Zaurus thread...

I just got a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 today, and it's pretty decent right now. If anyone has anything to say about the Zaurus, this could be the place to post.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect--it's my first time with a Linux-based anything.

What exactly is a Zaurus?

Never heard of it..

B-

BIG said:

What exactly is a Zaurus?

Never heard of it..

B-

Click to expand...

It's a series of PDA's by Sharp. The more recent ones have a version of Linux as their OS. They still sell them in Japan, but they can be ordered through such companies as Dynamism.

more information

replace the os with something else!

loads of alternatives

I used to have a Zaurus in japan, with GSM and quite a lot of japanese dictionaries, it was pretty handy there. Gave it to my ex's brother when i left. It had a decent movie player and overall when i got it i did quite a nice deal so my Zaurus experience was a pleasant one.

It was not a Linux machine at that time, but anyway it was verry useful and that s what a personal digital assistant should be

I tried to use an SL-5500 for a while but got tired of the "rebooting without suspending results in a hard lock and lose all your data" bug. The last time that happened, I cashed in on my extended warranty and bought an Axim X3i, which I've been slightly less disappointed with (lately I just use my phone for a PDA).

It was good while it worked. I ran OpenZaurus (or Opie, or whatever they're calling it now), then tried the Sharp 3.10 rom, then theKompany.rom (which was the best) but they never fixed the biggest problems. It taught me that the reality of an open source device rarely lives up to the potential. As long as you remember to suspend at least once between reboots and don't do anything too exotic with it, I'm sure you'll like yours just fine.

I think I have a handful of registered theKompany apps for it still around (I paid for them) that I'm not using (obviously). Stuff like tkcEditor and maybe a game or two. If I can find them, and you want them, I'd be glad to give them to you.

Meh, I was left unimpressed. I may pick up another for the geek factor in the future, but as was said before.. with most Linux based stuff... it's all pretense and no payoff. It's a cool kitschy device, but there are more fully featured solutions out there and that suspend/reboot bug gets VERY annoying.


Currently I sport an HP 24xx series handheld, Vaio c1vn picturebook and nothing else, I couldn't be happier. I'm not saying it's junk, just that it will leave you wanting more.