NX70 on the LAN / CF driver

[Y0p!]

Hi,

Before buying, please let me ask a few questions...

* With the CompactFlash driver, can we copy files from CF to MS, MS to CF ?

* Using the built-in audio player, is it possible to "open URL" ?
What I'd be interested in is, assuming I got the Wifi card, play MP3 files from a local web site of mine (or from the internet).

* Is it possible to access "shared drives" ? (off-topic: same question for PocketPC)

* What about a "sound driver": as far as I know, we cannot use a third-party software to play e.g. OggVorbis
Ever have heard of that ?

thanks a lot
Y0p!

[OcellNuri]

Answer to the first question is a big ole' Yes! :D

As far as the rest of your questions... I have to say no. If any of them are possible, I'm not aware of how.

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by OcellNuri
As far as the rest of your questions... I have to say no. If any of them are possible, I'm not aware of how. I agree, I've certainly not heard of any of this being possible. And if it was, we sure would have heard about it.

Sorry :(

[Raybot]

Remember, this is a CompactFlash storage driver ... the second point you ask about really needs not a driver but some audio streaming program through the TCP/IP connection (which would be sitting on top of the existing wireless LAN driver). The third point you ask about would likewise be requiring not so much a driver but more a program that understands whatever file sharing protocol you were looking at (be it SMB for Windows, NFS for Unix or whatever). Of course, this could also involve a 'shim' driver which would make the remote drive look like a VFS volume but this isn't really a CompactFlash specific thing per se (in that such a driver could well be useable whenever you had an IP connection be it through bluetooth, IrDA, cable or whatever). Again for sound, you're really looking for a program that decodes the data, not really a driver (which is, loosely speaking, a program that sits between hardware and 'user programs').


- Raybot

[Y0p]

OK,

I was about to buy the NX70 but am getting more and more disapointed...

And I'm so amazed about all those non-free pieces of software...
I thought the PalmOS world was a bit like the Linux World, where you can easily find all sorts of *free* applications...

And you even have to pay 28 bucks to be able to read from a CF card ! can you believe this... ?

Or perhaps can you point me to a good site with lots of ressources...?

Where are the "openOffice" for PalmOS ?
Map applications ?
Audio (oggVorbis) player ?
"Drivers" created by devoted people (like in the Linux world) to bypass crazy Sony's restrictions ?

I'm really disapointed... If I should not, please give me a good reason...

Y0p

[Homie_S]

Search around this forum to see what people think about paying for it, there's been a buttload of talk about if it's right or not. My opinion goes pretty simple (CF driver + microdrive 1 gig costs less than MSPRO 1 gig), but people think what they think.

How far have you looked into what you're looking for? You might be looking in the wrong places. Palms are easily expandable, and when people want their palm to do something, it doesn't take long for them to find something that will let them extend the capabilities of their palm device. Same goes for PPC I would suppose, but I don't have one, so...

And another thing, Palm isn't Linux. Sorry, nothing's perfect. ;)

[Raybot]

Y0p, if you want free linuxy stuff, go for the Sharp Zaurus which, if I'm not mistaken, runs Linux. That or get an iPaq and put linux on that ... whilst (at least in the past) the impression I got was that the PalmOS community was more that way than, say, the PocketPC community, it certainly isn't the open source Linux style community by and large ... if that bothers you then PalmOS is not your operating system.


- Raybot

[gadgetguru63]

Also, the CF driver lets you write to the CF card as well as read
from it. Well worth the $.

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by Y0p
I was about to buy the NX70 but am getting more and more disapointed...

And I'm so amazed about all those non-free pieces of software...
I thought the PalmOS world was a bit like the Linux World, where you can easily find all sorts of *free* applications...

And you even have to pay 28 bucks to be able to read from a CF card ! can you believe this... ?

Or perhaps can you point me to a good site with lots of resources...?

Where are the "openOffice" for PalmOS ?
Map applications ?
Audio (oggVorbis) player ?
"Drivers" created by devoted people (like in the Linux world) to bypass crazy Sony's restrictions.I don't use Linux, but from what I've read about it, Palm OS is NOTHING like it . . . there are TONS of freeware applications available (you can visit freewarepalm.com to see a huge majority of them) Most apps are reasonably priced, though. If you can afford to purchase an NX, it certainly won't 'hurt' your pocketbook that much to pay developers for the time it took them to write software.

You may also be interested in checking out palmopensource.com for some terrific opensource software.

I don't know what 'OpenOffice' is. The NX does come with some free software, so you may want to give what comes with it on the CD a quick look.

A good free map program is mapopolis.com. You pay for the maps, depending on the level of complexity you want. Good stuff.

It may be that a Palm OS is not the kind of PDA that will make you happy. As Raybot suggested, the Sharp Zaurus is an excellent alternative, with many 'open source' type programs.

Sony is a company that makes beautiful PDAs, but they have proprietary software on them all . . . they do not release very much of the information on their proprietary parts . . . that causes serious for 'free software writers'.

