Zaurus has competition from Windows?!?

[mk500]

I prefer the Flipstart - a much better form factor for me, not much bigger than the Z!
http://www.mini411.com/show/news/5
It should be possible to run Linux on these devices which would be cool.

Actually the FlipStart is quite a bit bigger than the Z, but the OQO is almost EXACTLY the same size as the Z.

SL-C760  4.7\" x 3.3\" x 0.9\"
OQO  4.9\" x 3.4\" x .9\"
FlipStart  5.8\" x 4\" x 1\"

I don\'t think the Flipstart will fit in my pocket :-) That thing is huge.

[ThC]

I\'ve read somewhere OQO will support linux and flipstart have absolutely no willing to support it ... also even if it\'s more expensive than our zauriis, hey look at the specs ...1500~2000$ for 1Ghz cpu/256Mbram/20Gb hard drive and compare to your 700+$ Z with 400Mhz cpu/64or128Mb ram etc... double the price but also double the specs  just throwing my 2 pence anyway

[waalkman]

Plus it\'s Sony, buy today get axed tommorrow.

Careful that sonds a bit like Sharp DevNet...

Ha, ha, Touché.  


John

[dh]

From the FAQ on the Vulcan site:

Can I run Linux on FlipStart?
FlipStart is a generic x86 PC using off-the-shelf components from leading manufacturers. As with other x86 PCs, a Linux port should be possible with tweaks to some device drivers (such as the 1024x600 screen resolution, WiFi chip, etc.). However, Vulcan currently has no plans to provide support to Linux porting efforts.

Looks good to me , but then so does the thought of a Zaurus with faster processor and mini hard drive.

[boosalis]

These things are more look more like a castrated laptop then a Zaurus.  No doubt they have x86 CPU\'s which will probable consume 5 to 10 times the power of a Arm processor.  Then add to that a hard drive, which means you\'ll be sucking batteries faster then a 76 Chrysler New Yorker with its 440 (7.2 liter) engine sucks gas.


PS  Anyone want to buy a 76 New Yorker two door with only 80,000 miles.  I\'ll sell it for 20 cents a pound.

[dh]

These things are more look more like a castrated laptop then a Zaurus.  No doubt they have x86 CPU\'s which will probable consume 5 to 10 times the power of a Arm processor.  Then add to that a hard drive, which means you\'ll be sucking batteries faster then a 76 Chrysler New Yorker with its 440 (7.2 liter) engine sucks gas.


PS  Anyone want to buy a 76 New Yorker two door with only 80,000 miles.  I\'ll sell it for 20 cents a pound.

Yes, battery life is an area where the Z wins easily. I believe all these WinXP devices only claim a couple of hours of use between charges.
Of course, once one adds wireless and hard drive use battery life is going to be rather poor.

I remember renting a New Yorker in one of my first trips to the US. We always refered to it as \"The Brothel Creeper\". Of course MPG was not an issue back then.

[rikiya]

IF everything that was pointed out here was $10 I\'d get the sony one. IF it was $10 not $2000!!!!!

[ngok]

Where\'s this really cool thing then? I just see another XP machine. Plus it\'s Sony, buy today get axed tommorrow.

it is just a tiny PC,not XP only,you can install linux or BSD or whatever you want.
As a matter of fact,you get the most freedom.

[padishah_emperor]

mmh, yawn still stands. It\'s not a Z, really this is off-topic as it has nothing to do with the Zaurus.

Anyhoo, I\'d get another Z one day as a spare, in a year if I had a cash surplus, but anything else no. I like what I have, this is my second Z.  You (I wont say traitors ;-)) can point out anything but if it\'s a PC with XP, I\'m not interested. I only have PC hardware at home because I can run Linux on it and it was easy to get a TV card for my Linux media centre, otherwise I\'d use my Sun all the time. x86 compatiblity is a convenience for precompiled binaries and off-the-shelf hardware, not a necessity for me at all. I\'ve been using ARM platforms since Acorn invented them, so the fact that these are PCs in one way or another means nothing to me.

As for the Sony thing, I have been stung by every Sony product I have ever wasted my money on, from amplifiers to TVs, VCRs and Clie\'s. Never again - ever! ;-)  Freedom? I have the \'freedom\' I want already, a $2K PC derivative will not give me anything more than a Z.  For practical day-to-day things, my Z beats everything else. If I am out and want to sit in a field and write something, I can switch on my Z, tap HancomWord and be writing within a 2-3 seconds, can a PC do that? No. Even with Linux on a FlapJack or any of these things, I\'d have to switch on or even boot, open say OpenOffice, wait for that, all by which time my inspiration would be gone. No, the Z is my ultimate ultra-personal computer. I can watch whole movies, I\'ve got all my favorite albums on it, all my books and everything works rapidly, faster in practical terms than any PC. Not to mention that these will all have at least a couple of components unsupported by Linux, like the FlipFlop\'s mono LCD indicator screen, you can bet it will require proprietary drivers for XP only.

Nah! Yawn. But that\'s me.

[ngok]

You do know exact what you want,but I don\'t.
I am just looking for something \"NEW\" all the time.

