Messages

1

Sharp PC-Z1 NetWalker / Zaurus Is Dead .... Long Living Zaurus Aka Pc-z1

« on: August 28, 2009, 02:17:12 am »

Well, I won't buy this new Sharp device. Why? Because of this amazing device:

Nokia  N900 - new Maemo 5 Linux device with complete phone stack

Do we really need more from a smartphone?

Nice, but N900 has smaller display than N810....only 3.5 inches with low res 800x480...

Think for my ol' eyes the new Sharp's 5" display 1024x600 will be better...but that's just me....

Main concern for me about new Sharp is what it will take to convert OS from Japanese to English...seems like no one knows yet....and I can't read Japanese....  

Thats a minor issue, the keyboard is usable like the zaurus one.... the OS is ubuntu... there are localizations for many languages....
... long live free and open source software ....  

Greetings

Zuse

2

Sharp PC-Z1 NetWalker / Zaurus Is Dead .... Long Living Zaurus Aka Pc-z1

« on: August 28, 2009, 02:14:34 am »

Hi speculatrix,

I'm not too worried about microSDHC slot, it is the way of the future, even though SDHC is cheaper and widely available in huge capacities.

it's good as it shows potential but is too lacking, but where's the
* CF expansion slot - it was the making of the Z - OR, at least more USB - OR a miniPCI slot?

lets face it, I think CF is going to die ... painfull for me since I own some CF gadgets but thats the way

* why no 802.11N - maybe wifi is a miniPCIe?

I agree if you like to use the extend range of N draft. Speed is not a problem for daily use. Copy a few MB over G or N based wireless makes not much a difference. However I would much more likely see a NIC

* sufficient RAM - 512MB is not so bad but not really enough. hopefully it's an SODIMM?

Uhhh taking the form factor into account, the rather fact that they had to design some arm based think from scratch (nothing out of the shelf with many optional plugs to customize it to your needs) and the cost cutting consumer market I would not bet on that

* bluetooth (someone already pointed its lack)

Yes that just stupid bluetooth circuits got so small today. I bet there would be plenty space at the display side to fiddle one of those circuits inside

* 3G as an option - or wimax - or something - see above for miniPCIe?
* 1-Seg or other digital TV tuner that might be reprogrammable for other purposes
* FM radio?

I guess for that you have to see the Japanese market more clearly. Its amazing, where Europe still try to come up with expensive 3G service for executive business people, Japanese teenager are used to serve the net on there mobile phones where ever there are since long time already.
3-4 mobile phone companies are hardly fighting for each customer. However, unlike in Europe every company pops up with a own set of mobile phones. You are not going to by Nokia or Samsung or HTC but Docomo, Softbank or Emobile. Phones are OEM products produced for the individual companies. Some global players like HTC produce the same devices for Europe and rebrand them for the Japanese market but many other are really just produced for a single carrier in Japan.
Thus, as mobile Internet hit the market all companies merged it within there portfolio including there mobile phones... If you like to have 3G you likely will extend your mobile phone contract. Most of them offer different 3G USB sticks or other hardware for really heavy discounts.
I think sharp just decided not jump into that crazy war and does not include 3G since they expect that most Japanese customer have some form of 3G already and they like to save the cost on there own product
TV & Radio is the same ... most new generation Japanese mobile phones play TV already. Maybe Sharp is targeting another audience. Beside, Japanese TV and Radio System differs completely from the rest of the world. You would not have fun with an import device in Europe.
They state... ebook and dictionary would be key the features.
However, I still can see some usage as a dictionary but I heavily deny the idea of usage the device as an ebook reader

Greetings

Zuse

3

Sharp PC-Z1 NetWalker / Zaurus Is Dead .... Long Living Zaurus Aka Pc-z1

« on: August 27, 2009, 04:52:52 am »

Sitting here in Japan with all those gadgets and goodies around... I was still silently crying at night, since my Zaurus (Akita) never was working as I aspect it.

