by sparafina » Tue Sep 03, 2002 3:17 am
I finally had a few hours to work on this. I got numerous versions of familiar/gpe/opie running. The stable release of familiar (0.5.3) loads (slowly via xmodem) and boots. Installing the task-complete ipkg gives you basic network tools. It also takes up about 85% of 32 mb. I also loaded the dillo browser which ate another 10%.
I wanted a few PIM tools, i.e. calendar, email, and browser as well as kismet - so I chucked 0.5.3 and started loading the 0.6 prelease stuff (gpe/opie) which provides what looks like a lot of PIM functionality with a smaller memory foot print. But I can't really tell since it keeps trying to load a prism module for the orinoco (wireless worked fine in 0.5.3) and it doesn't like the Rangelan DS because of voltage differences. I've run outta time for this project until next month. I didn't even get to Kismet.
Here's some observations:
First, this is a real time sink, so be prepared to dedicate at least day or more.
Second, the 16 mb of ROM and 32 mb of RAM doesn't seem to be enough to have both PIM apps and other neato tools like Kismet, wavestumbler and nMap.
Third, from my brief time playing with familiar/opie, I really liked it. The handwriting recognition (xstroke) worked really well for me - very intuitive. However, the current distros are rough, not documented, etc. Reminds of me of Linux at .9
Fourth, upgrading the iPaq 3600 is an expensive proposition. A dual sleeve alone costs around $200, throw in a 2 gb pcmcia drive and your well on your way to a new iPaq. I also looked at Amigos, which seem reasonable even for retail prices given the built in pcmcia slot and memory card slot.
Fifth, always check the familiar site for the latest stuff. I downloaded the familiar images 2 weeks ago and loaded them, only to find that the truetype fonts that Micro$oft provided were no longer available from their site - this was the beginning of the multiple installs.
Ok, I've got bird to catch and I'm off to go stumbling in the low countries.