[padishah_emperor]

You do know exact what you want,but I don\'t.
I am just looking for something \"NEW\" all the time.

mmh, a recipe for unhappiness...
I\'m never really tempted by anything anyone shows me or tries to sell me. Unless I really want something, I rarely show interest. I tend to start by knowing exactly what I want and then buying to fill that need as a long term investment, rather than buying and then looking for a need.  That\'s me, I used to be completely the other way round, I\'d rather give $2K to charity than buy for the sake of it. :-)

[arniel]

see http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGN-U50/
and you will find something really cool.

Where\'s this really cool thing then? I just see another XP machine. Plus it\'s Sony, buy today get axed tommorrow.

Padish,
I really have to take issue with your attitude to these Xp boxes... I\'m a happy Zaurus camper, but I\'m also objective about what it\'s good at and what it isn\'t good at.  F.I., I would never dare to give one to any of my realtives, it\'s just too flakey.
There is room for both hardcore systems for the likes of you and I, who actually enjot tweaking and fiddling with computers for it\'s own sake,and for systems which are there to do a job (maybe not that well).  Someone who makes chair legs doesn\'t want to spend most of their time stripping lathes apart...

What killed Psion was the lack of hardware investment, so that although it had (and still has) the best PDA software around and by-far the best keyboard, no-one wants to be using an 18MHz b&w screened PDA any more when there are 400MHz full-colour devices around.  Like it or not, it\'s the economies of scale of the the Windoze community that gets the big hardware vendors interested in producing cheap, powerful kit to push along nasty creaky OSs like XP.  In the end we all benefit. :-)

Arnie

[padishah_emperor]

Padish,
I really have to take issue with your attitude to these Xp boxes...

Ok, go for it ;-)

I\'m a happy Zaurus camper, but I\'m also objective about what it\'s good at and what it isn\'t good at.  F.I., I would never dare to give one to any of my realtives, it\'s just too flakey.

Thats YOUR opinion, I have given a Z to a family member who has not had one problem with it, beyond insufficient compact flash storage.  I take issue with you as to the Z being flakey, maybe for Windophiles who don\'t know how to setup or run Linux but I have not had many problems, no more than I expect from any Linux box when setting it up.

There is room for both hardcore systems for the likes of you and I, who actually enjot tweaking and fiddling with computers for it\'s own sake,and for systems which are there to do a job (maybe not that well).  Someone who makes chair legs doesn\'t want to spend most of their time stripping lathes apart...

Well, I used to be a UNIX sysadmin and enjoy fiddling, now I don\'t. I set my kit up and leave it.

What killed Psion was the lack of hardware investment, so that although it had (and still has) the best PDA software around and by-far the best keyboard, no-one wants to be using an 18MHz b&w screened PDA any more when there are 400MHz full-colour devices around.

I haven\'t even mentioned Psion, nor is any comparison relevant.  I did not rate the Psion that much, it was ok but I wanted more computer and less PDA, I broke TWO of those lovely keyboards.

Like it or not, it\'s the economies of scale of the the Windoze community that gets the big hardware vendors interested in producing cheap, powerful kit to push along nasty creaky OSs like XP.

OK, not sure what you are getting at. But yes, the mass cattle buying into Bills vision do subsidise PC hardware in the grand scheme of economics, but it may be wrong as I was putting computers together cheaply before Microsoft dominated and made everything bland and boring. Like I said before, x86 compatibilty isn\'t really important to me.  My main computer was a Sun until recently when I finally dispensed with my interest in computing, I have an entertainment system running Debian and a Z, that\'s is me, no-one else.

I don\'t have to justify anything to you do I? or anyone really as I am expressing my view only. I\'m not a money grabber or aspire to wealth, I live a fairly frugal life and would not feel comfortable sleeping at night making the worlds richest man even richer and spending that kind of money on anything like a PC. I saved for a year for my Z, and even at the moment of purchase I agonised as to whether I should go through with it or not, I\'m glad I did, I will get more use from it than a desktop system or laptop or simple PDA.  My choice, my money, I\'d rather buy a Z, a £300 PC and give the rest away to people and causes who could use it better than I could in the guise of a mini PC :-)

[waalkman]

OK, not sure what you are getting at. But yes, the mass cattle buying into Bills vision do subsidise PC hardware in the grand scheme of economics, but it may be wrong as I was putting computers together cheaply before Microsoft dominated and made everything bland and boring. Like I said before, x86 compatibilty isn\'t really important to me.  My main computer was a Sun until recently when I finally dispensed with my interest in computing, I have an entertainment system running Debian and a Z, that\'s is me, no-one else.

You sound bitter, must have something to do with that Sun box...  

I don\'t have to justify anything to you do I?  

Nope. Feel free to quit anytime.   :roll:


John

[TonyOlsen]

Very interesting!  Yes, WindowsXP would have to go... and it is way out of my price range.  20GB is nice!  I\'m glad flip-start, this, and others like this are starting to come out... maybe that will encourage Sharp to put better clamshells in the US as well.

I think this conversation is more about hardware and less about OS... can\'t you put Linux on anything?