Poor mans PI!

Ok slightly misleading and I did try this once before (and failed), also when i last tried I dont think the PI had been invented (ahead of my time ). I dont need another PI and this is for a specific job to be used in conjunction with a R PI rather than instead of, but it did get me thinking!

So a long time ago I started collecting OLD Compaq and HP ipaqs, I liked the serial connection and some had/have USB but use serial comms. Most of the ones I collected had things like cameras on and wifi/bluetooth, they come with large colour touch screens and can be made to run Linux (I failed last time), they also have GPS etc that can be had really cheap. I also like the fact that they have IRDA on as standard and have a fairly long life battery, no IO but you get alot of bang for very little money. In my case I didnt pay more than £7 with p&p!!

So I am looking into using one for its bluetooth and wifi ability and connect it to a PI rather than buy in alot of add ons for the PI when I dont have the money.
I will update as I go starting tomorrow with a list of what I think are advantages and disadvantages, also while the processor on the PI is technically faster I want to see if thats the case in the real world. It could be a very cheap way to add a shed load of capability to the PI, first job try and get Linux installed tomorrow. I will update progress.

There easy to brick but are not that bad on linux after there firmware is loaded I had two one was arm and one was mip's the arm are the best for linux.

be80be said:

There easy to brick but are not that bad on linux after there firmware is loaded I had two one was arm and one was mip's the arm are the best for linux.

Click to expand...

They have alot going for them especially as you can pick up dirt cheap if you watch carefully. I have from the 3630 upwards, I know some are ARM but not sure about the others yet. Alot of the info I found last time has gone, I will need to search the web a bit and see if I can get the Rom flashed on a couple. Interesting to see what could be done with one tied to a micro or something.

Very interested in how that works out for you.

Well looks like I will be posting what I find here as attachments, alot of the info I saw last time is long gone. From reading it looks like the HP site once upon a time had a massive resource dedicated to it and put alot into linux working on them, but its gone now. So I will post whatever I get here for somone in the future, there are alot of these devices around and they are pretty capable. Even more so if you connect them to an arduino or pic, I dont think they are a replacement for the PI as such but they do have a place and contain alot of stuff built in thats handy.