New Linux Clamshell Device?

[TsingTao]

It gives that I was replying in the wrong thread, sorry about that (I was talking about the Nokia 770)
From the hardware POV, this device needs a CF slot and a better screen (and maybe usable bluetooth). No word about the software yet.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83234\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

     

 Heehee!  Hope you didn't think I was being flip, I was genuinely confused by the mention of the DSP.

 And to be honest I still think it's odd that this device doesn't seem to be geared AT ALL for video.  I mean you can watch movies on a 5500.  There are certainly better handhelds out there to do it on, but it does work.  Ah well...if this thing ever takes off someone will probably mash up a little player and I can enjoy some good old jerky/crappy/grainy video to my hearts content.

 Agreed about the CF slot.  People complain about the latest breed of Zaurii not having integrated wifi, but I don't think it's that big a problem.  I like being able to take the card out to conserve power (cause then I KNOW it ain't consumin' nothin') and weight.  I like being able to choose  whose wifi chipset I have. I like being able to easily upgrade or replce my wifi should it get broken or a new/better standard come out. I like having the option to connect a wired ethernet card (YES! Some people still use wires...) or even a modem (yep...there's even some freaks who still analog it...or at least would like to be able to in  a pinch...).  And I like being able to decide if I want bluetooth/wifi/gps/gprs/and anything else they want to develop without having to buy a different (or several) machine(s).  And odds are if I want to use any of those connectivity add ons, I'm not going to be watching movies or listening to a LOT of mp3's, so I'm ok with swapping out my CF storage cards (especialy since I've got a good amount of SD still available).

 I can understand that some people know what they want and want it to work well, conveniently, reliably, and with a minimum of hassle.  Standard integrate hardware goes a long way towards that (it's probably easier to develop software for a hemogenous set of compents as opposed to trying to include every possible harware permutation of a-la-carte parts as well).  

But IMHO, choice is good...

 just my $0.02

[ev1l]

And to be honest I still think it's odd that this device doesn't seem to be geared AT ALL for video.  I mean you can watch movies on a 5500.  There are certainly better handhelds out there to do it on, but it does work.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83243\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

It's not absolutely impossible. I guess it's the same situation as on the Z: no dedicated hardware, so it's iffy, but doable.

Agreed about the CF slot.  People complain about the latest breed of Zaurii not having integrated wifi, but I don't think it's that big a problem.  I like being able to take the card out to conserve power (cause then I KNOW it ain't consumin' nothin') and weight.  I like being able to choose  whose wifi chipset I have. I like being able to easily upgrade or replce my wifi should it get broken or a new/better standard come out. I like having the option to connect a wired ethernet card (YES! Some people still use wires...) or even a modem (yep...there's even some freaks who still analog it...or at least would like to be able to in  a pinch...).  And I like being able to decide if I want bluetooth/wifi/gps/gprs/and anything else they want to develop without having to buy a different (or several) machine(s).  And odds are if I want to use any of those connectivity add ons, I'm not going to be watching movies or listening to a LOT of mp3's, so I'm ok with swapping out my CF storage cards (especialy since I've got a good amount of SD still available).

I hate the antennas poking out (afraid to break them), I hate the lack of integration (especially with regard to BT). And I want both CF and integrated wireless comms, I just prefer integration.

I can understand that some people know what they want and want it to work well, conveniently, reliably, and with a minimum of hassle.  Standard integrate hardware goes a long way towards that (it's probably easier to develop software for a hemogenous set of compents as opposed to trying to include every possible harware permutation of a-la-carte parts as well). 
But IMHO, choice is good...
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83243\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Agreed, it's just that you always seem to end up with hairy devices when going that way (and you can't add as many connectivity options as you like: look at the Treo's and Windows smartphones with GSM/GPRS/Wifi/BT/Whatever). I like the CF slot becase you can make it hairy if you like, and otherwise you can just dump super-cheap storage in there and go on your merry way.

[nequiem]

I was a little miffed that they labeled this a smart phone just because it has software VOIP, but apparently wi-fi phones are the Next Big Thing® and this company is just trying to cash in on the trend.  I can't imagine having to drive to Panera bread just to make a phone call but I guess this would be enticing in small countries where signal is omnipresent or within a corporate environment.

The magpie is a cheap looking plasticy thing. The way some of the keys are sunken in, I hope this is just an early prototype. The screen isn't so hot but I wouldn't expect Sharp to license their VGA kit to a company that fingered their case design. The site is very detail thin. I would like to know what GUI that is. It looks like an uglified Qt. The games are qt.  None of the reference boards I googled support CF for this chip so that's probably why they left it out: http://www.arm.co.kr/solution/1__s07.php.  

Bargain PDA has another new Linux wi-fi "phone" listed on their site. This one is in true phone format though:

http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=2546

I expect we'll be seeing a slew of these things soon. At least for the Asian market. One good thing about this trend is it may force Sharp to include wi-fi in upcoming models.

[offroadgeek]

This wouldn't be a half bad unit[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83044\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Are you crazy?!?  The thing could have a toaster oven in it and I still wouldn't buy it with only 320x240 screen!

