I love small and sexy devices like the Sharp Zaurus. I own a SL-5500 and at some time I maintained a few Zaurus Ports of various libraries and games I wanted to see running on it. Since the Zaurus is Linux-based, it was fairly easy.
As of today, most of this software (probably in much more recent and better packaged versions) is available from Openzaurus, but my feed is still active. Please note, however, that I don't give any support for this out-of-date software and that you definitely should seek more recent feeds!
My .ipk feed address: http://www.gnurou.org/software/zaurus/feed/ (last updated: 2004/03/28)
If you own a SL-C7xx model (or any model which shape is different from the picture at the top of the page), you might prefer to use the SDL package provided at this page instead of the one I provide. It is compatible with the games packages of my feed, but should give you a correctly-oriented screen (not tested!).
Games
Some fun straight from the late 90s!
PrBoom
There is no installer for .wad files yet. You'll have to copy the .wad file corresponding to your game to /opt/QtPalmtop/share/games/doom (or create links to the files on your CF or SD card there), and run doom from the terminal.
- Latest Package: prboom_2.2.3-2_arm.ipk.
- Doom 1 Shareware: doomdemo_1.8-1_arm.ipk - will allow you to play something and even provides a nice desktop icon (contributed by Andreas Pillath).
- Freedoom: David MacCuish contributed a Zaurus package for Freedoom.
Scummvm
Use the stylus to play, the pad button for alternate action, and the home or 'm' keys to pop the main menu up. This package is compiled with libmad support, for voices playback. Beneath of A Steel Sky doesn't work with it, for unknown reasons.
- Latest Package: scummvm_0.5.1-2_arm.ipk.
Libraries
Don’t mind the repeated mention of “CVS” below - git did not exist, after all.
SDL
SDL is a cross-platform multimedia library, mostly used to write games. It is especially required for the games on this page, but also for many others. The version proposed here is often a bleeding-edge build from the CVS.
For 320x200 like modes, the screen is rotated in landscape. By default, it will be rotated so the pad lies at the left of the screen, but setting SDL_QT_INVERT_ROTATION prior to running applications using it rotates it the other way, at the cost of a (very slight, almost non-noticeable) slowdown.
If you own a SL-C7xx model (or any model which shape is different from the picture at the top of the page), you might prefer to use the SDL package provided at this page instead of the one I provide.
This version comes with some slight improvements from the CVS: ability to (finally) use the menu keys (although this feature has to be heavily tested), and better mapping of the menu keys. Feel free to report your experience.
- Latest Package: libSDL_1.2.6cvs-1_arm.ipk.
- Development Package: SDL-dev-1.2.6cvs.tar.gz (extract it in /opt/Qtopia/sharp).
- Patch against the current CVS (as of 2002/12/28): qtopia.diff.
SDL-mixer
The SDL audio mixer library, a higher-level audio library built on top of SDL.
- Latest Package: libSDL-mixer_1.2.5cvs-1_arm.ipk.
- Development Package: SDL_mixer-dev-1.2.5cvs.tar.gz (extract it in /opt/Qtopia/sharp).
SDL-net
The SDL network layer, brings a unified and portable interface across platforms for programming networked applications using SDL.
- Latest Package: libSDL-net_1.2.5cvs-1_arm.ipk.
- Development Package: SDL_net-dev-1.2.5cvs.tar.gz (extract it in /opt/Qtopia/sharp).
SDL-image
Easily load from plenty of image formats (jpg, png, …) from your SDL application.
- Latest Package: libSDL-image_1.2.5cvs-1_arm.ipk.
- Development Package: SDL_image-dev-1.2.5cvs.tar.gz (extract it in /opt/Qtopia/sharp).
libmad
Light, fast, integer-based MPEG decoder library.
- Latest Package: libmad_0.14.2b-1_arm.ipk.
- Development Package: libmad-dev-0.14.2b.tar.gz (extract it in /opt/Qtopia/sharp).