Re: Linux Beer Hike

["Alex Hudson" <nospam [at] york.ac.uk>]

> Hmmm, the netbook (big brother to the 7) has it's OS on a card, and
> allegedly the 7 has a switchable ROM, but whether or not there will
> ever be an upgrade is another matter.

Actually, *5* has a flash ROM too, depending which version you have (EPOC
5.00 IIRC), 'cos Psion were sooo tardy getting their OS out the door they
didn't have time to burn the ROMs ;))

> All I need to do is find a shop that has one to test the keyboard. :)
> Apparently it's about 18cm wide, which seems plenty wide enough as long
> as your hands aren't too ape-like.

Hmm, but we're into laptop territory no, aren't we? The 5 just about cuts it
in terms of portability, tho' it is a little bulky. Yopy? No idea, but looks
about the same size as a Pilot, so prolly. isn't that big. Psion 7 / Netbook
(Netbook is more similar to Yopy - 190MHz SA, more memory, etc.) is
basically a laptop, so that doesn't count ;)) If I wanted something big &
bulky I'd buy a Jordana (actually, no I wouldn't, they're awful!)

As for EPOC vs. Linux - hmm, difficult to say. They come from completely
different points of view - EPOC, for example, is completely (almost) written
in C++ (which kind of puts paid to the idea that C++ is bloated!), and has a
lot of portability stuff built right in. The problem with EPOC is more about
proprietryness - you can't get PsiLinux, for example, so you're stuffed
unless you run Windows (well, no, not completely, I'm probably exaggerating
a little, but you know what I mean!). I would be much happier if EPOC was
open source (as in Raymond open-source, not necessarily GNU/EPOC ;), because
there's only so much the Symbian guys can do, and they seem fairly slow in
development terms (of course, they're not, but it *seems* like they are,
compared with the Linux market).

Linux is being aimed directly at palmtops+ now, so it'll be interesting to
see what happens to EPOC, PalmOS, PocketPC et al. PalmOS won't survive at
all, IMHO, because it's basically a shell. PocketPC stinks, as did Wince
before it, so I don't think that's gonna be a goer either, so it's pretty
much a straight fight between EPOC and Linux. I personally think Linux will
win out eventually, but I'm sure other people have their own ideas!!

Cheers,

Alex.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheffield Linux User's Group - http://www.sheflug.co.uk
To unsubscribe from this list send mail to
- <sheflug-request [at] vuw.ac.nz> - with the word 
 "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. 

  GNU the choice of a complete generation.