Battery:
If it's any bigger than that of a 5600, then who cares? The 5600 battery is 1700mAh anyway, and you could easily fit the SIM socket underneath. (BL08)
Main point about the trackball is that it's basically there for Gaming, and CAD. Anybody who'se that desparate can use an external one, because there's no point in having one if it's in an uncomfortable place because of board shape. If it's going to be a pain in the Derriere to design a board to fit round it then drop it, since it's no good in an awkawrdly placed one.
If we're having connectors around the edge of the case, My point there was that most of them might as well be attached to the Keyboard PCB since it's covering the area of the device anyway.
What's the reason for making the bootloader RO? (You told me there was one, not what it was ) I thought it was for the sake of Security, which as I said, if the person can use JTAG, they're probably good enough to work another way around the bootloader anyway. (Even if it's a BGA RW Station and a new flash chip.)
And as I listed, those are all reasons to update the bootloader. XP
If people DO lose their key, they'll need to reflash it. If it's flashable by JTAG and nothing else, they can still do that. I mean seriously, how many of the people who would normally steal a device like this can use JTAG? If we keep the documentation of how to do that specifically for the PPZ offline, given only with the hard-copy paperwork of the PPZ anyway, they'll need to ask how to do it. Just make sure they give you the serial number first, and bingo. You've traced the device! Not to mention the concept of the trace program over the modem.
Where do you store the second bootloader, anyway? XP If it's on the ATA or SD, it kinda defeats the object.
I thought the new MD's were out, they might not be. . . They're supposed to be available this year though, we shouldn't have to wait long.
And again, any way to modify that to add USB boot support? I'm guessing it wouldn't be a particular challenge. . Mount the drive and kexec the kernel from it? As I said, would be useful for the Desktop mode, and for people with iPods etc who want to be able to boot from 'em.
As far as the internal ipod drive goes, I was making the point that most people won't need it, or can use it externally, so as far as the PPZ's normal case goes. . better to use a CF socket and keep the case small. PPZ with an extra CM thick for the bigger battery and drive starts to become a little too big for most pockets. Mine, at least. XD