Handhelds/PDAs - Palm vs Zaurus vs others - Opinions? Experiences?

[mike ledoux]

On Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 05:11:00PM -0400, Ben Scott wrote:
>  I'm especially interested in the Sharp Zaurus.  I understand that,
> while it's nominally not sold in the US, it's pretty easy to find
> vendors importing it, and that the manufacturer support picture is
> pretty good (for the immediate future, anyway).
> 
>  One thing I want from a handheld is that it has to be a good PIM
> first -- good calendar, contact, task list, and notepad functionality.
> Not Emacs, but something easily usable with one hand while I've got
> my head stuck inside a computer cabinet.  This is one thing the Palm
> always did *very* well.  What about the Zaurus?

I had a Zaurus (SL-5600).  The PIM software was almost, but not
quite, completely useless.  I tried several of the alternate
software loads, none of them worked anywhere near as well as the
Palm IIIc the Zaurus replaced, certainly not good enough for daily
use.

> Zauruses... Zauri... Zaurus models have built-in keyboards, I guess
> that's moot.  Right?

The built-in keyboard on the SL-5600 was crap, I only used it when I
had to.

>  The Zaurus runs Linux, which is uber-cool, especially for more
> sophisticated things.  Can anyone comment on how Linux software
> translates to the Zaurus platform?  Is it just a recompile, or is it
> mostly incompatible?  Does it use X for graphics, or something else?

Something else, depending on which software load you are using.  You
can get X working, but it isn't particularly usable.

>  What about sync'ing with a desktop Linux PC?  I ass-ume, since it
> runs Linux, that basic interoperability is a no-brainer.  Is there
> anything like jpilot for the Zaurus?

Basic interoperability was pretty much non-existant when I first
tried it, the PIM apps for the Zaurus weren't available in any
desktop form I could identify.  I quickly gave up and just made
regular backups to a spare CF card.


These days I'm using a cheap Palm, which is working reasonably well
for just PIM functions.

-- 
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