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Microsoft sells its CE embedded operating system with .NET support for $3 per license. At this point it's almost no price competition with Linux - anyone looking at selling 1,000 devices can afford spending 3 grands on corporate licenses.

And guess what, when something doesn't work as Microsoft advertised in CE.NET, they fix it. You call them up and get the program manager on the phone, not a dumb secretary, and you explain the problem, then they prepare the patch. Can Linux development provide the same level of support? Hardly. The competition on price is over, choosing between two virtually free embedded operating system it's safer to choose the one that consumers would be pleased with.

Wonder how long it will be until Intel headhunt these guys?

Wouldn't be the first time

Link to story

Now electronic news is reporting that St. Dennis was ousted by the board.

ft
eetuk
ZDNET
e-insite

Everyone knows that consumer electronics sales are cyclic. The 4th quarter is usually the hottest (Christmas, etc.), while the 1st quarter is usually the slowest (pay off the credit cards). Even global cell phone sales fell in the first quarter (link)! Granted, they didn't go down as much, but nobody's talking about the demise of the cell phone. (Also, the number cited on the link is for the entire industry. Individual companies may be significantly higher or lower.) Will the tablet PC die? It depends on what the critical mass point is. PDAs aren't for everybody, but they aren't dead, either. The more reasonably priced tablet PCs may end up with sales figures that are 0.5% of PC sales, but that would probably be enough to keep them going. I mean, look at this company.

benefon company website of phonemaker that makes such things..

quick googling..:
**Benefon Debuts GPS-Enabled Dual-Band GSM Phones

By Mark Long -- e-inSITE, 7/30/2001**
http://www.e-insite.net/index.asp?layout=article&a rticleid=CA149613

I did post the story but the last sentence which was cut was very important.(Original).
"Although there are no patent issues MIPS have been known to be very aggressive toward people who try to create compatible systems."

...our dragons have balls!

1394 already does 400MB. 1394b however will do up to 3.2GB. 1394ta 1394b

Nope.
The parent post linked to a site that sells IEEE1394a cables.
IEEE1394b (or Firewire 2) uses 9 pin (rather than six pin) cables (in the Apple implementation).

1394b also defines a new high speed mode called S1600, with a data rate of 1572.9 Mbit/s. The signal can be carried by copper wire, glass fibre, or plastic fibre. The maximum cable length is now 100m, rather than 4.5m.

This is not to say that Apple computers can transmit at S1600 over 100m distances, but this article indicates that 1394b does not always imply 800 Mb/s over 4.5 m of copper.

Commverge Article: 'Bluetooth and 1394 get behind the wheel'

From the article: Compared to proprietary technologies such as MOST (media oriented system transport), IDB-1394 provides a standardized approach to in-vehicle networking and also offers the bandwidth required to support multiple multimedia streams, according to proponents. Moreover, existing 1394 portable devices can be plugged directly into the automotive multimedia bus through the use of an IDB-1394 defined "customer convenience" port.

Nice. :)

Sounds like a great partner to these.
Comments?

"Now if only computer manufacturers could make equipment even remotely this sturdy."

Barring the radiation from space and other warranty-voiders, PC hardware has (except for the occasional bad capacitors) been very sturdy. My PCjr still runs, my Leading Edge XT still runs. What is so unreal that I cannot even fathom it, is that the software has run on this thing for as long as it has, without getting corrupted, always booting fine when they need to reboot, etc. Only now in this late hour are major companies starting to remember the K.I.S.S. Principle that led their forefathers, and in doing so, counting on linux. The fewer variables, the more dependable the result.

If something bad is happening, why is Electronic News publishing great articles, like this one about the conversion of cars from 12 volt systems to 42 volt systems: Gearing Up to 42V?

Assuming FireWire2 is IEEE-1394b, then try 400 MB/s (3.2 Gbps). Quoting from here:

IEEE 1394b allows extensions to 800Mbit/sec., 1.6Gbit/sec. and 3.2Gbit/sec., all over copper wire. It supports long-distance transfers to 100 meters over a variety of media: CAT-5 unshielded cable at 100Mbit/sec., existing plastic optical fiber at 200Mbits/sec., next-generation plastic optical fiber at 400Mbit/sec. and 50-micron mulitmode glass optical fiber at up to 3.2Gbit/sec.

(Note, it supports all speeds over copper for normal cable lengths, the optical for higher speeds is only needed for runs up to 100 meters.)

