Development of linux on various Psion PDA's is a going concern at
http://www.psilinux.org/
Some of us recently got a kernel to work for the Psion netBook, a subnotebook
type of PDA. The netbook uses an Intel SA-1100 StrongARM 190 Mhz CPU.
We are looking for a few good kernel developers to work
on ETNA/compactflash support, the touch screen support, PCMCIA support,
sound support, etc. A preliminary HOWTO for linux on the netBook, including
a wishlist for the kernel can be found at
http://linux-7110.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi?url=howtos/netbook/netHOWTO.htm
Debian ARM binary distributions are ready to be plugged in, if we can
get things like touch screen and compactflash support working. Kernel
development is rather challenging because of the paucity of documentation
from Psion Ltd., but some documentation is available. We have some
documents that can be made available 'to bona-fide kernel developers' -
no non-disclosure agreement is required, but you can't pass them around
wily-nily either. It's probably worth making clear that at the moment the
need is not for people who can hack given the docs, but for those who can
hack despite the absence of docs (a much harder task). We have hopes of
eventually getting more documentation, but no joy yet.
(Support for the very similar Series 5MX PDA hardware is fairly complete.)
You may post inquiries at: linux-7110-psion at lists dot sourceforge dot net
No pay or benefits, and it is doubtful that anyone will provide you with
a free netBook for development. But this is a challenging project, and the
netBook would be a sweet machine with Debian linux on it. Retail netBooks
are fairly pricey, but machines appear on e-bay at regular intervals,
selling in the $300-500 range.
B.D.