Build Your Own Linux Powered Pda

[Da_Blitz]

see sig for website, not sure if its working but it should take you to the news site while i set up the wiki, have fun and tell me if its not working

there wont be nows on it till 2300 my time (in half an hour)

[speculatrix]

also we currently have no deffinition of small, when i have been talking to ferret-simpson he has been refering to the size of the 5500 whereas i have been refering to the size of the c3000, are these the benchmark for a normal and aceptable size or do we want smaller, or larger.

I reckon the 6000 is about the upper limit of PDA, bigger than that and it's really an ultraportable laptop

i was hopping to use a smaller boarder around the screen than is currently on the c3000 (ie get rid of the black bars) the direct side effect of this is that it instantly makes the design more sk like due to the potrusions past the side of the lcd screen, even if we use a 4" lcd screen, we could however put speakers there instead

we really need pics up of prposed designs, wust work on the wiki now
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the 700-860 series and '000 series do waste space round the screen; but this could be used for wifi & bluetooth aerials as well as shortcut buttons.


google's sketchup seems like a nice 3D scribbling program

[Da_Blitz]

Ok the news link is broken (i can add but not display items) but the wiki is up, modify to your hearts content

[Ferret-Simpson]

Having the speakers on the front side of the screen panel would be useless. With them here, the ringing volume (GSM) is seriously reduced, and unless you've got one of the watches DB and I are researching vibrating on your wrist, this could prove problematic in terms of hearing it go off. (I often leave mine on my desk, or in a hung-up coat pocket)

Stability? Eh? It's a HANDHELD! It's not meant to be used on a desk!

I was just doing a bit of miming with my hands, and to move the Tball and D-Pad to either a wider edge or top corners causes problems, because the natural position of the thumbs is quite far away from the index fingertips - Which would need to be just resting on the L/R buttons in natural position. A curved edge design like the Universal seems the most natural form, with the directional gear front edge, just inside the rectangular section. I'd also vote the shape of the curves closer to a full semicircle.

When in Clamshell mode, you have the trackball, D-Pad, and keyboard available for navigation. These aren't available in portrait mode, hence why the scroll wheel is important in  this section. Also, one of the curved "SpaceWaste" sections of the screen will contain the VGA+ Video Conferencing camera, connected to the internal correction bus of the iMX.

Another note to DB, If it would be possible to find a camera with a regular resolution, such as 640x640 or 1024x1024, We could configure it to be used in either mode at full res by rotating the image 90', even if just in software.  Also, the secondary screen on the bottom of the case (Serial based, next to the battery cover.) could be used as a low res viewfinder for the camera to take snapshots, with the system locked in portrait mode, since the camera would then be on the other side of the body from the mini-tft.

On the note of the PPZ becoming unportable with aditional hardware. . . Compare it with the current Generation Zaurus. We've already eliminated the need to carry separate Bluetooth and Wifi gear, a 3G mobile phone, a Digital Camera, a mouse, A CF XGA card or USB Graphics card, you can have double the internal SD storage - With the open source drivers that aren't limited by unknown ASIC's, we can have 2x4GB = 8GB of SD capacity, using similar drivers to those used on the Universal, not to mention a faster ATA based CF card access than the old standard used in the C4X

Considering how much we've cut down what you need to carry as it is, needing to carry an external game controller for the sake of ultraserious gaming is hardly a problem. If you're REALLY that bothered, you can just leave it on there!

And 5600, not 55. It's bigger, because of an extended battery compartment. I've been looking at something essentially that same size. (It's the same depth as DB's clamshell, 1cm longer, and 1cm thinner.)

heh, saying that this thing will need a rucksack suggests that you're currently carrying your Zaurus in an Articulated Lorry.

[Ferret-Simpson]

Parts!!!

On that Mouser site I found for the Watch.

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail...tualkey53710000
3 axis PCB accelerometer.

They also have a selection of speakers, although I doubt they have anything of the sequired size.

Few other odds and ends, but their parts information system is Lewd.

[Da_Blitz]

can anyone say SD raid

good point about the camera, i knew there was a good reason to put it on the bottom

my pack actually contains stuff we havent integrated (10/100 ethernet, 2 battries, dvd burner, HUB) so i wont be getting rid of that any time soon but aleast i can standardise on the one cable plus i can dump my phone

at least making calls will be as easy as echo +AT-CALL042310889 >echo /dev/ttyS0 or for people i have in my adress book  +AT-CALL`grep DaBlitz ~/adressbook | cut -f 2` >echo /dev/ttyS0

we still need pictures of casing, anyone? i dont care if its done in MSpaint but we need to get an idea as text conveys only so much

[Ferret-Simpson]

right, I'll get a couple of JPEG's. My college deleted all the decent image and 3D software, but I'll try and get SOMETHING done.

