Gaming Portable Linux Devices

[gizmo_gal]

I'm really interested in Linux capable portables. I only discovered them about...6-8 mos ago and slowly came into the realization of their many, many possibilities.

I'm looking to get one for myself but I want to just get one, so far the systems I've uncovered, researched and became interested in are:
Gp2x F-100 and f-200
Pandora (up and coming)
gp32 (quite dated, but good...)
eeePC

The last one I saw several months ago--not long after it launched--but didn't fully understand. I allowed someone to discourage me from looking further into it as I couldn't "afford one" and quickly forgot about it, a couple of weeks ago I began to look for Linux Laptops and came across the eeePc again but I knew I couldn't afford one and when I saw thebobevils giveaway I considered it a godsend and thought "finally! this is my chance!"

Well, I didn't win the giveaway

...

but I am proud of the effort I put forth because I did the best I could with a crappy camera and no image editing software and my family helped me. It was a great project and its always fun to dream.

so its back to the drawing board for me to figure out the best Linux device for cheapity cheap and then off to put real effort into earning money for it.

So, you've probably lost track of my initial point in those last two paragraphs so I'll wrap this up, I am looking for a Linux capable PORTABLE device to invest my time, effort and energy into and the only ones I know about are the ones I've listed but I suspect that there are many other Linux capable portables out there, I just haven't been able to find them.

So, which Linux capable portables am I missing?

Incase you may have missed it, I'm interested in PORTABLES. Not fullsize laptops, not desktops. Not plug it into a wall outlet and have some fun. Something I can carry in one hand/a pocket.

 

[FAST6191]

DS:
http://www.dslinux.org/
In the case of the DS you also have wireless and most of the important protocols taken care of as well.

A hell of a lot of palmtops also have support for some variant of linux, some officially and some not so officially.

The question now surely what do you want it to do: network admin and diagnostics as well as file installation/small file storage are the main function with simple text, pictures etc coming close second.

On the other hand there are devices that can run and do stuff but have a "docking station" of sorts as well.

Oh and a few other companies are bringing out competitors to the eeePC.

 

[fischju]

Nokia N800/N810

 

[jeklnoo]

There's also the Sharp Zarus. You can pick up some models for under $100 these days, they have a decent res, nice touchscreen, and a mini qwerty keyboard that slides out. They also have clamshell models, but I haven't tried them. scroll down to 'Linux based SL series' on this page

 

[gizmo_gal]

@Fastt6191--I should've foreseen this reply and noted accordingly that I am getting a Cyclo DS Evo--or hope to anyway and that DSLinux is about the only thing it doesn't seem to run, but thats okay. I'm really looking for something PC/laptop like anyway for about...cheapity, so 350USD is an ideal price but I'll consider anything up to 600$ USD.

I want to be able to do heavy duty web design and development, word procesing, web browsing with photos, audio and streaming, USB, Flash cards, CD ROM would be nice but not really neccesary and a reasonable processor.

 

[total_split]

It looks like the eeepc that you mentioned might be the machine for you considering what you said you'd be doing with it. now that the eee900 with the bigger screen and bigger capacity drive is out, lots of early adopters with 700s might possibly be looking to sell theirs off. It has a 900Mhz Celeron M processor and is a cool little computer, very hackable and you can compile/install pretty well whatever you want on them.

 

[gizmo_gal]

It looks like the eeepc that you mentioned might be the machine for you considering what you said you'd be doing with it. now that the eee900 with the bigger screen and bigger capacity drive is out, lots of early adopters with 700s might possibly be looking to sell theirs off. It has a 900Mhz Celeron M processor and is a cool little computer, very hackable and you can compile/install pretty well whatever you want on them.

Hmm...yes I suppose you're right. But I want to make sure that I am getting the best Linux machine possible.

If you know anyone looking to sell theirs then let me know. In the meantime, if you come across any other linux capable portables, then let me know.

Thanks.

 

[AshuraZro]

Nokia N800/N810

Grabbed one of those almost a month ago myself, the N800 of course as I can't justify an extra $200 for a built-in keyboard (and screw the extra gps stuff). Handy little tool, made a great study aid for last minute crams at the college an hour before each exam. But I mainly bought it just to screw around with. : D

 

[Urza]

Any subnotebook should be capable of running a Linux distro (provided you can find drivers).

 

[FAST6191]

It seems you are at a bit of a crossroads now. What you have said would tell me you want a general purpose machine with some flexibility and you are none too fussed about multimedia, CAD or games (which is nice as they are the ones that cost the money to do).

I am somewhat loathe to do it this way as I run the risk of making it far more complex than is actually necessary. None the less your first step is processor architecture.
The most common is x86 (which is you standard intel and AMD stuff) followed by powerpc (older macs and some servers), ARM (the GBA and DS would likely be your main encounter but they are in everything and importantly here handheld/briefcase PDAs) and then the more obscure stuff like SPARC (I am not sure there are any portables using this but there are a hell of a lot of servers using it).
I would say first narrow this to x86, powerPC and ARM. The first two have the perk of being common and so having lots of software (x86 leading though) but are fairly power hungry. ARM has the basics covered but you can bet you will find a little app somewhere that will not use it.

Some would argue heavy duty web development would be a text editor but hey.
I have seen at least 15 languages (html, xhtlm, CSS, java, javascript, php, multiple SQL implementations, apache (OK a server app really but I am counting it), ruby on rails, whatever MS has pushed in the last 10 years and their perversions of previously mentioned languages) and countless APIs used in web development.
Some clarification would be nice but most are OK until you get really big sites or databases (and by that time I doubt you will be running a server on the little machine). Flash on the other hand (which much to my dismay has large foothold) has a reputation for being a bit demanding on resources however (not to mention flash development tools running in linux are not common).
Good news is most tools/frameworks/whatever are linux based or have reference standard implementations for it and as my somewhat glib remark at first would indicate it can all be done with a text editor anyhow.

Word processing: pretty sure that has been able to be done for the last 25 years at least so anything will be able to do it in some shape or form.

Pictures with web browsing: JPG files are the norm here and even those insipid photo collection sites tend to be fairly lean. In short not a problem.

I would say give up on an integrated CD rom as virtual drives, USB/firewire addons and the fact this thing is likely to be networked mean it does not really matter.

USB: a definite as I would lean on them to do almost everything. Even so far as to getting a machine with a lousy keyboard and adding a decent one via USB. Add onto this the ability to output to a decent monitor.

Audio: Aside from some of the stupidly high powered DTS stuff you should not have a problem with anything in the normal circles (aka yes you can get a nice mp3 collection and play it back).

A note on the eeePC and a lot of these machines, they use flash memory rather than a conventional hard drive. Good in as much as it is faster, less power hungry, more reliable when being dropped...
The problem however is wear levelling which refers to the limited number of writes a block can have and compared to conventional drives it is that much lower. Sometimes it is just a CF card or three but other times it is

In practice this means all work probably should be done to a USB stick and leave the internal drive just for app storage and running.

 

[TLSpartan]

The Pandora will be useful since it will supposedly be able to use Debian ARM pacakges

 

[SavageWaffle]

You mean like Linux OSed PDA's?

 

[fischju]

The Archos 605 has a hack on the 1.7 firmware that allows for pdaXrom 2.0, screenshot of soon to be released package http://www.gmlinux.org/openpma-ng.jpg (Looks so big because that is the resolution on the 605's screen)