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Thanks for the informative reply!

However these two parts: "Deploy the application and the enterprise distribution provisioning profile to your users' computers." and "Instruct users to install the application and profile using iTunes." are kind of hard to follow if your users are shift workers, have no computers, and when they need a pad they take the next one from the shelf.

I believe Apple just doesn't understand how computers are used at a business. They are still locked into the "home user" model.

To be successful in an enterprise, the pad must be remotely managed. See ManageSoft, for example (though it is not the best here.) You cannot depend on a dock worker to upgrade software on his pad - his union contract doesn't list that. The upgrade must be done whenever the pad is on, automatically and invisibly to the operator. And most certainly that dock worker doesn't have a separate computer to talk to that one pad. And even if by some miracle every worker also has a PC, the pads would be all swapped around a million times, and you can't match the pad to a PC. If the pad doesn't match, the worker will just call IT and will be sitting on his $naturally_provided_cushion until the IT guy runs in, panting like a dog, and clicks something to move the problem onto someone else.

In Linux, of course, this whole rigamarole can be neatly avoided in a few lines of a bash script. Fetch the MD5 checksum from the server, compare to the one you have locally, replace the file if they don't match, then run the app. Do that whenever the pad is started.

To summarize: Apple needs to think a bit more about the enterprise - if, of course, Apple is serious about that. An enterprise computing platform has some unique requirements; mainly it should be completely "hands off", so that the operator is never required to do maintenance on it. I'm afraid, however, that this requires opening the system up, and Apple's business model depends on just the opposite. Probably Apple will not want to play in the enterprise computing market - there is some serious competition already, with large companies producing industrial grade tablets for UPS, Fedex, stores and other places. I was sitting on one meeting and learned that in summer the temperature within the UPS truck can be very high - and the pad must stay operational! I bet Apple never even considered that the iPad may be used in hostile environments - dusty, hot, humid, under vibration. Even in a business as clean as a hospital the pad must be spill-proof and likely must be intrinsically safe, due to presence of oxygen, alcohol vapors and possibly other volatile atmospheres. Also all businesses will insist on some level of ruggedness; some business require survival after 10' drop onto concrete. In a hospital that isn't needed, of course - but the pad should take a fall from a table; sadly, many floors in hospitals are super-hard. A requirement for some sort of machine vision (a barcode scanner or a camera) is also very common, with barcodes being essential to tracking of items.

Thanks for the informative reply!

However these two parts: "Deploy the application and the enterprise distribution provisioning profile to your users' computers." and "Instruct users to install the application and profile using iTunes." are kind of hard to follow if your users are shift workers, have no computers, and when they need a pad they take the next one from the shelf.

I believe Apple just doesn't understand how computers are used at a business. They are still locked into the "home user" model.

To be successful in an enterprise, the pad must be remotely managed. See ManageSoft, for example (though it is not the best here.) You cannot depend on a dock worker to upgrade software on his pad - his union contract doesn't list that. The upgrade must be done whenever the pad is on, automatically and invisibly to the operator. And most certainly that dock worker doesn't have a separate computer to talk to that one pad. And even if by some miracle every worker also has a PC, the pads would be all swapped around a million times, and you can't match the pad to a PC. If the pad doesn't match, the worker will just call IT and will be sitting on his $naturally_provided_cushion until the IT guy runs in, panting like a dog, and clicks something to move the problem onto someone else.

In Linux, of course, this whole rigamarole can be neatly avoided in a few lines of a bash script. Fetch the MD5 checksum from the server, compare to the one you have locally, replace the file if they don't match, then run the app. Do that whenever the pad is started.

To summarize: Apple needs to think a bit more about the enterprise - if, of course, Apple is serious about that. An enterprise computing platform has some unique requirements; mainly it should be completely "hands off", so that the operator is never required to do maintenance on it. I'm afraid, however, that this requires opening the system up, and Apple's business model depends on just the opposite. Probably Apple will not want to play in the enterprise computing market - there is some serious competition already, with large companies producing industrial grade tablets for UPS, Fedex, stores and other places. I was sitting on one meeting and learned that in summer the temperature within the UPS truck can be very high - and the pad must stay operational! I bet Apple never even considered that the iPad may be used in hostile environments - dusty, hot, humid, under vibration. Even in a business as clean as a hospital the pad must be spill-proof and likely must be intrinsically safe, due to presence of oxygen, alcohol vapors and possibly other volatile atmospheres. Also all businesses will insist on some level of ruggedness; some business require survival after 10' drop onto concrete. In a hospital that isn't needed, of course - but the pad should take a fall from a table; sadly, many floors in hospitals are super-hard. A requirement for some sort of machine vision (a barcode scanner or a camera) is also very common, with barcodes being essential to tracking of items.

