comments at bottom....
"Brandon D. Valentine" wrote:
>
> On Fri, 28 Mar 2003, Brian Empey, P.Eng. wrote:
>
> > Jeremy,
> >
> > You mean you'd buy it if it wasn't vapor-ware!
> >
> > But seriously ... at US$950 this is the price of a lap-top computer.
> > Find 2000 people who will pay $650 each for a device like this and we'll
> > build them for you! (With Linux 2.4.20, X-Windows, the same Samsung
> > LCD, but a 400 MHz Samsung CPU with USB host and slave ports ... maybe
> > even GTK 2.0 and Sun's J2ME/CDC with "Personal Profile" including AWT
> > graphics thrown in for fun ... and the "Hot-spot" CVM which is already
> > running on our computers -- a world first)
>
> Brian,
>
> To add to what Jeremy said, I would buy this tomorrow if it ran Linux or
>.........snip....
> Integrated 802.11b, and Bluetooth are crucial though. If I'm within
> range of a WAP, it's advantageous for me to tell the OS to
> preferentially use the WiFi for its internet connection. If I'm away
> from a WAP then I want to use a cell network to connect to the net,
> preferably over Bluetooth to my phone. Having both of these integrated
> leaves the CF slot open for storage or something else useful rather than
> it being occupied by an 802.11b card, a cellular internet card, etc.
> Also, built in Bluetooth could enable connection to Bluetooth external
> hard drives and digital cameras, etc.
> .........snip....
> My suggestion: drawn up some sketches and specs and throw up a survey
> asking "Would you buy this?" and get Slashdot to cover it. My guess is
> that your response would be nothing less than a mandate.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brandon D. Valentine
>
----------------------------------------------------------------
Great feed-back Brandon!
I appreciate it.
Now, here's my modified specs:
CPU
ARM-9 @ 200MHz until the 400MHz version goes into production
Storage
our usual loader/debugger/monitor in FLASH & Linux in DiskOnChip (up to
64 megs of DOC)
How about 64 or 128 megs of Mobile SDRAM?
Secure Data (SD card) for removable media
(DOC == hard-drive, SD-card == floppy-drive)
Color Display with touchscreen
Connectivity
- USB internally to BlueTooth chip (built-in & standard)
- USB host external port (for peripherals)
- USB device external port (sync to PC, etc.)
- serial port (RS-232 ... maybe RS-485 option?)
- IrDA
Expansion
- Compact FLASH slot for 802.11 or CDMA 1x, etc.
I know you want 802.11b built in, but by the time its in production
you'll want 802.11g or .11a ... and when that's in production you'll
need 802.11x or something else. Its too hard to keep up!
The CF slot if for COMMs and not storage.
The SD slot is for storage (so you get both at once ... and micro-drives
are obsolete ... too much power, and SD cards are up to 1 gig now! ...
and yes, we know they're slow, but we're seeing better speed with the
"low-latency" kernel patches)
SW will be open Linux (except DiskOnChip drivers, which we license from
M-Systems and even though we ported the ARM/Linux version ourselves we
can't release the source) plus Linux FrameBuffer, X-Windows, GTK 2.0,
QtEmbedded (we've already ported all these) and the latest JAVA with AWT
graphics running on GTK.
(QtEmbedded and JAVA both have licensing fees as well)
Then its open to all kinds of apps, browsers, etc.
The target is to have a machine that you can develop apps on natively!
If enough people howl about 802.11 taking up the CF slot we can look
into putting 2 CF slots in the beast. That will make it larger, but
still smaller than PCMCIA)
Now, with all these features it won't be cheap. With some volume it
might sell around $750 (direct -- no channel margins). How many people
are going to pay that much for a hand-held on steroids? (serious
question ... we hope millions! ;)
Brian
PS: I saw a drawing in a cave of a Neanderthal connecting a PCMCIA card
to a StrongARM CPU .... :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian Empey, P. Eng.
President
Technical Solutions Inc.
www.techsol.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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