Bought it shortly before Sharp officially announced the death of Zaurus and played around with all those different distribution I was never really happy with it. Coming from Psion I was really annoyed to ride again a dead horse and I was loosing interest in clamshell keyboard PDAs recently.

We all accept Zaurus is discontinued but it seems Sharp start to think different
The Netbook market brings a lot of movement and a little geekish market starts to become more and more mainstream. This means more and more potential customers... music in the ears of every sales manager.

TODAYS BIG SURPRISE !!!! THERE IS A NEW ZAURUS !!!!!!

[img]http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/090827.gif\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

O.k. the do not call it Zaurus anymore but it is clearly inspired by its predecessor.
Yes, someone might say its not a Zaurus but more a crossbread between a Netbook and a Zaurus, but it has some potential which let it stick out of the generic netbook market.

All infos can be found at

http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/090827.html

The specs read nice. Many features are available which were missing or limited for Zaurus. No official price yet, but rumors in Japan and some logical thinking says we could expect a price around that of a standard netbook.

Model name:    PC-Z1-W/-B/-R
Installed OS:    Linux/Ubuntu 9.04 (Smartbook Remix ARM-based, Sharp customized version)
LCD:    5-inch, widescreen TFT LCD (Wide-SVGA resolution, LED backlit, touch-screen)
CPU:    i.MX51 multimedia applications processor manufactured by Freescale Semiconductor
Main memory:    512 MB (fixed)
Input devices:    68-key keyboard (key pitch: approx. 14 mm; key stroke: approx. 0.8 mm),Quick Launch button
Pointing device:    Optical pointer (optical pointing device), touch-screen
Storage memory:    Approx. 4 GB flash memory (user area: approx. 2 GB)
Communications function:    Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11 b/g compatible)
Card slot:    microSD Memory Card/microSDHC Memory Card x 1 (16 GB max.)
Interfaces:    Headphone output (stereo mini-jack) x 1, USB x 1, miniUSB x1
Battery operating time:    Approx. 10 hours
Dimensions / Weight:    Approx. 161.4 (W) x 108.7 (D) x 19.7–24.8 (H) mm /Approx. 409 grams
Main software:    
Browser:    Firefox®
Flash plug-in:    Adobe® Flash® LiteTM
Mail:    ThunderbirdTM
Integrated software:    OpenOffice.org
Schedule management:    Sunbird®
Graphics:    OpenOffice.org 3.0 Drawing
Audio & video:    Totem Video Player
Accessory:    gedit Text Editor
Other:    Document Viewer

Unfortunately the do not state what means USB 2.0 compatible for them. Bluetooth seems to be missing as well and the CF slot is gone... which is bad if you still have Wifi, GPS or other CF-cards laying around.

However, keep your money together! Don't buy a crapy WinXP Netbooks and stay tuned...

Greetings

Zuse

4

New products and alternatives / Zaurus-descendant Htc Athena Aka T-mobile Ameo

« on: January 26, 2007, 10:16:55 am »

Hi everyone,

just hit some news about a new PDA and since I didn't found much about it here on the forum I like to post about it.
First of all the good news. AFAIK, compared to many other good prototypes and ideas we saw the last years on different tradeshows or read about it on articles this one will really be available in Europe within this year.
At least in Germany, T-Mobile will sell them as T-Mobile Ameo [1].

The bad news, the initial OS will be MS Windows based, but hey bigger problems was solved here already.

I just like to post the specs (which I just copy from [2]) here for all the crazy hacking people out here.
I guess many people from the PocketPenguin forum will like it .
Many of the specs which are heavily discussed in the PocketPenguin forum already.

Digital camera, GPS, VGA-out, TV-out, GSM, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc.
 

Thus, the question is will there be a Linux-based OS ....
I guess yes  

the  Intel Bulverde processor is Linux friendly already [3].
and this from [4] shows that the umts-chip Qualcomm MSM 6275
is recognized at least by Gentoo.

umts1 ~ # lspci -v
02:00.0 Network controller: Option N.V. Qualcomm MSM6275 UMTS chip
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
Memory at 12000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=2K]

Finally, the ATI chipset is in early progress by other projects.

# Platform

    * Mobile Power Pad with detachable & thin QWERTY keyboard
    * Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition

# Dimension

    * 133.1x97x20 mm (4mm for KB)
    * Less than 350g with battery

# Processor/Chipset

    * Qualcomm MSM 6275
    * Intel Bulverde 520 / 624 MHz
    * ATi Graphic Chip 2282

# Memory

    * ROM: 128 / 256 MB
    * RAM: 64 /128 MB SDRAM
    * HDD: 8~10 GB with G sensor

# LCD Module

    * 5” 480x640 VGA resolution
    * 262K-color TFT LCD with LED backlight
    * Sensitive Touch Screen

# UMTS/HSDPA/GSM/EDGE Function

    * Internal antenna
    * HSDPA/UMTS Tri-mode (2100MHz for Europe and 850/1900MHz for USA) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE quad band (850/900/1800/1900)
    * HSDPA/UMTS
          o 850: 824-849, 869-894MHz
          o 1900: 1850-1910MHz, 1930-1990MHz
          o 2100: 1920-1980MHz, 2110-2170MHz
    * GSM / GPRS/EDGE
          o 850: 824-849, 869-894MHz
          o 900: 880-915, 925-960MHz
          o 1800: 1710-1785, 1805-1880MHz
          o 1900: 1850-1910, 1930-1990MHz
    * HSDPA / UMTS
    * UMTS: 3GPP Release 99 compliant
    * HSDPA: 3GPP Release 5 compliant UE category 12, QPSK, 1.8Mbps peak rate  DL up to 1.8Mbps and UL up to 384Kbps

# PS RAB on HSDPA channel and CS data call (VT call) simultaneously will be supported
# Global roaming
# Auto band switching
# Handover and cell selection between GSM/EDGE and UMTS
# Generic Services

    * Call Holding, Waiting, Forwarding
    * Call Barring
    * CLI (Calling Line Identity)
    * SMS (Short Message Service)
          o SMSMT, SMSMO, SM Reply, SM Replace, SM Acknowledgement, 8 Bits SMS Data
          o Concatenated messages, up to 640 characters
    * Display own number, telephone number storage capability in terminal and SIM card
    * Network selection
    * Cell broadcast
    * Multi-party conference capability
    * Phase 2 Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
    * Audio Codec: AMR/EFR/FR/HR
    * Network Lock
    * CPHS

# E-GPRS Function

    * EGPRS class B
    * Multi-slot standard class 10
    * MO/MT SMS over GPRS
    * PBCCH

# USIM/SIM
# 1.8 / 3V of UICC

    * MegaSIM
    * USIM Application at least according to 3GPP TS 31.102
    * SIM Application Tool Kit release 96, 98 class 3 and 99
    * Over the Air (OTA) programming
    * Fixed Dialing Number (FDN)
    * Abbreviation Dial Number (ADN)
    * Security Pin 1 & 2 control

# Standalone GPS [MFG. Option]

    * Internal GPS antenna for UMTS & EDGE
    * Support NMEA 0183 version 3.0 or above
    * 12 parallel channel GPS receiver
    * Acquisition time
          o Hot start: 8 seconds, typical TTFF
          o Warm start: 35 seconds, typical TTFF
          o Cold start: 45 seconds, typical TTFF
    * Update rate: user configurable once/1sec, once/10sec and once/30sec continuous
    * GPS Accuracy
          o Position: < 15 meters, 95% typical
          o Velocity: 0.05 meter/sec steady state

# Digital Camera (Manufacture Option)

    * Main Camera
          o Color CMOS 2 Mega pixel with fixed lenses
    * 2nd camera
          o Color CMOS VGA camera
    * High Power LED for camera flash

