Created: 12 September 2026 · Last edited: 14 October 2026

The Zaurus “Collie” SL-5000D/SL-5500 marked Sharp’s transition from its proprietary Japanese Zaurus platform to a Linux-based handheld computer. Introduced in late 2001, it was based on a 206 MHz Intel StrongARM SA-1110 processor and ran Lineo’s Embedix Linux with Trolltech’s Qt/Qt Embedded environment. The 3.5-inch 240 × 320-pixel, 65,536-colour touchscreen was accompanied by a compact slide-out QWERTY keyboard, while both CompactFlash and SD/MMC expansion slots provided considerable flexibility for such a small device.

The “Collie” was also notable for Sharp's unusually open approach to development. The SL-5000D was deliberately released as a developer edition, with 32 MB of RAM and substantial hardware and software documentation made available to developers. This allowed third-party developers to start working on applications before the consumer version arrived.

The consumer-edition SL-5500 followed with 64 MB of RAM and 16 MB of flash memory, while retaining the same fundamental processor and hardware platform. Multimedia capabilities included stereo headphone output, MP3 and MPEG playback, and a built-in voice recorder. The SL-5500 was the first model in Sharp's new Linux-based Zaurus range to be sold outside Japan, laying the foundation for the company's subsequent international Linux Zaurus line.

NB! Despite the almost identical appearance, the Japanese-market MI-E21 was, for all intents and purposes, a different device. It used a 144 MHz Hitachi SH-3 processor instead of the Intel StrongArm on the SL-5500 and also ran Sharp’s proprietary Zaurus operating system. Sharp announced they had no intention of making the international Linux-based version available for the Japanese market.