[plug] linux-friendly pda

[Fred Janon]

The Treo 600 were known for their hardware issues, Palm worked through
them and the 650 didn't the same issues. Palm was very aware of the
problem and what impact it had on them. The subsequent models should be
even better. I met some venture capitalists in the Silicon valley who
went through 4 Treo 650 (broke one after the other) and they still
loved them, simply because there was nothing else like it. and these
guys are not models of patience and forgiveness! They just dumped their
laptops for a Treo.

The battery will be an issue on all these devices, need to cram more
and more hardware (phone, speakerphone, microphone, USB interface, ram,
flash, card reader, GPS, camera, bigger LCD screen, touch screen,
keyboard, antenna (internal, hey, I don't want this thing sticking out
of my pocket!:) ) and all running for a week without seeing a power
plug. The Treo has actually a very sophisticated power management, some
parts go to sleep automatically when not used.

I am not affiliated with Palm anymore and I would not buy one, just
because the thumb keyboard is too small for me, but lots of people
swear by them.

I would be curious to know if any of the new iPaq would run linux,
someone pointed me to a Dev Works article about it but dated from some
years ago.

Fred

--- Brad Campbell <brad at wasp.net.au> wrote:

> Gavin Chester wrote:
> 
> >> I got sick of carrying a phone and pda around and have been
> attached to Palm since my first Palm 
> >> Pilot Pro way back when. We have had the whole series of Treo in
> the family except the 700's and all 
> >> of them have suffered terribly with (and I won't beat around the
> bush) absolute shit hardware 
> >> quality. Not one of them lasted even half it's warranty life and
> the 600 went back 4 times for 
> >> replacement. Having said that, we all know HTC make great
> handhelds (iMate) but have a complete POS 
> >> operating system.
> > 
> > Thanks for that 'heads up' before I forked out hard-earned money. 
> I'm
> > not sure whether to chase one of those Treo gadgets now :-/
> > 
> 
> It's been a little while since my last tirade.. so I should probably
> update you on the Treo.
> 
> It's still working so far. Battery life is still about a day, which
> while I find a pain in the bum, 
> with the help of a USB cable and car charger is not proving to be
> much of a problem. (helps that I 
> carry my laptop almost anywhere though so I can charge it whenever I
> need to - Travelling at the 
> moment and that has proven to be a godsend)
> 
> I've had a couple of small unsolicited reboots after the first one,
> but they've all likely been due 
> to third party software which isn't so hot. Uninstalling said
> software restores stability.
> 
> I got PPP over bluetooth working finally (but have not got syncing
> over bluetooth yet - that's not 
> the palms fault tho) and it's nice for doing remote backups, time
> sync, browsing the web from laptop 
> unfriendly locations (though the laptop has to play internet
> gateway/NAT router)
> 
> A mate of mine picked one up for himself a couple of days ago, and
> other than the battery life he 
> has no complaints either. (He's a SuSE user and reckons it was
> literally plug-n-go with kde there)
> 
> My only gripe really is the camera is just such a pile of poo.. but
> then I did not buy it for that 
> and I always carry my 6M pixel with me in the other pocket for that
> reason.
> 
> I've got syncing with Kontact rock solid now, though I believe Jpilot
> and Evolution make a great 
> pair also.
> 
> All in all I'm actually really happy with it. I found a *great*
> little opensource backup app 
> "NVBackup" which I use to keep it backed up to the SD "just in case",
> but all in all it's been great 
> so far. Cold dead hands and all that.
> 
> Interesting twist to my last rant.. some digging rumours that HTC
> manufacturers these things for 
> Palm/Handspring.. which is interesting. Why is it their PPC phones
> seem to have hardware that was an 
> order of magnitude more reliable than the 600/650s? I'm just crossing
> my fingers they got it right 
> this time around. I've been monitoring the US Treo forums very
> closely and not seen any complaints 
> yet aside from the battery life.. (on the forums.. what is it with
> people *pimping out* their mp3 
> players/phones?!? - Do I look like I care that you have a silicone
> case and custom airbrushed back 
> cover??)
> 
> Anyway.. as a phone/contact manager/calendar, I just can't fault it..
> really.. whereas I've already 
> smashed one PocketPC unit against the wall trying to get Windows
> Mobile to do what I needed it to 
> do.. not just wanted, but needed.. like answer an important call
> without rebooting..
> 
> If you can wait, I'd hang on a little longer to see where the battery
> life thing leads and perhaps 
> the hardware reliability, but all in all for a phone that works with
> linux it's well above average.
> 
> (I'd buy it again)
> 
> Brad
> -- 
> "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability
> to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable
> for their apparent disinclination to do so." -- Douglas Adams
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>