# Keyboard/Button/Switch

    * POWER button (Side)
    * Short Press: Power On/Off
    * Long Press: Turn off system power totally
    * Comm. Manager / Voice Recorder
    * Camera capture button (Side)
    * Volume Up / Down control (Side)
    * 5-way Navigation button (Left front in landscape)– key orientation shall be adjusted after view changed
    * Send & Hands-free button
    * End Key
    * Video Telephony Key
    * Portal Key / G control Key
    * Short Press: Launch IE control keys)
    * RESET switch (Back)

# Notification

    * 1st lens - one-color (amber) LED for new message and notification
    * 2nd lens - bi-color (green and blue) LED for WiFi and bluetooth notification
    * 3rd lens –bi-color (green and red) LED for 3G & 2G network status
    * 4th lens – bi-color (green and red) LED for charging status & low power indicator
    * Notification by Sound, and Message on the display

# Audio

    * Built-in Microphone
    * Dual speakers with 3D surround sound
    * Loud speaker for Hands-Free supported
    * Audio sampling rate
          o 16-bits with 8KHz, 11KHz, 22KHz, 44.1KHz AMR/AAC/WAV/WMA/MP3 codec

# Connectivity & Interface

    * Bluetooth
          o Compliant with v2.0 without EDR
          o Class 2 transmit power
          o Supported profiles:
                + GAP (generic access profile)
                + SPP (serial port profile)
                + OPP (object push profile)
                + DUN (dial-up networking profile)
                + GOEP (generic object exchange profile)
                + ActiveSync (legacy application via SPP)
                + HSP (headset profile)
                + HFP (handsfree profile)
                + A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution profile)
                + AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote control Profile)
                + Service Discovery Application Profile
                + SIM Access Profile
                + HID (Human interface device profile)
          o Co-exist with WiFi
    * WiFi (manufacture option)
          o IEEE 802.11b/g compliant
          o Internal WLAN antenna
          o 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps per channel, auto fallback for extended range ELP mode
          o Security 802.11i and AES (OS not supported yet)
                + WPA authentication – WEP, WPA, PSK, EAPTLS, PEAP, LEAP,
                + Signaling interfaces between the terminal device and the servers: mutually authenticated and encrypted utilizing TLS (RFC 2246) with RC4 encryption with SGA1 used as the message integrity check
          o QoS
                + 802.11 WME QoS
                + 802.11e
                + Fast AP to AP handover
    * 11-pin mini-USB / audio jack in one
          o USB 2.0 client
          o USB charging
    * mini SD card slot with hotswap feature
    * External Antenna (UMTS/GSM/CDMA) Connector
    * 1.8 / 3 V USIM/SIM card slot
    * HTC Proprietary 16 Pin Port
          o USB 1.1 host (Support USB low power)
                + Thumb Memory
                + Card Reader
                + Keyboard
                + Mouse
          o VGA Out – VGA
          o TV Out – Composite & S-Video (4 pin)
    * 3.5 mm stereo audio jack with mic

# Power

    * Battery
          o Removable and chargeable Lithium ion polymer battery, 2100mAh
          o Charging time: less than 4 hours
    * Battery life
          o Playing WMV: 8 hours
          o Playing WMA: 12 hours
          o Talk time: > 360 minutes for GSM
          o Talk time: > 180 minutes for UMTS
          o Video Talk time: >120 min
          o Standby time: 300+ hours for GSM
          o Standby time: 300 hours for UMTS

# Stylus

    * Lock Type in the main unit

# Accessories

    * AC adapter w/ mini-USB power plug
    * Carrying Case
    * Sync. Cable (mini-USB/USB)
    * Battery (rechargeable and replaceable)
    * Stereo wired headset with microphone (button for voice command) for 3.5 mm
    * HTC Proprietary 16 pin cable (one to many ports)
          o USB Standard A female port
          o VGA (15pin) port
          o Composite Video Out
          o S-Video (4 pin) Out
    * User manual, Quick start guide, & Sync. software CD
    * Cradle
          o VGA (15pin) port
          o Video Out port
          o S-Video (4 pin) port
          o 3.5 mm Audio jack (for External Speakers & Headset)
          o One miniUSB port for power charging
          o One miniUSB port for synchronization
          o 2 x USB Standard A female port (USB Host)
          o 2nd Battery charging slot
          o 3 LEDs Indicators – 2nd Battery, Power & Sync
    * Mono Bluetooth headset with microphone [optional]
    * Stereo bluetooth headset with microphone [optional]
    * Car Adapter [optional]
    * Car Holder [optional]
    * Car Kit with car stereo mute function [optional]
    * TTY adaptor for USA market [optional]

