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Portables Software Hardware Linux

Zaurus Sharp SL-C3000 Tested, Converted to English 88

Posted by timothy from the too-bad-about-the-availability dept.
conics writes "Sharp Japan released a new Zaurus October 15th. There were some on display at WPC2004 Tokyo. Pictures of the Sharp SL-C3000 tested in English; specs of the SL-C3000."
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Zaurus Sharp SL-C3000 Tested, Converted to English More

Zaurus Sharp SL-C3000 Tested, Converted to English

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  • Looks cool (Score:1, Interesting)

    by rshimizu12 ( 668412 )
    The Zaurus SLC-3000 looks very cool where can I get one.....??? Too bad Sharp decided to quit distributing the Zaurus in the US

  • A few questions. (Score:3)

    by Tuxedo Jack ( 648130 ) on Sunday October 24, 2004 @06:48PM (#10616652) Homepage
    And now when is this coming out over here in the US?

    Can we swap OSes on it to something else (I know, it's Linux, why would you want to, et cetera).

    What'll it run, and can educators get discounts on it somehow?

    And it's got a PHS in it - can we expect to see some sort of VoIP software for it when it gets ported over here?
    • And how will this connect to a standard LAN? I'm presuming it'll be using a USB network adapter with various adapters for the cord as needed.

      Lastly, will there be room for upgrades? Yes, 64MB of SDRAM is nice for a PDA, but more never really hurt, especially if you want to use XMMS on it (you can; it comes with headphones).

    • Re:A few questions. (Score:5, Informative)

      by stuffman64 ( 208233 ) <stuffman@gmail.SLACKWAREcom minus distro> on Sunday October 24, 2004 @07:29PM (#10616914)
      First off, no USA on this device. Like the SL-CXXX series (I own an 860 myself), they will not be brought to America, though if you want one, you can import them from companies like Dynamism [dynamism.com]. Since it is essentially the same as the other Zaurus' hardware, I'm sure any of the kernels/ROMS currently available for it, but they are all Linux and all pretty good.

      As for educational discounts, only in your dreams... or if you lived in Japan. Dynamism wants a cool $899 for it (I paid $850 for my SL-C860, and I think it's worth it).

      Lastly, there are current VoIP for the Zaurus (KPhone [sourceforge.net] comes to mind), so it should work with this model. The 4GB drive will come most in handy for the numerous emulators available (there are emulators for just about every pre-playstation console, and even a SCUMM emulator to play those classic LucasArts games [and rumors of a PS1 emulator abound]).

      But you have to ask yourself if $900 is worth it for a PDA with very little support over here in the US. For most, it will be a "no," but for the true Linux-loving uber-geek, there is nothing better. Alternately, you can try the Zaurus SL-6000L (with full support here in the US). It's only $499 now at Amazon [amazon.com]. Sure, it doesn't have the 4GB drive, but it works pretty much the same, except it lacks the cool clamshell design.

  • Nice, but... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Gothmolly ( 148874 )
    Caveat: I owned a Zaurus 5500, the review of which was even posted to the front page of Slashdot.
    USB host, HD and big color screen will suck battery. Keyboard will be useful, but its not a real keyboard. Is Sharp trying to shrink a laptop to unusability (sucky KB), or is it expanding a PDA to unportability (no battery life). Is the market for this type of laptop/PDA hybrid big enough to support this?
    • *Is the market for this type of laptop/PDA hybrid big enough to support this?*

      in japan it seems to be, doesn't seem worth their time to be exporting them though..
    • I still like my SL-6000, its in a similar form factor of the 5x00 Models, is still buyable in the US in English, built in wifi, great screen (better than the clamshells I hear) and awesome battery life.

      I have never been happier with a pda.

  • Zaurus is dead (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Dancin_Santa ( 265275 ) <DancinSanta@gmail.com> on Sunday October 24, 2004 @06:49PM (#10616663) Journal
    Basically, Sharp has decided that the PDA market is not expanding fast enough to allow room for more than three fundamentally different platforms in the handheld space. Microsoft pushes the PocketPC. Palm has their little OS. And Sharp was the Linux holdout. I guess there were others like the BlackBerry, but in terms of market size they are non-starters.

