On Wednesday 12 January 2005 07:03, Krzys i Iwonka wrote: > Hello > In the nearest time I want to buy palmptop with the main reason to use it > with Sword (Qtopia) environement. My question: is it necessary to buy one > of iPAQ series or this project should work with others as well? I mean > that other are usually much cheaper (as I noticed). How much RAM space I > need to store mainprogram 10 x Bibles 5 x commentaries 5 x > dictionaries? Is it possible to import standard modules to a PocketPC > version? > > Thank you > Krzysztof Nowak
If you want to install Linux on your handheld, there are only a few different brands and models supported. PDA's unfortunately are usually custom designed, and one model can vary dramatically from another from the same company. Even though the specifications of PDA's sound very similar (same processor, memory, etc.) they are usually dramatically different to the software. HP Ipaqs - Familiar Linux (http://handhelds.org) - It usually takes awhile before the newer models are supported. Check out their projects page to see the models supported. Sharp Zaurus - OpenZaurus (http://openzaurus.org) - The Zaurus PDA's come with Linux already installed along with the Qtopia user interface. OpenZaurus is a distribution which provides much more software, and it supports all models except the latest SL-C300. There is also support for Siemen's Simpad web tablets (http://opensimpad.org), but these are somewhat rare. I have had over time a couple of different Ipaqs as well as a Zaurus, and both OpenZaurus and Familiar are fairly mature distributions (though they do have their rough edges). They both offer a choice of user environments, known as GPE (http://gpe.handhelds.org) and Opie (http://opie.handhelds.org). Opie is similar to Qtopia, and Qtopia apps are usually compatible with it. If you are going to take a first step into using a PDA with Linux and cost is a concern, I would look for a used HP/Compaq 38xx or 39xx series PDA on E-bay. These models are well supported by Familiar Linux, and offer a good set of specifications. I would recommend one with a SD/MMC or CF slot for a memory card. As for storage space, the Flash ROM (as listed in the PDA specs) is what is used as a hard drive, and this is where all programs are installed. The base install of Linux and Opie (I have not used GPE in a long time) is around 13 MB. If you have a PDA with 32 MB of Flash, this will leave enough room to install the Sword library and QPSword or Dagger and a few Sword modules (use the raw zip version of the modules, not the Windows version). What I do is install all of my modules on a memory card which I keep in my PDA. This allows you to use many more modules (including the big ones like the Webster's dictionary), while still leaving space on the device itself for other programs. The space for a module varies greatly (I would guess between and few dozen kilobytes to over 40 MB for the dictionary), so the space needed will depend on which ones you want to use. But if you bought a 64MB memory card, you will be able to install probably almost everything you could want. Enjoy! Dan _______________________________________________ sword-devel mailing list sword-devel@crosswire.org http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel
