Lovin’ the Zaurus
September 21st, 2003I’ve said before that I’m not a PDA type. No interest at all in schedules, address books, tasks list, sync with my pc. I’ve never carried a datebook, no use me trying to start with an electronic one.
I’ve always said that I’d never get a handheld until it was a real computer. The Ipaq is almost there, but with no keyboard and having to use the addon sleeve before you can add anything of value to it, not quite where I want it to be.
With all that in mind, I’ve gone and bought myself a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500. They aren’t sold in Canada, so I bought a refurbished one from Nikotools on Ebay.
I also bought 128Mb of SD (Secure Digital) memory and I already have a 256MB and 2x16MB compact flash cards. To round it all out, I ordered a PC-Card to CF adapter so I can use my existing 10/100 ethernet and 802.11 Wifi PC Cards.
I’ve been visiting the Zaurus Software Index and picking up all sorts of neat stuff such as VNC (viewer and server), Gaim and such Linux staples as less, top, perl, joe, openssh, sshd, and even Midnight Commander.
Once I have the Wifi happening this week, I’ll be discovering the wireless world that surrounds me.
If I want, I can load up Apache, PHP, Mysql, PHPMyAdmin – you name it – this is a REAL Linux box in the palm of your hand.
Makes a good MP3 player, too.
Now if I can only get my 6-yr-old to stop wanting to play with the “Cute Little Computer”.
You big copier.
Since it is a real Linux box, better make sure you secure it. There have been a couple of vulnerabilities issued against the default setup in the last year.
Here’s a keyboard you might be interested in:
http://www.pocketop.net/