    But with the market reaching saturation, the only thing Sharp can do, really, is get the hell out and cut their losses. This C3000 is the last in their series.

    BUT!! Look for more feature-filled Sharp phones in the future. The cellular phone market is still expanding and the 3G Smartphone/Featurephone market is largely untapped so far. It doesn't take a genius to see how moving the PDA OS to a smaller form factor which EVERYONE wants is good business sense.

    The thing you want to ask yourself now is whether getting a pretty nice PDA now is worth it considering you won't have any support for it after a year.
    • no [pdaxrom.org] support? [zaurususergroup.com] What are you smoking? [externe.net]

      I don't suppose people who buy Sharp laptops have to get all their software from Sharp too, do they? Do all Dell laptop owners buy all their software and games from Dell?

      Sharp will honor their warranty. That's all they need to do. You can get all kinds of software for this device from other sources, as long as you have the hardware.

      --Michael Spencer (An SL-C700 owner, considering buying this SL-C300)

    • Re:Zaurus is dead (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hklingon ( 109185 ) on Sunday October 24, 2004 @07:32PM (#10616927) Homepage
      The HP 100LX / 200LX was essentially abandoned by HP with similar reasoning. HP came out with the 320LX, a WinCE device. Yet, the 200LX persists to this very day. [palmtop.net] (A decade+later)

      I think Sharp dumping the USA market makes perfect business sense. The average american consumer is just too ignorant for the C7xx/C860/C3000 line of PDAs. Most folks want something that 'just works.' They are ignorant of cross-compiling, and probably find the lack of a unified (stable) software set annoying at best.

      The nicest thing about the 200LX was the software suite was extremely well designed and put together. For me, the 200lx 'just worked' right of of the box for everything I needed it for, and it was completely painless to make it do more. The Zaurus pales in comparison, but with a little diligence I think I can get it where I want it. It isn't much fun trying to port or fix botched ports of the software you want.

      You may be right that this will be the last good PDA model Sharp makes.. but after carrying my 200LX for just over a decade, I've found my successor.

      Just as before, the average consumer did not want a DOS palmatop in a sea of (then extremely crappy) WinCE devices. They want something that just works.

      Me? I'm having a very good time cross-compiling things for the Arm, porting scripts and utilities and really turning this PDA into an ultra-portable laptop. I almost have a dos emulator running at a nice speed. I doubt that most folks want to do this stuff. Most of the techies I work with want a PDA that 'just works'. I can't say that I blame them, but I want another 10-year PDA.

      I suspect this device will have the same cult following as the 200LX does, even though the software is a bit rocky with all the variations in the Zaurus famuly. I can only hope it persists for a decade.

    • Re:Zaurus is dead (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Sunday October 24, 2004 @08:38PM (#10617326)
      You obviously don't know how Japanese corporations work. Sharp has deep pockets, and is fully committed to keeping prestige products on sale, even if they're not making money, even if it's only limited markets (i.e. Japan only) in order to keep their name established as a market leader. And then someday the market will ripen, and they'll still be poised to make a big splash. That's how they look at it.
    • With the second official Sharp ROM, it became impossible to synchronize Linux with Zaurus ... (I'm not talking about home-grown scripts, I'm talking about the full thing). It became in fact easier to synchronize WinCE devices than Zaurus.

      My impression was that they thought the open source community would take care of everything for them as far as software is concerned, and they wouldn't have to lift a finger ...

      In the end the only player left in the market was theKompany.

  • Features (Score:4, Insightful)

    by allden ( 748789 ) on Sunday October 24, 2004 @06:51PM (#10616675)
    a) Doesn't talk about bluetooth b) No inbuilt wireless c) I bet the price won't be less than $600 Why should a non-geek buy Zaurus and not a Sony?
    • The lack of bluetooth and wireless are a buzz kill. Other than that, this device seems hot.
      • Bluetooth is a non-issue in Japan. No one uses it.

        Au and DoCoMo came out with like 1 phone each that had it 2 years ago, and nothing since. Don't think Vodaphone even bothered.

    • Don't buy Sony either! (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      h++p://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=2082

      Sony is leaving the US PDA market too.
    • Maybe to get a real computer, where he can flash the OS he want, run apache, perl, code on the go etc.

