ROM choices for Linux users

I apologize ahead of time if any of this turns into a rant.

I've had SL-5500 for about a year now.  An Oracle DBA, I have RH8 on my 
laptop and love having Linux on my PDA as well.  I was excited when 
Sharp came out with the Z, as my only other choice appeared to be a 
Yopy.  However, in general, I am frustrated trying to upgrade to a newer 
ROM. >:-(

I started with a 128Mb CF because I would have the ability to upgrade 
the ROM in the future.  I now have a 128Mb SD to use and a WCF12 
wireless.  My usage is primarily email, which I download from POP 
servers and read list server digests and technical articles off-line.  I 
also keep news and how-tos and other items in html, as I HATE 
remembering syntax.  I use MobileWord (docs in .doc and .rtf formats), 
PIM, and Java (spoken, when I'm just too tired to read anymore) as well.

The summary of my "experience" with available ROMs to date is as follows:
=====================
OpenZaurus -> most promising, but still not quite there?

I have been really impressed with what has been done with OZ3.2.  I 
tried earlier OZ releases, including "waiting" for OZ3 to come out.  It 
still seems somewhat unreliable, but maybe I just haven't found the 
right configuration yet.
My 1st try, when I didn't have wireless, found me lost without network 
settings for my USB TCP/IP connection.  My 2nd try was during a 1 week 
business trip and trashed email.  Granted, I still had to use qtmail as 
the nothing else seemed to support the POP servers.  I had just about 
everything symlinked to my SD card, but found the PDA freezing up from 
time-to-time.  I wanted to use ext3 format for the SD, but, didn't know 
if it was supported since 2.38 never did.
I was at least encouraged to find out that I could still sync Qt/Desktop 
with Opie, as long as I was on 1.6.2.  That was what made be take the 
plunge again to begin with.  Maybe I should trying the 64/0 option? 
Trying to run low internal storage and have as much stuff installed on 
my SD card left me frustrated with root "/" filling up and having to 
figure out why?  Seems that some Z-Apps still want to use /opt and don't 
like installing to SD, so it was causing problems.
=======================
Sharp 3.10 -> very nice, if you are a Windows user.

I tend to throw theKompany ROM in here as well (sorry guys).  While the 
new ROM IS very slick, I totally loose any ability to sync with Linux. 
I use Ximian Evolution, and am very hopeful multisync works as promised, 
but found early on that the Exchange connector in Evolution does NOT 
save anything locally as XML.  Unless multisync is doing something 
spectacular, I don't know if it will work.  I don't know if it handles 
the change in how the PIM data is stored in 3.10 as well.
========================
Sharp 2.38 -> old reliable?

I never got around to trying Crow, or any of the other custom ROMs. 
They never suited my needs in the beginning.  I tried checking out the 
Yrom1.1 custom ROM, but it appears to be another .edu link that is now 
dead.  I tend to keep coming back to this Sharp ROM and have the restore 
down to a matter of minutes.  I don't like the lack of memory (even 
though I do run swap), lack of customization (what Linux has always been 
best at?), and issues with SD (mount/umount) and no support for the WCF12.
=========================
While none of the issues alone make me want to drop the Linux PDA, 
accumulatively, I'm sure I spend more time making my PDA work better 
than all the Palm and CE (or windows-light, or whatever they call it 
nowadays) users.  Overall, it is difficult enough being a Linux user in 
a Windows world without having to negotiate issues between my Linux 
desktop and Linux PDA.

Maybe I'm missing something.

Is everyone that uses Linux PDAs run Windows on their desktops?

Are Linux desktop users custom building everything?

I've read posts about users still using their Palm for PIM.  While it 
sure seems like Ximian thinks all Linux users run Palm, I figure I have 
enough gadgets to carry without duplicating something that my PDA was 
supposed to do.

Sharp's commitment to Linux PDAs outside of Japan certainly seems shaky, 
so I don't expect the 3.10 issues to be resolved anytime soon.  I've 
seen the "promise" of a Sharp QtopiaDesktop on the web for quite a 
while.  I keep hoping I find the missing piece to using OZ as well, but 
for now it is still missing.

Feel free to chime in, tell me to stop whining, or whatever.  Just felt 
it was time to see what others in the community were doing.

Dave Riley
Oracle DBA
-- 

''I'd rather be a 'could be' if I cannot be an 'are,' because a could-be
is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a
'might-have-been,' by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a
'has' was once an are.'' - Milton Berle

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