Sharp's Upcoming Linux PDA

Bill Kendrick writes: "ZDNet reports that Sharp is getting ready to make its Linux-based PDA available to developers in the next few weeks. They'll include a 206MHz StrongARM, 32MB (in the cheaper, developer edition), a JVM, the Opera web browser, and a slide-out keyboard. A profile of the device is available at LinuxDevices.com." We've mentioned this before, but it looks like it'll be here soon.

pull-out keyboard

The problem with these types of keyboards is that the keys are smaller than most fingers (in particular thumbs). The stylo can type on them if there's an indentation but then it isn't that much better than the "keyboard" displayed on the screen. I think a more inventive system (as was discussed re:cellphones recently) is needed.

Good For..

Can't decide which one will this be good for:

Linux....PDA market

The product doesn't look extra-ordinary, but looks like once Sharp goes on to promote it, it'd do better than the existing trends in the market. Good for all.

Any more information?

I would love to get ahold of this little box - I currently have a Visor Prisim and the best thing they have for it is the VisorPhone. Does anyone know of a CF variant of a GSM "visorphone" device? If anyone has anymore details on this device I would love to hear about it.

Sharp Zaurus PDA

I just returned from Java One and Sharp had a booth there. They showed off this PDA that looked very cool. I think it takes Palm attachments. The bottom slides down to reveal a tiny keyboard. But the cool thing is that the PDA is a Java app thing that runs under Linux. It was running a 2.4 kernel and it just looked friggin' cool. I don't know what kind of development environment they've got (does gcc have a StrongARM backend?), but I got the feeling that they were looking for people to develop apps for it. I suppose that's because no one will buy it without apps. I signed up to get an early development release, but I don't really know what that means. Does anyone have any more information on this? All the web pages I find are in Japanese.

206 mhz Strongarm VS 200 mhz pentium?

what kind of 'punch' does a strongarm processor provide in comparison to a desktop with a pentium of about the same speed? My desktop is a PII 266, yeah I've got more ram than the PDA, but will my apps I use on my desk run at similar speed on this PDA?
I'm starting to think it's either time to upgrade my desktop, or consider using an embeded OS to speed things up.

I'll definitely buy it...

if the ad campaign here is as funny as the japanese one [utexas.edu].

Looks good.

Sharp looks like it is actually trying to be a bit innovative with a PDA, unlike many manufacturers. First of all, the reflective TFT color display is good choice - consumers and business users seem to have this desire for color (I personally own a Visor Platinum with a grayscale screen, I love the battery life).

I don't really see what Java and Linux bring to a handheld device. Development isn't that difficult for the Palm OS, even Pocket PC, which have each picked a niche in the handheld market (the Palm OS for basic PIM functions with lots of little add-on software, Pocket PC for built-in support of Office documents and multimedia). I have spent some time thinking about it, and the advantages of Linux (multitasking, different processor support, open source) don't seem as important in the handheld market. At least not yet. If Palm OS and the Pocket PC platforms weren't mature, I would definately think that using Linux would be a much better choice. Unfortunately, it is still quite immature, as one can quickly tell from reading through the Linux development mailing lists of the Agenda [agendacomputing.com]. Not to say it isn't useful, but on the same hardware it seems to be slower than the Palm equivalents, from the reports I have read.

Moving on, the choice of compact flash and lithium ion battery was very wise. Better than a proprietary expansion slot, in my opinion, but somewhat more limited. Handspring's sprinboards are capable of doing so much more than memory expansion and modem/ethernet devices - like a remote module, GPS, cell phone, wireless internet, etc. I am not sure how many of these things the compact flash design on this palmtop could support - with something sticking out the top. Seeing as this has a 206 Mhz processor and a color screen, the good rechargable battery will be quite needed. It would be nice if these are easily removable, so that those who don't get a chance to charge for quite some time will be able to pop in a second battery.

