Latest rumour on next model

[hilarycheng]

Not Rumor...... has offical annoucement.

http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/041015-a.html

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ZaurusHK

http://led.e-fever.org/zaurus/

[loopy29]

Come to think of it, Zuber, does al this information conform with what you had received?  Do you know some more specifics? Inclusion of usb host? Inclusion of graphics accelerator chip? Possible wireless facilities?

[maslovsky]

However, if the changes Maslovsky is making to the Kino2 mplayer (the feature video player in the next Cacko Rom upgrade) yield a significant performance boost, I will have no need to upgrade to the SL-C3K.

Just wanted to clarify - it's not me who's making changes to the mplayer - it's a result of excellent job by a Japanese guy from http://atty.jp/. But I'm updating kino2 to fully use features of this new mplayer version.

[iamasmith]

It seems from reading through a translation on the SL-C3K that the basic unit only has 16Mb flash and that the HD format is in FAT to allow users to use the device in storage mode as an external HDD.

I wonder if it's going to be awkward to put a real file system on that HDD as this is going to essentially be the home file system - I'm presuming all that 16Mb flash is ro root only.

Now I'm wondering about performance if this is a Microdrive format. What's it going to be like if you DO get your HDD formatted at ext3 etc. and actually install applications on it.

Could be a number of issues there for pioneers.....

- Andy

[Zuber]

Info I received was not that detailed.

As I said

All I'll say is, assuming info I am getting is accurate, it may not be quite what you expected/hoped. Some unexpected pros, some disappointments.

I was told USB Host, but can't see it mentioned in specs. Perhaps it is a case of no drivers means no point till they have some etc.

I was hoping the unit would stay the same size, shape. That way, all accessories would be compatible. Looks like they have changed it just enough to stop cases, mounts etc. from working. Shame...

[uczmeg]

The whole thing seems a real missed opportunity.

On paper the the c860 still looks more desireable right now, considering the 3000 will cost more.

Will the lack of internal memory really compensated by the hard drive?

[abcoates]

Today's article about it at "The Register":

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/15/linux_4gb_hdd_pda/

Cheers,
    Tony.

[dhns]

Not Rumor...... has offical annoucement.

I think as we now know that it is called SL-C3000 and no longer a rumour, we should open a new thread.

-- hns

[dhns]

... will cost more.

Will the lack of internal memory really compensated by the hard drive?

Not necessarily. HDD capacity costs approx. 1/4 of the same capacity CF. So it would be the same price to expect as for a C860 with 1GB CF Flash but having 4GB.

SDRAM seems to be 64MB (according to The Register) and flash only 16MB compared to 64MB / 128MB of the C860. If this is replaced by 64MB / 4112MB I would consider that a great deal! Only the SDRAM could have become 128MB - but SDRAM is the most expensive type of memory.

-- hns

[uczmeg]

So we still have 64mb for the operating system?

[uczmeg]

I think I'd still rather have a 1GB SD card.

I'm thinking of power consumption, noise levels and the reliability now that we have moving parts.

If only it had wifi, I could have forgiven almost anything. I really don't like having a cf card sticking out the side...

[tumnus]

At the end of the day, you can't satisfy everyone. If they include WiFi but not Bluetooth, then Bluetooth fans will moan and vice versa. If they include both, the price goes even higher and people moan they only use one and managing several different models like the SL-6000 pushes up costs again.

I think Sharp are trying to do something a bit different again while keeping the device flexible and I applaud them for that. What they should do is include some nice plug'n play software for both WiFi and Bluetooth.

64MB of RAM is still double what the 5600 has so I'd be happy with that. Since I have a Bluetooth CF card and no WiFi stuff I'd be happy having a large internal hard drive too so I could always keep the Bluetooth card in the CF slot. SD cards tend to be too flakey or too slow for doing things like making voice recordings or playing videos, so I think this is the right way to go. If only I could justify the expenditure

[uczmeg]

I guess the real question is:

How long will it take the Cacko and X guys to get their operating systems on it???



Because it will be useless, at keast for the less able of us, until they do. It doesn't matter what the spec is!

[dhns]

So we still have 64mb for the operating system?

I think the 64MB are the operating system working space. The OS itself (all those /bin commands and /lib contents) can now use much more.

And: a part of a HDD can usually be used as virtual memory (I don't know if they have drivers for that but pdaXROM or OZ might solve)! So, I think it is not a real limitation to anything (but speed).

And if we compare with my first Apple G4 Powerbook: It came with 128MB RAM, 10GB disk and a 400MHz PowerPC processor. So the C3000 is not far away from such a spec.

-- hns

[Zuber]

The 64 Mb is the same as for the current C860. For actual running of apps. i.e. PC type conventional ram.

Anyone know what the "port" on the back is. The one that looks like it is an SD slot but isn't ?