I have a new toy

PC World are selling bizarre PalmOS based PDA/handheld games console devices called Tapwave Zodiacs. And they’re selling them cheap!

They’re PalmOS 5 devices with 128MB of RAM, two SD/MMC/SDIO slots, a large half-VGA screen and proper analog game controls. Integrated Bluetooth and support for SDIO WiFi cards too.

All that for �150.

So, since my new job starts on the 25th, I just had to go and get one. I convinced myself of this by the way I can go online with it and my mobile phone. The other parts about it being capable of running an ST and various other emulators isn’t anything to do with my decision of course . Llamatron, in your hand. I’m sold!

I even managed to get a whopping 5% discount off at PC Wrold because I bought the last one in the shop and it’d been opened to show someone. Nothing wrong with it at all, it’d just been opened.

Naturally, when I plugged it into my computer Linux went “huh? USB what?” and refuses to do anything. Fortunately I can beam things to it with my bluetooth dongle and KDE’s excellent bluetooth support.

And once again bluetooth amazes me. I’ve got a wireless network in here which you can pick up all over the house. Without realising, I now also have a bluetooth network that you can pick up all over the house! I can sync my Zodiac with my PC while sat downstairs.

Yes, I got Hotsync to work. Not over the USB cable, but through a clever system of bluetooth dialup networking to my laptop followed by a network hotsync. It took more effort to make it connect to the Internet using my mobile.

Vodafone’s Palm PDA setup isn’t quite right. If you combine parts of the Tapwave support site’s method and Vodafone’s you get something that works. When I get around to it, I’ll write some stuff in my Wiki.

Oh, I found a Wiki program for the Palm too!

I’ll add another little sidebar to my front page that lists my most recent additions to my http://del.icio.us bookmarks account.