Archos PMA400

Archos PMA400
Release dateJanuary 2005
DiscontinuedYes
Storage20GB, 30GB
DisplayQVGA touchscreen LCD
GraphicsAVI containing MPEG-4 Simple Profile Video and MP3 or ADPCM; JPEG, GIF, BMP
SoundMP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV
InputBuilt in microphone, line-in, mic-in, composite video, S-Video
Camera(Into AVI, MPEG-4 SP + MP3) from external sources, like cable or satellite television tuners
ConnectivityUSB 2.0, 802.11b Wi-Fi, USB Host, IrDA, 3.5 mm jack for earphones / line-out, built-in speaker, composite video
PowerBattery: max. 9.5 hours
Mass280 g

The Archos PMA400 is a personal digital assistant (PDA) from Archos, with a hard disk drive and audio and video playback and recording capabilities, so it also functions as a portable media player (PMP). The PMA400 was the most expensive within the line of products that they supplied.

Based on the Linux Qtopia Embedded operating system, the device is more like a personal digital assistant than a normal media player. The PMA400 features the following:

Though it remains Archos's only dedicated PDA, some of its features can be seen on the later 604WiFi including touchscreen and web browsing.

OpenPMA

The original firmware had some major bugs that are now being gradually fixed in an open source firmware by the openPMA project. Added functionality from openPMA are:

  • Audio support from openPMA: Ogg vorbis, Musepack
  • Many Zaurus packages are compatible or have been adapted
  • Access SMB/CIFS network shares using Samba (software) and a GUI frontend
  • Act as a SMB/CIFS server allowing other computers on the network to access the internal hard disk
  • The MediOS extension originally developed for the AV and Gmini series is available enabling the user to run NES, Sega Mega Drive emulators and Doom interpreter.

See also