Good luck with your decision. It's a tuffy.

[Homie_S]

Originally posted by *YellowRose*
It's a tuffy.

LIES!! ALL LIES!

You know you want the Sony.

[Y0p]

OK thanks for all your replies...
Of course I know PalmOS is not (like) Linux...
But still...

Excuse-me but there is a little bit of hypocrisis 'round here:
You say, developers deserve big $$ for their hard work... right... But we all know (one of) the reason why you want a big CF card available for your Clié: store hundreds of MP3... which you most probably didn't pay for... so....

OK, I can afford a NX70... but that's enough... Paying $20 for each and every software I want will make my Clié $1000 worth...

I can even find more *FREE* apps for Windows than for PalmOS...
Almost every Win32 apps has its FreeWare equivalent...

By the way OpenOffice ---> www.openoffice.org for those of you who dont want to pay $500 for MS-office...
But you might already have MS-Office (for free?)... and this does not seem to bother you... :)

See you

[Homie_S]

Originally posted by Y0p
OK thanks for all your replies...


Excuse-me but there is a little bit of hypocrisis 'round here:
You say, developers deserve big $$ for their hard work... right... But we all know (one of) the reason why you want a big CF card available for your Clié: store hundreds of MP3... which you most probably didn't pay for... so....




I'll take that argument on.

The difference between musicians making money and developers making money is that musicians with record deals and what not make TONS more money than Joe Shmoe developer.

Let's think here. If a CF driver is selling for $27 a pop. Seems fair, more or less. The reason it's so high is because they need to get the money to offset the costs of getting the driver out. Not to mention labor, equipment, whatever. So they're able to get it all done selling 27 dollars per copy. But the audience they are selling to is quite different than music. Let's not forget that the people who have an NX-70 device is probably A LOT smaller than people who listen to music. Let's just say your average CD costs 15 bucks. Pretty inexpensive, but when you have thousands (or millions) of copies being sold, that's big $$$. Huge difference.

And don't forget, most bands make +/- 90% of their money off of live performances.

This is why I will gladly pay 27 bucks for a CF driver, and download music off the internet for free. I hate to go off-topic of the thread, but this is why I don't feel like a hypocrite.

Feel free to flame or agree.

[n2ifp]

As I said in another post, go buy a PPC and leave us alone! ! !

[Raybot]

Originally posted by Y0p
OK thanks for all your replies...
Of course I know PalmOS is not (like) Linux...
But still...

Excuse-me but there is a little bit of hypocrisis 'round here:
You say, developers deserve big $$ for their hard work... right... But we all know (one of) the reason why you want a big CF card available for your Clié: store hundreds of MP3... which you most probably didn't pay for... so....

OK, I can afford a NX70... but that's enough... Paying $20 for each and every software I want will make my Clié $1000 worth...

I can even find more *FREE* apps for Windows than for PalmOS...
Almost every Win32 apps has its FreeWare equivalent...

By the way OpenOffice ---> www.openoffice.org for those of you who dont want to pay $500 for MS-office...
But you might already have MS-Office (for free?)... and this does not seem to bother you... :)

See you

Well I can't speak for anyone else but I can speak for myself.

I mainly use OpenOffice and Latex when I have the choice.

I use Gimp as my image editor.

The MP3s I listen to I convert from my own CDs or are ones that are legally freely available on the net.

I have to admit I don't have a single piece of registered software on my Clie apart from that which came with it. However, I think this is fine given that apart from the software that came with it, the only other software is already freeware/opensource (such as Power48, Plucker, VFSi, CRSLaunch).

My Clie is quite functional despite this so yes it is possible even now to have decent software for your Clie without having to pay for it. The Windows community is a lot bigger than the PalmOS one hence the larger number of titles available for it.

Now we've had a developer invest a significant amount of time in developing a driver, against all the odds. If you don't want to pay for his work, the don't do so and don't use it. But I do think it is being rather insensitive to imply that he should not charge for it. If it were Sony then sure one could expect to jump up and down about it because Sony developed the hardware and crippled it. But if someone else comes along and works around it, they should be given all credit for doing so.

my $0.02 on the topic at any rate.

- Raybot

[goyanian]

In linux world, the definition of *FREE* is not the same *FREE* as a free beer, but in the sense of shring!!!

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by Y0p
Excuse-me but there is a little bit of hypocrisis 'round here:
You say, developers deserve big $$ for their hard work... right... But we all know (one of) the reason why you want a big CF card available for your Clié: store hundreds of MP3... which you most probably didn't pay for... so....Well, thank you for sharing that lovely insight to your personality. Actually, the MP3 player is the LEAST used part of my NX. I rip MP3s occasionally . . . and load them up, but it's stuff I own . . . I don't have a P2P client on my computer.
Originally posted by Y0p
OK, I can afford a NX70... but that's enough... Paying $20 for each and every software I want will make my Clié $1000 worth...If you can't afford to purchase software, then you can't afford an NX. Get a Zire. Most Palm programs are NOT $20. The range varies greatly, most are $5-10. And yes, developers DESERVE to get paid for the work they do. Do you work for free? I seriously doubt it.
Originally posted by Y0p
I can even find more *FREE* apps for Windows than for PalmOS...
Almost every Win32 apps has its FreeWare equivalent...And your point? What does this have to do with an NX70 and/or Palm software?

