work ;-)

[Capn_Fish]

How about trying out pdaXrom (r198) with a lightweight WM*? It's fast, stable, and fairly recent.

Word processor- Abiword (A little slow to boot, but fine after that)
Spreadsheet- Gnumeric (same as above)
Web browser- Many choices, none too great. Dillo is nice (light, tabs, Javascript, bad-ish rendering), Links2 is as well (text mode or graphical). Lynx, w3m, and Firefox (too slow, IMO) are also available.
PDF viewer- EPDF with Poppler works well (relatively quick, not too quirky)

HTH.

*Fluxbox, Blackbox, IceWM, EvilWM (great choice, especially my hacked version), etc.

[ZDevil]

I love all these new UMPCs and I've even got one (though it's rather large really with a 7" display), but they are big, clunky, limited battery life and XP takes a good age to boot up or come out of hibernation.

This is not true!    I've been using my Eee PC 701 (now loading full xubuntu) for a couple of weeks, I am just sold to this little beast.
Size & weight: it's not bulky at all. Just like a 400-page hardcover. True, a bigger screen adds to your load, but the real estate gain is what the handhelds inherently cannot offer. I even have a hard time looking for a nice and *small enough* carrying pouch/case for my 701.  
Battery life: I can say it's just like the Z. Now I am considering getting an extended 7,800mAh battery, which will surely beat the Z in stamina test.
Booting time: Definitely faster than the Z (for all its "distros"). Booting up the stock Xandros only takes 10~15 seconds; (x)ubuntu a bit more than 30; XP around 20!  You can suspend or hibernate easily and resume is quick.
Functionality: Eee PC (and any other UMPCs) brings so much more to the table: hardware driver support, much faster memory card bus (the speed of SD on the Z is pathetic), camera, builtin wif, three USB ports ... and ....
Price: A Eee PC 701 (4G SSD) costs just about 60~70% of the price of a new 3200!  

I still take my Z places, switch it on (instantly), two taps and I have the app I need open. Plus it's way easier to type a little note or email on a crowded commuter train with your Z in your hands using your thumbs than with my UMPC needing a lap. lol

But these apps don't really launch immediately and you still gotta wait for quite a few seconds for many of them, unless you "preload" them.
I agree that no current UMPC can replace the Z in terms of pocketablility, but I don't feel inconvenient at all typing away on my Eee PC while sitting in a train, and I can type much more and faster than using my two thumbs.

So what's the best thing to suggest? Stick with Cacko?
Or is there *finally* a similarly stable and responsive alternative?

I'd simply say Debian. It's so far the most complete and standard linux distro for the Z. I don't need to learn so many Z-(distro-)specific tweaks which are more frustrations than fun as an ordinary user.
I just take these apps for granted for any good enough distro on the Z.
Word processor: abiword
Spreadsheet: gnumeric
Web browser: Epiphany, Galeon (both way faster than Firefox); Iceweasel to be fixed (I believe it will happen anytime soon)
PDF viewer: xpdf, evince

pdaXrom does have these too, but the thing is there is no genuine package system like any other linux distro, which means there is no system and package upgrading unless either you do it yourself or you wait for the small dev team to (re)compile (and repackage) everything from the ground up. Some may not think good package repositories are that important. But what makes a good linux distro without good repos?

Forgot to add: jpmatrix told me yesterday that Google Android can now run under Debian on the Z!  

Then again, my Eee PC has become my choice machine on the road; my debianized Z is redefining its role as a mere pocket replacement in case I cannot use the Eee.

[omro]

The EEE PC is cute and cheap, but you still need to put it on your lap to operate and I don't often get that luxury. Plus people ignore what you're doing when you're sat typing away on your Z. People have an annoying way of looking at what you're doing when you're typing on a laptop or near laptop sized item.

Otherwise you make good points.

[gr8ful]

Omro,

I have desired the same thing, something to jump start my C1K.  I thought Angstrom was going to be the answer but it seems to have stalled a bit.  Maybe someone familiar with the Angstrom development can inform us on how functional is it now in comparison to Cacko.  

Another possibility I had considered was replacing my Z and my phone with the Neo 1973 phone running the Linux based OpenMoko software.  From what I understand, OpenMoko is compiled in OpenEmbedded and most of the applications you currently run under Cacko should easily recompile under OpenMoko.  This would give you a very pocketable, linux based handheld without giving up your favorite applications.  The downside is the Neo 1973 only has a 2.8 inch screen and no physical keyboard.

