I'd Like To Buy A C1000 But

[Henri]

Hi,

I'm French and very interested in Zaurus. I've seen some models on internet, and it seems C1000 is almost good.

Is it easy to type on the keyboard ? I would like like to buy it for this, with word processor.  C1000 is it good for it or have I to prefer another model of Zaurus  with bigger keyboard ?

Do you think Zaurus computers are always good computers nowadays, in front of Ipod Touch etc ?  If the Zaurus is out of order one day, will I be  able to find pieces easily for it ?

Thank you really much

Cordially

[scottlfa]

Better in alot of was than the touch, iPod is a niche device where as the Z is more of a broad coverage device.

The C1K is a robust machine, keyboard is one the best around.  It needs care in setup though, far from being ready out of the box for most users.  It could be considered a very low end umpc IMHO.

[craigtyson]

I guess it depends what you are doing with it.  I use mine for taking minuets in meetings which it is great at, but I wouldnt like to write a book / essay on it.

Couple of things to think about though.  Its got a qwerty keyboard and so may take some getting used to if you use the French layout on your PC.  Accessing accented charicters is not easy without using the stylus and unlike the PSION which i used to have, printing out is not supported from the stock ROMS or their derivativs without some hastle and or transfer to another device.

[the_oak]

I just sold my C1000 on eBay. Not because of the keyboard. That keyboard is much easier to use than the 6000's keyboard (I kept my 6000). I had to part with it because the screen size was too small for my vision. If it weren't for that, I would have kept it. Cacko ROM is really nice and pretty much all-purpose. A new version of pdaXrom is also in development. (I never tried the older versions, since this new one is coming up.)That will probably be the crowning touch for the C1000.

Unless your vision is an obstacle, I don't think you will regret the C1000. (Love that 128 MB of internal memory.) But as craigtyson says, using it as a word processor depends on how large of a document you will be typing.

[sdjf]

It depends on how fast you type.  If you are a 100 word per minute person, that's impossible on the Z's small keyboard.

But you could consider getting an external portable full-size keyboard to attach when you have heavy duty typing to do.

The touch of the keyboard also can make a difference.  But you asked about word processor.  It depends on what features in  a word processor you want, so if you list those, folks can say which editing software would fit your desires.

I like Zeditor, it's great, but I don't know if it's been ported for C1000.

If you want to share "doc" files with a PC, you may need to install some software other than whatever comes with the C1000 you get.

But I use my Z's to do everything, including website design, so it can be done if you want. sdjf

[the_oak]

Zeditor is available for the C1000. I had it installed on mine. It worked great. The only editor I ever used. I think I got it from the cacko feeds at:

http://www.zaurususergroup.org/feed/

[Capn_Fish]

You CAN get OpenOffice on the Z (using Debian), but it is insanely slow to start up (1-3 minutes, IIRC). After that it's mostly usable (from my quick tests at least, with no fancy formatting, images, etc.).

AbiWord works well, too.

Note that both of these suggestions are for distros other than Sharp/Cacko.

[nilch]

Hi,
Do you think Zaurus computers are always good computers nowadays, in front of Ipod Touch etc ?  If the Zaurus is out of order one day, will I be  able to find pieces easily for it ?

If you are looking for something more modern in interface design and all that (as you compared with iTouch), then do not consider the Zaurus.
The Zaurus is very much limited in its traditional stylus oriented computer paradigm'ed interface.

Finger touch sensitivity or finger friendly menus are not what the Zaurus is for. Inertial scrolling is not what the Zaurus is for. Good multimedia playback is not what the Zaurus is for. Primarily the Zaurus is a good pocket computer.

As for the parts and all - you know that the Zaurus has been discontinued/not supported by Sharp anymore. So eBay is your only hope for parts or for replacement etc.
And frankly as a long time Zaurus user - I feel the Zaurus ecosystem has slowed down a lot - in terms of new software for it.
Unless you really want a Zaurus for what it does best - you have more alternatives now than the Zaurus - specially if you want to hold it in the light of iTouch/iPhone comparison.

[Ragnorok]

Primarily the Zaurus is a good pocket computer.

- Precisely.  It's an all-purpose system that's slightly larger than a pack of cards ... jack of all trades and master of none.  If maximum flexibility to configure the system to work as you like, and fiddling with how things work and/or are done, then the Zaurus simply can't be beat.  If you are willing to invest the time and energy there is very little a Zaurus can't be made to do.  Likewise, if someone else hasn't invested the time and energy already there's very little the Zaurus will do with a simple install and launch.  Fortunately most of the big bases are covered, like PIM and general "office" kinds of apps.

Unless you really want a Zaurus for what it does best - you have more alternatives now than the Zaurus

- This is true of any computer.  If you want what it does then get it.  If it doesn't, look further.  There are no alternatives to what the Zaurus does, however, particularly in this size and form factor.  Absolutely none.

specially if you want to hold it in the light of iTouch/iPhone comparison.

- Most especially nothing by Apple does what a Z does, given that app development is a serious PITA and Dictator For Life Jobs can jerk your iPhone product from his one and only distribution channel whenever the whim strikes him.  No, not a Z at all.  I have a Zaurus.  I will never own an iPhone.
- If you want it to "just work", however, iPhone may be a good choice for you.  I prefer flexibility and the freedom to do what I want with hardware I've paid for.  That's the tradeoff ... live in the Jobs Cage and have it "just work" (as long as "work" is only the way DFL Jobs decrees it will work), live in the M$ Cage and have some flexibility at the expense of performance and stability, or spend time learning how and why the system functions like it does and make it "just work" exactly the way you want to.  Then there's Palm, which is a DOS-level operating system that I wouldn't even consider a valid paper weight.  (smirk)  I'm not aware of any other choices.

- Was that a rant?  Bad Rags (brown-eyed puppy dog look)...

[speculatrix]

although Sharp declared end of production 18 months ago, they still seem to be making them according to Trisoft.

the Zaurus is a cult classic, very flexible, very capable. this means that you can do far more with it than the original maker intended, but on the other hand you are dependent on this community (which is an excellent source of help) for support. the Z is also a great learning device if you want to learn about linux and experiment, possibly learn write command-line scripts and programs or even write GUI apps in GTK or QT.

The default distro from Sharp was designed only for running their electronic dictionary package, so you can upgrade to Cacko and get a bunch of new features whilst maintaining backwards compatibility. If you want to to be a bit more bold, pdaXrom is pretty comprehensive. Angstrom and Debian are for more hard-core hacker types.

With a big memory card (4GB is possible using Cacko) it will hold a fair amount of mp3 files and/or a bit of video - with care you can re-encode a video to squeeze it into the right format to watch on the zaurus's VGA screen.

So, yes, the C1000 will allow you to basic word processing or advanced plain text editing, but to get the most out if you need to invest some time.

There are two key weaknesses:
* lack of built-in wifi or bluetooth (so you have to use the CF slot for an adaptor)
* you have to be careful to not waste RAM or ROM in the 1000; note that the 3x00 series have an internal microdrive (a compact flash interface) giving you a lot more storage.