Hello fellow PDA Squeak hackers-

I get a lot of questions about what to get for Squeak PDA hacking.

If you're in the market for a Squeak PDA, but don't want to spend much,
your best bet is probably the new Dell Axim X3. The cheapest model is
$229, and includes some decent hardware, including a 300-400 XScale PXA255
and a 200 MHz bus (the Zaurus line has a 100 MHz bus, older iPAQs of the
31xx and 36xx series 30 MHz, IIRC). I've not done any benchmarking, but if
anyone is up to it, I'd be interested in the information.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/brand/axim_x3?c=us&l=en&s=gen

On the high end-

Today, Toshiba released a new PDA- a PocketPC with a 640x480 screen. Like
the Zaurus, but without the keyboard and running WinCE instead of Linux.
Both factors can be seen as a positive or a negative, depending on what
your needs and persuasions, but considering that it takes all kinds, there
may be a person with oodles of money to blow on some really nice hardware
on which to run Squeak. Built-in wifi even. $599 for this model.

The Toshiba PocketPC e800:
http://www.brighthand.com/article/RumorMill_Toshiba_e805_e405_Later_Today?site=PPC

Also of mention is the Sigmarion III.  It's a Japanese-only number like
the Zaurus, but unlike the Zaurus its UI language can not be entirely
changed to english, though a lot can.  This puppy similar specs to the
Zaurus C760, but with a couple differences- it runs WinCE, it has a *real*
touch typable keyboard, it has a 800x480 screen with a lower DPI (a good
thig; a physically bigger screen), and a USB host.  The SigIII, along with
a VGA CF card (like the Voyager, capable of up to 1024x768), external
monitor, and a USB mouse could be "converted" into a desktop machine for
when you're at home or the office. The SigIII goes for $525 (at conics)
and up. (same product, different importers)

	http://conics.net/shp/pda/sigmarion3/

While not new, it's still worth mentioning the Zaurus C760 as a very
worthy Squeak machine.  It runs Squeak like a champ.

Also, if anyone has a PDA and feel like donating some values, I have a
*very* simple benchmarking app in Squeak up at:

	http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/bench.zip

It spits out two numbers, a processed #tinyBenchmarks.  It's a subset of
the nicer and more generalized benchmarking app I wrote (
http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/squeak/bencher.jpg ), but for folks who
don't want to spend much time it gets the job done.

Any other questions? Feel free to ask me on the list or via a private
email, or better yet- on IRC in the Squeak channel on freenode. That's
#squeak on irc.freenode.net; I go by "rev," or sometimes a derivation of
that like rev|work or rev|school.

Regards,
Aaron

--
  "civilization is a limitless multiplication of
                unnecessary necessities."                :: mark twain