And no, Camera NOT on the bottom.

Camera on the screen, so it works for VOIP and then in slate mode. . . use the Aux-Screen  (On the bottom of the case) as a low-res viewfinder for taking pictures

[Tom61]

I was caught up in the festivities yesterday (it was happy explosion, err, Independence Day, here in the US), otherwise I would've put together a prototype earlier.

Looking about the thread, many keep putting in design suggestions simular to the Tapwave Zodiac, so, I decided to make that the base for a quicky prototype:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom61/tags/pocketpenguin/

That's with a 3.7" display, so you can get a sense of scale. The control layout is obviously not exactly what has been described so far, but you can see from the default Zodiac layout that you can have a decent gaming controls to the side without adding too much width. I'm guessing that the detractors of the side controls were of the mind that the controls would be almost as big as home game console controller, which isn't the case.

I'll get onto making a better prototype, that better illustrates my thoughts and your ideas from this thread.

[adf]

On reviewing the proposed specs I saw "camcorder battery or zaurus battery"  as a prospective end user, I beg you to lean towards using a camera or camcorder battery that fits  a well known camera or cameras (preferably as many different models as possible) with known, extant 3rd party manufacturers and distributors.  Battery availability into the future and across geographic regions is a biggie, and really does deserve careful thought. Personally I'd be happy swapping AA's, as they are readily available, and can be had as rechargeables for comparatively little $$. I realize AA's won't be the solution, but you get the idea?

[Da_Blitz]

Do you know of any common battery sizes that fitacross a wide range of models

i was planning to use thu Z's battries as they are almost custom designed for what we want

[Da_Blitz]

What yau did with the zodiac is what i am talking about with the SK design, i like it as it works for many things

thanks for the photos, i hope to have some up soon. do you mind if i attach them to the wiki or do you prefer a link to them?

[Ferret-Simpson]

Right, College network (Media Studies eMacs) are refusing me access to flikr, so I'll have a look when I get back to civilisation. (The RATT.)

The mention of Zaurus batteries was a simple note of it not having been decided yet.

I have a feeling that we'll find that Camcorder batteries are more likely to stay in production than old Z batteries are.

If Sharp develop a new zaurus that's a serious jump from current specifications, then it'll need more power. (Although with the Xscale lines being sold/dropped, I'm wondering what processor they'll be using. . Perhaps they'll follow suit from us with the freescale, which would also cut build price and dev costs? Or maybe go Samsung?) Since it's most likely to access CDMA or similar if it uses any wireless communication standard. . . Might also have bluetooth support, for some of Japans new trend in PUN (Personal Ubiquitous Network) gadgets.

[speculatrix]

Right, College network (Media Studies eMacs) are refusing me access to flikr, so I'll have a look when I get back to civilisation. (The RATT.)

can't you borrow an open proxy to do this?

I have a feeling that we'll find that Camcorder batteries are more likely to stay in production than old Z batteries are.
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yes.. we 6000 owners would certainly agree with you on that. The only snag is that camcorder batteries are quite chunky... how about some of the relatively slim still digicam batteries - the wife's Ixus750 has quite a nice battery which is charged externally (so much better to have two batteries and swap them), and there's lots of 3rd party stuff for digicam batteries etc. Mobile phone batteries tend to be a moving target, so might not be as good.

have you considered a "splashpower" recharging system?

[Da_Blitz]

mabey on the slashpower thing, its a no brainer to add (just a coil of wire)

battries are a large issue. i have a couple of ideasbut none of them are ideal. but we need to decide on the case and fit the battries to that as it gives me an idea about board space

i was hoping the pcb was more independent from the case than this but this dose not seem to be the case (no pun intended)

[speculatrix]

mabey on the slashpower thing, its a no brainer to add (just a coil of wire)

battries are a large issue. i have a couple of ideasbut none of them are ideal. but we need to decide on the case and fit the battries to that as it gives me an idea about board space

i was hoping the pcb was more independent from the case than this but this dose not seem to be the case (no pun intended)
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What is there to choose about the battery?

1) capacity
  2Ah seems to be about the limit for PDAs in terms of weight & size

2) technology
  LiIon is common, intelligent charging circuits are commodity items; lots of shapes to choose from ideal for PDA

  LiPolymer is less common, charging circuits not so common; lots of shapes to choose from ideal for PDA

  NiMH are cheap as chips, easy to charge, easy to buy, AA form not ideal shape for a PDA?

3) Battery location
    integral requiring screwdrivers to change (more weatherproof)
or user swappable

  part of external case (like camcorder) or hidden under flap

4) for Li batteries, intelligence in battery or in the device

    if in battery, makes it easier to have wide variety of batteries but more expensive batteries

5) charge only in device, charge externally, or both