Davids Jewish Traveler and Hacker
Making Opie-Mediaplayer stream
Opie mediaplayer will stream static mp3's and ogg files no problem just cut/paste to the file location menu. Ogg live streams must be renamed .ogg instead of the m3u or other stream file endings. Be sure to set this stream to loop before starting it so it will reload the stream if it comes to an end. Real Audio, MS-WindowsMedia, and Quicktime are not supported. Now you just need the bandwith for the stream you are running. Testing on mp3 streams seems to indicate this hack not working for that format, I guess ogg is really the best.
Very nice.. you have a real 2.4 ghz worldwide digital radio with 1Gig of storage, sit down please Ipod.
Z-movies
Found a free site that does small format video for PDA type machines http://www.pocketmovies.net
I have ripped movies using gmplayer on my laptop, but this lets me grab while on the go with just my Z. These are not full length movies; mostly clips, projects, and a few entertaining commercials.
Wapaka
The wapaka WAP browser is great for grabbing news when online with GPRS. I have it on my site as an .ipk or get from Digital Airways website for other platforms. A JVM is required, the .ipk works with OZ 3.2 and Jeode but you need to make the missing symlinks if installing on a SD. I found it was best to use wap.google.com as a start page as results run through google always seem to work while other sites produce errors if directly accessed. I am sure this program will save me some money since GPRS internet is so expensive.
More Zaurus Applications
I fully support open applications especialy on linux, commercial apps may be superior for some jobs and I like to have the choice. I finaly put up a site with the Hancom, Opera, and Jeode ipk's. If you have a Zaurus SL-5500 a license was bought for these apps so now you can reinstall them. The files I have found are tweaked to run on OZ and I tested them under OZ 3.2. They load a little slower than the Opie equivelants but all provide a richer set of options. There is no longer support for these programs from their vendors.
My search began when I was unable to read an Excel file in Opie-Sheet, Opie-Sheet uses its own format and is compatable only with other copies of Opie-Sheet. Hancom Word takes over ten minutes to load on my Z since it appears to search the whole 1Gb MMC card for possible files. I rarely need the MS-Word compatibility so this is not a big problem, I can always plug in and let hancom word load as the battery charges or just use opie-write.
Opie is feature dense compared to Konqueror-embedded even allowing full screen browsing, but loads and runs slower. I dont see a way to turn off images but I love the popups-with-permission-only in Opera.
Z-radio was a big dissapointment this app was supposed to stream net radio stations but with no apparent settings I am stuck with the defunct web-stream links that were built in. I can stream static MP3 files off the net from Opie-Mediaplayer so this is not such a big loss but m3u streams seem not to work in the version I have.
Play with the IPK's I have made available at
http://bone.personaltelco.net/~dave/ipks.html
International Work
I have been in kollel for a year now but the money is running a little thin so I might have to go out looking for work at least part time. One of the possibilites is international kashrut work meaning I hop onto an airplane fly to the factory take care of business and likely have a little time before my return flight. THis would mean I could use my gadgets more while traveling and hack on them less (meaning less lame-o Zaurus posts)
GPS
I think a very small GPS is one of the most underrated travel gadgets. having the option to follow an electronic trail back to your room is quite nice when you are too exhausted to hack language and ask locals for directions. It is also cool to be able to post lat/lon in blog or email.
Poor Hackers
Being low on the economic ladder I have found my desire to hack on features to my trailing edge or lowbuck special gear is greatly increased. Not having the option to buy my way out of a problem leads to much greater creativity. IMHO a proper education (not just a diploma) is much more useful than greenbacks.
Have your linux handy
My wife and I just cant stand running MS-Windows, often a system is locked down for security or other annoying reasons, I get past this with DSL (Damn Small Linux). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_Small_Linux
This is run from a tiny I-stick usb drive which is the same thickness and just a bit longer than a SD card.
DSL used to be a business card size CD distro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_card#Other_formats
it was a hack down of Knoppix taking up about 50meg and bootable on almost any pentium or higher x86 MS-Windows system.
This easy guide will lead you through the process of making DSL for you USB keychain drive on a MS-Windows system
http://www.althack.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=27
Why not carry a businesscard cd? These mini cd's are great as gifts if you can find the business card form factor but carrying one in your wallet will leave you with an unusable scratched or cracked CD in about a month of normal wear. The DSL CD is still useful for older machines which will not boot from A USB port, just think about protection of its surface.
Having your own portable Linux is useful when visiting and you dont want to touch or install on a local system, or if you are annoyed by MS-Windows. My 128Meg USB key has 11meg left after installing DSL and Putty ssh client.
Putty is used when accessing a server shell account it is tiny and can be run from your USB keychain on even the slowest machines. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
One of the neat features of newer versions of DSL is that it has an emulator so it can be run in a window on a regular MS-Windows system even if you are unable to boot off of the usb stick.
