Re: z50 for everyday life?

["Scott Lawrence" <yorgle%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 10:45 AM, Emanuele Santoro 
<santoro%autistici.org@localhost> wrote:
> Hello @ all,
> i've just subscribed to this list.

hello!

> 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?

On mine, with the lid opened or closed (doesn't matter) I get 11 hours
of time on the extended battery.  That's either with or without use.

> - 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 have 48mb in mine and it works well.  the biggest slowdown on it is
the slow access times to the CF card. I believe it uses PIO.  Any disk
accesses are painfully slow.

> - 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 got a 4GB CF in mine, works well.


It's great for uberportable simple programming or note taking or text editing.
I *LOVE* the keyboard on it.

I also put a handle on mine to make it easier to carry.
http://www.umlautllama.com/gallery/hector

-s

-- 
Scott Lawrence
yorgle%gmail.com@localhost
http://Scott.ij2fi.com