Early Roadblock

About the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500

Before I begin with details on my project, here is some background on the Sharp Zaurus, as it was relatively unique, but quickly got lost in a sea of newly released PDAs during the early 2000s. It was unusual in that it ran a linux kernel from the factory and gained a cult following with techie types and hackers. Some promotional material:

See the PDF Version of this brochure

Getting the Zaurus running

Getting my Zaurus working again was a simple task. I thought for sure that it would need a new battery, but after charging it for a few hours today, it seems to be running and holding a charge. It did not work at first, but I took out the battery to take a look at it, and it started right up once I put the battery back in. I forgot that removing the battery resets it to the factory flash image. I don't know how long the battery will stay charged, but it seems like enough to get this project working.

Starting my Project

Unfortunately, finding a cable to fit my Zaurus IO port is proving to be quite difficult. I recall buying a cheap usb charging cable for it back when I bought it with the intent of making an RS232 adapter. Now, I can't find the cable and I am pretty sure I tossed it out a few years ago when I sorted through my boxes of USB cords. I thought I found the cable for sale online and proceeded to impulse-buy $50 worth of Zaurus accessories, but two weeks later I still don't have a response to my emails or a package from them.

It was a mistake to think this online store had
cornered the market in new old stock Zaurus accessories

I see many online stores with the official Sharp CE-170TS RS232 cable on sale for about $5.00 (unreasonably cheap), but those sites look even less legitimate than the store I bought from and all seem related to the same scam/owner. There are some cables on auctions.yahoo.co.jp that look like they would work, but I have never bid on there, would probably need a broker, and I have no idea how long it would take to arrive. I can't even find just the connector for sale by its part number. So, I am kind of stuck.

If I can't find a solution to this problem very soon, I am going to have to move on to other projects. I welcome any suggestions for finding this cable or connector.