[kahm]

This wouldn't be a half bad unit[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83044\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Are you crazy?!?  The thing could have a toaster oven in it and I still wouldn't buy it with only 320x240 screen!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83295\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I second that, but it seems that there are a surprising number of people who hate the high-res screen of the Z. The new Toshiba u100 has a 7" 1280x800 LCD that I know I would absolutely adore, but you can't find a reviewer who doesn't complain about the DPI being too high.

[speculatrix]

I second that, but it seems that there are a surprising number of people who hate the high-res screen of the Z. The new Toshiba u100 has a 7" 1280x800 LCD that I know I would absolutely adore, but you can't find a reviewer who doesn't complain about the DPI being too high.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83481\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

this is more an issue of whether the user interface designers and application dev people ever thought about high-res displays.

colleagues who've got ipaqs with the 640x480 displays have to use all sorts of hacks to make things readable, or have to switch back to 320x240 for some apps.

palm and sony had the same problem when they adopted 320x320 over the old 160x160 screens, which is only solved on the palmT3's 480x320 portrait screen by turning on the "soft graffiti" area for applications that don't do the extended area.

it all comes down to the quality of the developers  - do they understand hardware independent programming? too often, no.

[craigtyson]

I agree with the above.  I have a 5500 and a 750 I use both.  The 5500 actualy has better support for some apps because of its lower res screen which means I dont need to put my x5 eyeballs in to see the data.

This isnt just limited to PDAs the newer high res mini notebooks have similar problems.

[kahm]

Just for curiosity, I took a ruler to my c3000's screen. 7.5cm/2.95in wide by 640 pixels gives ~216DPI!! My IBM Thinkpad A21p with it's 1600x1200 15" LCD (30.5cm/12in wide) measures in at a paltry 133DPI.

I'm impressed. What I actually want, though, is a display somewhere over 300dpi, with software that properly supports it. That way I can fit 40 characters per inch when I want to, and everyone else can have normal sized but perfectly smooth text without any need for anti-aliasing

[nilch]

BargainPDA seems to have covered this device and here their take on it...
http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=2554

[samxiao]

[img]http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/misc/uni_magpie_pda_open.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

[img]http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/misc/uni_magpie_pda_front.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]


http://www.uni.com.tw/BCOPY_MPEG1.mpg  <-- video

The Magpie is based on a 32-bit RISC-based Samsung S3C2410X processor, clocked at 203 MHz. Several Taiwanese Linux providers offer reference designs for the chip, including Esfia and Mizi Research. Neither company immediately confirmed their involvement in creating the Magpie.



source: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7076948501.html

[ev1l]

Hello.

[samxiao]

Hello.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=85038\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

oops.. sorry
i saw that on Linuxdevices today

[akpoff]

This wouldn't be a half bad unit[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83044\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Are you crazy?!?  The thing could have a toaster oven in it and I still wouldn't buy it with only 320x240 screen!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83295\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I second that, but it seems that there are a surprising number of people who hate the high-res screen of the Z. The new Toshiba u100 has a 7" 1280x800 LCD that I know I would absolutely adore, but you can't find a reviewer who doesn't complain about the DPI being too high.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83481\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I saw the U100 at a local store.  It's very sweet.  The screen is usuable at 1280x800 but if that's too high, one of the f keys cycles through 2 other resolutions when pushed with the fn key.  Under Windows (the only OS the store had installed) it switched between the resolutions very smoothly.  I found the 1024 x a bit easier to read.  I'd probably leave it at the highest res except for possibly e-books.  For movies I'd definitely put it on high res.

Did I mention the 60gb hard drive?  Plenty of space for everything you'd want to carry.  Built-in BT, 802.11g, 10/100 UTP, modem, USB2.0 x 2, FireWire, VGA out (with a dongle) and ~5-hour batter life at 2.2lbs make the U100 a very tempting bit of kit.  Also, Toshiba recently started bundling the dock/DVD RW unit with it.  It's still a bit pricey at ~US$2000 but man, it has serious geek lust!

My biggest complaint has to be the keyboard.  It's too small for touch typing (I have average to small fingers) and too large to use with thumbs alone.  It's definitely a three-finger keyboard (two index fingers and a thumb).  That and the fact the screen doesn't rotate.  The C3K has me spoiled!

--Aaron

[nilch]

If I could load Linux on the Toshiba U100 I would get that as my real Laptop b- for more intensive work than on the C1000. With the Docling station and VGA out ports I could really use it at Home or office for serious intensive work.
But as of yet I havent found any site of information if it will support Linux fully.

[frobnoid_]

If I could load Linux on the Toshiba U100 I would get that as my real Laptop b- for more intensive work than on the C1000. With the Docling station and VGA out ports I could really use it at Home or office for serious intensive work.
But as of yet I havent found any site of information if it will support Linux fully.

http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/eng/p...U100_report.htm

Looks like hardware graphics acceleration, suspend and hibernation are the three possibly missing pieces. Unfortunately those last two are the important ones...