[ILUG] ideal palm pilot replacement

[Philip Trickett]

Hmm, at the moment, you have 2 choices on the market.

1. Psion Netbook. Slightly bigger than you wanted.  Has the ability to load
its OS into Flash RAM (~16MB I think)
	640x480 display,  Can have up to 32MB working RAM.  No USB though, but does
have PCMCIA, CompactFlash (Type 2 slot), FIR, and Serial.  Works for a whole
day on a rechargeable lith-ion battery.

2. For a full linux installation - using X etc, at the moment a Sony
VaioC1XD -64MB RAM, 12GBHard Disk, PII 400 CPU, 1024 x 480 'widescreen'
display, FIR, USB, Firewire, and a nice dinky built in camera (which drivers
are being worked on for at the moment for linux).  It is not too heavy @
1kg, but battery life is ~1-1 1/2 hrs at best.  You can get extended cap
batteries, but they cost. (This is my choice, and when I have the
money......)

For option 2 you could wait a little bit as Sony has signed a deal with
transmeta a while ago........


OR if you are feeling brave, head on over to developer.intel.com, and buy
yourself a Strongarm SA1110 development kit.  Nice Color lcd display etc,
but no change out of $2000.


Phil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ilug-admin at linux.ie [mailto:ilug-admin at linux.ie]On Behalf Of John
> P. Looney (Kate)
> Sent: 16 June 2000 11:46
> To: Irish LUG list
> Subject: [ILUG] ideal palm pilot replacement
>
>
>  I was talking to someone that's working with small-useful-hardware, and I
> wondered what peoples thoughts on a cheap pilot replacement (lets face it,
> they aren't perfect). Why ? They don't run linux. I can't program my pilot
> without learning a new API (I tryed, and it was so convoluted that I gave
> up - I'm knocking the PalmOS, but it just doesn't suit my ideas of an OS).
>
>  So I was thinking something like this would be nice:
>     Either a IBM microdrive (for expensive models) or a compact flash
>         socket for cheaper ones. Running embedded linux of some sort, from
>         flash, with 8/16MB of standard ram for running programs in.
>     800x600 6" display, if they exist. 16 colour would be nice, 8 bit
>         sufficent. 3D hardware not needed, really so go for power-saving.
>         *has* to run X - there are small GUIs like PicoGUI, but what's the
>         point ? I don't want to learn another API.
>     USB sockets. More than one.
>     Beefy MMU equipped CPU. StrongArm's looking really nice these days.
>
>  What else ?
>
> Kate
>
>
> --
> The words of the unwary are apt to cause needless pain and bloody
> violence.
>                                                         - Zen Master Greg
>
> --
> Irish Linux Users' Group: ilug at linux.ie
> http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug for (un)subscription
> information.
> List maintainer: listmaster at linux.ie