The Zipit wireless messenger is a small clamshell device originally produced by Aeronix, which is now under the

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

Zipit Wireless, Inc., that enables Instant Messaging ( AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger). The newer Z2 also supports

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

while on

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

wireless networks. The Zipit Wireless Messenger received the iParenting Media Award in 2005 and the Zipit Z2 was awarded “DigitalLife 2007 Best of Show – Portable Gear” by PC Magazine. The Z1 was also recognized by the InnoVision Technology Awards as an award winner in the Technology Application category. Geekcorps, a humanitarian organization trying to bridge the

Digital Divide The digital divide is the unequal access to digital technology, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and the internet. The digital divide creates a division and inequality around access to information and resources. In the Information Age in ...

has proposed the Zipit as a leading low-cost communication device.

Z2

On Sept. 27, 2007, Zipit Wireless introduced the Zipit wireless messenger 2 (Z2). It has * full 2.8 inch QVGA color display * backlit keyboard * Mini-SD memory card slot * MP3 player (MyTunez), streaming audio support * a photo viewer (MyPhotoz) * XScale PXA270 312 MHz processor * 32 MB of SDRAM * wifi 802.11b/g and now works with open, WEP, and

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

encrypted wireless networks. * 1230 mAh Lithium-ion Polymer rechargeable battery. The Z2 runs

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

Homebrew

A number of people have run Linux on the Z2. The most common implementation uses

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...

with the Fluxbox window manager. This installation supports mouse emulation, the dillo web browser,

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

, and other Linux programs.Linux on the Zipit Z2
/ref>

References

External links

Zipit home page

Zipit linux community site

Zipit details from ElkGroveWireless
* Zipit hacking from Karosium

Zipit disassembly guide

Zipit serial modification

Zipit review, with excellent color photo.

Embedded Linux Linux-based devices Computer-related introductions in 2007 {{compu-mobile-stub