Can the IPAQ Run PalmOS or Linux? 9
Deslock asks: "I drool over the Compaq IPAQ hardware, but don't want to deal with WinCE (ver3.0 is an improvement, but retains much bloat). According to this story, the IPAQ stores the OS in FlashRAM, so I'm wondering what other OSs I can run on this cool device (Both the next PalmOS and the Yopy will supposedly use the StrongARM)."
Re: [not so] Definitely! (Score:3)
Depends on which IPAQ (Score:1)
Not PalmOS at least (Score:1)
Palm has said that they will release ARM-based devices sometime down the road, but it hasn't happened yet.
Probably Not (Score:2)
Absolutely. (Score:2)
If you don't have a CD-ROM, stick the HD in another system with a CD-ROM (it's EASY to get out.), install Linux, and boot. This is what I did on the iPaq I have at work. Linux runs like a champ.
BTW, the i810 sound/video can be a bit annoying. You need to download drivers from Intel to get video to work. Sound is easy if you've dealt with ALSA before. (I love ALSA, but creating a proper set of modules.conf entries is pure hell!)
Oh, and another option - Look into PXE network booting for Linux, the iPaqs have PXE netboot support. (If you're cloning multiple iPaqs, VA SystemImager would most likely work. I don't have a link on hand, but I got it from beowulf-underground.org)
One note: (Score:1)
Re:Not PalmOS at least (Score:1)
I haven't tried it myself but it shows the hardware discrepency between Palm-based PDAs and Windows CE-based ones.
Re:Absolutely. (Score:1)
Re: [not so] Definitely! (Score:1)
Respectfully, you may wish to consult the iPAQ specs [compaq.com] and the Intel's StrongARM pages [intel.com]. No HD, no i386, no CDROM...
Perhaps you have it confused with one of the consumer PCs Compaq makes (the ones with funky "lump" cases)? Those are PCs.