i'll try to answer your questions as i know HPC2000 and now ce.net 4.2 too. played with 4.1 a little too. don't know anything about linux though but according to snappy it's still a little flaky. ask him for details
so..
Wireless Internet - ce.net 4.1 and 4.2 will be the best for it. 4.2 is of course slightly better but it can't justify 75 GBP + shipping + risk
(whether the unit gets broken while shipping..
)
GPS - i know only the hungarian map softwares and destinator. i can tell you destinator runs fine on 4.1, but not on 4.2... you probably need to hack a ppc application so if that's your goal, go for 4.1! it is more compatible with hacked ppc apps.
(heh, learning that just now
)
Word Processing
(maybe if a keyboard add on is available
) - i think it is the same with all OS's, though i haven't looked into textmaker yet on 4.2
(confirmed to work on 4.1
) and i know nothing about linux.
general home and office tasks. - for example?
GPS
(is there any linux stuff - is it any good?
) - see above. + linux lacks a lot in this area..
Internet - an up to date web browser would be nice with
integrated flash , acrobat and quicktime players??? - i think flashplayer 5 is included in 4.1 rom, but don't know the 4.2 rom, you should check it out on the upgrade site. adobe acrobat reader 1.0 will run fine on 4.1. but not on 4.2... oh well... ansyr primer does work but it is soooo slow.. and the built-in pdf viewer sucks. it is very fast but isn't compatible with every pdf.
about a browser itself, your only option is ce.net. if you want java also, netfront 3.0 will run on all platforms
(except linux, obviously
). and ce.net 4.1
(simpad rom of course
) has jeode jvm
(integrating into IE i think
). 4.2 doesn't have it. maybe it can be hacked, i'll see.
A decent MP3 player would be nice. - should be the same on all OS's, ce.net comes with an updated mediaplayer but there are other programs too.
IRC - ircce runs fine on every OS's and probably linux has an irc client too.
yeah i've tried ircce and it DOES run on 4.2!!!
(there was some thread on it that it wouldn't work.. but it works!!
)
Access to hotmail and messenger , yahoo , icq , aim - all should be fine with ircce or imov
(didn't try the later on ce.net yet!!
), i'm not sure about aim though. but there's a hpc2000 aim, i can try hacking it for you on 4.2.
how did you mean hotmail? emails?
maybe even skype???? - only ce.net 4.2 has a chance! i'll be looking into it.
good PIM - hpc2000 is the best.
etc etc.... - for example???
the wincesoft remote version 1.18 looks very interesting - don't know anything about this!
but is there anything similar under simpad linux? - dunno
i hope i could help. in general the best compatibility is with hpc2000 but wireless internet is much better with ce.net. it can even do PPPOE
(4.1 and 4.2 too
)
i think 4.1 is more compatible with hpc2000 and hacked ppc apps. what's more, 4.2 isn't really worth the upgrade hassles.
if you list all the apps you want to run i can test them on 4.2, but not on 4.1, sorry. but if something runs on 4.2 and it isn't a hacked wm2003 app, then it will run on 4.1 too. sorry again, i have only 4.2 at this time.
Edited by cmonex 2005-07-07 3:55 AM
) 
but it's slooow.. 