On Tue, 2004-03-30 at 10:02, Peter Chubb wrote:
> Hi,
> Has anyone had any experience with the Sharp Zaurus, or other
> Linux-based PDAs? I'm particularly interested in how usable they are
> for usual PDA type stuff (like the Datebook etc., functionality on a
> PalmOs device), as well as for the usual Linux stuff (taking quick
> memos, synchronisation with a Linux desktop, etc.)
Hi,
I have a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500. They're the ones that were all over the
Internet a while back. I got it to replace my old Palm V when it died
and I've been really happy with it. To be truthful however, I've enjoyed
it mostly because it has let me work how I'd like to work rather than
with the interface it provides.
I do almost everything in vi, on a Konsole, which is very similar to
how I record things on my main machine. When I want to sync stuff, I
simply use scp over the USB connection ;-). I sometimes also use the
address book which is provided by openzaurus.
I find the keyboard pretty usable, although I have heard a number of
people complain about it being too small for them. I guess it depends on
personal preference. You can still use the stylus for typing on a
virtual keyboard thing, or use the character recognition.
Personally, I find that being able to use all the standard unix tools
is great. Having find, xargs, grep, more and cat (as well as ssh),
definitely makes things easier for me. You might want to rotate the
screen if you want top to be useful though ;-)
Cheers,
Pasc
--
Pascal Hakim
Do Not Bend
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