Words Of Encouragement And Some Questions

[kurochka]

First, I think this is great that things are progressing beyond ideas and discussions.  Da Blitz and all of the involved, thank you so much for doing all this!  

I cannot help you with any technical stuff but I am eagerly watching and am ready to spend the money to get the toy designed by your team.  I am sure that there are others like me.

I don't want to take any of your time but could somebody who knows explain to non-techies how we will be able to obtain a device designed by you.  

I've read that you are only working on the motherboard, and that we will be able to order the separate components from different companies (reasons: no distribution, no body design issues for Da Blitz, and no FTC approvals).  This means, that somebody will have to design the body.  Does this mean that I will separately order the motherboard, screen and the body (anything else?) and then will have to assemble it myself?  How much expertise would be required for that?  Will soldering be required?

Alternatively, Da Blitz may sell the design to some company that we will be dealing with.  This company could be Sharp.  If this does not work out, could somebody here help put these devices together for some profit for the rest of us?

So, basically, I would like to know whether those of us who have not progressed beyond mere users will be able to enjoy this fantastic (from the discussions it appears to be so) device at some point in the future.  If any assembling is required, will mere mortals be able to put it all together?

If this is too early to talk about the end users, then I can wait.

[Da_Blitz]

i will give you a link or a preformatted email message that you click or post to a designated adress, this will be the same company i use for the prototypes

you then orginise payment with them and they will ship you out the PCB and perhaps the screen, if i can manage it then the complete product

otherwise you will have to order the case sepretly. from who and haw i do not know but i will try and make it simple so in total you will only have to deal with one or two companies

assembly should be no harder than assembelling a c3000 (if you can use a screwdriver then you can pull apart and reassemble a c3000) the only tool needed for construction will be a screwdriver which i might even be able to supply with the finished product. prehaps built into the stylus

selling the design under an alternate licsence has been one of my plans, that way we can take advantage of bulk discounts, i have about 6 companies who i belive would be intrested with the design however this isnt a PDA that was designed with maximum return in mind, in fact i am designing this with no return in mind so i can stuff in features, therefore expect that if the design is sold then the company produced one will be ommiting parts to keep costs down

dont worry i intend to make the device as secure (in terms of security) and unbrickable as posible

i may start accepting orders when i have finished the prototype. i would get all the orders together, bulk buy the parts and get it made (having a large order will drive the costs down) then recive them, build and flash them then ship them out. the reason i dont want to deal with others money is that it complicates things if it goes wrong and thier is the potential that someone might get ripped off (what you trust me?) we will see which way it goes in the future

[kurochka]

the only tool needed for construction will be a screwdriver which i might even be able to supply with the finished product. prehaps built into the stylus
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Gave me a good laugh!

Thanks for the response.  Now I will just watch.

[Da_Blitz]

i dont see why thats funny, i think its a good idea

do you now how hard it is to get a screwdriver on a plane these days, you Oldies back in the good old days had it easy. now days we have to go on 20 hour trips with no gadgets and we enjoy it!!

always wanted to say that, anyway i dont think that a screwdriver in the stylus is such a bad idea if we can pull it off (i think i ahve other things to worry about first) with the size of some of the screws i will be using it would be convinent to not have to find and buy a special screwdriver

actually instead of watching just throw more wierd ideas at me, so far we have had some that will push the device into the relem of PDA icon

[Fushnchupsh]

I am in the same boat as kurochka.  I am eagerly watching and waiting.  The idea of the screwdriver in the stylus is great.  My first pda, a handspring deluxe had this feature and I have been unscrewing the tips of my stylii since to see if anyone got the idea of how handy this is.  

thanks for all your effort guys!

--Fish

ps on a side note, any idea on price yet?  I know you were tryiing to keep it under the z's current price, but I was wondering if there were any more substantial guesses right now.

[uMP2k]

Another vote for the screwdriver in the stylus - very very useful!

This device really is looking very promising.  I can hardly believe that I am yet to take delivery of my first Z (about to order a C1000 from PriceJapan) and already I am thinking about this as its replacement.

If it is in or around the same price as the Z (say between $500 - $700 Oz dollars) then I can definately see myself getting even with the "putting together" involved.

[Da_Blitz]

as a Ozzie myself that is about the point i want to keep it at

in all honesty the price could change, i dont think it will go ever that and infact i would say that its looking to be about $600 AUD at the moment off the top of my head

i cant give you an exact price until i have all the part sourced and confirmed with the PCB maker

the screen case and PCB are still the most expensive as one off items but if i made 10+ or more then the PCB price drops through the florr and the case prices should be simmilar (but not to the same degree) the LCD screen should stay about the same however which is a problem but i will just work around that

[wsuetholz]

do you now how hard it is to get a screwdriver on a plane these days, you Oldies back in the good old days had it easy. now days we have to go on 20 hour trips with no gadgets and we enjoy it!!

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The next thing will be banning even the plastic styluses from airplanes.  Not to mention after market ones like the Pilot Pentopia.

Bill

[Drake01]

i will give you a link or a preformatted email message that you click or post to a designated adress, this will be the same company i use for the prototypes

you then orginise payment with them and they will ship you out the PCB and perhaps the screen, if i can manage it then the complete product

I  just recently entered the realm of the Zaurus (after basically drooling over them for a couple years), but I have been watching this project with great interest.  I'm not yet sure how I'll hide enough cash from the wife to make the purchase, but I'll figure something out.

I don't remember if there was a poll to determine interested parties.  I just thought I'd mention that if this thing comes complete with a viable OS, I think you can count me in for making the purchase.

[Da_Blitz]

thank you

as for the plan joke (or was it;)) i wonder when they will ban people from flying when they are trained in martial arts

[BarryW]

thank you

as for the plan joke (or was it;)) i wonder when they will ban people from flying when they are trained in martial arts
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"In case of an emergency, seat cushions and tray tables will become weapons."

[Ferret-Simpson]

I've always found Potatoes to be very dangerous in the right hands. Ok, so. . Case time.

[uMP2k]

as a Ozzie myself that is about the point i want to keep it at

in all honesty the price could change, i dont think it will go ever that and infact i would say that its looking to be about $600 AUD at the moment off the top of my head

i cant give you an exact price until i have all the part sourced and confirmed with the PCB maker

$600 AUD certainly sounds an excellent price.  I just paid about $525 AUD for a C1000 through PriceJapan (hoping it will be here next week!) so for something which seems like it is going to be infinately more capable even $700 would be tempting!  When you look at the price of something like a UMPC here in OZ (well over $1500 AUD) then it really starts to put things in perspective.