I successfully installed this on my C760. It shows tremendous potential for the future. On so many levels it is far more advanced than the Sharp-based ROM's. It's GUI is gorgeous; for example:
- Awesome controls for date/time- network time update built in, US style MM/DD/YEAR easily selectable.
- WiFi configuration is very simple and worked without problems (nice to be rid of irritating false "low signal" warnings from my Symbol card)
- Many tweaks for the UI including transparency effects!
- Better integrated address book app and exciting "Today" app to show upcoming events and weather (think PPC)
- Out of the box I could easily SSH into my Zaurus and SFTP files back and forth at great speed over my symbol WiFi card.
Of course, with this being an "unstable" release, there are many caveat's for everyday use. Big issues for me:
- Package installer not working (errors regarding renaming a certain file on each attempt)
- Konqueror browser is very very slow. Not sure why, but it takes about 2.5 minutes to render a page that comes up in 5 seconds on Cacko/Netfront. Minimum load time for any page seems to be about 20 seconds.
- No media player included yet (and hard to install one with installer problems noted above)
The Zaurus models continue to be top selling PDA's in Japan, and with continued development of OZ, there's no reason we shouldn't have a very positive outlook for the future of the Zaurus. Yes, Sharp is abandoning the US market in many ways, but it is likely there will continue to be steady innovation in units that can be relatively easily ordered from Japan, like the SL-C760/860.
What brought me to the Zaurus from Palm based PDA's was the idea of an open ended system. I was sick of the tight control of the OS/APIs (like poor sound support on the Sony Clie because Sony wouldn't release the API's) and forced hardware upgrades for what could be firmware upgrades in the Palm universe (buy new unit for small OS upgrades). Also, Sharps top hardware frankly knocks the socks off of the competitors (higher res, better card support, more memory, etc.).
Weighing all this info, I think there is a strong case for optimism. If we all work together, we can support this platform, and make it better than all the rest. That's what is great about Open Source....power to the people! :-)
Huge Kudos to the Opie, OpenEmbedded and OpenZaurus developers for all their hard work supporting this great platform. |
