
Reviving an HP 660LX in 2019 - InAnEmergency
https://blog.presidentbeef.com/blog/2019/08/04/reviving-an-hp660lx-in-2019/
======
deuill
I was part of a project that helped bring a usable Linux distribution on this
line of palmtops -- JLime (you can find references on the net, but the main
site has since gone dark). This includes the 620LX, 660LX, 680 and 690 (based
on SH-3 processors), as well as the 710 and 720 (based on ARM processors).

I personally had the 690, which was suprisingly usable (and probably still
is), even with its 133MHz CPU and 32MB of RAM. Finding and porting software
was, even in ~2006, especially hard, given the hardware constraints and unique
screen aspect ratio (640x240 resolution).

I still have the page for the distribution up here[0], and a software
repository set up here[1], in case the author (if they see this) or anyone
else that has any of these machines stashed away is feeling adventurous...

[0]: [https://deuill.org/code/jlime-vargtass/](https://deuill.org/code/jlime-
vargtass/) [1]:
[https://repository.deuill.org/hp6xx/vargtass/](https://repository.deuill.org/hp6xx/vargtass/)

~~~
InAnEmergency
(Author here)

I did spend quite a bit of time on your site, linked sites, and webarchive.
The files on your site did not work out of the box for me. I did eventually
get a combination of kernel and configuration that kind of worked, but I think
the CompactFlash card was too big. It stalled out on hard drive interrupts.

~~~
deuill
Ah, that's too bad! AFAIR zrafa's site[0] was the place to go for
bootloader/kernel files specific to the 620LX/660LX, but the userland should
work on any 6xx series.

[0]:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150626030407/http://fz.hobby-s...](https://web.archive.org/web/20150626030407/http://fz.hobby-
site.org/hp660lx/jlime-stable/)

------
nikhizzle
For those of you who want a modern machine along these lines there is the
Gemini. It fits a useable keyboard into a pocketable Linux and Android
machine.

It is modeled on a Psion 5mx with updated insides, and has some of the
original team members from Psion working on it.

[https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-
pda-1](https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-pda-1)

~~~
ptx
But a big part of what was great about the Psion was the software, and the
Gemini doesn't really have any[1] of that; it just runs Android with some
small tweaks.

And didn't they build it on a SoC that was already EOL at launch, for which
there are no FOSS drivers, meaning it will be forever stuck on an ancient
kernel version[2]? I don't want to spend my money on a machine that will have
be to thrown away in a year for lack of security updates. (Which is why I'm
backing the Librem 5 instead, even though I loved the Psion series 3a and
series 5 and would really like a keyboard.)

[1] Well, they have implemented Android incarnations of the calendar and
database apps, which is something at least:
[https://planetcom.squarespace.com/software-1](https://planetcom.squarespace.com/software-1)

[2] Their Android 8 update seems to use Linux 3.18, released in 2014:
[https://github.com/dguidipc/gemini-android-
kernel-3.18-andro...](https://github.com/dguidipc/gemini-android-
kernel-3.18-android8)

------
mrpippy
I don’t have any experience with it, but NetBSD still supports these machines
(although the 660LX isn’t listed in the support table, not sure why)

[http://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/hpcsh/](http://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/hpcsh/)

------
Causality1
I have an affection for Windows CE devices, particularly those wide-screen
clamshell models. The keyboard without wasted bezel space around is deeply
satisfying to my sense of aesthetics. It's a shame the DSTN screens are so
unpleasant to use.

~~~
ptx
It does look like a miniature version of the platonic ideal laptop form, which
is appealing, but the Psion 5 design was more practical since it didn't tip
over backwards when you poked it with the stylus. :)

------
Theodores
> I searched all around my office and dug through my big box of (mostly
> useless) cables, but still no luck.

> Just when I gave up (of course) I found it!! Yay!!

There has to be a name for this phenomenon or a 'law'. There is a whole world
of emotions that goes with it, from starting out with expectation of failure
to the 'yay' exhilaration of having found it. If it is found it will be in the
last placed searched, not anywhere else.

------
znpy
I used to run NetBSD/hpcarm and JLime Linux on an HP Jornada 728 in high
school.

Those were cool, but in retrospect they did not make sense at all.

Someone was developing a flashrom board for the Jornada 728 that would have
greatly improved GNU/Linux support -- including real sleep and truly long
battery life. Sadly they never delivered.

~~~
rjsw
HP had internal versions of the Jornada 72[0,8] that used flash instead of
mask ROM, they could run the handhelds.org distribution of Linux.

~~~
znpy
Any chance of having one of said flash boards? Or the design files?

~~~
rjsw
I didn't work for HP and have never seen a flash Jornada 720. I think they
were just manufactured with Intel StrataFlash on the main board instead of
mask ROM.

The early iPAQ models had Windows CE in flash, so you could easily overwrite
it. Back then NetBSD didn't have a flash filesystem so NetBSD/hpcarm just
booted from WinCE and ran in RAM.

The handhelds.org distribution was a DEC/Compaq/HP project that initially
targeted their Itsy [1] device, then added support for their commercial
products as they were released. Later they allowed external contributions too.
They build an iPAQ sleeve that contained accelerometers to be able to carry on
the UI development from the Itsy, you scrolled the screen by tilting the
device. Their Linux kernel did have a fair bit of power management built in.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Pocket_Computer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Pocket_Computer)

------
patcheudor
"Sadly… or not so sadly… the world has moved to HTTPS and to stronger
protocols than what lowly Pocket Explorer supports. Thus, most of the web is
entirely inaccessible on the device."

This is what proxies are for. Assuming it supports proxies. It would of course
be wholly untrustworthy as it's likely vulnerable to a whole host of
functional middling exploits.

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kyberias
I ported Nethack to Windows CE back in the days. I think I used exactly this
machine then.

Funny thing is, someone asked me about it only some years ago.

------
NietTim
Long story short, because of this post I have a J720 sitting in front of me
right now :D

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mschuster91
Heh, I got a 620LX around somewhere. I believe someone managed to port Linux
to it as well as write a bootloader that booted Linux from inside of Windows
CE.

~~~
kyberias
That is correct. I remember booting it up on 620LX.

