The OpenZaurus project was created as an alternative image for the Sharp Zaurus personal mobile tool. The original purpose behind the project was to create a image (kernel + root filesystem) which was a bit closer to what the developer community specifically desired. The method by which this was accomplished was simply to use the SharpROM as a base and make alterations, bugfixes, additions and even removals, where necessary, to make the package more open.

Shortly after this, it was revamped completely. OpenZaurus is now a Debian-based embedded distribution built from source, from the ground up. Given these roots, it is quite similar to other embedded Debian-based distributions, such as Familiar_Linux for the iPAQ. This means of doing things also facilitates an easy method for users to build their own custom images. The efforts of Openzaurus along with other embedded Linux projects were integrated into the Openembedded Project, which now provides the common framework for these projects.

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