[Speakers] Sharp Zaurus PDA talk

[Bill Kendrick]

Last night I spoke with Steve Traugott at IHOP after the SVLUG meeting
and suggested that I could do a demonstration of Sharp's Linux-based PDA,
the 'Zaurus,' at an upcoming SVLUG meeting.

I've done a few simple demos of it for Sacramento LUG, LUGOD (Davis), and
a small PC User Group out here in Davis, as well.  I'm also the extremely
lazy maintainer of the "Unofficial Zaurus FAQ," which is apparently
so good that Sharp points to it on their own websites. :^)

I've got a VNC server on the Zaurus, so I'll be able to run a VNC client
on a desktop system, which will let me show everyone what's on the screen
using the projector system.  (Back before VNC was available, I used a
camcorder at one talk; sufficed to say, it kind of sucked :^) )


I'm fairly certain I can easily fill at least an hour, since there's so
much to talk about:

  * Brief history of the Zaurus
  * Sharp's partners involved (Insignia, Trolltech, Opera, IBM, Socket, etc.)
  * Boring hardware specs
  * Demonstration of the useful standard software
  * Demonstration of some of the very cool 3rd party software
  * Demonstration of Linux under the hood (terminal, bash, ssh, Apache, etc.)
  * Fun add-on hardware (e.g., digital camera)
  * Other models of the Zaurus (in Japan and the US)
  * Other Qtopia-based PDAs

Along with all this, it sounds like there's interest in hearing about
development for the Zaurus.  I'm not an _expert_ when it comes to this.
I've had success (thanks to some work by others) on getting a number of
my SDL-based games running on the Zaurus, so at the very least, I can
talk a little about cross-compiling.

If there's a LOT of interest in development for the Zaurus, I bet I could
convince one of the folks from Sharp who are located closer to San Jose
that they should come up and do a whole talk on building apps for the
Zaurus.  (It'd be more Qtopia-focused, which is probably better.)


Anyway... Thanks for this opportunity!  Steve said that he thinks the
earliest date available would be the June or July meeting, so let me know,
and I can make sure I'll be free and prepared!

Thanks!

-- 
bill at newbreedsoftware.com                                            Hire me!
http://newbreedsoftware.com/bill/    http://newbreedsoftware.com/bill/resume/