Personal Digital Assistant
Hey all,
Do any of you use a PDA anymore? I wish to have something of that sort, preferably with a stylus so I can write on it. Something I can sync up to the computer and keep a calendar, and maybe even access e-mail on. I know there are loads of Android devices, but I really don't like Android, it's a gimmicky OS. I'm looking for something a bit more professional minded. Plus I'd rather not have anything associated with the great Evil, Google. Anyways, I had been looking into Palm and Pocket PC devices, but most GNU/Linux projects associated to those devices are dead.
Anyways,
Thanks for your time.
grimlok
I am a member!
If you are ok with a total free Android look at this: http://92.19.232.58:59999/html/shop/phones/index.php they sell smartphones with Replicant preinstalled. (they will donate atleast 20% of the profist. (They told me that in an e-mail.)
hmm...Isn't the owner tomlukeywood from the forum?
https://trisquel.info/en/users/tomlukeywood
You should definitely consider supporting him.
I never used a PDA so I can't answer your actual question. I guess a (second hand) PDA might be a decent compromise between a phone and a "smartphone". Looks like there is some palm related software in the repos.apt-cache search palm|sort|grep -i palm
I once considered getting a NanoNote for the job. I gave up that line of thought mostly because I couldn't understand the networking on the device. (no stylus there) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NanoNote
You could try the OpenPandora, or its successor, the Pyra.
I have an OpenPandora. Using it in freedom is a bit difficult, and it's a very weak device when you do (no graphical hardware acceleration, and no wireless of any kind). The way I set it up was to install a 3rd-party OS called "Pandian" (a slightly modified Debian) and purge a package which added the proprietary firmware needed by the wireless controller. To let it connect to the Internet, I use the small wireless adapter sold by Think Penguin. (Funny enough, the OpenPandora's built-in wireless, in addition to not respecting your freedom, doesn't work well at all, so the mini-adapter actually performs much better.)
But once you do manage to install and clean up Pandian, you will have a small (pocketable) computer with a mostly decent keyboard and a touchscreen that you can use either with a finger or with a stylus, running only libre software.
The Pyra is supposed to use Debian by default, so using that in freedom will probably be easier. Asking on the Pyra/OpenPandora forums,[1] I was told that the Pyra would have basically the same amount of respect for the users' freedom as the OpenPandora, with the caveat that full sound quality will require a proprietary firmware blob. So, no hardware acceleration, no wireless, and poor sound quality will be the practical setbacks of making it run entirely libre software.
Wow, you fought a hard fight in that thread! :O
Nice job.
Is the bios/bootloader free in that machine?
That is basically a "would be" machine for us.
The Pandora uses an older Texas Instruments processor (not Sitara) and I think it uses the u-boot bootloader which is released under the GPL.
No non-free software is required to operate, if you want to use WIFI you can use an external WIFI adapter from ThinkPenguin or Tehnoetic.
Next step would be to port a free distro that one can install in NAND flash. This is quite different than installing to a hard drive.
Yes, that's my understanding.
Regarding porting a libre distro to install into the NAND, that's not realistic, really. The Pandora's NAND is only 512 MB, and the stock Pandora OS (SuperZaxxon) uses this space only for the bare essentials. That's why it has the "PND" system. So for a libre distro, your best bet is to install the OS to an SD card. The Pyra shouldn't have this problem, though even there it might be preferable to install the OS onto an SD card, or an internal microSD card I've heard it has.
Actually, I was just looking on the forums for something different, and I randomly came across a post confirming that the Pandora uses u-boot.
I thought about libreCMC or ProteanOS, which can be made to fit in less the 512 MB.
I'm sure they can, but what would be the point in using those in the Pandora? It's not like they have their own version of something like the PND format, so it would be very finnicky to use. Install an OS into an SD card, and you won't have to worry about tiny space limitations.
i use my nano note
I also have zipit z2 that i use for usb host jobs.
and i also have a gta04 im pending to learn (with help for the chap i
bought it from) about howto compile kerenls for it.
firstly nano notes are very rare now.
same for gta04 but the team is working on its exciting successor
https://neo900.org
but zipit z2’s are easy to get hold of. in fact i bought some (reduced,
as one off deal) from hinv in the usa from the #zipit freenode irc. i
have various bits (like a 2gb minisd card, breakout connectors,etc) and
spare zipits a to make a zipit goodie pack that i can sell for around
£25 GBP + postage. I’d same its great deal when a zipit off evilbay is
£20(inc post). i make no profit. anyway if your interested ill link to
photos and spreadsheet with the list of what you get and the costs. so
you know why the price is what it is.
https://mozzwald.com/zipitz2 for zipit info.
oww pre-libreated replicant phones!!! didnt know about that, ill have a look
I always wanted a zipit z2 :)
- Tmux
- Portable Mit-Scheme. Awesome programming machine.
- Nethack
- Irssi
- Scummvm
- Gngb
- Frotz [I know, most games are non-free :(, but they run on a microwm]
- less + flite to learn some spoken English while reading TXT books.
I wish the Pyra would take off. I hate smartphones and I would rather have a class of mobile computing that's dead in the consumer market, a UMPC, but I don't think they can enough people willing to spend $1,500 for a dual core machine just because it's a fully open modular platform with a physical keyboard that's the size of a gameboy. It's $1,500 for the prototypes because they can't find enough people willing to spend $1,000 on it because it's such a niche product. (and the designer isn't planning on making much money on it, only a 5% margin.
I think it's niche not because people don't want it, but because people want a powerful phone and don't want to pay for it so they have a contract subsidize it. Also, the market doesn't know there's a viable interest for slider phones, they haven't been selling well because the ones left had crap specs or have the narrow keyboard. But $1,500 sounds like a lot for a Pyra, (and it is) but the way it's designed, it would last me 5 years and $1,500/60 months==$25 per month. I think the creator needs to do something like a patreon and use each individual's contributions as their personal credit towards a Pyra.
> I wish the Pyra would take off.
Well, you probably don't have to wish for it. It's looking like it's going to be available next year.
> But $1,500 sounds like a lot for a Pyra, (and it is) but the way it's designed, it would last me 5 years and $1,500/60 months==$25 per month.
Where did you get $1500 from? The price isn't set in stone yet because development isn't finished, but this post suggests it's probably going to be around 500 Euro:
https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15724-how-to-calculate-a-price-for-the-pyra/
At the current exchange rate, that's about $540, a lot less than $1500! Even if the price goes up substantially, I don't see any reason to think that it would go anywhere near $1500.
oh, the prototype was $1,500. $540 sounds good :D
I actually just got GNU/Linux working on my Palm T|X a few minutes ago. It seems to be working just fine so far.
There are a ton of dead links on how to do so, and important information is scattered between a ton of different resources. I'll write a tutorial and host a mirror of these fairly hard-to-find files as soon as I get wifi working.