[AuckLUG] Linux PDA

[Denise Bates]

Paul Eggleton wrote:

> Of course, as I said in my other message I'm biased, but personally I believe 
> this to be a red herring. Either the platform you are running has support for 
> the applications you want, or it doesn't. I'm not convinced that having X 
> actually makes it easier to port or run applications, since you pretty much 
> have to redesign the UI for the device anyway, and for most programs that 
> means you might as well just rewrite it from scratch.

Alas, when I was an aspiring Geographer, I really wanted to run 
the GIS program, Grass on the PDA, and Grass requires X to run. I 
had also acquired a GPS attachment for the PDA, which should have 
made the IPAQ a powerful tool for a Geographer in the field, at 
least in theory (I wasn't entirely sure how I would fully 
integrate the GPS + GIS into my research). While I had only one 
PDA, I found GPE wasn't acceptable for my regular PDA needs (as 
well as being quite ugly). I was prepared to devote the 5550 to 
GPS + GIS exclusively, but that model has major battery management 
problems (there is no point in going out in the field with 
equipment that is likely to shut down without warning).

> The 5400 & 5500 series are definitely problematic. The kernel needs some work 
> for this model (I understand there is at least one person actively working on 
> this), but another factor is simply the poor design of the hardware with 
> respect to battery charging, ie. if it goes completely flat there is a 
> complicated recovery procedure to get it to wake up again. This happens 
> regardless of whether it is running Linux or PocketPC.

The battery management on the 5550 did work under WinCE: 
poorly-designed hardware, perhaps, but somehow WinCE managed to 
overcome it. I've only flattened the 3970's battery a couple of 
times, but even then, the re-boot under Familiar was 
straightforward and reliable. In contrast, having a screen which 
remains blank during 5550's boot-up makes the situation even more 
difficult.

regards,
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Dr Denise J. Bates,
PO Box 50,
Meremere 2441
New Zealand
E-mail: dbates at iconz.co.nz
Telephone 09-2336433
Mobile 021-1539276 or 021-2541330
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