Questions before purchasing SL-C860

[DaMightyWhightyMan]

I currently own a Zaurus SL-5500 /w Open Zaurus.  I'm considering buying a SL-C860 and run the pdaX rom and would like to know some information about it.

first question is stability, how is it?  My current Zaurus crashes a lot, no clue whats at fault there.

how does it handle Installtion of other apps?  I'm used to using the package manager on opie OZ, but the gpe OZ doesn't seem to have an option to use other feeds (or not one that I've noticed).  

Do things seem to install smoothly without hitches most of the time?   I run into problems where something like mplayer will just say  'error' while trying to install it.  I have hopes that having X11 run will make things run a little more nativly.

What IR keyboards work with it?  I don't own one, but it'd be nice to know which work so  i know what to buy.

a form of gcc is included right? so i can compile/install apps on my own right?

thanks

[Vanguard]

I currently own a Zaurus SL-5500 /w Open Zaurus.  I'm considering buying a SL-C860 and run the pdaX rom and would like to know some information about it.

first question is stability, how is it?  My current Zaurus crashes a lot, no clue whats at fault there.

Mine's pretty stable.  There some crashes of apps every now and then, but the OS itself seems pretty stable.  Not too bad for beta software.

how does it handle Installtion of other apps?  I'm used to using the package manager on opie OZ, but the gpe OZ doesn't seem to have an option to use other feeds (or not one that I've noticed). 

There's a package manager that works in a similar way to the other ones.  You see a list of packages from a package feed, pick one to download and install, or tell it to install from a package already in your file system.  If you could handle the other package manager this one shouldn't be a problem for you.

Do things seem to install smoothly without hitches most of the time?   I run into problems where something like mplayer will just say  'error' while trying to install it.  I have hopes that having X11 run will make things run a little more nativly.

I've heard of a few people having problems related to installing packages intended for an earlier version of PDAXROM onto the new one.  I've yet to experience these problems as I've only installed  packages intended for the latest version.

What IR keyboards work with it?  I don't own one, but it'd be nice to know which work so  i know what to buy.

None that I know of.  I'm waiting semi-patiently for my pockettop to get supported.  I suppose I'll just have to do it myself, just don't have the time to tinker at the moment.

a form of gcc is included right? so i can compile/install apps on my own right?

I don't think it's included by default, but there are packages you can install.  Keep in mind that for most projects of significance, compiling isn't very practical on the Z.  A cross-compiler will be more useful. (Which is also available, I think)

thanks

You're welcome!

[piotrek]

Hi,
Good choice. PdaXrom is great, stable and easy.
I dont have any problem with it as I had with opie and "old" roms.
There are special feeds if you want to install something. And I dont have any problem install app from those feeds. I remember many problems I had with sharp rom, cacko and opie. Nowthose problems are gone.

As far as I know IR keyboard needs driver so unless somebody work it out theres no support for IRkeyb.

Remember that pdaXrom is much similar to real linux than previous roms so it is possible to port application from desktop into zaurus. Look at pdaxrom feed and you'll see plenty of software ported directly from desktop version(even such an monsters like firebird, firefox, GIMP)
You can use native sdk to programm or port apps into Z now. In standard pdaxrom RC3 Kathrin installation you have many installed apps along with programmer editor - SciTe. So dont hasitate, buy Z860 and you ll have really small laptop because Z860 with pdaxrom became real option to laptop - its not a toy anymore.
regards,
Piotr E

[lardman]

how does it handle Installtion of other apps?

The pdaXrom package manager system frontend is reasonable to look at, but the version of ipkg is fragile and doesn't handle failed installs well. It's a step or three back from the OZ ipkg imho. However, depending on what you want to install, it does do the job.

I'm used to using the package manager on opie OZ, but the gpe OZ doesn't seem to have an option to use other feeds (or not one that I've noticed).

FYI with your 5500, I've never used the GUI package manager on GPE, but I understand that it's not that great. You'd be better off using ipkg on the command line (because it works fine, feeds can be added - which may then be accessible from the GUI package manager). This might not be what you want, but it does work.

Do things seem to install smoothly without hitches most of the time? I run into problems where something like mplayer will just say 'error' while trying to install it.

I had troubles installing old pdaXrom apps (and other X11 apps) due to missing symbols errors, however as Vanguard says, there's a new feed for pdaXrom apps, and presumably a toolchain from which compiled apps will work (so it's possible to re-compile what doesn't work).

Regardsing your mplayer errors; you will receive the same non-descriptive style of error with pdaXrom (or any other ROM for that matter) if a file doesn't want to install unless you increase the verbosity level (or run from the command line).

Regards,


Simon

P.S. Regarding your toubles with GPE - post in the OZ section of the forum (as I feel that I'm talking a bit OT here) and we'll see if we can get you sorted.