      But you're right on the price. Far too expansive. Get a 6000L for $399 at amazon, and buy a big CF. You'll enjoy the local warranty (no fedex to Japan!) and a better screen. And you'll have to use wikipedia instead of the japaneese encyclopaedia anyway [externe.net] (I don't speak japanese you insensitive clod)

  • A little wider, please. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tji ( 74570 ) on Sunday October 24, 2004 @07:03PM (#10616751)
    That's not a bad looking device. The small LCD display does a nice job with the ebay page they showed in the pictures. But, I still think that to make it a really usable device for WWW browsing, they need to make the screen a bit bigger.

    There is plenty of space availble with all that plastic on both sides of the display.

  • Enough of the US (Score:3, Funny)

    by enginuitor ( 779522 ) <Greg_Courville AT GregLabs DOT com> on Sunday October 24, 2004 @07:05PM (#10616760) Homepage
    That's it, I'm moving to Japan!

  • PDAs and the market (Score:4, Interesting)

    by British ( 51765 ) <british1500@gmail.com> on Sunday October 24, 2004 @07:12PM (#10616811) Homepage Journal
    I am still dumbfounded why new PDAs are released it seems every week. I bought my Handspring Visor 2 years ago(still use it), only to find support for it was pulled rather shortly after I bought it. I was hoping to just walk into any brick & mortar store and buy a keyboard or module for it. But alas, no.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • The Visor was also the first Handspring PDA. Look it up: Visor, Visor Deluxe, Visor Prism, Visor Edge, Visor Platinum, Visor Pro, Visor Neo. All the Handspring PDAs (as distinguished from the Handspring smart phones) were called "Visor." For some reason, new management at Handspring decided to abandon the Springboard platform early and move entirely to Treo. Handspring was bought in its entirety by Palm - mostly to get the Treo line - and eventually disappeared into PalmOne after the BeOS NeXT-style Trojan
        • Correction: there were one or two late Treo-branded non-phone PDAs - they are distinguishable from the Visor by their shape and the absence of the Springboard connector. The Visor Deluxe I have is still running, beautifully; I don't use it, but rather use a more featureful but less rugged Tungsten C. It makes me wish the Visor line had survived.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • you can't find a compatible keyboard?

      shouldn't be that hard(online).

    • Handspring's abandoning of the Springboard module and the Visor line is a sore point for me.

      I still have two Visor Neos, a Visor Pro and one of the early 2MB units and still use one of the Neos daily. I played with the new Palm units but still prefer the Neo. The new stuff eats batteries too much for my liking and are not nearly as rugged.

      A Visor Pro, in conjunction with a Symbol CSM-150 scanner module, made for a cost effective solution for software we develop. That combination runs rings around Symbol's
    • See, if you'd bought a Zaurus that'd not be a problem...you can walk into any brick & mortar and buy a keyboard - my IRK driver for the Zaurus supports Targus, Palm, Pocketop and Belkin PDA keyboards on all Zaurus models from the old SL5000-D right up to the latest clamshell models...). Praise be to the gods of open source....(folks in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan have contributed code just to this one tiny little project).

    • Have slashdot lost its geekiness?

      Doesn't anyone realize this is the coolest geek device that runs Linux, with a build-in WiFi, 4Gb harddisk, which makes is almost a functional computer at handheld size, and totally hackable to boot!

      (Sure, it is not as powerful as a full-fledge notebook but that could be said the same when notebook first arrive...learn a bit more about disruptive technology history)

  • State of the PDA market (Score:5, Interesting)

    by echocharlie ( 715022 ) on Sunday October 24, 2004 @07:32PM (#10616923) Homepage
    Now that Sharp and Sony are no longer devloping PDA products for the US market, I find the major innovators are now gone. Now PalmOne and all the PocketPC vendors have no incentive to push the envelope. It's a shame really...

    • push the envelope!!! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by bstadil ( 7110 )
      Now PalmOne and all the PocketPC vendors have no incentive to push the envelope

      I understand your comment but in reality it is dead wrong. The competition is not the High-end Linux PDA etc the mortal blow to PDA's are coming from cell phones. This goes for MP3 players as well. One million MP3 enabled smart phones were sold in S. Korea las 12 month.

