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It is modeled on a Psion 5mx with updated insides, and has some of the original team members from Psion working on it.
I was part of a project that helped bring a usable Linux distribution on this line of palmtops -- JLime (you can find references on the net, but the main site has since gone dark). This includes the 620LX, 660LX, 680 and 690 (based on SH-3 processors), as well as the 710 and 720 (based on ARM processors). I personally had the 690, which was suprisingly usable (and probably still is), even with its 133MHz CPU and 32MB…
I did spend quite a bit of time on your site, linked sites, and webarchive. The files on your site did not work out of the box for me. I did eventually get a combination of kernel and configuration that kind of worked, but I think the CompactFlash card was too big. It stalled out on hard drive interrupts.
I used to run NetBSD/hpcarm and JLime Linux on an HP Jornada 728 in high school. Those were cool, but in retrospect they did not make sense at all. Someone was developing a flashrom board for the Jornada 728 that would have greatly improved GNU/Linux support -- including real sleep and truly long battery life. Sadly they never delivered.
> Just when I gave up (of course) I found it!! Yay!!
There has to be a name for this phenomenon or a 'law'. There is a whole world of emotions that goes with it, from starting out with expectation of failure to the 'yay' exhilaration of having found it. If it is found it will be in the last placed searched, not anywhere else.
For those of you who want a modern machine along these lines there is the Gemini. It fits a useable keyboard into a pocketable Linux and Android machine. It is modeled on a Psion 5mx with updated insides, and has some of the original team members from Psion working on it. https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-pda-1
I was part of a project that helped bring a usable Linux distribution on this line of palmtops -- JLime (you can find references on the net, but the main site has since gone dark). This includes the 620LX, 660LX, 680 and 690 (based on SH-3 processors), as well as the 710 and 720 (based on ARM processors). I personally had the 690, which was suprisingly usable (and probably still is), even with its 133MHz CPU and 32MB…
(Author here) I did spend quite a bit of time on your site, linked sites, and webarchive. The files on your site did not work out of the box for me. I did eventually get a combination of kernel and configuration that kind of worked, but I think the CompactFlash card was too big. It stalled out on hard drive interrupts.
[0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20150626030407/http://fz.hobby-s...
I was part of a project that helped bring a usable Linux distribution on this line of palmtops -- JLime (you can find references on the net, but the main site has since gone dark). This includes the 620LX, 660LX, 680 and 690 (based on SH-3 processors), as well as the 710 and 720 (based on ARM processors). I personally had the 690, which was suprisingly usable (and probably still is), even with its 133MHz CPU and 32MB…
Thanks, I'll have a dig in the basement then I guess! Is the bootloader code open source?
[0]: https://repository.deuill.org/hp6xx/misc/jshlo-1.1.0-CE-2.11...
For those of you who want a modern machine along these lines there is the Gemini. It fits a useable keyboard into a pocketable Linux and Android machine. It is modeled on a Psion 5mx with updated insides, and has some of the original team members from Psion working on it. https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-pda-1
And didn't they build it on a SoC that was already EOL at launch, for which there are no FOSS drivers, meaning it will be forever stuck on an ancient kernel version[2]? I don't want to spend my money on a machine that will have be to thrown away in a year for lack of security updates. (Which is why I'm backing the Librem 5 instead, even though I loved the Psion series 3a and series 5 and would really like a keyboard.)
[1] Well, they have implemented Android incarnations of the calendar and database apps, which is something at least: https://planetcom.squarespace.com/software-1
[2] Their Android 8 update seems to use Linux 3.18, released in 2014: https://github.com/dguidipc/gemini-android-kernel-3.18-andro...
I have an affection for Windows CE devices, particularly those wide-screen clamshell models. The keyboard without wasted bezel space around is deeply satisfying to my sense of aesthetics. It's a shame the DSTN screens are so unpleasant to use.
I used to run NetBSD/hpcarm and JLime Linux on an HP Jornada 728 in high school. Those were cool, but in retrospect they did not make sense at all. Someone was developing a flashrom board for the Jornada 728 that would have greatly improved GNU/Linux support -- including real sleep and truly long battery life. Sadly they never delivered.
HP had internal versions of the Jornada 72[0,8] that used flash instead of mask ROM, they could run the handhelds.org distribution of Linux.