I use Linux at work everyday. I use Linux to run my webserver. I have been using Linux since the days of the old floppy version of Slackware. I love Linux as an OS and believe it to be one of the best OSs around. But, like Linux coming to a desktop machine it's going to be a long hard battle before Linux wins on either platforms. The problem is that although Linux is great for servers, it's not well suited, yet, for consumer friendly products. And the Agenda VR3 is a prime example of that.

When I opened the box for the Agenda VR3 I was pleasantly surprised, until I realized there was no printed manual. Inside the box is the VR3 unit (looks really cool in its translucent case (H20 color)), a QuickSync cable, a nice dock, a CD, and a wrap-around carrying case. The outside of the box gave me a pause before I decided to pick up the unit because there is a typo in the liturature printed on the back -- any self-respecting company should proofread their boxes, right? But, being that the VR3 had such a cool geek-factor attached to it, I picked up the unit anyways. Yes, there is no printed manual inside the box. The pdf of the manual is included on the CD, and let me just say, that manual is useless. It does not contain any helpful information for a consumer on connecting the unit to a Windows box! There is also no QuickSync software for connecting the unit to a Windows box! The box says that the software was available on the website sometime in July 2001, when I checked, there was nothing but a broken link.

So, right off the bat we can see that although Agenda VR3 is looking to be a PDA that wants to replace the Palm or PocketPC, it really doesn't stand a chance with consumers. There is no Windows connectivity. Now, onto the other problems I had with the machine. The out-of-the-box installation of the Linux on the VR3 doesn't completely work. The ppp connection for Windows machines does not work (my Linux boxes are all remote, so I don't have one local to work with). So it took me a while to figure out how to install the new images that I got from the website (the only download that is not a broken link, mind you). Just keep this in mind: In order to install the new OS, you'll have to have a computer with a terminal. First you reset the VR3 and quickly on your terminal (set at 11500,8,N,1) you hit a key so that the machine does not boot past the PMON. With at the PMON prompt, exit the terminal and start up the flash utility and flash the new OS.

One other thing to keep in mind is that with the new OS installed, you need to check out your /etc/rsyncd.conf file. If the UID in there is set to "root" and "default" your rsyncing will not work! It took me a long while to figure this out. Here's the tip to save you time: Edit the /etc/rsyncd.conf file and where ever you see "root" replace it with the numeric UID (0) and where ever you see "default" replace that with the numeric UID (500). This will save you a lot of headache. Oh, and remember the default password for the root account is "agenda" and there is no password for the default account.

Once connectivity via a ppp connection and the serial cable is established the VR3 is just like a Linux box with a stripped down version of the complete OS on there. You can telnet into the machine and do stuff. You can run an Xwindows server and run the apps on that machine. This is the cool part of the VR3 and makes up for all the problems that I had when I first started off with the machine. The little handheld is a total Linux box (it even has vi! Wahoo!) Developing for the machine is easy as pie since it is a full Linux machine -- not a PalmOS or a Windows-look-alike (WindowsCE) where special compilers and stuff are needed. If you are set for development in a Linux enviroment, a cross compiler and some libraries are all you need. Nothing special.

One thing that has to have special mention is the speed of the machine. It is slow. Very slow at times. One thing to speed up the machine is to turn off the syslog daemon. Just take the files out of the /etc/rc.d/ directories. This does wonders for the speed of the machine, though the machine still slows down when more than four apps are running at a time.

The applications on the machine have everything covered. The standard-fare applications include a Contacts, Schedule, To-Do, Expense, World Time, and Calculator. Also included are a bunch of games and some utilities. The main applications are OK, but nothing special. They could use some work, and if I weren't so lazy, since this is an Open Source project, I could fix them up myself. The one benefit of the machine is that it can beam data between itself and Palm devices. Very helpful since I was able to beam my contacts over from my Palm instead of retyping them all. Also note that the IR port on the VR3 is a consumer grade IR port so it has a lot more range than the beaming IR ports on the Palm or PocketPC machines -- enough of a range that the VR3 can be used like a regular TV remote if you wish.

The one thing that is a total joke in the whole package is the wrap around case. It is so badly designed that it is not useful at all. One can put the VR3 in the case one of two ways: Use the velcro piece that attaches to the back and has a little thing that you slide into a slot in the case. Or undo the hard cover of the VR3 and use that to latch onto the case. Both ways are ridiculously silly and not at all useful. Thank goodness the machine feels really sturdy and the flip cover seems very tough.

The stylings of the machine is great. The slick, non-textured feeling of the machine's plastic is a nice change from the Palm feel. The machine's screen is nice and large. And although it looks spacious, it is about the same size as the screen on my Palm m100 -- the big difference is that there is no Graffiti area so there is a lot more usable space on the screen.

There is a row of soft buttons at the bottom that are used to access: Applications menu, Contacts, Schedule, To-Do, Notes, Calculator and the Keyboard/Handwriting Recognition. There are two hardware buttons below that, two hardware buttons on either side of the machines and on the top part of the left-side two directional (up / down) buttons and a power button. The machine can be turned on / off with the power button or it has a cool switch in the stylus silo that turns the machine on when the stylus is removed and turns the machine off when the stylus is replace -- cool feature! Another cool feature is that the battery door screws in -- unlike the cheap way that Palm keeps its battery door "secure".

The keyboard is what I use most to input things. The handwriting recognition is supposedly "natural handwriting recognition" meaning that you don't have to write special characters like on a Palm machine, but the recognition engine still needs some work.

So far the battery life on the unit seems to be decent. I played with it for a long time on the first day (almost 6 hours of it connected via serial to my notebook) and the battery only drained to 50%. Not bad. Agenda Computing claims that the machine can get from three to four weeks on the two AAA batteries inside with normal usage. I'm leaning on believing them on that.

And the one most special thing about the machine, that makes it worth buying for any Linux geek: There's an actual console! Yes, goodness gracious, bash runs on this machine! Yea, it's cool and sometimes useful, but the font is tiny and the machine doesn't display 80 characters across, so there is some terrible wrapping (try running a ps -ef or ls -la and deciphering that output!)

This machine is great for a Linux geek. It's a toy PDA. I'm going to try to use it to replace my current Cassiopeia E-125 -- I will miss the beautiful color screen on my Cassiopeia because the 16-grayscale screen on the VR3 lacks the umph of the Cassiopeia's 16-bit color screen. And I will miss synchronizing between my Outlook and my handheld. But there is just a coolness factor to carrying around the smallest and lightest Linux box around! I will still continue to use my Cassiopeia since I do work and keep track of a lot of information on my Cassiopeia and Outlook.

For a regular consumer, stay far, far away from this machine. You'll do either of two things: Return it the minute you open it and try to hook it up to your Windows PC or chuck it out the window in frustration as nothing works on it.

If you need an easy to use PDA that offers connectivity to your Windows environment and sync capabilities to your Outlook, stick with a Palm or PocketPC device. If you want a second fun toy PDA then the Agenda VR3 is a definite winner in that category.

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 219.00