New potential Zaurus user

[nyar]

Howdy,

I've wanted a Zaurus for ages, and I'm currently in the market for a PDA and came across conics.net which seem to have awesome prices and heard plenty of good things about them (any other suggestions, apart from ebay?).

So I have lots of questions.  I'd appreciate it if somebody could take the time to answer them; I've been searching around but haven't found anything definite.

Being a Linux geek, I'll probably hack the hell out of it, so the hackability factor is a big thing for me.  What are the positives and negatives of sticking alternative OS's on it (say, OpenZAURUS?).

I'd also like it to have a semi-decent battery life.  I notice conics sell small and large life batteries - what battery does the Zaurus come with?  Is it worth getting the larger battery (what's the difference in battery life?).

For the price, the lowest model there (SL-C700) doesn't seem to lack too many of the features of it's much more expensive brothers.  Are there extra features I'm not seeing?  Is it worth getting a higher model, apart from having more memory (& is it worth the extra money?) - note that I'll definitely have a large SD in it for storage.

What is the actual PDA functionality like, say compared to a Pocket PC or a Palm?  Does it sync nicely with Linux/Mac OS X machines?

Are there any CF wireless cards available for it that take external antenna jacks?

Are there any places to get the VGA out, or network cards for it at a decent price?

I've seen Zaurus 'car stands' for sale, which could be interesting; I might run a low powered PC in the back of the car with a gps/wireless card/etc and VNC into it or something to run mapping software, or stream mp3's.  What's the sound output like, in terms of quality?  Anybody done things like this?

Thanks.

[nyar]

Is there somewhere else I should be asking this?  I'm keen to get the Zaurus,b ut don't know which one.

It seems pricejapan.com can do a really excellent price for the high end 860 model, worth getting over the 700 (it'll cost almost twice as much).

Note that I'm not expecting all of my above questions to be answered, just some are fine.  I've searched around these forums and have some feel, but I'll still quite unsure.

[twpd]

Be patient. Someone will be along at some point to answer your questions. There's a load of knowledge here but it's not always a fast moving forum. I'm a new Zaurus user too(well I'm still waiting for it to arrive).

Cheers!

Nige.

[networkguy]

- yeah its possible to install the alternativs oss. if youre a linux geek you should try pdaXrom. check out the screenshots here: http://www.pdaxrom.org/screenshots.php?menuid=2

- battery life without wifi is something like 5-6hrs, and with maybe half of that. the c860 comes with the big battery. not sure about the c760 tho. you can get a cool battery charger kit from www.shirtpocket.co.uk if battery life is a problem.

- the c760 is exactly the same as the c860, apart from the color. the c700 has less memory. yes it is worth getting a 760/860 over a 700.

- functionality wise zaureses really own plams/pocket pcs. ssh, kismet, web development, apache, programming, game emulation, vnc and movie/music playback are all possible.

you might want to wait though, a new model should be announced soon, see the thread in this forum.

[lardman]

Being a Linux geek, I'll probably hack the hell out of it, so the hackability factor is a big thing for me. What are the positives and negatives of sticking alternative OS's on it (say, OpenZAURUS?).

Openzaurus is great (and the most up to date). Not much more to be said ;-)

I'd also like it to have a semi-decent battery life. I notice conics sell small and large life batteries - what battery does the Zaurus come with? Is it worth getting the larger battery (what's the difference in battery life?).

Depends on the machine. 700 and 750 come with small batteries, 760/860 with large.

For the price, the lowest model there (SL-C700) doesn't seem to lack too many of the features of it's much more expensive brothers. Are there extra features I'm not seeing? Is it worth getting a higher model, apart from having more memory (& is it worth the extra money?) - note that I'll definitely have a large SD in it for storage.

Yes, get at least a 750 (which just has less storage flash than a 760/860) as these machines all have the pxa255 whereas the 700 has a pxa250 (which has a cache bug which makes it run more slowly due to a kernel patch to avoid it).


Si