[kasperl]

My dad wants to have a GPS capable PDA in his car instead of on of those rout computer thingy's, but he is demanding and wants the thing to have at least 256MB RAM, not just storage space, RAM. What brands should I be looking for? Is there a new technology just around the corner so he should wait?

[mikhael]

He's **** out of luck.

First, there's not really much difference between 'ram' and 'storage' on a PDA in the first place, unless you're talking about secondary storage (like an SD or CF card). Second, the largest RAM capacity I know of is 128mb.

Personally, I'd say get a Toshiba e810 or something similar. Especially make sure that whatever it is, it has a CF  _and_ an SD slot.

[kasperl]

well, i geuss i can talk him into 128 then. and secondary storage is off course available on most of those things, and memory cards make that space infinite.

edit:

oddly enough, the Toshiba site knows nothing but the 805/800 and some other models. but no Toshiba e810

[Odyssey]

[color=cc9900]Perhaps your dad is thinking in PC terms, as opposed to PDA terms? If he can't be convinced down to a feasible number, try to persuade him that it's running a different operating system, on a completely different physical platform to your average PC.

I'd recommend a Toshiba too. I've got an E710, had it for a while, and it's pretty darn sturdy. The newer Toshibas have nicer screens, but even the E710's screen isn't half bad (reflective, frontlit).[/color]

[mikhael]

805. Sorry. I didn't look it up.

For myself, I'd say avoid WinCE/PocketPC and Palm devices like the plague. Of course, I use a Linux powered PDA. Its not for everyone though. For ANYONE I recommend avoiding Palm devices (including Clies).

[Stealth]

Originally posted by mikhael
Of course, I use a Linux powered PDA.

well of course.  duh.  

[Admiral LSD]

He'd prefer a FreeBSD powered PDA though

[mikhael]

Admiral LSD wins the prize!

For what its worth, you really don't know its a Linux box unless you REALLY want to. Though I must admit, kicking it over to XFree86 with IceWM and kickin' it old skool from the command line is kinda awesome. And who doesn't want to run a pretty solid webserver AND database server from their PDA?