[NTLUG:Discuss] Zaurus Replacement?

[Kevin Brannen]

Kyle Davenport wrote:

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>From: "David Simmons" <dave at dgnal.net>
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>>...
>>Q:  ....was wondering if anyone
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>>has found a suitable replacement? (one with a built-in usable keyboard
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>and
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>>runs Linux as it's OS)...would love wi-fi built-in and also expandable
>>through media cards (ie. CompactFlash,  SDcard, etc).....would also be
>>nice to have a VGA resolution.
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>>Thanks - Dave
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>dated?!  heresy!  ;)  I still enjoy my little Z and use it all the time.
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>What is it that you want to do that the Z can't?  OK, built-in internet
>would be nice.  Better battery life.  Bigger screen...  Sounds like the
>Nokia Internet tablet (on sale at CompUSA)
>And it already has an open-source community behind it: http://www.maemo.org
>It does not have the extensibility of the Zaurus tho.
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...

Do check out the Nokia 770 tablet.

Very nice screen (800x480 @ 16bit depth) that I practically drooled over 
when I saw one.

Keyboards are tap on screen KB, handwriting recognition (grafitti), and 
bluetook folding keyboard.

With heavy usage (wifi) on constantly, batteries last about 3 hours, but 
my office mate had one (lost it at a hockey game) and he said he could 
play mp3's on it for 8 hours solid and still have juice left in it.

You can put a mini-MMC card (or RS-MMC) in it, I've seen 1G cards for 
sale.  Comes with 128M of RAM, but the user can only access 64M of it, 
the other 64 is reserved for Linux and other system needs I believe.

If your phone will do bluetooth, you can make it use your phone for a 
net connection; or use the builtin 802.11b/g.  You can do ssh on it, in 
an xterm.  I think I heard someone was working on VPN for it, but I 
don't think that's out yet.

You get a browser, email client, Acrobat reader for docs, and more.  
It's in short supply now, but most reviews I've read about it are good.  
See http://www.nokiausa.com/770/1,7841,,00.html for more details.  As 
soon as my Sony Clie dies, I'm probably going to get whatever version of 
this beast is available.

Kevin

p.s. Disclaimer, yes, I work for Nokia; no, I don't get employee 
discounts on products. :-(