The sliding keyboard seems nice, but obviously useful mostly for "thumb-typing". Handspring just announced a clip-on sort of keyboard for their devices that does a similar thing - SnapNType [palmgear.com]. One thing that I wonder about this Sharp device - will it support handwriting recognition? The site claims the color screen has "touch panel support". Handwriting recognition is fairly difficult to code, as the Agenda creators have found. Grafiti is nice, especially for those that have learned it, but there is some sort of licensing with it.

All in all, this looks like a promising Linux handheld. They learned from the Agenda's mistakes, by including USB connectivity, a rechargable battery, and compact flash slot. With all these features it will definately be in the price range of the already-mature color Compaq's, which means a limited consumer base. I look forward to hearing how well the developer models work.

love the input options.

Wow, touch screen support for future implementations of graffiti or handwriting recognition software and a dropout keyboard. That is just plain polite. As opposed to say... this [slashdot.org].

Please pardon.

My taken of English do not have to gush so as to I must send that fact in the first place. The PDA in issue is undeniably excellent in the relative use of OS technology underlying since I have an unit of demo that I have obtained through my brother-in-law that works in the zone of search and development of Sharp. Thanks.

good and bad

I'm a total sucker for shiny sliding things with buttons (I own both of these: 8860 [nokiausa.com] and 8890 [nokiausa.com]), and this certainly fits the bill - I want one - but I really have no clue - I mean I have a handspring Visor and I rarely use it - the screen is just too damn small to do much with aside from keep numbers and stuff...

but as long as they keep making shiny things, I'll keep buying them.

now off to get some tin foil.... oooooo

maybe someone can answer this

I've read the article and I didn't see it touch on this. With the sharp unit will I be able to compile my favorite text editor or compiler or interpreter to work with on the unit... I don't know about anybody else but there are tons of times where it would be nice to sit back in a cafe and play with a ruby interpreter on a pda. For now I guess I'm stuck with scheme on my palm

StrongARM comments

1) No, because it runs at 206MHz does not mean it comsumes a lot of power. It draws 0.7W [intel.com].
2) It is RISC rather than CISC, and having used a 200MHz StrongARM desktop I can tell you it FLIES. Much faster than a P2-266
3) You use gcc to compile on StrongARM because Linux runs on StrongARM (well obviously). ARMLinux has been around for years running on Acorn machines. You can also cross-compile to StrongARM using a x86 box - just ./configure --target=arm-linux when compiling GCC.
4) You can even use them for Beowolf [dnaco.net] ;-)

Phillip.

Secure Digital Expansion Slot??

Is this what I think it is, namely for the "secure digital music initiative"?

I see a slot for headphones, but I don't see a claim for "plays MP3s".

Zuarus PDA is AmigaDE enabled.

The main opertating system on the Zaurus PDA is based on technologies developed by the Tao Group [tao-group.com]. The Japanese version of the Zaurus PDA doesn`t have a Linux kernel at all. The common application layer is provided by the Tao Group. The OS is very good but this is not a fully open source solution by any means. It is all simple hype to create support for such products. For many other products which are so called "Linux Powered" counts that they are unfoundedly hyped as Linux devices. Think of it is Linux with X a viable solution in lowly powered low memory environments? NO WAY

Using Linux pieces does make sense though as you can use them freely and even gives you more news coverage. These devices are extremely cool, but NO way are they true Linux devices.

MPEG4 movies listed under features?

Are they talking about stock MPEG4 ala mickeysoft, or are they talking about DivX ;-) ?

On http://developer.sharpsec.com/ [sharpsec.com] one of the listed features is "Headset Port", and the subtext is "Stereo headset port for listening to MP3 audio files or MPEG4 movies". Anyone know what that means in this case?

