I'm considering purchasing a Zaurus, and I'm trying to decipher the differences between the SL-5500 and the SL-5600. I've read reviews online and I've used the search feature here. Any owners of either want to give me their thoughts? How do WiFi/SD or WiFi/CF cards work? This is a pretty high deciding factor. Thoughts?

I have a Zaurus 5500. It's OK. With Opie 3.5 on it (the KDE version), it's very Linux like (the gnome version is not too hot - I found it to be quite unstable). I've got xmms-embedded and the opie spreadsheet and writer installed plus a few games. Opie has a terminal and PIM and a file manager and so on. There's other stuff available online to install. With a 128MB CF card in it's usable.
I haven't tried wifi with it, I found a page on the net that enabled me to use the USB cradle to connect with.
The default OS from Sharp is OK but not that Linux like in feel and layout and there's no terminal with it.
I got mine 2nd hand so the price wasn't too bad. The newer versions of the Zaurus are a bit beefier.

I can get a SL-5500 on ebay for $175(US). It looks like the SL-5600 is a better PDA. Are there other thoughts from SL-5600 owners? Anybody have anything else to say? I haven't yet found an SL-5600 on ebay, so I'll probably end up getting the SL-5500 if I get one. Thanks.

nobody else owns a Zaurus? Hows the battery life on the SL-5500? how about the SL-5600? Is it true that if your battery dies, you lose your data?

what about syncing? does it sync w/ Thunderbird? Are there any e-mail programs it does sync w/ other than Outlook?

I couldn't get the Zaurus to sync with my Linux pc at all. I was most irritated to discover it would only sync with WIndows apps. (Then again, it wasn't put together for geeks to hack with but as a normal PDA with the expectation that people would want Windows syncing and nothing else.
Battery life is 1-2 hours depending on what you're doing with it.
I would suggest you go here and ask the question again and you'll get more answers. (It's a Zaurus owners forum).
http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?act=idx
Also check out http://www.openzaurus.org if you're interested in trying out the open zaurus stuff.
Best of luck.

Some things you may not be aware of:

The default OS from Sharp doesn't include a terminal on it, out of the box. It was on the CD when I bought mine. It's a simple matter of putting that .ipk file onto a CF/SD card (I used a CF PCMCIA adapter to do this).

Also, from what I understand, Sharp's first PDAs were never meant to mimic a Linux box. It was meant to be a PIM, which required an intuitive interface. I also own an Agenda VR3 Linux PDA and the Sharp 5500 I own is leagues beyond the VR3's capabilities and interface. Comparing those two, the 5500 wins hands-down. Comparing it to a laptop or desktop Linux machine will always make it feel lacking.

Also, syncing using Trolltech's Qtopiadesktop is broken. Their Linux version of this software no longer has the capability to communicate with the Zaurus using the USB cradle (even with a wifi card). I understand that only the Windows version of Qtopiadesktop communicates with the Zaurus, using the cradle or wifi. From what I've read, this is a Trolltech issue but was initiated by Sharp when they made some coding changes...and its probably not going to be fixed, since Trolltech has known about this for a few years. All this probably isn't a huge issue if you're willing to use scp and rsync to transfer and back up your data. Plus, there are probably a few open-source utilities that may fill this gap. OH...if you really want to use Qtopiadesktop with the cradle or zaurus to sync the Z in Linux, you can jump down a few ROM versions. I believe version 2.93 (or something to that effect) still has sync capability.

I'm highly disappointed in Sharp. They could have had a very good PDA but made some very bad marketing decisions. They also seem to focus more on Windows users (the sync problem). I beta tested some of their pre-release ROM versions along with a few other people. We compared notes and found that the bugs and concerns that some had submitted were blatantly overlooked, which ticked many people off. As it stands now, I'm barely able to use my 5500 as a PIM, as I don't want to have to rely on opensource tools to get things working when Sharp should be fixing these issues without having a user have to resort to 'aftermarket' apps.

I also don't thing OZ is a good solution. Each time I reflash OZ, it only stays on my PDA a few days before I get PO'd and reflash the stock Sharp ROM. In my experience, OZ is still raw. I got tired of trying out new versions of OZ to see if they fixed issues...gave up that route long ago.

So, I basically have what amounts to a science project in my hands...this is why I bought a legit PDA as its replacement (Dell Axim X30). If I need to shell into a Linux box with the Dell PDA, I've terminal software...and I can sync/backup data easily (although, in Windows, which I do have on 2 machines).

Depending on what the original poster needs, the Sharp PDAs may be fine for him. Me, I'm not exactly happy. I can brag that I've Linux in my pocket but beyond that, there are better PDAs, IMO.

ok, thanks for the input. I don't necessarily want to sync w/ Qtopia, but I do want to sync. Does it sync w/ thunderbird? I understand it syncs w/ Kontact. Is there a simple way to port Kontact to Windows? I don't have internet functionality in linux

"I also don't thing OZ is a good solution. Each time I reflash OZ, it only stays on my PDA a few days before I get PO'd and reflash the stock Sharp ROM. In my experience, OZ is still raw. I got tired of trying out new versions of OZ to see if they fixed issues...gave up that route long ago.

So, I basically have what amounts to a science project in my hands...this is why I bought a legit PDA as its replacement (Dell Axim X30). If I need to shell into a Linux box with the Dell PDA, I've terminal software...and I can sync/backup data easily (although, in Windows, which I do have on 2 machines).

Depending on what the original poster needs, the Sharp PDAs may be fine for him. Me, I'm not exactly happy. I can brag that I've Linux in my pocket but beyond that, there are better PDAs, IMO."

Yupp, that's pretty much my experience. The gnome opie is laughably broken, can't install packages from either the command line or the package manager.
The KDE version is better and I've had it running nicely.
For a few days when I either get bored or download something that breaks it and I have to reinstall and start again.
Currently if I install Opie-3.5.3 and then run ipkg update it doesn't restart.
The default SHARP image makes it OK - except if I use the latest version it installs lots of lovely aps which then complain about having no memory to work with.

Some links that might help...

http://www.handhelds.org/geeklog/index.php
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8728350077.html
http://tuxmobil.org/pda_linux.html
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/topics/linux/PDA
http://www.myzaurus.com/
http://openzaurus.org/wordpress/

thank you for those links. SL-5500 or SL-5600? Or should I try an find an SL-6000? Any recommendations as to where to look for the SL-6k? Other thoughts?

[q]Is it true that if your battery dies, you lose your data?[/q]

On the 5000/5500 yes. It's a PITA.

FWIW, I have a C860, which I love. I don't fiddle with synching at all since only a few files get modified and it's just as easy to copy them over. I run pdaXrom which does the trick for me.

is it worth buying the C1000, an extra $300, over a 5500? Why?

I do frequent backups to CF or SD cards...I've never considered it a PITA though.

Depends on what you want to do with your PDA. I've been using my 5500 for years but I don't use it as a PIM. I do use it to occasionally web-browse and check email when I'm away from home. I also use it to read ebooks and such. Nothing spectacular. An extra $300 is a bit much, IMO. Combine that money and you could find a decent (and more capable yet less portable) laptop.

true, but I have laptop. I may use this for some PIM stuff. Like contact syncing, possibly calendar. Does the PIM stuff sync w/ Mozilla thunderbird under windows? I'd also use it for music, maybe movies, web stuff. Thoughts?