Student w/out a lot of cash considering a Zaurus - lots of q

[CestusGW]

Hi everyone

I\'ve been hungrily eyeing the Zaurus line ever since I first considered a PDA (or Personal Development Assistant, as these things should be called) Right now I\'m mulling over all the options available, and having a hard time coming up with an answer for what I want to buy.

Basically, here is what I\'d want to do with any Zaurus that I buy:

#1 Have a wifi adapter so I can get internet access through any of my university\'s hotspots.
#2 Have wifi access so I can remotely control and monitor my network of other PCs through SSH.
#3 Have wifi access so I can remotely control and monitor my other PCs through VNC or just X11 (ie graphically)
#4 Be able to quickly set up \'demo\' servers for projects or work (ie: quickly get an Apache server, run some quick scripts, things of that nature)
#5 Point my IR transmitter at other people in a threatening manner (so I can do that with any old PDA .... it\'s still fun though!)
#6 Be able to do basic compilation of smallish projects with GCC, and also be able to conveniently edit as well.
#7 Keep track of names, dates, and other organizational stuff (basic PIM)

So I\'ve been looking over all of my options, and to date here\'s what I\'ve come up with:

SL 5500: Very cheap ($175US + tax + shipping), well supported at this point (been out for a while), limited RAM and slow processor

SL 5600: Much more expensive ($300US Gamble at Amazon), well supported, 50% more RAM and much quicker processor

c750/760/860: Reading on these forums, everyone seems to love them, but  it looks like it\'s quite expensive, difficult to order and ...... expensive.

SL 6000: Just too expensive (I could pick up an old SPARC server for that much!), not out yet, negative reviews vs cXXX

So from what I\'ve been reading here, having a limited cash flow would make me want to get a 5500 on merit of its price alone. But, the question then comes up: would doing any of this leave me hurting from the slower processor and reduced RAM in the 55 vs 56? Or would making up the difference in price with a good SD card and Wifi card leave me more than content for my projected use?

Thanks for any replies, and sorry for going over any old ground

[superbondbond]

I know this doesn\'t answer all of your questions, but there is some flexibility on RAM with the 5500 (and the others). I was unhappy with the limited multi-tasking abilities of the default Sharp ROM (the 64MB is split; 32 for storage and 32 for RAM).
I switched to Open Zaurus, which lets you split it in a number of ways that suit your needs. I am now giving all 64 MB for pure RAM, and install all of my software to an SD card. With that much memory, I can stream music (wirelessly), browse with Opera, have a console in the background when I need it, among other things, all at the same time.
Yeah, the Processor seems slow when compared to some of the other available units, but I find it plenty fast for my needs. I can do a heck of a lot more with this than most any other brand of PDA on the market. And for the price, you can always get one and still afford to get pleny of accessories.

Hope that helps.

[offroadgeek]

Personally I think the value of the 5500 makes it a perfect choice for you.  As superbondbond points out, you could easily switch to a different rom and have a SD card as primary storage.  

If you\'re thinking of spending any more than what a 5500 would cost, then I would recommend skipping past the 5600 and looking at the C series.  You might be able to find a used 750 or 760 for a reasonable price (still several hundred more than a 5500).  You would then benefit from the additional memory and the kick ass screen.

good luck!

[CestusGW]

Thanks for the replies all. It\'s good to hear that I can use the 64Mb onboard as straight RAM, and that the processor is still adequate for most tasks. I\'ll go out and get a 5500 now, with confidence

[derekp]

Another option with the 5500, in addition to playing with the ram split, is to run your /home mountpoint off an SD card, or even run an entire alternate rom (such as OpenZaurus) completely off the SD.  (The factory default config is to have /home on the internal ramdisk, and /usr/bin, /usr/lib, ... are symlinks into /home)
My setup is:
* TKCrom 1.0, slightly modified (using my modrom-dualboot package)
  -- supports (optional) /home on SD, and allows you to boot another distro off the SD
* Custom-compiled kernel, with a 60/4 memory/ramdisk split, and with CONFIG_FS_SYNC disabled
  -- Sharp added code to the kernel to force SD & CF media to be mounted in sync mode, which makes them safer (for random removal), but slows them down.  By turning this option off you get much faster SD card access
* OpenZaurus booted from a 256meg SD card. (created with my \"oz2sd\" package)
So, with this setup I have 60 meg ram free, I can boot up without an SD card and get 4 meg internal storage (/home) if I need to temporarily read something off another SD, or boot a standard Sharp (or sharp derived rom, in this case TKC rom 1.0) and use an SD card as internal storage, or I can shove in the SD that has OpenZaurus extracted to it and boot off it.

The \"async\" kernel is available here for download, and the packages \"modrom-dualboot\" and \"oz2sd\" are nearing their final stages (current working versions are attached to the \"dual boot\" thread in the OpenZaurus forum).  I will upload them to the main file section when I put some finishing polish on them. (modrom-dualboot will modify a standard Sharp or similar rom to support both dual boot and /home on SD, and oz2sd extracts the OpenZaurus distribution to your SD card and patches it.

[lardman]

SL 5500: Very cheap ($175US + tax + shipping), well supported at this point (been out for a while), limited RAM and slow processor

SL 5600: Much more expensive ($300US Gamble at Amazon), well supported, 50% more RAM and much quicker processor

This won\'t add much, but -WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Even in the normal Sharp ROM configuration the 5500 has the same amount of RAM as the 5600, and if you use a different ROM you can have 64Mb, whereas the 5600 only has 32MB of RAM no matter which ROM you use.


Simon

[DrWowe]

If you count the flash, then the 5600 does have more.

SL-5500: 16M flash + 64M ram = 80M total
SL-5600: 64M flash + 32M ram = 96M total

96/80 = 1.2, so its actually 20% more.