# Value Added Applications
.... many many MS Windows stuff .... who cares....


[img]http://www.mobile-review.com/uploads/Thumb560x420-htc_athena_1.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]
[img]http://www.mobile-review.com/uploads/Thumb560x468-htc_athena_8.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]
©by [2]. More pictures will be on [2] as well.

[1] http://www.mobile2day.de/news/news_details.html?nd_ref=6761
[2] http://mobile-review.com/pda/articles/htc-athena-en.shtml
[3] http://www.embeddedstar.com/press/content/...edded11302.html
[4] http://www.stonki.de/Web-n-Walk-Linux.174.0.html


Lets see what happens in the next months... maybe a new Linux-Port project.....

Greetings
Zuse

5

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Can't resume without reboot

« on: October 24, 2006, 05:24:37 am »

Hi,

I have the same problems with OZ (hentges as well) for long time now.
It drives me crazy.

My C1000 just with standard installation, will not resume after standby.
To be more specific, I can press the on/off button during I work with the Z and it will turn on and off, thats fine. But if I turn off the Z (or it turns off for power saving) and I wait several minustes (this time is not predictable until now) I can not resume my Z again. I have to remove the battery and do a reboot.

This is really boring  

If some of you have any ideas why this happens I will try all .....

Regards

Zuse

6

PocketPenguin / Body Design

« on: August 12, 2006, 11:33:52 am »

Hi everyone,

just my ideas for a body design:

make it flexible.
AFAIK, we want a slim but powerfull PDA, this are two major design rules which run contrariwise.

Many functions means many power consumption which results in big heavy batteries.

If possible I would suggest a modular design, which fits different everyday needs.
Some laptop manufactors use multi-purpose bays. One standardised (at least standard accross  there own range of laptops) bay which can be used to plug in different modules (CD-ROM, DVD, HDD etc.)

Extend this to a general purpose PDA bay.  Every module include all functions which are need for a particular task.

E.g.
A storage module, which include a second CF and SD slot as well as maybe other card formats and addtional USB interfaces both host and slave.
Makes it perfect if you need your PDA as a file storage container and if you need to access to a lot of different devices (digital camera, storage cards, mp3-player etc.)

A desktop module, VGA-out, USB for keyboard and mouse connection, extended audio plugs (e.g. line in, line out) and a NIC
use your PDA like a real PC

A multimedia module, web-cam, speakers, audio, direct-buttons for media control TV-out
use your PDA as a multimedia box

 A PDA module, just empty to save power, size and weight

A long-life module, include extra battery power and easy charging possiblities (e.g. charge the device by USB port or by any DC-source between 3 and 24 volts (car and trucks))
use to travel with your PDA everywhere even if charging would be tricky at the there.

Car module, GPS, 12V DC supply, GSM
use for navigation with GSM-based traffic reports

A GSM module,  
phone  

etc etc.

Important would be to define which peripheral devices belong to one module (maybe some are multiple). It should follow the way how we use the PDA in different situation.

If I have a group-meeting, I need no multimedia functions as well as VGA, GSM or network.
During traveling, battery is important but I do not need VGA or powerful external speakers,
During a presentation, GSM and network functions might not be important, but VGA (for video projectors) will be.
On a daily holiday photo-trip with my digital camera I need my PDA as a dictonary and storage tank for the pictures, I do not need VGA.

etc.

By this way I can plug the module I need to my PDA. All other modules can be stored in my bag or wherever.

Just the everyday needs devices need to be integrated into the PDA directly. One SD slot, 1 USB slot, bluetooth and Wifi, headphones and microphone. That's it.

