Condidering C860 - QUESTIONS

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I am STRONGLY considering getting a C860 and having been reading reviews/views etc. and drooling over all the pics I could find on the net. I have a few questions, I hope the Gurus in these forums can answer  

1.) I read in a Mobile Computing(or something  :roll: ) magazine a not too flattering review. They did praise the display etc, but were not happy with Dynamism\'s translation, they complained about the Japanes/sqaure block menus - this is not a problem, since I will probably flash it with the new Cacko ROM anyway. What DID concern me, was their comment that the C860 could not open an Excel document that could easily be opened on a Palm Zire 21. I don\'t know if this is just stupidity on the reviewer\'s part or a real problem? The C860 surely has enough memory and CPU power, so what gives? I do need to work with small to medium sixed Excel spreadsheets on the C860. Is the coding in the Hancom application to optimised? Is there anybody that can tell me for sure if this is something to be worried about or not? Anybody opened a decent sized Ex el spreadsheet on the C860? Please let me know --- THANKS!  

2.) If I flash with Cacko, can I still use the Hancom applications? I would still like to work on Excel, Word and Powerpoint applications(not that I WANT to, but because I HAVE to - the company I work for have all Microsoft crap software  :evil: ). Are their maybe other alternatives - maybe Abiword etc.?

3.) If flashed with Cacko, will I still be able to sync with Outlook on my Windows 2000 laptop??

4.) Does the C860 have a handwriting recognition \"virtual\" area like you can have on the Tungsten T3? if not, how does it work? (From the looks of it, I gues I will use the keyboard mostly for text entry though).

Sorry, I know this was a lot to read, but I really want a C860 and just want to make sure I have all the facts. Thanks to anybody that actually answers this mumbo-jumbo        

[vishnja]

Hi!

I am STRONGLY considering getting a C860 and having been reading reviews/views etc. and drooling over all the pics I could find on the net. I have a few questions, I hope the Gurus in these forums can answer  

It\'s a good thing to get as much information before such a purchase :-)
I\'m not a guru, but I have a C860, so I\'ll try to answer:

1.) I read in a Mobile Computing(or something  :roll: ) magazine a not too flattering review. They did praise the display etc, but were not happy with Dynamism\'s translation, they complained about the Japanes/sqaure block menus - this is not a problem, since I will probably flash it with the new Cacko ROM anyway. What DID concern me, was their comment that the C860 could not open an Excel document that could easily be opened on a Palm Zire 21. I don\'t know if this is just stupidity on the reviewer\'s part or a real problem? The C860 surely has enough memory and CPU power, so what gives? I do need to work with small to medium sixed Excel spreadsheets on the C860. Is the coding in the Hancom application to optimised? Is there anybody that can tell me for sure if this is something to be worried about or not? Anybody opened a decent sized Ex el spreadsheet on the C860? Please let me know --- THANKS!  

I dont work much with this application, but I never experienced problems with opening documents so far...

2.) If I flash with Cacko, can I still use the Hancom applications? I would still like to work on Excel, Word and Powerpoint applications(not that I WANT to, but because I HAVE to - the company I work for have all Microsoft crap software  :evil: ). Are their maybe other alternatives - maybe Abiword etc.?

Yes, the office applications stay untouched with the Cacko-Rom. Please install also the patch to the Elena-Rom, to avoid problems.

3.) If flashed with Cacko, will I still be able to sync with Outlook on my Windows 2000 laptop??

I never tried that one myself, but I\'m sure, that you can.

4.) Does the C860 have a handwriting recognition \"virtual\" area like you can have on the Tungsten T3? if not, how does it work? (From the looks of it, I gues I will use the keyboard mostly for text entry though).

When you choose the character recognition a little area divided in three subfields (Capitals, small letters, signs) will open. There you can enter the text. You can train the recognition to your own handwriting. Still, words get recognized letter by letter. That means that you\'ll have to lift the stylus from the screen after every character.

I\'m a huge fan of this device,
so I think you\'ll like it as well,

cheers,
Kathrin[/quote]

[Anonymous]

Hancom Excel, when I open a file of 119664 bytes, I get a pop up saying \"you are trying to open a large-sized file.  It may take a while to open\".  It takes about 20 seconds to load.  I don\'t know what the limit is, I haven\'t hit it yet.  Largest spreadsheet I have created is 353792 bytes.  But I usuallly work with small simple sheets that I create for use on the Z only.  When I copied a spreadsheet to my PC and then back down, I got an error on formulas opening on the Z.   Not sure what it was coughing up on.  I\'m not sure if all the formulas work.  I don\'t use many and I don\'t have english help.   The delivered applications with the C-860 that work with Powerpoint are view only.   I don\'t know what\'s in Cacko rom, but I believe I recall reading elsewhere on this board that you can find a version of Hancom\'s presentation manager from an earlier Z model that allows you to edit.

[Anonymous]

Hi Vishnja/Guest

Thanks for the effort to reply on my questions, it is much appreciated!

I will do some more reading up, but I think I will get one in any case - there just does not seem to be anything that comes close to the functionality of the C860 in terms of a \"mini-laptop\" functionality as well as a PDA all in one. I will only be editing small to medium Excel sheets so it seems that it will not be a deal breaker.

