z50 for everyday life?

[Emanuele Santoro <santoro%autistici.org@localhost>]

Hello @ all,
i've just subscribed to this list.

I'm about to buy an IBM WorkPad z50, planning to use it with NetBSD 4.0.
Well, i have to ask some questions before buying.

- How much extended  battery life lasts? I red that extended battery
  allows up to 16 hours of life. Is this true ? If not, how much the
  battery *really* lasts using it with NetBSD (possibly 4.0) ?
  Are suspend to disk and similar processes supported?

- The z50 i'm going to buy has only got 16 megs ram, and i plan to 
  search for chipset-compatible ram bay, or for an old and original 
  z50 ram bay. NetBSD 4.0 with Xhpc is usable? is reactive, slow 
  or... ? (i know it depends on the clients i use)

- I've searched for microdrives. I've found IBM microdrives and some
  other-bran microdrives with up to 6.5/8 GB capacity. The question is:
  shall is use only ibm (up to 1 gb) microdrives or can i use theese 
  bigger microdrives ?

- I plan to use a 4 GB compact flash card. Will it be supported by the
  z50?

- I've read that serial cable and InfraRedport aren't currently 
  supported by NetBSD on the z50. Is this true ?

- I've read that the z50 has a 16 bit cardbus slot, and i can only use
  16 bit pcmcia cards. I don't really know if it's a problem: i want to
  search for a 802.11g compatible pcmcia card... are there any 16 bit
  cardbus 802.11g pcmcia card? or i'll be able to use only old 802.11b
  cards?

- Using wireless, are there any limitations? I plan to use it at home
  (wpa/tkip pre shares key) and at school (open network! :-D), but not
  only: can i do wireless sniffing, packet capturing and similar things
  with a pcmcia wireless card?

- I thougt to use the z50 to connect to my home network sometimes,
  using somthing as OpenVPN or Vtun, and to sync my data with rsync or
  something similar. Do you think it is possible?

- Using OpenVPN or Vtun, i plan to mount a remote NFS resource (a shared
  hard disk on my home server, about 250 GB). Would it be possible ?

- I think i'll use remote X client from my home net to enlight the load
  on the z50. Do you think it is possible ?

- May I use GNU Emacs on the z50 or is it too heavy? I can use vim, but
  emacs is more comfortable...

- and (this is the last :-P)... for all the things i've mentioned, do
  you think i can use the z50 or should i search for an HP Jornada or
  a Nec MobilePro?


Tha fact is: i don't really like the way the "nettop"concept is growing 
up: eeePc, Acer One and similar, just crappy commercial shit.
Their price is high, performance is high, battery life is low.

I just want something to get connected (read and send my emails (with
mutt, using gnupg for privacy) and sometimes surf the web (with elinks
or if needed, with dillo and sometimes chat in IRC or play nethack and
connect home to see if it's all ok). 
I want it to be very low price: i should not damn myself if someone 
steal it, or if it breaks off.

May the ibm workpad z50 be good for this pruposes?

Thanks, and excuse me for the *LONG* e-mail.
Emanuele Santoro

-- 
Il regno dei cieli non è per tutti | Heaven kingdom is not for everyone
                          Ing. Giuseppe Russo