[offroadgeek]

If you count the flash, then the 5600 does have more.

I think you\'re missing Lardman\'s point - the 5600 does indeed have more total RAM, but no matter what you do, the 5600 only has 32mb RAM allocated to storage and memory.

[DrWowe]

I think you\'re missing Lardman\'s point - the 5600 does indeed have more total RAM, but no matter what you do, the 5600 only has 32mb RAM allocated to storage and memory.

I\'m not missing the point at all.  I _LIKE_ being able to store a lot of stuff in non-volatile storage, and SD cards are a pain.  Besides I used to run Linux on a 386 with 4 megs of RAM.  32megs seems spacious.  

[DrWowe]

Maybe someone should create a CF card with a few hundred megs of memory (thats DRAM, not flash).  It would make a great swap device.  

[lardman]

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! ;-)

If you count the flash, then the 5600 does have more.

But then it\'s not RAM is it? (Rhetorical question)

I think you\'re missing Lardman\'s point - the 5600 does indeed have more total RAM, but no matter what you do, the 5600 only has 32mb RAM allocated to storage and memory.

I think you have your terms mixed up - the 5600 never has more RAM, not in a purely looking-at-the-specs way, nor in a RAM-is-what-I-call-working-memory-way (because then it shouldn\'t be called RAM, it should be called something else).

I\'m not missing the point at all. I _LIKE_ being able to store a lot of stuff in non-volatile storage, and SD cards are a pain. Besides I used to run Linux on a 386 with 4 megs of RAM. 32megs seems spacious.

So do I, but I also _LIKE_ being about to bring the full 64Mb of RAM (that is using this as working memory) to bear to play a high bitrate song/movie, etc.

The bottom line is that out of the box the 5500 and 5600 have the same amount of working memory (but the 5600 has more storage admittedly), but if you change the ROM the 5500 can have more working memory but the 5600 cannot. Ever. It is stuck with 32Mb no matter what you do.


Simon

[ganoe]

CestusGW, sounds to me like your highest priorities are cost and WiFi.  I think on the Zaurus, that\'s a tough tradeoff as the only Zaurus currently with WiFi is the SL-6000 and it is on the high end of cost.  I haven\'t seen any negative reviews on the 6000, so I don\'t know what you are talking about there.  It\'s a pain in the rear to have to carry around and swap a WiFi card in and out all the time to use it, so built-in is critical.

I\'d say either get the SL-5500 if cost is really the issue or splurge and get the SL-6000.  That\'s where your biggest price-performance tradeoff is.  As a student, don\'t forget that some of the higher-end models have a built-in mic while the SL-5500 does not.  If you want to do some recording for lectures/research it may be nice to have the mic built-in, though an external mic with the 5500 works and could actually be better.  The 5600 also has a bigger battery than the 5500, so if you think battery life might be an issue, that may be another reason to go for the 5600.  

All that said, by the time you get to the cost of the 5600, I don\'t think you\'d regret having all the nice built-in stuff on the SL-6000.  You don\'t really want to carry around a SparcStation do you?  It won\'t even have built-in WiFi.  

[DrWowe]

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! ;-)

But then it\'s not RAM is it? (Rhetorical question)

Not to be too persnickety, but it is called \"flash RAM\" for a reason.  So \"on paper\" the 5600 really does have more RAM.  Now, if we\'re talking DRAM specifically, then the 5500 does have more, and that can be useful in some situations.

[superbondbond]

Actually it is flash ROM. (It\'s not volitile like RAM is)

[lardman]

:-)

Anyway I think the point has been made and we\'re really moving off topic here. So back to the question at hand.....

Personally I think my 750 is great, far better than my 5500 for what I want (a mini computer). That said my 5500 is also great and has done a couple of years of sterling service (and I expect it to keep doing the same as a development machine).

I\'d get a C machine if you can afford it, otherwise a 5500 is so cheap it\'s almost worth getting one as well ;-). I wouldn\'t worry about WiFi cards too much, they are cheap after all, and as long as you get hold of a large MMC/SD card you won\'t need to use the CF slot for storage.

To be specific:

#1 Have a wifi adapter so I can get internet access through any of my university\'s hotspots.

As above.

#2 Have wifi access so I can remotely control and monitor my network of other PCs through SSH.

Yep also possible, see miriad threads.

#3 Have wifi access so I can remotely control and monitor my other PCs through VNC or just X11 (ie graphically)

VNC is easily doable using keypebble or similar. The only possible issue is screen resolution. X11 is also possible using xhost, though I\'ve not tried this using Xqt (which is how to run X apps from inside Qtopia/Opie - the GUI on the 5500).

#4 Be able to quickly set up \'demo\' servers for projects or work (ie: quickly get an Apache server, run some quick scripts, things of that nature)

This should be easy enough. I\'ve had apache running on my 5500.

#5 Point my IR transmitter at other people in a threatening manner (so I can do that with any old PDA .... it\'s still fun though!)

To do what with? I generally carry a stick too, then the IR port looks sort of threatening ;-)

#6 Be able to do basic compilation of smallish projects with GCC, and also be able to conveniently edit as well.

This all works. Probably just GCC 2.95.3 for the time being though. GCC 3.xx can be built (native) but you may have to beg someone to do it, or do it yourself (you\'ll need a Linux box for the cross compiler to do this as the Z won\'t have enough space or speed to do it). Also note that although the keyboard is useful it\'s nowhere as good as a PC keyboard.

#7 Keep track of names, dates, and other organizational stuff (basic PIM)  

The PIM suite is basic, but sufficient.

Si

P.S. I\'d recommend you go for OZ if you do jump on the 5500 bandwagon. Good luck.