I was thinking of getting a Sharp Zarus. Right now I have a Sony Clie and it is treating me good, But I just do not have the flexability I am looking for. Is a Zarus worth getting?

from all reports i hear, yes. i just bught one of ebay-waiting for delivery.
someone said though that a new model is soon to be realeased and that should lower the prices of the 5500 and the 5600.

What do you want to do with it that you can't do now? Or do you just want a new toy? Note, there is nothing wrong with wanting a new toy

You might also want to take a look at the Yopy 3700 as another Linux based alternative.

Why not try Simputer.Worthful to ply with smartcard,IR,USB

I really like the YOPY. It looks fun. I can not run emulators with my palm and there is no command line. Also a new toy.

I will tell you how my experience with the Zaurus 5500 has been when it is over. That is, when they pry it from my cold dead fingers. I love the Z. I owned a handspring visor and later a Casio Cassiopea and they seem like simple toys next to the Zaurus. Not only does my Zaurus do all the PIM things PDAs are famous for, but it also has my sky charts, Linux how-to's and manuals, e-books, Mp3s, and everything else I want. Playing old ATARI games and surfing the web with the wifi card make it a must have.

For clarification: I feel that buying tech gadgets to simply have a new toy is well worth it.

I own a zaurus and it more of a little computer than a PDA. It is standard computing. I use the Kompany's ROM. I transfer files using sftp, play mp3 whilst checking my diary, have a few video's on it.

I've fitted it with a 1Gb microdrive and it's great. The PIM apps are much better than at the beginning and the keyboard is really quick when you consider the size.

There are loads of applications although Sharps lack of a clear push for the product means that you won't be able to just buy a CF GPS with the route planning software off the shelf for example.

Oh, did I mention Opera 6 ? It rocks.

Problem is PIM reconciliation : it doesn't play with Linux out of the box.

If I was to buy a PDA today, I'd wait longer until the Z comes with builtin Wifi.

Which wifi card do you use ? Does the Z support it out of the box ?

I use the Netgear MA-701 and it works better than my pcmcia card for my laptop. Not to mension it works in a linux laptop when put into a cf-pcmcia adapter.

this is the one im waiting for. im so excited. now i need to sell my extra ti-83 so i can buy a wifi card for it and a sd memory.

I have a zaurus also ... a 5500 with the netgear ma-701 cf wifi card.

It functions as a PIM with a calander, contact list, todo list, calculator, mail app and a "ms paint" app. If you use the Sharp ROM, then you get Opera and a few MS Office-like programs with it.

I run OpenZaurus 3.3.4 with Opie 1.0.2 which is a lot faster than the Sharp ROM. You also have the option with the OZ ROM to pick how you want to split your RAM and storage (64RAM + 0 Storage is what I run)

And since these things run Linux ... you have a ton of software you can install on them ... Kismet, Wellenreiter, gaim, xmms/mplayer, vnc server, ssh server (so you can control it via SSH or VNC) ... tons of games ...etc.

They support both SD and CF memory, you'll want to use the SD memory so you can have both memory and a wifi CF card.

Sharp also has clamshell versions, which fold in half like, well, a clam If I were going to get another one, I think I'd get one of the clamshell ones. However, the new 6000 is supposed to be pretty sweet - built in BT and WIFI. Here's one of the many threads about it on zaurususergroups.com: http://www.zaurususergroup.com/index...iewtopic&t=508


Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend the Zaurus, whether you're buying it to use as a PDA, mini Linux box, or just another toy to have around. I absolutely love mine.

I started looking into buying one of these about a month ago. From asking around on the zaurus channel on irc over at freenode, and reading user reviews, this is what I've learned. Basically the 5500 is great because it has 64MB sdram installed, but the battery power isn't so great.. Meanwhile the 5600 has 32MB sdram installed but much better battery power. I've asked several people why the 5600 only comes with 32MB of sdram and every answer I get is that Sharp dropped the ball on this one. So that brings me to the 6000. There are 3 models of this: a base model; a model with wifi integrated; and one with wifi and bluetooth integreated. All three have 64MB sdram, and the new screen is supposed to be a big breakthrough. I think I'm going to wait to see how much these are going to sell for. Anyone have any ideas?

On a side note, I started to look at other pda's and the possibility of installing linux on one of them. Apparently some people have been able to install linux on an HP Ipaq, and a Dell Axim. It's still a bit buggy right now, but it looks like there is potential. The top-shelf Axim is selling for about $340 right now, and it has wifi integrated and 64MB sdram. If the SL-6000 is outrageously priced, I might wait a few months and see how far people have progressed with linux on an Axim, since it's a much cheaper solution. Here's a link to linux on an Axim. You need to scroll down to the middle of the page to find it: http://www.lerhaupt.com/linux.html

I don't know why people say the 5500 has low battery life. I charge mine maybe once a week. I guess it depends on your usage.

.