Yes, Psion (in their netbook trademark case overview on their website) even mention that Asus didn't use netbook in their EeePC marketing.

http://www.psionteklogix.com/documents/com/specSheets/Psion_Netbook%20_Trademark_%20Statement.pdf

They did register it in the US, way back in '96; see http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=75215401 for details. Off course, that won't stop a couple of other companies trying to take the trademark away from Psion... Psion also have an interesting statement at http://www.psionteklogix.com/documents/com/specSheets/Psion_Netbook%20_Trademark_%20Statement.pdf

Psion then lost it IMO, they pulled out of the consumer market and the successor to the netBook, the netBook Pro, ran WinCE rather than EPOC - yuck.

Anyway, they still sell netBook related kit, if not the machines themselves.

http://www.psionteklogix.com/public.aspx?s=uk&p=AccessoryCatalogue&pMod=48&page=1&aCat=37&aID=1714

I agree with the parent. Psion PLC previously developed a product called the "netBook", although it is no longer in production. However a sister company or umbrella company "Psion Teklogix" appears to have a current product that uses the "netBook" name. Maybe someone else can tease out exactly what these companies have in common, but at any rate the term appears to be a valid trademark that is in current use.

Unfortunately for them, it has also become a common term and they may have trouble holding on to it. A similar situation occurred in the late 1980s for those old enough to remember: a PC manufacturer trademarked the term "Tower" as in Tower PC, an upright form factor for (what we used to call) IBM compatibles. The term quickly spread and the manufacturer threatened to sue several other PC makers. I remember that one in particular changed their product from "Tower 286" to "Power 286". (Yeah, I'm old :)) Needless to say, "tower" stuck as a common term and that company lost control of it.

This is not as egregious as someone trying to co-opt the term "google" or "xerox" for commercial gain, even though these words have nonetheless become household terms. Actually, about 20 years ago Xerox tried to get their name back by warning people not to say "xerox" as a verb, especially when it wasn't actually a Xerox machine. But they failed, just as they failed in several other wrong headed pursuits such as suing Apple for its GUI and suing Palm for using Graffiti.

I think the moral high road is simply to keep on innovating and don't worry so much about empty words. I'd love to see Psion come out with some innovative products; they've always been a good company. As a commenter put it on the article site, R&D is better than C&D.
 

Both the 5mx and Netbook have been used successfully by mountaineers; the Netbook in particular was used by a Hungarian team while climbing Mount Everest. They have been out of production for years but it shouldn't be difficult to pick them up (probably used) for a small fraction of what a normal laptop would cost.
http://www.psionteklogix.com/public.aspx?s=us&p=News&POid=367
http://www.project-himalaya.com/news-00-shishapangma.html

I have never used a Netbook, but was pleased with the 5mx that I used years ago (though not for world travel or mountain climbing or anything like that). It fit in my pocket, had a VERY comfortable keyboard for its size (I could type at roughly 2/3 of the speed that I type on a full-sized keyboard) and ran for a good 30 hours or so on a pair of AA batteries. It survived a number of short falls--about 3 feet onto hard surfaces--without any problems.

Both use CompactFlash for removable storage, and can be used with a cell phone or modem for Internet access. The Netbook has a PCMCIA slot as well, which (with appropriate cards) adds Ethernet or wireless capabilities.
http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=321802

The 5mx probably won't be of much help when it comes to creating backup copies of photos, but the Netbook might with appropriate accessories (either sending them over the Internet or mailing home CompactFlash cards).

And yes, both will run Linux if you choose, though there are some limitiations.
http://linux-7110.sourceforge.net/howtos/netbook_new/index.htm
http://staff.washington.edu/dushaw/psion/openpsion/
http://linux-7110.sourceforge.net/howtos/series5mx_new/index.htm

I was about to ask exactly this question having been investigating a PDA for somebody I know with Multiple Sclerosis who finds the de-facto Palm/PocketPC form-factor of stylus + graffiti too awkward and therefore too slow.

The best combination of size and usability that we have found so far is an old Psion Series 7, often found on auction sites for a few hundred dollars or available in more modern form as the PsionTeklogix Netbook Pro . During a trial lasting several hours (to ensure there was no pressure to perform or make decisions), we found the keyboard was comfortably sized and usable (even a for very tall man with large hands and restricted mobility).

The newer Netbook Pro is Windows CE based and this may be preferable if the user is already with the Windows user interface, it certainly is in our case.

There are probably several other PDA's of similar size and form and we'd be interested to hear any suggestions.

Much to my dismay I have just discovered that the latest Psion handheld is running "Wince".

R.I.P. EPOC 5, a decent little OS that did what it was designed to do.

The hope of them releasing a Netbook Pro with EPOC just wont happen,
despite the petition which began around August 2002.

And besides being a Linux convert, Sharp Zaurus can only add to my learning - so it really looks I may end up buying one instead of a say the older Netbook.

But one question is the keys. Please advise anyone - owner of a Zaurus!

They look from the images kind of hard type, I don't want to strain my fingers nor do I want to type with a toothpick.

