Archive for November, 2006
Yes, PDA operating systems are not just about Palm OS and Pocket PC. Linux can also run on PDAs. Leading the pack in Linux-based operating system for mobile devices is a Norway-based high-technology company called Trolltech. Its flagship product, Qtopia is an innovative Linux-based solution that allows efficient creation of mobile and embedded devices.
The Qtopia 4 Series, the latest generation Qtopia product family, is a robust and proven development environment, which is inherited from Trolltech’s leading application framework, Qt. Just like any other open software product, full source codes and documentation are available allowing developers to easily modify Qtopia and integrate other technologies to create distinctive software application for their own devices.
Qtopia is used in many hand held devices developed by various technology companies such as Sony, Motorolla, ZTE and Sharp just to name a few. Type of devices running Qtopia includes. but not limited to, mobile phone, globalk positioning system (GPS) and of course PDAs.
We shall look into some of these Linux powered PDAs in our future reviews, so stay tuned. Read more about Qtopia and Trolltech here.
We all know all PDAs come with pretty much standard software for everyone to play their electronic toys with such as organizer, wordprocessor, spreadsheet and so on. Honestly, I feel these are such boring stuff, especially when you already have the same functionality with your personal computers. Of course you could install games on your PDAs as well but that too can be quite tiring and engaging, if not boring after some times.
What you probably need is probably some quiet and quality time with your little gadget reading on something that is dearer to your heart.
And the internet is full of these resources if you are looking for some ebooks to fill up your PDA and read it at convenient time. I have scoured the world wide web and found few links that may offer you something different for your PDA contents:
1. Memoware.com
2. Many Books.Net
3. Fiction Wise
4. eBookMall
5. Project Gutenberg
Some of these sites offer paid ebooks but you can find plenty of free ebooks to download as well.
Have fun downloading and reading ebooks…on your PDA of course. 
I found this device at Engadget. It’s not the most interesting looking PDA dock I have seen but the features made available by the modification is impressive, to say the least.
The modified dock gives you (errr…the owner) :
VGA out
Serial port with circuit for TTL to RS232 signals conversion.
Car charger
Input for 5v Dell power supply (includes protection against connecting 12v and 5v at a time)
PDA USB client connector.
USB HUB x4 (powered when applying 5v or 12v)
Audio preamplifier with double format output (RCA and mini-jack connectors)”
I dont think you can buy this off-the-shelf even if you like it…