March 26th, 2006 by Kevin Smith

I picked up one of these a few months ago at CompUSA for $350.00. The Nokia 770 is a product that’s attempting to fill/recreate a new market. It is called an “Internet Tablet” and that is it’s primary purpose. The screen resolution (800×480) is the best I’ve seen in a handheld device; very nice. Internet connection is through a bluetooth phone or via wifi. I have not used the bluetooth feature and have read that it is finicky, however I do use the wifi and I’m happy with it. Browsing the web is much like from a desktop. I’ve had a few issues with flash heavy sites; which can crash it, and there’s no java runtime. If you want a small device to surf the net and check you email via wifi the Nokia 770 is it. However, this is also a geek toy. The OS is based on Debian Linux and various Linux applications have already been ported to it. When I got mine I promptly installed xterm, dropbear-client, dropbear-key, dropbear-server, load-plugin, nannoid, pymaemo-runtime, and vim-tiny. How did I live with out one?

If you get one check out these sites:

Maemo.org, Internet Tablet Talk, and Teemu’s Blog

LinuxSmith Linux Compatibility Rating:

March 26th, 2006 by Kevin Smith

I purchased a Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 at CompUSA, which with effort will work under Linux. It requires the uvcvideo kernel module and newer Linux programs that support v4l2, such as Ekiga and luvcview. If you want an webcam for Linux that just works with little or no effort, I would suggest the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000, which as of March 2006 is at BestBuy for about $80.00.

Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 specs:

• Takes up to 1.3 Megapixel photos
• Build in Microphone (Doesn’t work under Linux yet)
• 640×480 VGA sensor
• USB 2

Update: With Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) this camera just works. I haven’t tested the audio however, so not sure it %100 works yet. I updated the rating, but now this information is no longer accurate for current Ubuntu.

LinuxSmith Linux Compatibility Rating:
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