iPaq Advice

December 13, 2004 3:15 PM

I recently got an Ipaq for an early xmas present. It's neat and all...but I really don't like that you cannot use an alternate web browser or email client. Does anyone know if Mozilla has their web browser ready for the Ipaq yet? Or an email client? Or does anyone have any software advice for Ipaq?

Thanks!
posted by Hands of Manos to Technology (12 answers total)

NetFront is well-liked by some, and was the default browser shipped with many Sony Clie devices.
posted by gkostolny at 3:42 PM on December 13, 2004

Response by poster: nice!!! thanks!
posted by Hands of Manos at 3:50 PM on December 13, 2004

Programs like SPB Pocket Plus and FTXBrowser add functionality to the WM2003 version of IE. Depending on your particular beef with Pocket IE, one of those might be enough to satisfy you.

And Minimo is Mozilla-for-small-devices, though if I understand correctly it's currently available only for Linux PDAs and as an embedded browser for mobile phones.
posted by box at 4:12 PM on December 13, 2004

Response by poster: yeah, I looked into minimo, I didn't see it available for ipaqs yet...or maybe it was, I'll need to check again.

pretty damned neat machine, that ipaq.

thanks for the links!
posted by Hands of Manos at 4:20 PM on December 13, 2004

I have minimo on my Ipaq, but my ipaq is running Linux.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:39 PM on December 13, 2004

Response by poster: joe, how does that work? how well does it work?

when it comes to desktop publishing software, I'm a whiz...but when someone says "Linux" I usually just stand there and go "duuuuh"
posted by Hands of Manos at 4:43 PM on December 13, 2004

It works pretty good
posted by abcde at 5:23 PM on December 13, 2004

It works OK, so far. I would not recommend it unless you have good Linux skills already. I'm running the unstable version of GPE on Familiar Linux. It has all the PDA apps you would expect, including good handwriting recognition, and it's been pretty reliable. However, there are inevitably little broken bits and if you don't feeling comfortable with a Linux shell it would be too daunting to fix them up. (It gives me a certain perverse geeky thrill to ssh to my PDA, however). I'm looking forward to the 8.0 release of Familiar.

Since it's a full-fledged Linux system I can run any damn thing I like on it. I have a hankering to put Apache on it and turn it into a web server...
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:54 PM on December 13, 2004

PS: minimo works all right, but the interface leaves a lot to be desired in my view - it's TOO stripped down. GPE also includes a minimal browser called Dillo which I rather like, and of course there are ports of lynx and other text-mode browsers you can run.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:56 PM on December 13, 2004

This Ask Slashdot question might have some answers for you. Maybe Opera for Mobiles might work?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:09 PM on December 13, 2004

Response by poster: well I like the apps I've got on ipaq now, I'd hate to lose them with a new os on it.

I find that the windows thing is unstable too...locks up a lot
posted by Hands of Manos at 7:32 PM on December 13, 2004

Don't neglect to try out Bitstream's ThunderHawk. It's different... but you may like it. It simulates an 800x600 display on your PDA, using specially designed fonts, and there's a back-end proxy service that re-sizes and re-compresses the graphics before sending them to you so you're not downloading as much stuff. The downside, you have to pay for the proxy service, and you can't use the browser without it. I didn't find it quite useful enough to pay for that. But it's still a cool app to play with, and they have a free trial.
posted by kindall at 8:49 AM on December 14, 2004