Get J720 w/linux or wait for Asus?

well, the 70CT and the M3 (same size) are the size of the 900c. the 100/110t is a bit larger.

Programsynth: just disable all the silly services. then it will run very well. ah, picturebooks...

Edited by cmonex 2007-08-17 2:56 PM

Cmonex: Without those services, it can't do anything cool.

it can, they were all those usual useless services. so don't worry.

I think this guy needs a Zaurus like C760 or more.
Except if the screen size is too small, then a Asus eeePc (much much more expensive).
A used Zaurus is around 150€~220€ these days with wlan card, it does all of the above (exepted you need an aditionnal vga card for presentations and probably ext. keyboard for serious word processing, so a total of probably 300€ all included).

The jornada 720 with linux is not currently a viable option I think.

The zaurus, to me, is too small to be of practical use. I tried - goodness knows I tried - and whilst it's a lovely bit of kit it's just too small. NetFront on it is superb, as is Opera.

The Libretto 100CT is a good option IMHO - dirt cheap on ebay, and with 64MB is adequate for Win2k or Linux distro like xubuntu.

How about a sony PCG-U3? (end pimp mode )

wow good idea, the zaurus would actually be usable for this, but indeed, some people may have a problem with its screen size..

libretto M3, smaller and with more ram than the 100CT (and similar vintage)

uh,... that U3 looks real good!

I've thought about the Zauri (plural?) before, but the keyboards are too small. I'm strictly a touch-typist - thumbing or hunt-n-peck drive me crazy.

The Libretto is a possibility, though that means giving up instant-on......I'm also hesitant about anything with a disc drive, after watching a PC and a laptop turned into paperweights by disc crashes.......

And I didn't mean to fan the linux/wince flames........ I personally take no doctrinal position. I've found CE useful, and am happy to stay with it if I can find a way to go online and not be hampered by slow speeds or inaccessible sites.

As a fellow linux noob with a Jornada 720, I would say that you can probably get more web pages, more quickly with linux than with PIE (I'm running IceWM but may try Opie, as Dillo is very basic as a browser). I was constantly frustrated with PIE when I browsed. Not too bad if you have the graphics turned off, but very SLOOOOW, and often the pages still wouldn't render accurately. I especially had trouble with some pages being too wide, but not having a horizontal scroll bar at the bottom. Bummer!

Following the directions to actually install JLime on the 720 can be tricky for a newbie. Took me quite a while, and I finally succeeded only by running Puppy Linux and doing my partitioning, formatting and unzipping from there (often within the terminal program, not Puppy's GUI applications). Quite a learning curve! But once it's installed, it's not too hard to navigate around the screen, go online, etc.

Be sure to browse around on the JLime forums to get a sense of what kinds of issues folks (especially us newbies) are having. I'm having fun learning about Linux with my 720 (especially creating an automatically-loading swap file - you definitely need extra memory). But if you really need a stable OS for regular day-to-day use I would look elsewhere for a little while, yet. There are enough little problems, (JLime for the 720 still being in beta), it would get frustrating.

The Asus would be perfect, but first it has to go on sale

Just my ten-cents' worth.

By the way, you could also do a CF-IDE mod on the Libretto, which would evade any possibility of disk heads crashing. There's got to be instructions somewhere.

Hi,

CF>IDE look at: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320147861564&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

But what about a 900c? not small enough?
Cheers

The 900c really isn't that great of a device for its price. It has worse performance than a 728 (believe it or not).

Ah, yes - that adapter looks great...I might pick one up for myself. All the user would have to do is pop that in where the hard drive would normally go, and set off using it.

pdxmark,
I don't think the flames need much fanning around here! We all just like our various devices and OS's and you've clearly gotten everyone's brains cranking at top speed! Hope you find some useful information in amongst our many opinions!

Yeah, and cmonex is always going to suggest CE in the Linux forum. It's just the way it works.

Zaurus aint cheap, compared to a $199-299-brand new spankin Eee pc
900c i think is fair@ the $135 usd i payed and that not unheard of...



Edited by thcrw739 2007-08-21 9:23 PM

programsynth: i suggested zaurus too.

anyway, to original question: if you are willing to accept the libretto's size, then the 900c is the same size, and instant on, and opera browser is very decent for it.