wireless zaurus

[glengoyne]

Allright, I am a complete neophyte with regards to all things zaurus, I am however an absolute UNIX snob.  Therefore, the idea of a PDA that runs a useful OS is very appealing to me.  

My goal is to be able to remotely administer UNIX(Linux and Solaris) boxes from the PDA while out of the office.  I have looked around enough to find that ssh available, so that will help me connect through our firewall.  I am curious about the options for remote connectivity.  

I see the T-Mobile hotspot ads, and assume that refers only to WIFI connectivity at those said hotspots, Starbucks for instance.  I am wondering if there are other more flexible solutions available.  I am wondering if there are wireless options that will allow me to connect from more remote locations?

Anyone using the Zaurus for this?

[offroadgeek]

I use my zaurus for remote connectivity all the time... via two methods:  1.  the starbucks hotspots - these are nice because when I\'m near one I can do everything that I could with a laptop and don\'t have to worry about bandwidth, and 2.  bluetooth connectivity via my t-mobile erricson t68i phone - this works out great when I\'m not near a hotspot, and just need to ssh somewhere.  when browsing sites, I just disable the loading of graphics and it works great.

hope that helps

offroadgeek

[Taim]

If you want to go WAY remote, there is really only one option.  The only problem is that it appears both support and cellular service has disappeared.  Here is what one person had to say about Sharp and Enfora\'s mighty cellular solution.  

Socket Communications makes several cell phone connectors that might pique your interest.[/url]

I really don\'t care for the cellphone to Z option.  There\'s just something unsexy about a cable spilling from the z to a cell in your pocket or in your other hand.  I wish I had my hands on the Enfora CDPD to see how that ran.

One other option that I have been avidly pursuing (with zero luck) is the Sprint 1RxTT CF modem.  I don\'t own one, and I won\'t until it is confirmed that there is either a kludge or working driver for it.

[Anonymous]

OK, so if I follow things correctly.  The hotspots work pretty darned well.  When you can\'t get to a hotspot you can connect the Zaurus to sites on the internet via a cell phone.

Couple of questions regarding the cell phone option.
First, how is the Z connected to the cell phone?
a cable? IR port? I am guessing if I wait on the new model, I could use bluetooth with a compatible phone.

Secondly(with many follow ups) how does the cell phone connect to the internet?  
Is this an add/on feature generally available with cell phone carriers?
Does it have a different service area than voice operations?
Will ssh work over that connection?

I am thinking that the new Z along with a bluetooth cell phone would be a nice combo.

[Anonymous]

Coolass here, your other option is to try 1 of the many gsm/gprs compact flash cards. Audiovox and a few others make them and their is even a hack to it. Just check the forum for gsm or gprs and you\'ll get alot of info and links

[soycap]

I really don\'t care for the cellphone to Z option. There\'s just something unsexy about a cable spilling from the z to a cell in your pocket or in your other hand.

Actually, alot of people (myself included) use their cell phone with bluetooth for Internet access with the Z.  The connection to the phone is wireless, so the phone just sits on my belt per usual.  I am charged per KB as a part of my cell bill.  Usually only runs about $3 per month if I stick to text only.

Wireless and only $3 per month, now if that ain\'t sexy.

Here are the detail on my setup:
http://www.tekprosystems.com/zaurus/616tgprs.htm

[tblumer]

I have used both the Sprint 1xRTT solution (driver at http://sdgsystems.com in the Downloads section), and the Pretec GPRS Modem on T-Mobile (much cheaper than the Sprint solution), also available at SDG. Both will also work in a Linux laptop.

[mspencer]

I just called and talked to Sprint regarding this card ( http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/PhonesAc...D=1068954683464 ) and asked about their data plans.

They say the plan gets you a normal connection to the public Internet -- no filtered ports or whatnot.

Today (Saturday 10/2/2004) a sales rep quoted me three data plans:

20 MB per month for $40.00 per month
70 MB per month for $60.00 per month
300 MB per month for $100.00 per month
The sales rep said there are no unlimited-transfer plans.
You CAN switch plans in mid-month.
If you go over your plan's limit, you pay $0.02 per KILOBYTE, which is $20.48 per MB.  So if you sign up for the 20 MB plan and use 70 MB, you pay $1064 instead of $60.
Quoted prices are for a one-year contract.  You can go month-to-month for an additional $10.00 per month.

Hope this helps!  (If anyone knows of better plans with other carriers out there, please let us know.)

--Michael Spencer

[Nexus7]

As mentioned in the post above yours, T-mobile is much cheaper. It's a $20 addition to your cell phone plan. I don't know how much it is standalone. But for comparison, their wi-fi (HotSpot) plan is $20 for T-mobile cell phone subscribers, and $30 standalone.

Both plans above are "all-you-can-eat" internet.  The "internet through cell phone" (GPRS) plan comes in 2 flavors, one called VPN (I assume you get a public routable IP address with this one) and one with Corporate Email, presumably something like Blackberry. Since "Corporate Email" doesn't interest me one bit, I don't know anything more about it.

GPRS has a max speed of 56 kb/s, the same as a land-line analog modem. However this is an all digital connection. However it is unfortunately slower than a landline analog connection, with tremendous lag. Using it on my laptop through a USB cable connection to my Motorola cell phone, I could surf without issues. I used Galeon (most folks use Firefox) and keep multiple requests open in different tabs. So the different pages download while I read one page. It's usable, no issues. It is reported slower than the Sprint one, but check out the price! When T-mobile goes to EDGE, I'll get speeds comparable to the 1xRTT (I hope).