quick update

[chris raettig <chris@raettig.org>]

i have finally recovered from flu and a throat infection, and now have
ogg vorbis on my sharp zaurus.  thankfully this is a geek gadget and
not another nasty affliction. 

the sharp zaurus pda is at last available in the uk, so i picked one
up from selfridges earlier in the week.  it features a 65,000 colour
touchscreen display, slide-out keyboard and a cradle which connects
to my workstations via usb. 

it has 64mb ram onboard, which is by default partitioned into storage
space and memory.  i've added a 1gb ibm microdrive to the compactflash
slot, and a 128mb secure digital card for when i'm using the cf slot
for devices.  though the particular sd card i bought is a little flakey;
sharp tell me that the system is timing out too early when trying to
read it, and that there should be a patch available by august.  i've
had some success by reformatting it, putting an ext2 filesystem on it
and then manually mounting.  but that patch will come in handy. 

my biggest reason for buying the zaurus - apart from needing a new pda,
is that it runs linux (embedix plus, with trolltechs qtopia and
the insignia jeode vnm sitting on top).  a sourceforge project offers
a free software replacement for the default software, for the stallmanites
and raymondites amongst us.  

i have so far gotten it to open an internet connection over irda to
my nokia 7110, and can even beam applications and contacts between
the zaurus and palm pilots.  

the linux + java combination is more than a gimmick;  it enables me to
easily write and port software for my pda.  i've got perl, dbi, mysql
and the apache webserver to run, along with a modified version of gcc.

by recompiling the kernel on my workstation i have enabled ppp over usb.
this means i can ssh or ftp into my pda, or access the internet from
the pda whilst its in the cradle.  i'm even running a vnc and samba
server on it for further connectivity options.  i spent a couple of
hours on friday cross-compiling code so that the zaurus integrates
at quite a low level with openmum - the groupware suite i wrote and
use on my desktop and phone. 

so all things considered i'm really pleased with my zaurus.  i'm already
immune to the recently reported security issues which have been floating
around the boards for ages.  my only gripe is the patchy sd card support
which ought to be fixed by next month.  if i can get imagemagick to
cross-compile (or perhaps i can steal it from the debian strongarm tree)
then i can snap pictures using my digicam, then transfer the cf card
to the zaurus, reduce the filesizes and then upload to the web over irda. 


i still have many warm company things to catch up on after my illness.
there is a showstudio live event coming up on thursday and friday
which i hope to write more about soon.  meanwhile, i have a lot to do. 
and '24' is on in a few hours.