Originally posted by Y0p
By the way OpenOffice ---> www.openoffice.org for those of you who dont want to pay $500 for MS-office... But you might already have MS-Office (for free?)... and this does not seem to bother you... Actually, I have paid for and registered versions of XP & MSOffice, thanks for asking.

[euroclie]

Originally posted by Y0p
Excuse-me but there is a little bit of hypocrisis 'round here:
You say, developers deserve big $$ for their hard work... right... But we all know (one of) the reason why you want a big CF card available for your Clié: store hundreds of MP3... which you most probably didn't pay for... so....
As a matter of fact, I do not listen to MP3 songs on my NX70V. Oh, yeah, sure, I've got two Tangerine Dreams albums I converted from my CDs and which I listen when I'm reading a good book while I'm away from home, but really here nothing that would make me spend $$ on a big CF card.
Now the prospect of having a 1Gb CF card for cheap (well, relatively speaking, when comparing to the MS Pro at least) would let me store a good load of pictures I take with the built-in camera (yes, I'm ready to use my 128Mb MS as a buffer and move the files once in a while because right now you can't save the pictures on the CF directly), maybe a whole movie (I have a couple of DVDs I'd like to rip and convert) occasionally, and I'm especially interested by the volume of technical pdf doc I could put on it (RepliGo works like a charm with documents loaded on the CF).

Now does it make the driver worth $27? If Sony had written it, I'd say "NO", and feel cheated, but an independant developper wrote the driver, and he got no support (neither technical nor financial) from Sony, so I think he deserves the money for his hard work.

After all, the NX70V is a great device even without the CF driver, and if you don't need this driver, then no one forces you to buy it! :)


OK, I can afford a NX70... but that's enough... Paying $20 for each and every software I want will make my Clié $1000 worth...
You're quite right: not everyone can afford to spend a few hundreds of $ on software after buying an expensive PDA. But then, you don't have to! Despite what you write, there's a huge number of freeware applications! Yes, I know, there's probably a dozen of freeware solitaire application, and as many tetris clones, but no freeware spreadsheet application. Go ahead, contribute to the freeware world and write (or port from another OS) your own freeware spreadsheet! ;)

Of course all the nicest pieces of software (DateBk5, QuickOffice, SnapperMail, JackFlash...) are NOT freeware, but who could blame them for trying to turn their programming skills into a way of earning one's life?

I can even find more *FREE* apps for Windows than for PalmOS...
Almost every Win32 apps has its FreeWare equivalent...
OK, go ahead and buy a ultra-light Windows laptop, then, and load some freeware on it to your heart's content! :D

I do use Linux from time to time, and when I'm using Windows I use OpenOffice because it's fine and I don't want to spend $500 on MS Office (way too expensive for my needs), but then I also purchased a licence for the Opera browser because I find it better than its freeware counterparts. Likewise I also paid some money for Agent (a usenet news browser), The Bat! (an email client) and a couple of other clever and efficient shareware programs. But I'm also using a freeware instant messaging program, a freeware MP3 player, etc... so I guess I take the best of both words!

Now back to the PalmOS world: you're on a Clie forum, so please, don't expect us to do much Clie (or PalmOS) bashing. Let's face it, most people here either use freeware apps or buy some quality shareware when they have no alternative, and they don't feel they have to complain again and again about it! No one forces you to buy a NX70V, and if you don't like the PalmOS state of mind, go ahead and buy something else, there's plenty of competition and you should be able to find something that suits you better than the NX70V! :)

[n2ifp]

Does the word TROLL mean anything? IMHO, as far as I am concerned that's what this is all about!

[nevarDeath]

Hey, ****, the guy seemed genuine enough when he started....All I have to say, Y0p!, is buy a sharp Zaurus, it runs linux, it's fast and there's lots of software for it. The community is great and you can do anything with it that you can do with a desktop linux box, seriously it sounds like exactly what you want...

General Info:
http://www.myzaurus.com
Best forum:
http://www.zaurus.com/dev/board
Big software repository:
http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by nevarDeath
Hey, ****, the guy seemed genuine enough when he started....All I have to say, Y0p!, is buy a sharp Zaurus, it runs linux, it's fast and there's lots of software for it. The community is great and you can do anything with it that you can do with a desktop linux box, seriously it sounds like exactly what you want...

General Info:
http://www.myzaurus.com
Best forum:
http://www.zaurus.com/dev/board
Big software repository:
http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus

Very good suggestion :)!

[CedMan]

why do you guys even bother to reply to this loser's question? I know I wouldn't with his attitude.