Okay, I wanted to check out in the standard Sharp ROM that my new C1000 PDA/mini-laptop was working correctly in all respects before flashing a different ROM, but I recently flashed to the Cacko 1.23 ROM and am impressed.

The main feature which won me over was that I could click on a hot link in an email and it would open in Opera and NOT NetFront. NetFront may be the bee’s knees for some people but it just did not display my New York Times’ articles so that I could read them and one of my main uses for my Zaurus is (since I have insomnia most nights) receiving the NYTimes email around 2 AM and reading articles hotlinked in the email on my Zaurus which is close at hand on my night stand each night. I also check woot.com while I’m at it.

I also have been able to setup my C1000 as a site in my Windows XP Network Neighborhood and exchange files wirelessly so that has me psyched as well.

Most drivers seem to be preinstalled on the Cacko ROM; e.g., drivers for a mouse or usb external thumb drive.

Links at the right of this page will direct you to pages to help you flash to the Cacko ROM if you so desire.

I’m really liking it so far.

and have just finished loading it up with my favorite applications. I would like to make this an easier task for others by posting some simple how to’s on this page.
This is a web site for non-techies such as myself who have a minimal knowledge of Linux and do not want to be entering arcane instructions at the Zaurus C1000 terminal. If you want a techie site, go to Meanie’s Web Site.

NFDB Food Database

One of the little gem applications that most people overlook is NFDB which is the entire USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Nutrient Database. If you install to the internal ram it works right off the bat in the C1000.
*nfdb_latest_arm.ipk – nfdb_latest_arm.ipk

After you click on a food item in the list and get the details, tap on the plus sign at the upper left in the toolbar and you will get 17 MORE listed ingredients amounts, such as: Selenium, Copper, Zinc, Magnesium, Fiber, Protein, Vitamin B6, B12, Riboflavin, Folate, Calcium, Potassium etc., etc.
Click on the triangle in the upper right part of the toolbar to get different quantity measures of the item; 1 cup of cauliflower vs. 1 floweret of cauliflower, for instance.

An installation problem sometimes encountered is that the FOODS.db database does not get properly unzipped during the install. If when you click on the icon and the utility can’t find the database, rename the FOODS.db to FOODS.tar and unzip it on your PC or within the Zaurus. It should be about 4 MB’s in size and should be located in /home/QtPalmtop/pics/nfdb/ or equivalent location on your SD card or CF card if that’s where you installed it.
The database HAS to be named FOODS.db NOT foods.db and sometimes the Zaurus will change the case so if the app does not work, check that the name is correct.

Kismet

Kismet is a 802.11b wireless network sniffer. It is capable of sniffing using almost any wireless card supported in Linux, which currently divide into cards handled by libpcap and the Linux-Wireless extentions (such as Cisco Aironet), and cards supported by the Wlan-NG project which use the Prism/2 chipset (such as Linksys, Dlink, and Zoom). This is great for picking up wireless networks. It displays the ssid and whether the network is password protected or not. Excellent for war driving or war walking. Directions on how to install it on the C1000 are on the right.

Zbedic Dictionary

Another great application for reference is the Zbedic dictionary. I am listing the packages which installed and worked for me with the main package installed to internal ram and the dictionaries installed on my SD card. If you run “Find dictionaries” in the settings after installation Zbedic will find the dictionaries whereever they reside. Since the dictionaries are rather large, it is a good idea to place them on your CF card or SD card. I placed mine in /card/QtPalmtop/share/zbedic/. Wikipedia is available for Zbedic here. Not all dictionaries are at the development site. I found some at various sites on the web. You can do a Google search and come up with just about any kind of dictionary you need.

Files:
*Zbedic Package – zbedic_0.9.6-0_arm.ipk
*English dictionary – en-0.9.0.dic.dz
*WikiQuote – wikiquote_20040424.dic.dz
*German to English – deen-0.9.0.dic.dz
*English to French – enfr-0.9.0.dic.dz
*French to English – fren-0.9.0.dic.dz
*English to Latin – enla-0.9.0.dic.dz
*Latin to English – laen-0.9.0.dic.dz
*English to Spanish – enes-0.9.0.dic.dz

ZeeCookbook

ZeeCookbook can import any MealMaster file you can find on the internet and there are thousands of recipes in this old format from the early days of the web. I believe it can import them in zipped files also. You can, of course put your own recipes in it and Now You’re Cooking is a great free program for Windows which also imports and handles MealMaster files.

*Zee Cookbook Package – zeecookbook_1.1-r0_arm.ipk