Linux on the Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D/5500G Linux PDA

SHARP launched its personalmobile tool, the SL-5000, which combines the functions of a mobile phone with a Web-enabled PDA. The device runs on LINEO: EmbediX Linux (kernel 2.4.x) combined with Personal Java.

The SL-5000 features a 206MHz Intel StrongARM processor and 32Mbyte of SDRAM. There are two card slots, one for SD/Multimedia (MMC-Card) and one for compact flash (CF-Card) cards. It is also possible to insert a micro hard drive and a video camera. The 3.5in TFT touchscreen has a resolution of 240 X 320pixel and 65.536 colours. Most notable the extendable keyboard behind the front cover. The SL-5500 has 64MByte RAM.

The Sharp SL-5000 has many features in common with the COMPAQ iPAQ.

Hardware

SD/Multimedia (MMC-Card)

Sorry I don't have information about Linux compatibility yet.

Cradle CE-ST6

SHARP IO Port

In my humble opinion the IO port is a proprietary solution. For internal system data see the SL-5000 System Block Diagramm.

CF Cards - PCMCIA

For a list of compatible CompactFlash or PCMCIA cards, please go to the COMPAQ - CF Card List. Currently known as working with Linux is the Kingston Compact I/O Ethernet Adapter CIO10T (10BaseT). More cards you will find soon (hopefully) in the List of Supported PCMCIA Cards. If you know of a working card, please let me know.

Here is a list of peripheral devices whose operation have been confirmed by Sharp, and a wish list that Sharp is willing to support for the SL-5000D.

The PCMCIA Card Services for StrongARM project of the Carnegie Mellon Wearable Group is an effort to make PCMCIA Card Services available to users of Linux on the ARM architecture. Specifically, the StrongARM SA-1100 (and SA-1110) processor includes an integrated PCMCIA controller; it is this feature which is targeted by the project.

InfraRed Port

IrDA

You may find some entries (around February 2001, look for COMPAQ iPAQ) in the mailing list archiv of the Linux/IrDA Project. Also the Kernel >= 2.4.17 will probably contain a FIR driver.

Remote Control

See the LIRC project.

BlueTooth

For BlueTooth on the iPAQ 3870 see the page of Marcel Holtmann.

Keyboards

Stowaway

For the Stowaway keyboard, there is a SDK available at the manufacturers site: ThinkOutSide. Here you may find the Compaq Microkeyboard and other small keyboards.

Distributions

OpenZAURUS

OpenZaurus is a community version of the root filesystem ROM image for the Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D PDA.

OPIE

Opie is a "fork" of the Qtopia codebase. Qtopia (formerly QPE) was written mostly by employees of TrollTech and uses the Qt Embedded toolkit which is produced by TrollTech.

OpenZAURUS

Zaurus Open Source Development .

HOWTOs/FAQs

• The Sharp Zaurus (Unofficial) FAQ .
• The Unofficial Zaurus FAQ II

Resources

• Sharp Users Club
• The LART is a small yet powerful embedded computer capable of running Linux, built around an Intel SA-1100 StrongARM processor.Its performance is around 250 MIPS while consuming less than 1 Watt of power.In a standard configuration it holds 32MB DRAM and 4MB Flash ROM, which is sufficient for a Linux kernel and a sizeable ramdisk image.
• The ARM Linux Project
• NetWinder.ORG

Software

• p2z - Palm to Zaurus conversion tool
• strip2zsafe - Strip to ZSafe conversion tool

Credits

• Andi Gohr
• Mike Mallett <mike.mallett_at_ntlworld.com>