Subj : Re: Linux PDA reccomendations, Yopy, Zaurus or other To : comp.os.linux From : thegalorin Date : Sat Jul 03 2004 02:07 am I've got a laptop dual-booting Mandrake 9.2 and Slackware right now. It's a Dell CPX, and not ultra-portable. Even if the zaurus were twice as large as it is, it would still be more portable than a laptop. I run a Linux migration business, and I need something that I can just pop open in an instant and say "This is Linux. It works on this, it works on your computer, it works on that £10,000 mainframe you've got stashed in your closet. It's free, here's my card" The laptop takes too long to boot, and isn't really all that portable. It's more a demonstration platform for other people, less a toy for me. -Mr Galorin Jeffrey Silverman wrote in message news:... > > A Zaurus is not a replacement for a PalmOS device. > > I owned a Zaurus SL6000 for a couple of weeks but returned it when I > realized that it was not quite the machine I wanted. I was looking for a > laptop, not an in-between-not-quite-a-laptop-too-big-to-be-a-pda zaurus. > > Not that the Z wasn't nice -- it was. It is just that it is not a PalmOS > device replacement. It acts differently, has a different design > philosophy, is bigger, has less battery life. These are not pros or cons, > they are just differences. So before you buy, ask yourself what you want > the new device for. > > Do you want it to be a fast-response PDA which will let you get, say, a > phone number or appointment in two seconds? Get a Palm OS device. > > Do you want it to be able to install all of the thousands of bits of FOSS > Linux software available and yet still be highly portable? Get a laptop > and install some Linux distro. > > Do you want it to be a cutting-edge, Linux based super-micro laptop that > really can browse the internet or ssh into your server and do admin tasks > remotely all while being in a formfactor that will fit in your pocket > (provided you wear baggy pants)? Get the Z. > > Mind you, the SL6000 is not the same as the 5[56]00. It is better > technically -- bigger, more featureful, faster, and yet worse in > practical use (at least in the US**) it will not run the 5[56]00 > software library quite as well and is poorly supported by Sharp. > > The Zaurus is quite a device, but, IMO, not much more usable than as a > novelty. Emphasis on IMO! Z owners love the things and you may as well. > > See my review at Amazon.con for the SL6000. More of the same sentiments. > > -- > Jeffrey Silverman > jeffrey@pantsjhu.edu > Drop "pants" to reply by email > > > ** I say at least in the US because (a) that is where I am and where my > experiences occur and (b) all US-oriented Sharp web support for the Z > SL6000 suck monkey butts. .