Zaurus SL-C1000

2006-06-12
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TODO - Make a proper page
TODO - My notes are in deep archives.

Sharp-Zaurus-SL-C1000-image.jpg

Computers > Portable computing >
Sharp Zaurus SL-series >

(on Wikipedia)

A QWERTY clamshell palmtop which runs Linux.



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Table of Contents [hide]

ROMs and distributions which I've played with ∞

TODO - these ought to be integrated into their separate pages.

  • 2010-05-25 -- I tried playing with Angstrom again, but its online image builder is busted, and its direct downloads are from 2007-10.
  • 2010-05-25 -- I've been "using" weeXpc for a long long time now, and haven't really bothered with anything else. I haven't actually been using the device much..
  • 2008-11-06 -- Angstrom has picked up in popularity, and I'm going to give it a serious go.
  • 2007-06-25 -- weeXpc's author gave me a copy for review. I used this on and off for a while. I ended up setting my Zaurus down for quite some time. Then I gave away my mp3 player to help me use this device full time. That didn't happen. Now i'm largely giving up my desktop and forcing myself to use it full time.

  • 2006-09-24 -- Meanie's usb keyboard helper seems to really slow down my system, and it didn't even work.

    • After uninstalling it and rebooting I can't get my keyboard to even work anymore. Pressing a key would have a few seconds of delay and then the LEDs would blink. Very weird.
  • 2006-07-03 -- I farted around with PdaXrom 1.1.0beta3 again, and hated it. I fixed the install instructions. I'm going to have to keep Cacko.
  • 2006-06-23 -- Having a moment, I actually managed to get Cacko/Kino2 working with full-screen videos.
  • 2006-06-23 -- D-Debian: The author declared his chroot-ed Debian effort dead due to speed issues, particularly over pdaXrom's capabilities.

  • 2006-06-20 -- pdaXrom 1.1.0beta4 notes

    • I corrected the install instructions. They were a mistake on my part. This is the first release for the 2.6 kernel, so it's understandably buggy. The sound had serious issues, but they were already fixed by the time I tried installing.. although the fix was supplied separately and not mentioned in the original download. Sigh. The conclusion is that it's definitely not production-ready.

  • 2006-06-20 -- PdaXrom 1.1.0beta3

    • While I got it working, it's not very good at all. XMMS stutters badly.

  • 2006-06-19 -- pdaXrom 1.1.0beta4 notes

    • It wouldn't work, and I have no idea why! I tried reinstallation from scratch but somehow the install instructions versus the downloads don't match up.

  • 2006-06-18 -- Cacko 1.23

    • Fiddled to get quake working as-expected.

  • 2006-06-18 -- OpenZaurus 3.5.4.1-rc4

  • 2006-06-17 -- Angstrom unstable 2006-04-28

    • Rename the .img file to initrd.bin and retry.
    • Angstrom-gpe-image-test-20060428-akita.rootfs.img failed with
      Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(254,1)
    • Angstrom-e-image-core-test-20060428-akita.rootfs.img failed with:
      Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(254,1)

  • 2006-06-17 -- pdaXqtrom 0.7.9 over Cacko's 1.23 ROM.

    • It just doesn't feel right.

  • 2006-06-17 -- OpenZaurus 3.5.4.1-rc4

    • Same issue as 3.5.3 -- after installation, it halted with "ln respawning too fast". I'll troubleshoot this later.

  • 2006-06-16 -- Angstrom unstable 2006-04-28

    • I cannot find an initrd.bin to use for installation!

  • 2006-06-16 -- OpenZaurus 3.5.3

    • After installation, it halted with ln respawning too fast.

  • 2006-06-15 -- pdaXqtrom 0.7.9 over Cacko's 1.23 ROM.

    • I don't like the hybrid X + Qt thing.
    • Where are all the apps? I thought I installed the whole thing.

  • 2006-06-14 -- Cacko 1.23

    • Really great experience.
    • kino is a spectacular player compared to the stock ROM's player.
    • Quake1 runs at a fantastic speed.
    • The package management is fucking braindead.

  • 2006-06-14 -- pdaXrom 1.1.0beta4 notes

    • The menus go off the screen.
    • I disagree with some UI elements. i.e. the window manager is crappy.

  • 2006-06-13 -- Sharp ROM 1.01 JP. Translated by Dynamism.

    • Pretty simple. Definitely needs improvement.
    • The built-in software isn't anything to speak about.

2006-06-12 ∞

Finally, it seems that a long-standing chapter is coming closed. I've been keeping my eye out for a portable computer which is small enough to actually be portable and not luggable like a laptop and which can play games and music as well as significant general computing. I think I have found it in the Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000.

The Sharp Zaurus is one in a long line of palmtops, and the Sharp Zaurus SL-series runs Linux.

It'll arrive in a couple of days, complete with the necessary English-translation.

~2006-06-12 ∞

  • I paid $400 CAD for it.

It was the best shipping experience I've ever had.

It got stopped at the border, but the phonecalls from custom were very fast and friendly. FedEx redirected the package to my work and were very good about delivering at a specific time. When they missed me, I was able to pick it up at the nearby depot that same day.

Customs didn't send me any weird bill afterwards, so there were no hidden shipping fees.. everything went great, and really quickly too!