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Working with Excel documents on the Zaurus is a bit like viewing web sites with different browsers. I have recently worked with Excel documents using Hancom on my C760. It worked astonishingly well, even with rather exotic functions (if-then constructs, is-empty, etc.) in formulas , but you shouldn\'t expect a 100% compatibility, especially when it comes to formatting. For instance, if you use condtional cell formatting in Excel, you won\'t see the effects in Hancom. Text which fits in a column in Excel won\'t fit in Hancom and so on. Same is true for PopUpMenus, Buttons, Links, and other stuff, not to mention VBA Macros. In general,  \"plain\" Excel sheets with formulas will most likely work well, yet as soon as a document has a more sophisticated formatting or structure or excessively uses Excel features, you will run into problems in Hancom (as in every other Excel compatible spreadsheet application)

Regards

[W.E.Coyote]

I am only a few days in to my C860 and I am still exploring the limits of what it can do.  However I have tried several of my Excel sheets on the C860. From 24KB to 580Kb and had no problems.  Sure it\'s slower to open than the PC but it scrolls quickly and with one exception I have had no problems with format of the cells or the formulas.

[vishnja]

Lisa (pdabyersguide) explicitely mentions Hancom-office as an advantage of the C860:

http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ubbthreads/s...sb=5&o=&fpart=1

[Anonymous]

Hi Vishnja/W.E. Coyote

Thanks for the replies!

After much deliberation, I have decided to take the plunge. Now I must just get the guts to part with my hard-earned cash and pray the guy that sells on e-bay(has some positive mentions on this board, I actually think Vishnja bought through him if I read correctly???) actually send the unit.

Thanks for all the inputs from this great community!!!

[vishnja]

After much deliberation, I have decided to take the plunge. Now I must just get the guts to part with my hard-earned cash and pray the guy that sells on e-bay(has some positive mentions on this board, I actually think Vishnja bought through him if I read correctly???) actually send the unit.  

Yeah, I got my Zaurus from him and a friend of mine as well.
You will love the Z as soon as you open the package! No pictures can do it justice ;-)

[Anonymous]

I believe I recall reading elsewhere on this board that you can find a version of Hancom\'s presentation manager from an earlier Z model that allows you to edit.

I guess my recollections are faulty.  I can\'t find any powerpoint or slide presentation editing software for the Z.

[Anonymous]

Hi Vishnja, thanks, that gives me a lot more confidence buying from the dude on e-bay!

One more thing, where did you get hold of your Nokia Bluetooth CF card? They seem to have been discontinued, but apparently fits flush with the C860 case and works out of the box(no swearing and hair pulling necessary to get it to work ). It would be great to get a hold of one of these cards.

Thanks!

[vishnja]

One more thing, where did you get hold of your Nokia Bluetooth CF card? They seem to have been discontinued, but apparently fits flush with the C860 case and works out of the box(no swearing and hair pulling necessary to get it to work ). It would be great to get a hold of one of these cards.

Thanks!

You are right, they have been discontinued, but you can still get them at ebay  from time to time (quite cheap as well).

[padishah_emperor]

Hi GUEST
I may get flamed for this, but I do not usually recommend a Z for anyone who -really needs- 100% Microsoft compatibility any more than I would recommend it for those who -really needs- a PDA, I think there are better suited machines for both purposes.

I would most certainly recommend it who would like a Linux mini-powerhouse, I quote the following from the ShirtPocket website:

\"Firstly, we would simply like to point out, that we would not recommend this device for the Novice User or Someone that simply wants a simple PIM (Personal Information Manager) device. This is a powerful tool, hence it is advisable to have at least some experience with such devices. Having said that, if you don\'t fall into the above categories then..\"
http://www.shirtpocket.co.uk/docs/zaurus.S...750.SL-C760.php

If you think MS compatibility and PDA is of secondary importance then I really do recommend ANY of the C series machines, especially the C860 because I am biased ;-)  You can get a hell of a lot out of these machines, I get more than I would with a laptop, but I would only install Linux anyway, I use mine for X windows, GIMP, C++ compiling, ebooks etc. But I do rely on Hancom Office for writing etc with no issues, I don\'t exchange docs to/from MS Office since I run Linux only, but I\'ve had no issues with interoperability with OpenOffice.

If it\'s right for you, it will quite simply blow you away. I agree with vishnja, you will shake and drool with excitement as you open it. I still keep looking at mine, looking and drooling.... LOL!

On another note, I personally would only buy one from a shop/importer who gave a full 12 month warranty, I almost got one off ebay but I worried about what if something went wrong, or I broke it or messed it up somehow, plus these are expensive devices, I felt it was worth the extra for the piece of mind.

I hope you do get one, have fun.

[yodabob]

If you\'re talking about \"K\" who has 100% great feedback, including some from me (shafferb) you won\'t be disappointed.  This guy is first class all the way.  I just can\'t say enough about how responsive he was, and how he really delivers on what he promises.  All too rare, but \"K\" is just a great guy.  My two cents worth.  

[swing]

I may get flamed for this, but I do not usually recommend a Z for anyone who -really needs- 100% Microsoft compatibility any more than I would recommend it for those who -really needs- a PDA, I think there are better suited machines for both purposes.  

Although there are better machines to act as a PDA, surely KO/PI gets closer to providing decent PIM functionality??