So I have this cute tool, a Sharp Zaurus SL-3100. It’s a Linux PDA, plays video, audio, has all those PIM (personal information management) type apps that I never quite get around to using, choice of internet browsers (with CF wireless card) email, and more. At just larger than a pag of ciggies, it is currently the funkiest mini-computer, a title I used to award to the now aging and, by comparison, bulky Toshiba Libretto 110 CT.
Including slots for CF and SD cards, it also boasts a 4GB internal hard disk. Swapping files is easy with a USB cable to my XP laptop. Being Linux, it also has xterms so I can ssh, run services like apache, script, install apps (the Z has it’s own package format) and generally tinker, but mostly, it’s just a sexy piece of kit. You don’t really need it, but you want it.
This wee Japanese box has not been the easiest thing to get working but for occasional outstanding wifi issues, I am mostly there. I picked it up from a nervous OpenBSD hacker who advertised it on a local Dutch marketplace. Despite his initial skeptism of me, once reassured that I actually knew what this somewhat rare piece of equipment was, and that I would indeed know how to use it, he agreed to meet me near Rotterdam for the hand over. After some ethical deliberation we met at the Burger King in the station and I returned home with a great deal on the “Z”, still with box and (Japanese) manuals and software CDs. I had to remove his OpenBSD install because, well, it really wasn’t terribly useful on a PDA (but for coolness it ruled, and ran XFree86!). I opted for the best localized and bugfixed software developed from the original Sharp ROM, and running the rather excellent Qtopia desktop. Kudos to the programmer Anton Maslovsky of Cacko ROM. Another invaluble resource has been the Open Embedded Software Foundation’s forum where Anton of Cacko is active and helpful, as are the busy community of Zaurus hackers and affectionados.