There are currently three publicly announced "commercial" implementations of Embedded Linux for PDAs and other handheld devices. There are also two "non-commercial" offerings--one from handhelds.org, a website established by Compaq to promote the use of Linux on handheld devices, and another related project known as "The Familiar Project". There's no doubt that there will be more PDA Linux offerings announced in the near future...

Qt Palmtop Environment
Trolltech describes their Linux PDA support as follows: "The Qt Palmtop Environment is a complete Window System, Window Manager, Application Launcher, Input Methods (virtual keyboard, etc.), commercial-grade GUI toolkit, and a collection of useful applications, all written using the standard Qt API--the same API found on Qt/X11 and Qt/Windows. But because the Qt Palmtop Environment uses Qt/Embedded, there is no need for an X11 server, no extra client libraries, no separate window manager, no layer-upon-layer of toolkits--Qt/Embedded works directly with the Linux framebuffer. The applications include an Address Book, Date Book, File Browser, HTML Help Browser, Text Editor, Todo List, MPEG Video and Audio Player, a Calculator, Clock, Tetr*x game, Solitaire, Memory and Load Meter, Screen Rotator, plus a non-plush toy Tux! All that in under 2.5MB."

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PIXIL PDA operating environment
Century Software describes their PDA Linux support this way: "The PIXIL PDA suite offers a complete PDA system including an Operating Environment, a full set of PIM applications, and extras you wouldn't expect including an e-mail client, web browser, and a set of multimedia applications. The Microwindows graphical windowing system is at the core of the PIXIL PDA solution."

PocketLinux PDA Framework
This Linux-based PDA software environment from Transvirtual Technologies, integrates Kaffe (a "clean room" implementation of Java) with a Transvirtual-developed implementation of Embedded Linux, and also provides built-in support for XML. PocketLinux also includes an integrated framebuffer graphics library that eliminates the need for a resource-hungry X Window System. Transvirtual characterizes their PocketLinux PDA Framework this way: "PocketLinux allows developers to write mobile applications as easily as they now create Web pages, and allows users to access any applications and data on any PDA or other handheld platform. The result is the ability to run the same applications on any PDA running PocketLinux, regardless of hardware. Users can create personal information networks (PINs) that give them the information they want, when, where, and how they want it."

handhelds.org PDA support
Want to create your own unique Linux PDA implementation? handhelds.org is for you! Early this year, Compaq created the Open Handheld Program, an initiative designed to stimulate innovation and research on handheld devices that resulted from the company's "Itsy" pocket computer project. To support this initiative, Compaq created handhelds.org--a vendor neutral website dedicated to open source handheld development. Not surprisingly, Compaq's iPAQ PDA is used as the base platform for all these activities and, consequently, a iPAQ Linux port is available as freely available open source software.

The Familiar Project
This open source PDA Linux project, which is an offshoot of the activities at handhelds.org, has collected together all of the key components of a complete Linux-based PDA computing platform. As of this writing, the Familiar distribution includes a Blackbox-based window manager, Agenda Computing's Fltk+ based PIM applications, an embedded Python implementation, system configuration and settings backup utilities, OpenSSH client and server, and a Debian-based ARM kernel.

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