[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       familiar
Subject:    Re: [Familiar] general newbie questions
From:       Erik Hovland <erik () hovland ! org>
Date:       2006-12-17 17:42:23
Message-ID: 20061217174223.GD17144 () hovland ! org
[Download RAW message or body]

On Sat, Dec 16, 2006 at 10:11:21AM +0100, Atte Andr? Jensen wrote:
> 1) Which device(s) should I look at, when I'd like to be able to use 
> voip over wifi, play/record from soundcard and would like to be able to 
> connect a small, portable keyboard? The possibility of adding lots of 
> memory with SD cards should be there.

You should look at the Nokia [7,8]70, the sharp zaurus c-3x00 and the hp
iPAQ hx4700 devices. All run linux. Two even run linux exclusively. One
of them even comes with a keyboard. The zaurus does not come with wifi
built-in. But that can be overcome with cards. The hx4700 wifi support
is only currently coming together. It may be problematic.

> 2) What boot times are typical for such devices? Is it most common to 
> boot every time the device is turned on or is suspend/hibernation 
> recommended/working/used? And related: what battery times should I expect?

All devices generally support suspend/resume. So after first boot (which
can be several seconds) the device should quickly suspend and resume
(only 1-5 seconds at most).

> 3) To what extend is it possible to run regular linux software? In 
> particular I'm thinking about some terminal emulator, emacs, gv, python 
> and music related software like supercollider.

'regular' could be a subjective definitiion. Depending on what graphical
environment you choose the device will run X. Nokia ships their device
running X and the other two devices can be installed with the GPE
environment or pdaXrom. The latter makes the device run very much like a
desktop device. The former comes with software for terminal support,
graphics display support and music players. All have the ability to
install python and have python bindings for their respective graphical
environments.

> 4) As far as I understand Familiar it is a linux distro specialized for 
> hanehelds, right? What other options do I have for running Linux on a 
> handheld?

Not only is familiar specialized for handhelds, currently it is
specialized for the iPAQ family of handhelds. You also have Nokia's
distro, OpenZaurus and pdaXrom. If you like heavy lifting you could
probably get debian arm onto a handheld. And OE supports several OSes
that are for embedded devices that are not specific for handhelds but
could provide starting points.

Hope that helps!

E

-- 
Erik Hovland
mail: erik@hovland.org
web: http://hovland.org/
PGP/GPG public key available on request

_______________________________________________
The Familiar Linux Distribution
Familiar mailing list
Familiar@handhelds.org
https://handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/familiar
irc://irc.freenode.net #familiar
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]