Netbook seems very ergonomical and looks like you can type 50 words per minute - no problem.
I hope Sharp Zaurus is the same.
I wanted to use a PDA as a diary (or programming platform) not just scribbling nervous acronyms on screen with a stylus.

The hope of them releasing a Netbook Pro with EPOC just wont happen,
despite the petition which began around August 2002.

And besides being a Linux convert, Sharp Zaurus can only add to my learning - so it really looks I may end up buying one instead of a say the older Netbook.

But one question is the keys. Please advise anyone - owner of a Zaurus!

They look from the images kind of hard type, I don't want to strain my fingers nor do I want to type with a toothpick.

Netbook seems very ergonomical and looks like you can type 50 words per minute - no problem.
I hope Sharp Zaurus is the same.
I wanted to use a PDA as a diary (or programming platform) not just scribbling nervous acronyms on screen with a stylus.

Back in the 90s, Psion pulled out of mainstream PDAs because they said they "only" had 14% share. These days, that's 14% share of a damned big market including Smartphones. IMHO Psion have not got the balls to be in business because they keep pulling out of every field they're any good at. Luckily for them, the Teklogix business is a bit of a cash cow but it's hardly mainstream stuff.

Basically, Teklogix, which they bought in 2000, is all that's left. They make "industrial" handhelds. In a way, it represents Psion going back to their roots, but I am still somewhat sad that they didn't make more of their mainstream PDA business; I had a number of Psion PDAs, (Series 3, Revo) which in many ways were more functional than the PocketPC I'm using now.

Psion Teklogix is still in the market...

And Symbol still use Palm OS in their PDA's.

You might want to look at Satellite Forms Mobile App Designer from Pumatech Inc. We provides a RAD tool for Palm and PocketPC. Several users have built extensions for it to read/write to the serial port.

Disclaimer: I work for Pumatech...

I found this article on riscos.com a while back saying they had a project ongoing to get RISC OS working on the Psion netBook PDA. "The SA1100 processor used in the netBook offers 26 bit operational modes that will allow the use of all the current Acorn / RISC OS software". It looks here like Psion are still making the netbook.

We bought 5 Symbol SPT 1500's about 2 years ago at UKP350 each. They were the fragilest little things you ever saw. All 5 are now sitting on my desk, with absolutely no hope of getting them running. Moral? You at least need the more sturdy SPT1700 (UKP600+) There is even the CDPD enabled 1733 and GSM based 1734 for wireless WAN applications

As for getting GPS working with them, they are fully functional palm pilots, so any GPS software available for them will work. Palms aren't big on expansion slots, so they will have to plug into the cradle port.

Symbol do have a PocketPC based unit, the SPT2700 (UKP1200+). These have the same options (802.11(& .11b), CDPD, GSM) however they unfortunately run PocketPC ;-)

Recently I have found This, the Psion Teklogix 7510. It is a full PC with a 586 133MHz chip and a hard drive. It has built in scanner and RF options, and 2 internal / 1 external PCMCIA slots. With a 6" screen, it is a perfect little box. You can run whatever operating system you like, and write whatever code you like for them. They are ruggedised and waterproof, and are built for use on forklifts etc, so they should take a bashing and keep working.

The only problem? At $4300 a piece with barcode and 802.11b, they ain't cheap...

Whatever, losing the HD is one excellent way to cut battery consumption to the minimum (on whatever type of machine you use). Boot from flash and use a ramdrive for temp storage if you need it... I wonder if any laptop BIOS supports booting from flash on PCMCIA or if you'd need flash which can attach to IDE (used in conjunction with a 3.5"-2.5" IDE converter and placed in the drive bay....assuming it fits :)

Don't forget the RISC OS on netBook ("Ron") project, either. Although it's not a 1024x768 screen, the Psion netBooks run on StrongARMS, are very rugged, and have insanely long battery life as requested. They support PCMCIA and CF cards. I'm surprised we haven't seen ARMLinux on them yet, or maybe there is...

Try one of the these. StrongARM processor, 802.11b networking, operates from -30 to 50 degrees Celsius, backlit screen with temperature compensation.

Go take a look at psion teklogix, they have a large line of industrial handheld computers, some are rugged and impact-resistant, they even have a "freezer" model and ruggedized netpads (which were even featured in slashdot not long ago).

...with decent pictures here.

...stupid lameness filter...

BTW, to answer the poster's question:
here is a small photo and a spec sheet

Here's the page with the pics and a spec sheet:
http://www.psionteklogix.com/main/netpad.htm

Personally we already use ruggedized Windows boxes that are like this so I don't see much use for a PDA that can do the same.

liB

This appears to be Psion Teklogix NetPad(r) Main Page. A small photo is included.
Here is the spec sheet (96.6Kb.pdf)

This appears to be Psion Teklogix NetPad(r) Main Page. A small photo is included.
Here is the spec sheet (96.6Kb.pdf)

but if I could get a StrongARM machine running reasonably fast

You mean like a Psion Series 7 or a netBook? Harddrive is available separately, though.