The next version of firewire on the horizon will only be able to do 100Megabytes/sec (800Megabits/sec).
Wrong.
Source

IEEE 1394b allows extensions to 800Mbit/sec., 1.6Gbit/sec. and 3.2Gbit/sec., all over copper wire. It supports long-distance transfers to 100 meters over a variety of media: CAT-5 unshielded cable at 100Mbit/sec., existing plastic optical fiber at 200Mbits/sec., next-generation plastic optical fiber at 400Mbit/sec. and 50-micron mulitmode glass optical fiber at up to 3.2Gbit/sec. The improved speed and distance capabilities of 1394b result from two major improvements: overlapped arbitration and advanced data encoding.

The next gen can do over 320 MB/sec, even accounting for serial transfer overhead.

http://irishcar.com/ICOimages/autonomy.jpg

chinacars.com (google cache)

e-insite.net (pdf)

enjoy

As a followup, this definitely "brightens" the already vibrant homebrew development scene.

The Visoly flash linker and carts are great, and available from (your friends and mine) Lik-Sang, GameGizmo and Easy Buy 2000 (all no-referral URLs).

The multi-boot cables (for downloading small apps to your GBA without needing to flash a cart) are cool, too, and have been exploited to turn your GBA into a handheld terminal. Check out the PDF on that last link; much nicer than reading the page, with pictures. Wish there was someplace within the continental US to order a couple non-ugly ones from, though. Those MBV2s are just too unweildly to use in sexy handheld terminal demonstrations.

Fortunately, MS has a reputation for crashing. and it was somewaht tongue in cheek. maybe I should have added a smiley

On the other hand, it is not totally out of the question. For example, there is this old press release:

http://industry.java.sun.com/javanews/stories/stor y2/0,1072,10079,00.html

In which it is noted, "The next generation of products capable of utilizing an array of content from the network for information and communication will include: TVs, phones, PDAs and traditional appliances, such as air conditioners. "

You are also invited to look at the Universal Plug and Play Site: http://www.upnp.org

There is also this article where it is noted:

UPnP technology applies to proximity networks in homes, small businesses, or commercial buildings. For example, the network in Figure 1 could be in a hospital lab, connecting a cell counter, chromatograph, and blood analyzer; in an office, connecting a print server, fax machine, DSL router, and HVAC controller; in a factory, connecting a PLC, machine-tool controller, and conveyor-belt controller; or in a process plant, connecting setpoint controllers, smart sensors, and a PLC [...]

UPnP-enabled devices or control points have six layers of functions (Figure 3 ). Layers 0, 1, and 2 are fundamental; they exist in all devices and control points. Layers 3, 4, and 5 are optional. Control points can initiate an action on a device (layer 3). Many devices offer only event messaging (layer 4); the device creates an event, and a control point listens for the event. Devices can send data or the results of an action they have taken without initiating a control point. Some devices might provide a control point with only a presentation user interface (layer 5). The control point's browser displays the device's Web user interface. This user interface may either display events or status or control the device.

That being said, and given MS's reputation for sterling and unblemished integrity, well, anything is possible.

Have a good evening. The original comment was somewhat tongue in cheek, but this does not mean it was devoid of facts. Unless you really do trust MS.

For anyone who's interested a Google Search turns up several good results for NURBS.

For anyone who's interested a Google Search turns up several good results for NURBS.

You can build a pretty decent 92 ohm transmission line with barbed wire -- Its the inductance and capacitance of the ( the geometry for non-fields thinkers ) that sets the characteristic impedance. Read here a good article from Howard Johnson @ EDM magazine.

Check out http://archives.e-insite.net/archives/ednmag/reg/1 997/091297/19df_01.htm for an article published in September 1997 comparing several real-time add-ins for Windows NT, doing things like sharing interrupts and running Windows as a low-priority task under an RTOS kernel.

FireWire is tomorrow's standard today.

Electronic News article:
IEEE 1394b: Faster, Longer and Simpler

Funny, the headline on the monday august 6th, 2001 Electronic News was 'Intel Strongarms the PCI SIG'.

Might be why this is whythe lawyers are involded...

And you thought this was a good thing,
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken

Funny, the headline on the monday august 6th, 2001 Electronic News was 'Intel Strongarms the PCI SIG'.

Might be why this is whythe lawyers are involded...

And you thought this was a good thing,
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken