A mini-review of some mini-apps for the Zaurus

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Jerry Epplin (Feb. 8, 2002)

Jerry Epplin tries out a collection of commercial mini-apps for Sharp's Linux-based Zaurus PDA which have recently been released by theKompany.com . . .

A new PDA application platform

In releasing the Zaurus with Linux as its operating system, Sharp took a chance on attracting enough third-party software developer interest in producing applications. PalmOS and PocketPC devices have a built-in base of developers and PDA-specific applications that Linux cannot yet match. And by not using X on the Zaurus, Sharp left out the mass of old X-based apps that always quickly get ported to any new and exciting platform. Their use of Trolltech's Qt makes a lot of sense, however, as it attracts KDE developers to the environment; and Trolltech's Qtopia Developer Contest can't hurt. Hence, it will be interesting to see how much commercial software development interest is generated by the platform.

In light of this, this article takes a look at a new collection of Qtopia applications produced by theKompany.com. Some may remember theKompany.com as a software development company founded by KDE developers to produce primarily KDE applications -- hence the 'K' theme. Some important applications have been developed by these developers, including Kivio and KDE Studio. Development at theKompany.com has refocused somewhat on Qt applications because it was viewed as a more stable API than KDE. Thus it is not surprising to find them producing Qtopia apps for the Zaurus.

First impressions

The collection consists of a word processor, directory explorer, Jabber client (unreviewed, as I don't have a network card for my Zaurus), MahJongg game, a handheld version of theKompany.com's Kapital, and a paint application. All are well designed, nicely laid out, and seem quite stable. Currently these apps are available individually at prices ranging from $4.95 to $19.95. Bundling them into a suite would seem to make sense, and theKompany.com recently started offering tkcBundle for $49.95.

As of this writing no manuals exist for the newly-released apps. theKompany.com's Shawn Gordon assures us they are in progress. In the meantime it is fair to say they are self-explanatory, with the exception of Kapital, which requires some introduction. Also, the apps have no online help facilities; I think many users would appreciate being able to call up a short introduction to the use of the applications.

Installation

Installation in the Zaurus went smoothly. The apps are provided in the standard .ipk format expected by the Zaurus. You establish a USB connection between your Zaurus and the Windows-only Qtopia Desktop, press "Documents" in the Desktop, then upload the .ipk file. When complete, go to the "Add/Remove Software" facility in the Zaurus and install using the "Install package files" option. All of this is very much in the mainstream of Zaurus software installation, documented in the operations manual. The applications are placed in a new "theKompany.com" tab in Qtopia. To run tkcKapial you will need a recent version of Sharp's ROM.

The Qtopia apps have a consistent and pleasing user interface; I quickly became accustomed to the environment. They also have beautiful graphics; with aesthetically pleasing icons and About boxes.

Trying the apps . . .

tkcEditor -- tkcEditor is a text editor with far more features than a reasonable person can use on a PDA. Find, find/replace, cut/copy/paste, undo/redo, selectable font -- it's all there. Editor even has syntax highlighting for PHP, SQL, HTML, and C++; just in case you want to tap out some code with your thumbs. It took me several minutes to enter a C++ "hello, world" program. Still, Editor would be appropriate for editing the scripts on the Zaurus. Personally, I find vi to work just fine. And Qtopia comes with its own editor, adequate for most PDA text editing duties. In any case, tkcEditor seems to work well. The only bug I found exhibited itself when the font is changed -- the previously displayed text is not properly erased, leaving garbage at the bottom of the file if a smaller font is chosen.

tkcExplorer -- tkcExplorer runs along the same lines; it's a file explorer utility with more features than the one provided with Qtopia. You can display a tree-structured view of the filesystem, view only the contents of a directory, or view both separated vertically. It comes with presets for moving to favorite directories (such as the CF card or the home directory), and you can add your own presets.

tkcPainter -- Qtopia's lack of a paint utility is addressed by tkcPainter, a simple but very usable application. It supports drawing with the stylus, using settable line widths. Multiple foreground and background colors are provided. Notably missing is a way to insert and manipulate text, and no image processing facilities are available. Still, it's a start.

tkcMahjongg -- By far my favorite program in the collection is tkcMahjongg, a highly developed version of the game that Linux users are accustomed to finding on their systems and wasting far too much time on. Thanks to theKompany.com, I'm now wasting even more time. You can select between two tile styles, among eight background images (with an interesting tilt toward scantily-clad Asian beauties), and an impressive selection of game layouts. You can even create your own with a quite usable layout editor. The MahJongg code could probably use a review by a native English speaker: when you lose a game, MahJongg lets you know with a terse "No!" popup; you are rewarded upon winning with "You are win!". In any case, I want to personally thank theKompany.com for wasting many hours of my time that could have been more productively spent otherwise.

tkcKapital -- For those seeking to keep closer tabs on their financial accounts and transactions, theKompany.com offers tkcKapital, a handheld version of their desktop Kapital application. The logic behind such a program is compelling -- why not keep track of, for example, your checking account transactions with your PDA rather than manually? Of course, desktop personal finance managers like Quicken can do this, but you have to wait until you get home to enter them, possibly forgetting the information in the interim. theKompany.com promises tkcKapital will sync with their desktop Kapital when version 1.0 of that application is released.

For a program with some inherent complexity, tkcKapital is intuitively laid out. You need only set up your accounts, then you can easily enter transactions as they occur. You can then search for transactions on the basis of date, amount, description, or account. A calendar screen is provided for browsing the transactions from a selected day. Overall, I found tkcKapital easy to learn, but you really need an introduction to get you started unless you're a lot better at guessing the meanings of icons than I am.

Summing it up

It's great to see some commercial applications being developed for Linux PDAs, and theKompany.com's first such products are a welcome development. I'll be judging the Qtopia contest soon and expect to see some good applications among the entries. I plan to cover them in a future article.

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