First Impressions of the Zaurus SL-C3000 4GB Linux PDA

Jan 1 2010, 12:00am CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

published: 11/29/04 last updated: 02/04/05

Sharp announced their latest Linux PDA, the Zaurus SL-C3000, in October for the Japanese market. The new Zaurus is the first PDA with an integrated 4GB hard-drive. It is now in stores in Japan. Dynamism is of course exporting the Zaurus SL-C3000 to the US and other countries.
I have now the iPod white Linux PDA for two days and below are lots of photos of the Zaurus and my first impressions.

The Japanese release Zaurus SL-C3000 sells for $819.00 at Dynamsim. Dynamism ships the Zaurus SL-C3000 configured for English.

Zaurus SL-C3000 Linux PDA with 4GB Hard-drive review

First Impressions
The Zaurus SL-C3000 is one cool looking gadget. I fell a bit in love with it. White plastic and silver/chrome elements. The whole look is very iPod, a great look for a PDA. The twisting screen is great, but not new for this model. The SL-C3000 can be used as a flip open PDA with full keyboard, or as stylus operated PDA. New with this model is the USB interface and of course the integrated 4GB hard-drive.
Connecting the PDA to a PC lets me access the Hard-drive and move files back and forth. The bundled Intellisync software also works over USB and synchronizes the usual PDA applications with MS Outlook. The bundled PC software is in Japanese. Just clicking, next, next, next during installation worked.
I moved some MP3 files over to the SL-C3000 and played them back with the Music Player software. The Linux PDA has a good sound. I can connect a head-set or use the built-in speaker to listen to the music.

This is my first Zaurus I got into my hands. I am used to Palm and Windows based PDAs. The Linux OS becomes immediately present when starting to dig in and go beyond the usage of the standard PDA applications.
I am currently working on getting the Zaurus SL-C3000 to connect to the internet via a Wi-Fi CF card (USI CF-B-AG-01) I had lying around. Because this Zaurus is very new little information and support is out there on the Zaurus user forums. The Zaurus SL-C3000 runs a Lineo Linux OS that has a newer kernel than older Zaurus models (e.g. SL-C860). Also Zaurus users tend to replace the original ROM with other versions, but those do not work yet on the SL-C3000.
I am currently looking to either get the USI CF Wi-fi card to work or get another CF Wi-fi card that has driver support. If anybody has a tip please email me.
On the Japanese Zaurus page is one LAN card and several NTT DoCoMo cards that seem to be supported.
I want to see if the built-in Netfront web-browser is any good to surf the web. If it is, the SL-C3000 could be very nice little companion for me.
As soon as I get more things to work with the SL-C3000 I will publish more on the new Zaurus. Below now several photos of one of the most beautiful PDAs on the market.

One warning for Europeans: The bundled Sharp AC adaptor only supports 100V. Very uncool from Sharp to not have a AC adaptor that works world-wide.

Photos of the Zaurus SL-C3000