The modules can have the same size as the PDA and attached under the back-side of the PDA (like a docking-station). Thus, different size (in thickness) could meet the different moblitiy criterias. The desktop-module could be bigger, no modules result is a slim and lightweight PDA for traveling. Slightly, addtional size in the width my be usefull for integrated antennas etc.

Just a idea for a very flexible design.

Bye
Zuse

7

PocketPenguin / Make A Ranking ?!

« on: August 12, 2006, 10:32:33 am »

Hi all,

just read a bit here and there and noticed, that many people have quite different opinion what a "good" PDA should include. As far as we come to software this is not critical as everyone can change it later over and over again.

As far as the hardware is discussed there should be a ranking to meet the opinion of most people out there.

E.g. I totally need no finger-print reader. IMHO, these devices are useless and it was demonstrated that this devices can be easily entrapped (more easily then a good password). Hence, they give a totally wrong feeling of security.

On the other side, battery-life-time is more important to me than everything else.
What do all these bells and whistles mean if you can only run them for 1.5 hours without recharging? I like to see a device with a more then full working day (10-14 hours) continuous runtime, which should end up in charging the device every third week or every month for normal usage vs. power off periods.

Thus, for sure a web-cam will be fine, but if it will eat up 10 % of my battery life time, I really can live without it.

For me the most critical point to create the perfect PDA would be therefore, the development of the best power-management available on the PDA-market.

Furthermore, try to keep everything as flexible as possible. Instead to integrate a web-cam at the top of the display (as some sonys-laptops did), it might be a good idea to create a hidden USB port there. There are hundereds of very tiny cams on the market already, just stick one at the top of the display if you need one. This will gurantee, that later developements (e.g. more pixels, more fps etc.) can be easily upgraded by everyone. On the other hand, there might be some smart users, which find other devices on the market to be usefull.
In addtion, this will reduce the price to a affordable barebone set-up with a lot of individual add ons.

Just my two cents

Zuse

8

Hardware Mods / Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing

« on: June 29, 2006, 08:05:55 am »

Hi Modders,

just found this one here

Suncore Wireless LAN / Bluetooth USB Kombi-Stick
http://www.suncore.com.tw/

I do not know it was discussed already here or not (the thread got to long to remember all).
Just need to find out whether it works under Linux or not, and if so together with WPA.
Maybe someone can open one to check the chipssets.
I can contact the suncore people if it might be from more interest.

Best regards

Zuse

9

Off Topic forum / Soccer/football-live-stream On Your Z For Free

« on: June 27, 2006, 02:24:24 pm »

Football?

OHHHHHH

you mean soccer...
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=133057\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

...ahhh right  you pass the test

Thanks

Zuse

10

Off Topic forum / Soccer/football-live-stream On Your Z For Free

« on: June 27, 2006, 12:30:36 pm »

Hi all,

just found the following website and thought it might be worth to share it.

http://www.ascii-wm.net/

Clearly the reason why we all loves a linux based PDA with a telnet client

Enjoy

Zuse

All Credits goes to the owners of www.ascii-wm.net

CC. Soccer Football or whatever, just enjoy

11

Hardware Mods / Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing

« on: June 20, 2006, 01:19:48 pm »

Hi Da_Blitz,

thanks for your information. In the moment I do not know whehter I like to use the CF-port or the space left in my Aktita (where the C3x000 keeps the microdrive).

In general the Cxx00 serie owns a USB-port already. O.k. you need an adapter cable but why not  (You also wrote about "case-modding" why not replace the mini-USB A plug by and normal USB A plug)

More interesting is the use of a internal wlan and bluetooth. I use a D-Link 660W in the  moment. Works great but the antenna is somewhat sticking out and make the handling of the Z somewhat clumsy.

if in addtion a flash-memory can be included as well fine

I just got another idea ... let me check the CF-specs  


Thanks

Zuse

12

Hardware Mods / Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing

« on: June 20, 2006, 01:11:26 pm »

Hi Lurker,

thanks for the info. I know the fcc page. However, as you wrote already normaly nobody place the fcc number in the article description.

