Hack my pda!!!!maybe?

[Skiggy]

Hi, I was wondering if a pda/pocket pc/digital organizer/whatever the heck you want to call it, worked similar and had similar components to a regular pc (by regular I mean like a desktop or a laptop). I'm wondering this becuase if it were close to a regular pc it would be a great base, in my opinion, as a basic laptop. So, repeating my main question. Does a pda/pocket pc work similar and have similar components to a desktop or laptop?

[vskid]

It has corresponding components (processor, ram, storage), but they're completely incompatible, check pictures of any opened PDA and it looks nothing like the insides of a laptop or desktop.

[joevennix]

No, meaning you can't swap any of the components without having to resolder them. The whole point of a PDA is to save space, so the manufacturers aren't going to waste space adding connectors just so a handful of people can swap components; because of this, everything is soldered into one PCB (mobo). You can't give it a better display, in fact the only two mods I've ever heard of for PDA's are overclocking and soldering (piggybacking) in more RAM. Nice idea though, never heard it asked before.

[vskid]

If you want to make a small computer, get a motherboard/cpu combo from here.

[bicostp]

It works similar in that they use memory, storage, and light to convey information but that's where the similarities end. Most Pocket PCs, Palm Pilots and smartphones are built around ARM-compatible architecture, not x86 compatibles like desktops, so you can't run something like Ubuntu or Windows XP. You could run a specialized edition of Linux, but it's not really worth it. (Most use up more resources than they're worth.)

Find a decent word processor for whatever OS your unit runs, and get a compatible keyboard. Hotsync it with your desktop machine and it should convert the files to Word documents or rich text format. If you get a unit with WiFi you'll have internet connectivity.

[Felino]

iPods are ARm are they not? iPod linux runs so mabye if you knew what you were doing, but its more hastle than its worth.

[timmeh87]

nds is also ARM - there is nds linux.

so sure, there probably already is a pda linux, those nerds put it on everything..

but why would you go from some optimized graphical interface to some crappy text based thing that does nothing better, probably a lot of things worse?

[vskid]

but why would you go from some optimized graphical interface to some crappy text based thing that does nothing better, probably a lot of things worse?

Bragging rights?

[tom61]

but why would you go from some optimized graphical interface to some crappy text based thing that does nothing better, probably a lot of things worse?

Only the most early ports of Linux to a PDA is text based only, and usaully over a serial link to another system (as it is typically easier to get working than framebuffer), after that you'll have a GUI. The common ones are QTopia PDA, Opie, GPE, and X11. The first three are thin and PDA optimised, easily picked up by anyone used to PalmOS or Windows Mobile. X11 eases porting apps (mostly a recompile needed)from desktop Linux, and usually uses a thin windowing manager like XFCE or Window Maker.

http://opie.handhelds.org/gallery/main.php
http://gpe.handhelds.org/screenshots/

Benifits of having LInux on a PDA are mostly ease of porting apps from desktop Linux(how would you like Firefox on your PDA?). Also allows you to update older PDAs to a newer OS. If its a Palm, you gain the ability to multi-task.

www.handhelds.org
www.hackndev.com

Note: Linux on a PDA requires quite a bit of driver development, as nearly every PDA has different chips inside (besides the main processor or SoC). Often times it requires a lot of reverse engineering, as most companies don't release info on the insides of thier PDAs.