There's no room in the marketplace

Sure, it's got some interesting specs, but there simply isn't room in the marketplace for this PDA. It's not a gaurantee of failure, but it's close enough -- this device would have to unseat MS' PocketPC or the Palm to really be worth bothering about. And by the sounds of it a colour Handera 330 would remove most of its market. (CF II and SD slots, QVGA.) The keyboard's cute, but it looks like it wastes a lot of space that coulb be better used for Flash RAM or battery life. If only it had Bluetooth built-in or some other particularly interesting technology. Just having a Linux core really isn't enough of a hook.

Anyway, this is not the time, economy wise, to be trying to introduce a completely new product in a genre of questionable usefulness. My TRGpro spends only about one in five days out of its drawer, and I really like it, I just can't find a use for it that justifies lugging it around. (Particularly now summer is on it's way.)

Needs better connectivity

I think this thing needs either a serial port or a second CF slot.

The USB is a nice touch, but it looks like it might get in the way of the CF slot.

I see the real possibilities in a Linux powered device like this is in integration into larger system and field based data collection. There's no way anybody is going to break into the PalmOS/WinCE dominated world.

The problem is when you start assembling systems to do things like field surveying systems, the features you get don't add up (e.g. you need a huge CF card to hold your maps files, but then yo have no way to connect your GPS). I do a lot of (simple) stuff with GPS hand PDAs -- I think every PDA should have a serial port!

Remember the Yopy?

As one who is stuck with the Samsung Yopy, I was wondering if I could use Lineo's Linux.... The Yopy has the same processor but I'm not sure about the board architecture..... It does have a nice screen though and I have X and 2.4 working... so far...

Sharp's Open Operating Website

I tried to register as a Sharp "developer" and on submitting the form (http://developer.sharpsec.com/join.cfm) I got an Microsoft/msSQL/Cold Fusion error message.
Looks like Sharp have not embraced the Open Source movement beyond PDAs yet...
Guess they have to start somewhere

Developer Registration Prob

I got the following when I tried to register (gotta love M$ products coughMSSQLcough(yes, I'm on IE6. I'm at work)):

Error Occurred While Processing Request
Error Diagnostic Information
ODBC Error Code = 37000 (Syntax error or access violation)

[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Can't allocate space for object 'Syslogs' in database 'Zaurus' because the 'logsegment' segment is full. If you ran out of space in Syslogs, dump the transaction log. Otherwise, use ALTER DATABASE or sp_extendsegment to increase the size of the segment.

The error occurred while processing an element with a general identifier of (CFQUERY), occupying document position (19:2) to (19:49).

Date/Time: 10/08/01 09:20:41
Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 4.0; Hotbar 3.0)
Remote Address: 168.236.254.1
HTTP Referer: http://developer.sharpsec.com/join.cfm?Blue=RE
Template: D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\developer\join_writerecord.cfm

Please inform the site administrator that this error has occurred (be sure to include the contents of this page in your message to the administrator).

When do we get a Linux PDA for engineers?

When is someone going to offer a Linux PDA designed for engineers instead of the marketing department?

There is already a plethora of PDAs for accountants and salespeople, but the niche for engineers remains largely unfilled. What a perfect spot for Linux! Give us something that will do the math, do the analysis, hook up to networks, and crunch the data without costing us $5,000.

Our group is very interested in a PDA network analyzer that can compete with the Flukes. Yet every damn PDA comes out as a clone of Palm. Get a clue folks... even the Palms aren't selling!!

It seems to me that a Linux-based PDA with appropriate interfaces (10/100 ethernet would be perfect) would find several niche markets. Out of the several Linux PDAs (and our firm has a couple of them) this Sharp is the ONLY one which has any useable connetivity. I wonder if the OS (based on Lineo's) is up to the challenge.

Re:Why thye chose Opera?`

Opera tries to be small, Mozilla will work on that later. Mozilla is probably more stable though.

Re:Why thye chose Opera?`

Mozilla is way too large both in footprint and running memory still. It's slow too.

Nanozilla on nanoX might be a lot better but that's a different story.