Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Monday at work we had a meeting to determine what computers/laptops/printers/fax machines/copiers/etc we were going to buy for the new office site - plus we made minor changes to the networking scheme and made plans to order the switches and router components we need.

Yesterday was spent researching the new computer configurations, tweaking the pricing and configuration info to make sure we get the best possible value. Dell has a great website for this sort of thing. So far it looks like the workhorse computers will be dual Xeon 2.66ghz with 120gb drives, 2gb ram, and Appian Rushmore quad-monitor cards (dual DVI outputs).

Last night when I got home, I installed the sync software for my new Zaurus SL-5500 on my home computer - took over an hour, as every time I went to install the USB drivers, it would fail to locate them - then if I dared turn off the zaurus in its cradle, or unplug the cradle from the usb hub, my computer would STOP - blue screen of death, with a memory pool error. This forces a reboot and disk check (where it found problems) so I was getting a bit peeved. Finally I plugged the cradle directly into the USB 2.0 PCI card in the computer, and it found the drivers immediately. I have no clue why this made a difference, but be warned.

Once the USB drivers installed, I chose the Intellisync software over Qtopia, and immediately synchronized with Outlook - works like a charm. Then I used the file transfer part of the software to send several files over, including the file manager and the terminal software. I also sent over the OpenZaurus ROM package, but haven't installed it yet. I downloaded several dozen other files for it from various websites. Did you know there is a Doom package for the Zaurus that looks as good or better than the original PC version? Quake, too!

I need to load all these packages on the 256mb card, but first I should learn more about the unit and how it stores data, where it stores it, etc.