I am very pleased with my Zaurus SL-C3100 as well, which I am guessing is similar to your model, Horst --- although you perhaps might want to clarify your actual model number, since I cannot find 'SL800' via Google search.
I used an earlier and less powerful model, the 5500, as my ONLY portable computer when I went to Bangladesh for three months in 2002/2003. This was able to hold usable HTML copies of the Australian Medicine's Handbook and Therapeutic Guidelines, which I used in the ward and on village visits (nowhere to plug in a laptop!). It also held Murtagh's GP books (2nd edn), but in somewhat less usable state. I hope that future CD-ROM editions of Murtagh are distributed in more 'plain' HTML format. I also kept a journal on the 5500. I had a lot of time to write a journal when I was in Bangladesh, since I did not have television, Internet access or a mobile phone :) The SL-C3100 is more powerful, and can display PDF/Acrobat documents without crashing... Nowadays, when I go overseas, I also bring my sub-1kg notebook as well. This is partly because I actually own a notebook now (I didn't in 2003), but also to create/modify presentations with OpenOffice. I know that you can run OpenOffice on the Zaurus SL-3xxx series, but it is not supposed to be a very pleasant experience. I take it that you are probably not using the standard Sharp ROM on your Zaurus, Horst....since I did not think that OpenOffice was available to Zaurus series using the standard Sharp ROM. Incidentally, Windows Vista is an unpleasantly slow on my Core Solo 1200 MHz, 1 gigabyte notebook. This is a shame, since Vista looks like it has superior hand-writing recognition compared to Windows XP Tablet. Not long ago, I used Windows XP much more than openSuSE Linux on my laptop. Because of Vista's usability issues, the situation is now completely reversed, I use openSuSE instead of Windows Vista. Unfortunately, there is no Linux driver for my laptop's touch-panel. Cheerio, David. On Friday 13 April 2007 20:06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Horst Herb) wrote: > From: Horst Herb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [GPCG_TALK] Ultramobile PCs > To: General Practice Computing Group Talk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > On Thursday 05 April 2007 08:28, Adi Smith wrote: > > UMPCs are horribly underpowered and clumsy to use. Usually I would > > recommend holding off till second generation before investing in a new > > technology but at this rate I wouldn't expect a usable UMPC till at > > least 4 gen. > > My Sharp Zaurus SL800 is neither underpowered nor clumsy to use. > It has a crisp 640x480 VGA display, runs about 10 hours on a single battery > charge (and I can carry several spare batteries, they are half matchbox > size only). > > It is not clumsy to use - the built-in keyboard is reaonsable for brief > typing, for longer typing I use a half-size foladable infrared keyboard > that fits into a shirt pocket (the Zaurus weighs 280 grams and fits into > the back pocket of my jeans) > > Horribly underpowered is an entirely unfunded statement too - in fact, it's > 400MHz XScale processor is more than fast enough for ANYTHING I want to do > with a compiuter at present: I can use it as VoIP terminal, I can browse > the web, do email, use an Office software suite, remotely connect to my > server (via ssh, even forwarding X sessions), run Python scripts, Java > programs etc. And yes, I can access my EHR system, and the only thing that > restricts it's use is it's screen size (being used to a 1920x1200 screen at > my main work place) > > Had this gadget for about 5 years now, still serving me well. Runs Linux, > of course - if it would run some inefficient bloatware, then it would of > course be underpowered, and if it would depend on inefficient user > interaction paradigms, it would be clumsy too. -- David Fong : Ivanhoe, 3079, Victoria, Australia. http://www.users.bigpond.com/vkelim --- Skype and PGP available http://vkelim.smugmug.com (photo-gallery) --- openSuSE 10.2 _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
