Bob Igo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I wanted to echo this point. An Angstrom PDA is nearly as capable, > software-wise, as a full Linux desktop. I wrote a complete application > using Python, glade, and pygtk for the GUI and backend code, and I used > MySQL to store and retrieve data. If you wanted to do the same thing in > Windows mobile, I shudder to think how many pieces of third-party > software you'd need to buy on your development machine and on the PDA.
Bingo. This, right here, is the beauty of Angstrom, and the strongest argument in it's favor. If you are still stuck in the mindset of a Palm Pilot user of 1998, e.g. you want to store and synchronize your contacts and appointments, and maybe you've picked up a little bit of that early-21st-century WiFi mail and Web bug, you will probably not appreciate the power Angstrom has to offer and it's probably not the operating system for you. Can you do those things? Sure. Can you do a whole lot more? You'd better believe it. > You may not be a developer, but the same things that make it easy for > developers to write applications that run on Angstrom also make it easy > for people to port desktop Linux applications to Angstrom. I am not really a developer either, I do not code on a regular basis and my C skills are limited to minor patching and hacking and simple POSIX programming. My skills in any language don't go very far beyond that. But I have been mostly successful at getting my favorite applications from my Linux desktop, or their functional equivalents, to run on a computer I can put in my pocket. > Whether or not all the applications you may want are included in the > stable Angstrom release is another question entirely, of course. Given > that open source projects tend to focus on what scratches the > contributors' itches, the best way to get your killer app into Angstrom > is to try the build process to see if it's already available (see > http://blog.leggewie.org/?p=39 which works better and more easily than > the official build guide). If it isn't, ask what it takes to make it > available. That may seem daunting at first, but imagine how successful > you'd be if you asked Microsoft to add a free program to Windows mobile, > just for you :) I would agree, and just add that the perceived cliquishness of the core developers combined with the high barrier to entry that the OE build system has, creates a somewhat negative image of the project for some people. Public relations are something that could be worked on, and maybe they should be more open to outsiders, you can certainly argue that. But that hardly detracts from the very capable software that they have built. > Having said all that, are "regular users" ready for an Angstrom PDA? > I'm not sure. My own experience focuses on the hx4700, and there were > quirks I needed to work around, many of which I figured out myself, and > some of which I learned about on this list. I also submitted a fix for > the infamous timezone bug, but it didn't seem to work for European > users. A "regular user" would have probably given up when things didn't > work. Angstrom is not really targeted at the typical Windows Mobile device customer, and if you look at one of these devices and don't immediately think of all the limitations inherent in that operating system, you probably aren't the target audience of Angstrom. Having to hack the system and fix problems and bugs is not a bad thing, I fail to understand why people have this viewpoint. It is a learning opportunity for you; it is a chance to sharpen your skills. This is the reason many of us got into Linux in the first place. Breaking it and/or fixing it isn't a bad thing, it's part of the fun. You have a sense of accomplishment at the end, because you didn't just point and click or type a few commands copied from a web forum post, you -built- something, it's -yours-. The wealth of software available in OE is simply staggering. I could never use Windows Mobile, it's second only to the Mac platform in terms of a dearth of good, free software—what you want seems to either not exist or some two-bit joker wants to ding you $15 for it. My two cents, anyway. -- Andrew Barr _______________________________________________ Angstrom-distro-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.linuxtogo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/angstrom-distro-users
