Re: Zaurus

["C. Oda" <craig@example.com>]

Stephen,
I would like to thank you very much for your informative reply.  It
has proven very helpful.

The reason that I am leaning toward the Zaurus instead of something
like the Casio RX-20 which has built in data transfer capability is
because there is a Linux ztools package out there that allows dumping
and restoring of the Zaurus data.  There are also some Perl scripts
to change the data format. 

The PI-7000 has a list price of 93,000 yen and a street price of
68,000 yen at Laox.  The PI-6000 has a list price of 69,000 and
a street price of 45,000 yen.  The PI-7000 comes with an internal
2400 bps fax modem. 

There appears to be two data transfer options.  One is an RS-232
transfer device and the other is an infrared unit.  They are
both about 12,000 yen each. 

I've also looked at the IBM PalmTopPC110 and Toshiba Libretto.
I've often thought that it would be cool to run Linux on the
Libretto.  However, the keyboard makes difficult to use the 
sub-notebook and I'm also worried about running X on the screen.
My last notebook could only do 16 colors under X.  Also,
since I'm buying a PDA primarily for the calendar and datebook,
I think that it is a better strategy to buy something real small
and light and have it talk to a desktop at regular intervals.

If a few other TLUGers get a Zaurus, I think it would be fun to
discuss how people use the Zaurus with Linux over both the 
RS-232 interface and the modem.  

Stephen, if I get the Zaurus and the cable, I'll give you a report.
If you want me to pick a cable after this, I can ship it to you.
Of course, I'll only tell ya if I can get it to work with Linux.   ;-)


Regards,
Craig

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Craig Oda 	craig@example.com	
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