I'm not sure if OpenMoko (minus the phone stuff) can or will be adapted to run on a Zaurus.  If so, this could be the punch you and I are looking for.

Nate

[speculatrix]

I think OpenMoko (currently using angstrom as the core) and Android (currently using angstrom or debian as the core) are currently the most interesting things hit the zaurus... sorry pdaXrom, but I hope pdaX will make a leap ahead and catch up.

[Ragnorok]

- But will all this nifty stuff really run on a C1000 with a gig SD?  I mean, it'll run, sure, but as ZDevil pointed out, SD "performance" on a Z is right pathetic.  Perhaps it's better if you have a hard drive model and replace it with CF, but C1k owners don't have that option.  I find I'm significantly limited by that fact alone ... dog-slow SD ... so even if I put swap on the SD card the machine runs at a snail's pace.  I know last time I tried out pdaXii13 it was pretty nice, but glacially slow compared to Cacko, and not nearly as stable.  I have the latest version (or 5.4.9 I think it is) ready for me to give it another go, I liked it so much, but I'm thinking even if it's more stable it's going to be too darned slow for me to use it day in and day out.

- If one is willing to put up with significantly delays I think there are options available for the C1k.  I think if one is willing to put up with instability and possible data loss there are a bewildering array of things out there.  But if one is not willing to put with any instability, or wait 40+ seconds for an app to load, and be so starved for RAM that only one app loads at a time (I often have four or five open with Cacko), then there's not much out there other than the Sharp ROM or Cacko.

- When I say data loss, that could easily be the app's fault and not the distro, however from my standpoint (and mine alone afaik) if the PIM app (KoPI in this instance) loses data then the distro isn't viable.  Hiroshi is primarily a memory and secondarily a really cool gadget that I can futz with to my heart's desire.  If it fails to remember, even once, then it's a no-go, because I know for a fact that not only will I fail to remember, but I will fail to remember that it was ever present in the first place!  Viva la Search!!  (senile drool)

- I'd love to be missing something!!  People should feel free to point that out!

[canguy247]

- But will all this nifty stuff really run on a C1000 with a gig SD?

I have an SL-c1000 running Debian off of an SD card.  It is very fast, reliable and powerful.  Great for browsing the web, reading RSS, listening to music/podcasts....whatever.  The only thing which isn't satisfactory for me is Video playback, but I use my psp for that.  I don't doubt that the eee PC is awesome, but I use my PDA at work.  If it does not fit in my pocket it is of no use to me.  And the smaller a device is, the more likely it is that you will bring it EVERYWHERE with you.  This is where the Zaurus is irreplaceable.  I have a 16gb card that has a large reference-book and magazine collection, as well as a pile of podcasts (all of LUGRadio) etc etc.  And I still have 9gb free.  

Trust me.  I don't need much of an excuse to buy a new gadget but few devices can replace the Zaurus and none offer enough of an upgrade to be worth changing.  The next closest would be the n810 with its USB2.0, more RAM and larger screen.  Again, not enough to upgrade.

[ZDevil]

If you want good video playback perhaps you can install Cacko in NAND with tetsu's or evijazz's kernel and boot Debian off the SD which is already there. You just need to install kexec and boot into Cacko under Debian. I am about to do this really soon as I feel like having more things to play/work with. Cacko is less "powerful" but is indeed more hack-free and PDAish.

[Ragnorok]

- But will all this nifty stuff really run on a C1000 with a gig SD?

I have an SL-c1000 running Debian off of an SD card.  It is very fast, reliable and powerful.

- Wowzers!
- I'd love to get some pointers on getting that setup to work.  I'd install it this weekend and give it a go.  I only have a 1GB SD at present, however, but I presume that'll suffice.  Mayhap some good ol' fashion OESF searchin' in is order...

[johnla]

If you want good video playback perhaps you can install Cacko in NAND with tetsu's or evijazz's kernel and boot Debian off the SD which is already there. You just need to install kexec and boot into Cacko under Debian. I am about to do this really soon as I feel like having more things to play/work with. Cacko is less "powerful" but is indeed more hack-free and PDAish.

WHere can I get the Cacko NAND install with Tetsu or evijazz's kernel?

[Capn_Fish]

Unless I am mistaken, Cacko installs Tetsu's kernel by default. Cacko files can be found at Tyrannozaurus.com.

If you want EvilJazz's kernel, I have no idea.