      If the PDA makers do not push the envelope they will disappear.

      The phone is the key feature you can not do without so there is a natural gravitation towa

    • Of course there will be an incentive to "push the envelope". The US is not the only market, and WinCE and Palm devices compete all over the world.

      If Japan has such a huge market for these things, it would be madness for other developers NOT to compete there, and they are not going to have a production line for lower powered dumbed down devices just for US consumption.
  • does anybody know about the vga out? ideally, i would like to present PDFs done in XGA resolution, or at least in SVGA. probably i have to wait 1-2 ipod generations to get this properly done...

    • Re:VGA out (Score:3, Informative)

      by RevAaron ( 125240 )
      There is a CF card you can buy for the Zaurus that lets you do presentations over VGA. However, there is only one program that supports it and it doesn't show PDFs. The program is Hancom Mobile Presenter. You cannot use the VGA out for any Zaurus app, unfortunately.

  • Zaurus Community (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dangerz ( 540904 ) <stuff@tildastu d i os.net> on Sunday October 24, 2004 @08:19PM (#10617208) Homepage
    We've been hearing rumors about this for a while over at the ZUG [zaurususergroup.com]. I dont know how much I like it though.

    The screen is the same size as my c860 and so is the battery. The only difference are the weird colors (white/silver/chrome???) and the fact that it is bigger. As well, it also has a hard drive that is going to eat the battery.

    Sharps biggest selling point is that the device includes some multimedia Japanese dictionary. Rather useless for those of us that dont need it. I think the entire dictionary takes up about 600 megs?

    For now I'm very happy with my c860 and the new 2 gig sd cards are keeping me more than ok in the space area.

    Anyways, on a different note, I'll take this opportunity to plug http://www.zaurususergroup.com/forums/ [zaurususergroup.com] for those Zaurus owners that don't know about us :) We're currently building a Zaurus Software Index to help make it easier for people to download the software they need.

    Some other good sites for the Zaurus:

    http://www.openzaurus.com [openzaurus.com]
    http://www.pdaxrom.com [pdaxrom.com]

  • self-/.-ing (Score:1, Redundant)

    by tverbeek ( 457094 )
    One really shouldn't submit one's one bandwidth-limited site to /. before making arrangements for lots more bandwidth.
    • agree with you there.... sorry for any inconvinience.

      after 7GB in 1 hour, I bumped the conics site up to 40GB and will monitor this to see if it needs more.

      I would have hosted the images on our office server, but the fiber optic won't be reconnected until November 2nd, and current 700kbps DLS wouldn't satisfy this kind of bandwidth.
  • Although I own a 860, and I am very happy with it. This one looks neat with its internal HD. I would love to have a second one to do some Tests with various Linux Distris :)

    And nothing is more wonderful than to play Monkey Island in 640x480 in the morning :)
    • How the hell do you use ScummVM in 640x480? I've got a SL-C860, and ScummVM only runs in the older Zaurus res.
      • with the right libs:

        http://zports.sourceforge.net/

        I was extremly luckt to stumble over that, because before I also could only play it in the old Zaurus resolution.
        • Mind pointing out which libs exactly - I'm assuming SDL-related? Somebody really needs to maintain a feed purely for Cacko/Sharp ROMS, for the 640x480 series Z's. Having packages for every damn ROM in the same feed results in a horrible mess of dependencies.
          • these libs are all for the original qtopia enviroment.

            okay, for basic scumm you only need the libSDL (if you go the scummvm link you find links on the bottom).
            For sound you might also need the libSDL mixer and perhas libMAD.

            As I most of the time play in train and listen to some other music I haven't tried out sound yet.

            HTH

            [and yes a better software search with the possibilty to search for "work 100% in C-8/7x0 series would be great. perhaps time to mail killefiz.de people?]
  • Since the site is slashdotted, you'll have to see the SL-C3000 [dynamism.com] at Dynamism who will make it available to US customers in November.
  • Based on the number of responses to this article, no one.

    Perhaps Sharp should have cared more about us.
  • $900 at Dynamism (U.S. based), $750 at Conics.net

    Three questions:

    (1) Is Conics.net based in Australia?

    (2) Why the big price difference?

    (3) Does Conics ship to U.S.?

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