Re: [tlug] Zaurus suggestions

[Edward Middleton <edwardmiddleton@example.com>]

On Wed, 2003-06-25 at 09:16, Jim Breen wrote:
> G'day all,
> 
> I'll be in Japan for a couple of weeks (Sapporo, not Tokyo), and may 
> get the urge to buy a Zaurus. Some questions:

> (a) what model is best? Should I aim for the one with the keyboard?
The latest model is the best.  I think it is the SL-750.  The earlier
models SL-700 are good but they use an earlier arm CPU that has a cache
bug which means it can't use cache so it is slow to start programs.  It
also doesn't have enough RAM 32Mb so that you need to setup a swap file
on flash which is not a very good idea.  It also has problems with
battery life (lasts about 4 hours.).  The current model (SL-750 I think)
has 64MB RAM, the newer ARM CPU without the cache bug, and an 8 hour
battery life.

> (b) what is it like as a target platform for apps, e.g. is there a gcc
> for it? is the Windows systems usable? has it an IME? etc. etc.
Sharp provides a full development environment that you can download for
Linux and windows.  I have used the Linux development environment.  I
got Chasen working for it by simply compiling it with the arm gcc no
porting was necessary.  This seems to be the case with most non GUI
applications. The GUI uses QT embedded which is basically a cut down
version on QT (use in KDE).  It has an IME and it works well.
I got a 10/100 CF network card and have found it a very good
investment.  I can use it as a portable file server on windows networks
using samba, ftpd.

> (c) what dictionary apps are there that are usable?

from my earlier post.

Use epwing dictionaries.  There are many dictionaries and many readers. 
I use zten

http://www.gohome.org/zten/zten_1.6.0_arm.ipk

Once you have installed a reader look at

http://openlab.ring.gr.jp/edict/fpw/

for a large list of dictionarys mostly in epwing format.  Many that
arn't have conversion programs.  There are conversion programs for the
eijiro and waeijiro which both work but you need to install freepwing
first

ftp://ftp.sra.co.jp/pub/misc/freepwing/freepwing-1.4.3.tar.gz

>From the site you mentioned above it was suggested that the eijiro
dictionary was too big and slow.  I didn't find any of the dictionaries
to be slow.  I even tried using all dictionaries simultanously and the
speed was still acceptable.  I am using a 500Meg SD card.

> Cheers
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jim Breen (j.breen(a)csse.monash.edu.au  http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/)
> Computer Science & Software Engineering,                Tel: +61 3 9905 3298
> Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia                  Fax: +61 3 9905 5146
> (Monash Provider No. 00008C)                ジム・ブリーン@example.comƒ¢ãƒŠã‚·ãƒ¥å¤§å­¦