Information ∞

  • CPU: 416 MHz Intel XScale PXA270
  • RAM: 64 MB

  • Storage: 128 MB Flash ROM

    • No HDD

  • Size: 124mm x 87mm by 25mm

    • (4.9 inches wide, 3.4 inches tall, and 1.0 inch thick)

  • Weight: 278 g

    • (9.8 ounces)

  • USB host port

    • For keyboards, mice, USB sticks, etc.

Special bootup modes ∞

Community ∞

Abandoned ∞

Hardware ∞

Software ∞

Zaurus SL-C1000 software

(/tag/zaurus-software)

Directories ∞

Abandoned ∞

ipk repositories and feeds ∞

Distributions ∞

Abandoned but possibly useful ∞

Useless ∞

Abandoned and useless ∞

Development info ∞

Links ∞

Major resources ∞

Community ∞

Secondary Resources ∞

The official websites are generally useless since the good stuff is in Japanese and the English/US websites are garbage at worst and at best don't apply to the Japan-only models. =/ It also appears that the old websites are now being (badly) redirected to USA websites which themselves don't have the old content. So basically Sharp has abandoned all the developer networks and such. That sucks.

Very old TODO list ∞

Download and merge packages from https://web.archive.org/web/20100619012445/http://www.tyrannozaurus.com:80/feed/beta3/feed/.. there are new things there.

set up mrxvt to launch various things automatically...

mrxvt -vt#.e "command"
mrxvt -vt0.e "nano /foo"

  • Figure out why mrxvt cannot run music .. (see .xinitrc)

  • Find Ruby/tk

    • for my launcher script
  • cplay pops on track change! -- should be ok now..
  • I don't think that vim has Ruby support built-in

  • research the other players for cplay.

    • figure out sid support

  • learn how to customize the shoulder buttons..

    • change them when launching cplay

  • The silkscreen keys can be customized in /etc/X11/kb/akita.xmodmap

    • See .Xmodmap
    • If you want to experiment with this, install patched Xfbdev by Meanie in /usr/X11R6/bin and uncomment the following lines...
  • get nohup..
  • get some neo geo games for gngeo.

  • get cubic player working.

  • check out plucker and the ruby-doc downloads

  • wrap up my scripting nicely
  • make it all syncable and portable

  • port it all to the zaurus

test:

  • set some preferences
  • back up my cards
  • nuke my sd card
  • backup via weex tools
  • reinstall weex

  • perform a restore

  • summarize previous weex emails

    • re-test
    • re-submit

  • check for weeex updates? How is this done?

  • Ruby on Rails, on the Zaurus [ 2 ] .

  • get the ruby standard docs here. ri doesn't know about Hash or other standard stuff. ri -c is basically blank.

  • check out RPA

  • write up notes on a zaurus slim setup.

    • button sizes

apps to check out:

  • kino2
  • other text apps
  • app reviews
  • lxgames

  • additional pdaXrom software?

    • Check for any recent updates. Regularly sync my archive (rsync?) to feeds...

  • Consider Openbox

    • Find it
    • I would have to do all the hotkeys differently somehow.
    • I would need to figure out a panel. Maybe just keep rox?
      - fbpanel? What about icons, and the menu..

  • install man? =)

    • find it

  • get / implement a nice app launcher

  • investigate a better filesystem for the sd cards!

  • how to i do an ls with size but nothing else?

    • what about commas in the size?
    • make an alias for it and pull it into shell-random

  • investigate how pclos runs DOSBox so nicely by letting me run 'dosbox app.exe' and intelligently setting things up.

nice -n -10 dosbox \
  -c "mount c ./" \
  -c "c:" \
  -c "$1" \
  -c "exit"

  • Figure out how I can set up a decent DOSBox environment with the path and default apps and such.

  • DOSBox -- Works, but slow?

    • fn-f for \ I think.
    • Set aside specific applications to try.
    • Figure out the mapping of _
    • Test bunches of Oldschool stuff.

  • try to SSH / whatever in

  • video playing

    • small box, check mplayer settings. Try Kino2

  • sfm Would have to be recompiled...

  • Kate and some other editors. -- check the repos

    • Maybe just try medit, possibly leafpad/mousepad.

  • xkill should be installed with a handy hotkey to summon it.

true console

  • Pageup does not work to view previous content
  • How do I switch virtual consoles?
  • How do I switch virtual consoles from X?
  • delete acts as backspace?
  • some of the other keymapping is wrong. pagedown

  • the home/end keys seem to switch to the next console..

Console apps to try

  • console file managers and application launchers?

  • MPlayer from the console!

    • Other video players?
  • Picture viewers?
  • underclocking at the console?

  • networking?

    • irc
    • IM
    • Links, graphical links

Gather my list of console apps

DOSBox works - and is much faster!

  • audio - just not configured?
  • function keys?
  • other fn-key don't work
  • the number 2 key does not work
  • alt enter a couple of time will kill it

the / and . keys are muddled up and must be pressed once or twice,

  • otherwise I get double-keys.

  • DOSBox works from within x quite nicely, and the mouse works but somehow isn't working well.. the mouseable area is small and the alignment is off!!

  • https://edeproject.org/ -- EDE was ported to the zaurus.. it could be fun.

Last updated 2024-10-09 at 21:33:33

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