The Sharp Zaurus is a great way to keep Linux with you on the go. Powered by Qt, it offers everything you could ever need out of a PDA and more. My refurbed SL-5500 offers 64MB of onboard RAM and both Compact Flash and Secure Digital expansion slots as well as a slick color display. More recent iterations of the unit offer even more features, and are well worth looking into.

One of the biggest attractions for me is the dearth of applications available for the Zaurus. Because it’s built on Linux, just about any Linux application can be ported to the Zaurus, and the majority of them are open source. Over 500 of these applications are available at or linked from the extensive Zaurus Software Index. Take a gander and I guarantee it’ll get you drooling, whether you’re looking for toys like MP3 and video players or sysadmin utilities like VNC viewers and SSH clients/servers.

If you already own a Zaurus, you need to visit this site. If you’ve been toying with the idea of picking one up, I bet this will be the dealmaker. Besides, why buy and hack a Pocket PC device when you can support a company who supports your favorite OS? If you’re firmly attached to Windows or your Mac, that’s okay, too: the Qt Desktop software works wonderfully on both systems.