Zaurus on Internet
==================

I still  have the SHARP  Zaurus SL-C3200. A  cute tiny clamshell  PDA -
actually  a tiny  Linux  laptop. I  have  got it  when  it was  already
obsolete and  used it little.  It's the  most expensive model  with the
biggest RAM (128  MB, I think), the bigges storage  space (the 6GB HDD)
and - of course - the biggest power consumption.

It  runs  the "Cacko  ROM"  which  is  a  Linux with  the  QTOPIA-based
environment (so an  old QT stuff). Runs well and  it's reasonably fast.
The swap space  on the HDD can  be configured and used. On  the cost of
battery life, of course.

The  GUI  is  thus  not  X11-based  and  the  terminal  emulator  (with
reasonable font  size) is of non-standard  size. And the CPU  is an old
ARM (from times when the ARM was not very common). That made porting of
software  a bit  problematic.  Thus  some things  exes,  some not.  For
example, I never managed to get the  GNU Octave to run here. And I have
never found (nor sucessuffly compiled) the Lynx WWW browser.

On Saturday  I decided  to undust the  device and try  how (if)  it can
connect to the  Interned today. I do have an  CF-sized Ethernet adapter
which is supported  on the Cacko so I inserted  it, connected the cable
and... got connected!

The software  is the main  problem. I can use  the old Links  here. And
there are the NetFront  and the Opera. It seems no  one of the supports
gopher protocol and the http-only WWW pages are rare these days (Logout
has one  [1] but it is  Czech Language only).  So the Gopher is  what I
need. Fortunately the Floodgap [2]  (the Cameron Kaiser's site) has the
gopher proxy and it work well on the old NetFront.

So... the  Zaurus can connect to  The internet (easily) and  can access
anything available on the Gopher.

Now  the problem:  the  battery  life. Batteries  used  in early  2000s
devices weren't nor the biggest nor the greatest. Some hours of battery
life were posssible  and the machines were often able  to survive weeks
in suspend. Now  with the old battery  I can get 2 hours  of surfing at
max. That's might be OK as my Nokia 770 (marketed once as the "Interned
tabled") was able to  stay charged for months in off  mode (a some form
of deep sleep as alarms worked in  this mode), a week in suspend, up to
6 hours  in offline use  and up to  2 hours on  the WiFi (there  was no
ethernet option). So up to 2 hour of web browsing, too.

Of  course, if  you have  a wired  ethernet you  probably have  a power
outlet, too. So the battery is not so big issue in this type of use.

But I  hope that after  a few ful cycles  the battery will  became more
cooperative...


References:

[1] http://tecxhnomorous.eu 
[2] http://floodgap.com