Author Topic: Zaurus DevNet going down to stay (Read 10034 times)

lpotter · « **Reply #15 on:** September 10, 2004, 06:42:12 pm »

There are other Qtopia based PDAs in the works. The Archos device is marketed as a multimedia player, although it will have Qtopia PIM apps as well. Another device we are waiting for is the LineaLX from Royal. There are a few others being worked on for the US markets.
As well, the Zaurus will still be available in the Japanese market.
The future of pda's is mobile smartphones, and there are a few Qtopia Phones being worked on as well.

Hang tight.

zbones · « **Reply #16 on:** September 11, 2004, 05:38:58 am »

Hey,
at least we got advanced warning this time, maybe sharp do listen to us after all.

Can we get a searchable copy of the database from them, I feel they owe us that much at least.

padishah_emperor · « **Reply #17 on:** September 11, 2004, 11:33:06 am »

The way I see it is that DevNet is going, and *eventually* the Zaurus will no longer be available in the US.. and? the C700, 750, 760 and 860 were not available anywhere outside Japan and it didn't stop people buying them, unless Sharp are going to be really silly and kill the Zaurus completely in Japan - and I cannot see that happening yet - I really cannot see what the panic is, I think people maybe getting a bit excited over nothing. ;-o Sharp here in the UK had dropped the 5500 before I bought one, it didn't stop me, they never introduced (AFAIK) the 5600, 700, 750, 760, 860 or 6000 here, it still didn't stop me buying a 860. I don't think it matters if a product is officially supported in your home country as long as you can get one if you really want it, I've never had to rely on a manufacturer for support on any PDA.

As for the future of the PDA being a phone, well, that's never appealed to me on any level - I have no intention of ever owning a mobile phone, I think there will always be a need for pocket-sized computers which are more than organisers, even if it's by a small minority. :-)

Archive DevNet here on ZUG and move on, that's my view, I never liked it much anyway...

Bye all...

offroadgeek · « **Reply #18 on:** September 11, 2004, 01:34:01 pm »

I've emailed tblumer and sharp about the possibility of me getting a backup of the devnet forums db. The archive that I currently have on the zug isn't searchable. I would really like to re-create a non-postable, yet searchable copy of the devnet, or just import all of the posts into these forums, so there's just one forum to search on. (that was a hidden reason why I wanted to move to this forum software).

Regarding the Foundation thoughts, I think it's a neat idea. I'm currently doing the research and paperwork to make the local LUG I'm involved in a non-profit organization. I would be interested in doing the same or similar for a zaurus organization.

offroadgeek

tblumer · « **Reply #19 on:** September 11, 2004, 03:47:25 pm »

I asked Sharp's permission to provide the forum database to ZUG. I don't see why they would not agree. I'll let you know.

spencer@ · « **Reply #20 on:** September 14, 2004, 12:01:32 pm »

I guess it finally happened. It was definitely a struggle always fighting for the DevNet at Sharp. I always believed that developers were extremely valuable and that they should have been taken care of in a better way. Towards the end of my days at Sharp, it was basically just me trying to manage the entire developer area (due to layoffs in the developer support area)... and always trying to convince the execs eventually wore me out.

In any case, I hope that the ZUG community will continue to strive. I have some fond memories of the DevNet (except for the late nights writing content and testing the site). And I met a lot of great people while at Sharp. But it was time to move on.

If anyone really cares, I'm now at AOL putting together a developer program. If anyone has any good developer ideas or thoughts about developer programs they've liked, feel free to drop me a line at huangs04 AT aol dot com.

-Spencer

Mickeyl · « **Reply #21 on:** September 14, 2004, 01:44:20 pm »

I think it would be important to get sponsorship from companies needing OpenEmbedded / OpenZaurus / Opie / pdaXrom for their own purposes.

All of those projects would _enormously_ benefit from one or more developers being paid to do work on that.

Arrangements like that work in the desktop linux world, think all the full-time oss workers employed by RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, IBM, Intel, etc.. We need to bring these over to the handheld world.

True, it needs a couple of openminded visionary decision makers for that to happen.

ericfj · « **Reply #22 on:** September 15, 2004, 02:35:42 pm »

Quote

Quote

Quote
they appreciate the support that you have given to the developer site and the Zaurus. The site is planned to go down on 30-September.
Does this mean they not only cancel all developer support end of this month but the Zaurus? (highlight by me)

In that case I would propose to found a non-profit organization (similar to the Blender Foundation http://www.blender3d.com/cms/About.30.0.html ) to aquire donations to buy all required hardware and software IPRs from Sharp to develop a new, compatible device and software (e.g. OpenZaurus, pdaXROM). There are a lot of companies in Asia with PDA hardware expertise who can do that, several dealers for devices in all continents and for software there are already some projects (which should be focussed IMHO).

Each of us ZUG users donating 30$ (4000 users) would end up in 120,000$. Isn't that much but could convince other investors.

-- hns
Hi

This is a very good idea. Most of us certainly already have resonable hardware spec in mind.

The bigger problem won't be the hardware but the software. To be more precise, it will be the graphical environnement and graphical applications. The very good Linux Palmtop environnement for everyone is still expected. Having a part of the hardware cost sent to the "Palmtop team" could resolve the issue and motivate an enterprise.

http://www.thefeature.com/article?articlei...048&ref=2934556

We are back to the beginning. The fusionned Linux PDA OS effort is still expected by the market.

This is a great idea, but I think the hardware will be the biggest problem. Take a look at the Yopy, another ARM-based PDA. The Yopy runs the X Window System with an open-source window manager.

The email app is Sylpheed. The Web browser is dillo. The Yopy uses MySQL to hold the data for the PIM apps, and Boa as a Web server. (The big downside of the Yopy is lack of synchronization software, but I'd guess that writing such software in Java would help, since it could then run on MacOS, Windows, Linux, etc., desktops.)

Much of what we need for software is already there, and open source.

When I see how many people order Cxxx Zaurii from Japan (so many that a number of companies focus on this market), it is clear there is a market for a programmable Linux PDA, especially in terms of a larger format PDA with a keyboard.

Combining the efforts of pdaXrom, OpenZaurus or handhelds.org, the Yopy, the NetWinder community and any one else could result in a very good software suite. Freely licensed software and a market for hardware could help bring in manufacturers. Anyway, I'm hoping.

-Eric

offroadgeek · « **Reply #23 on:** September 21, 2004, 01:02:45 am »

fyi - tblumer got permission from sharp to give me a backup of the devnet forums (minus the user tables). I'm working with him to get this, and then I'll work on importing the data into our forums.

I'll keep you all posted on our progress

doseas · « **Reply #24 on:** September 21, 2004, 02:24:01 pm »

Quote

tblumer got permission from sharp to give me a backup of the devnet forums (minus the user tables).

Great news! Thanks to both of you for your hard work.

tblumer · « **Reply #25 on:** September 29, 2004, 11:05:26 am »

Just a brief update. The zaurus.com DevNet server is expected to go down on Oct. 1. I plan to get Michael (ofrdgeek) the forum posts, etc. by Oct. 1, as well.

rgzu · « **Reply #26 on:** October 02, 2004, 11:07:32 pm »

I guess it was a good job I got my Zaurus 5500 fixed by Sharp when I did! I'll have to be extra careful now not to brick it again since eventually there won't be anyone in the US to unbrick it anymore I assume? Still that may be a good thing as I don't think I could cope with paying over $100 again just for a reflash!

offroadgeek · « **Reply #27 on:** October 03, 2004, 12:57:36 am »

fyi - i have the devnet forum posts... now I just need to work on importing them into this forum without messing anything up... i'll keep you all posted on my progress

rickh · « **Reply #28 on:** October 03, 2004, 12:20:51 pm »

Anybody know what is going to happen with www.zaurus.com? - I mean dpecifically the accessories page. It was a handy place to find all the different accessories that were compatible.

R.
==

dhns · « **Reply #29 on:** October 04, 2004, 04:18:02 am »

Quote

Anybody know what is going to happen with www.zaurus.com?

Hm,
what't going to happen with the domain name?

Offroadgeek: could it be possible to aquire the domain and link to ZUG?

Just an idea.

-- hns

News:

Author Topic: Zaurus DevNet going down to stay (Read 10034 times)