For bluetooth I think I will find a small and cheap stick easly.
Memory are even less problematic. I think I may even use a tiny USB adapter and a mini-SD card.

For Wlan I need WPA encryption as far as I know this requires Prism chipset and hostap driver.

For the USB hub i found a cheap 4 port hub. Since I may not use the USB-plugs itself (directly solder them wire by wire) I think I can make the whole setup even smaller.

However, first I will try everything in the oridnary way on my C1000

Greetings
Zuse

13

Hardware Mods / Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing

« on: June 19, 2006, 03:33:59 pm »

Hi again,

Tahts exactly what the usb hubs can do  they can switch off the power totaly to a port if i rimeber corectsy ethier that or they allow low current (less than a miliamp) to detect when the old device is pulled out and a new one is plugged in

O.K. that’s something I have to test. The physically plug and unplug of a device need to be detected somehow. The question is what happens if you "suspend" (in terms of software) a USB-device? Is there no current drain at all, or might there be still a little and if so, how much?
To save juice the best idea would be to disconnect the unused devices. Therefore, the question is how much difference (in terms of current) would it be for a suspend stick compared to a physical "cut-off" stick (by means of some electrical switches) + the required juice to run such electronic.

Another problem which occurs to me during the "Get-the-stuff-together"-phase; There are a lot of tiny sticks (memory, wlan, bluetooth) available. But mostly the sellers do not write about the internals. I need to know the chipsets to know whether it runs under linux. In addition the size of the actual PCB-boards would be fine, as well as the power consumptions. Last but not least I have to take care for the size factor of the wlan and bluetooth antenna.

A lot of unknown parameters. Any idea how to get this info or any devices which you favourite?

Greetings

Zuse

14

Hardware Mods / Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing

« on: June 18, 2006, 06:55:12 am »

Hi Da_Blitz,

Most usb hubs can control thier power ports anyway, so the io expander is only needed to turn off the hub

Thats right but the just control that the single devices drain not to much current. What I need is a way to "unplug" (from the Z point of view) unused devices. Since they are fixed inside my Z, I need a way to control wether I like to power them or not. The easiest would be to "cut" the USB power lines to simulate the unplug of a device.


:albertr For sure I will post pix

Greetings

Zuse

15

Hardware Mods / Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing

« on: June 17, 2006, 07:10:53 pm »

Hi guys,

followed your thread for a while and decided to join with my C1000.
I got the following idea and would like to read what you are thinking.

First as far as I understood there is a unused USB-host-port inside the Z.
Secondly there is a (for normal users) unused COM-port (unlike you like to do some deep hacking).
Thirdly there is a unused I2C-Bus.

My idea (most is nearly the same as proposed already  ) would be as followed. Use or create a tiny USB-hub. Maybe buy a tiny one and "cut off" everything unneeded like LEDs, Plugs (hard soldering the USB stuff), everything related to external power etc.

Buy a tiny Wifi-, a Bluetooth-, and a Flashmemory-Stick. Cut again everything which we do not need internally.

Solder everything together and attach it to the free USB-port.

Up to here it is more or less the same as Da_Blitz and albertr discussed already.

My next step would be the use of either the I2C or the COM port with a I/O Expander to create 3 I/O pins (maybe the COM itself can provide some pseudo I/O already).
This I like to do to save the generic GPIO (you never know for what they are needed  ).

Use one of these tiny ICs to switch the power to the different USB lines. (I saw one from Maxim with a bunch of additional features like current control etc.). Create a little logic circuit

In addition it should be easy to create a "driver" for a COM-based power-controller

Now I should be able to turn on memory, WLAN or bluetooth individual. If all turned off, the logic circuit will turn off the power to the USB-hub just to save juice.

Thats more or less my silly idea of a way how it could work. Any comments

Zuse

CC. Maxim (this is no ad, I do not get money  ) shows tiny WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS etc. modules and ICs. Maybe one way to create a "professional" daughterboard to upgrade the Z.