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BTW, the MMC interface is quite simple; it's the kind of interface you could build in a second EE course on design with microcontrollers. Much simpler design than CF.

i have been very pleased with my sandisk flashdrives. basically they are IDE-interface drives with flash memory instead of spinning platters. 0 ms seek time is nice, so is -silent- and -very very low power- storage. not to mention if you don't have to treat it like an egg.

i've used both the flashdrive from sandisk, and the IDE flash drives from simpletech.

the sandisk flashdrives have sizes from very small (4 MB) to big enough for your MP3s (2 GB). of course they get expensive at the high end :) best things about them are (1) can get them semi-cheap from ebay and (2) standard IDE interface.

i have been very pleased with my sandisk flashdrives. basically they are IDE-interface drives with flash memory instead of spinning platters. 0 ms seek time is nice, so is -silent- and -very very low power- storage. not to mention if you don't have to treat it like an egg.

i've used both the flashdrive from sandisk, and the IDE flash drives from simpletech.

the sandisk flashdrives have sizes from very small (4 MB) to big enough for your MP3s (2 GB). of course they get expensive at the high end :) best things about them are (1) can get them semi-cheap from ebay and (2) standard IDE interface.

PC Power and Cooling makes a line of silencer power supplies. They are very quiet (at least the 235ATX is), but I boycot PCP&C because they gave me a big hassle on a return.

Also, if you're intersted in cutting down on hard drive noise, power usage (and you want to be super cool too) then get a Sandisk Flashdrive. No moving parts and they connect to a standard IDE connector, pretty pimp.

Lastly, don't get a highspeed PIII laptop because the fans are pretty loud and boy do those things get hot, almost as bad as hot grits down your pants.

Hum, perhaps a Transmeta laptop with Flashdrive storage, running Midori from good ol' Linus?

-Speed Costs Money how fast do you want to go?

Also, a quick scan of SanDisk's web site gives this page which reassures me that the secure features have:

Cryptographic security for copyrighted data based on proven security concepts from DVD audio

Whew, I'm reassured!

Perhaps you would be interested in this& lt;/A> . It's $80, but it works with the floppy drives you already have, and can use 2MB,4MB(3.3volt and 5 volt).8MB,16MB and 32MB Smartmedia cards. You could buy a few of the disks for when students needed them, and sell the flash disks to the students.

My portable MP3 player is my CASIO E100. I have 2 x 96MB Sandisk CF Cards. Full. A car/cassette adapter & a set of bud earphones. Not that anyone cares but: Sounds very good, portable & the chicks dig it. Really - its about multi-functional devices.. i would never spend $150 on an mp3 (only) player, my CF cards will work in my digital video camera (when I get the desire to shop for one). My CASIO also playes MPEG4 video... PIC etc etc etc

You missed one of the most important features of CompactFLASH. You set one of the pines on it's interface, and it now behaves as an IDE disk drive. Can you say solid state HD. FLASH memory based Type I CompactFLASH cards are available up to 192MB and Type IIs go up to 300MB (from SanDisk). IBM HD version dosen't have much on them except higher power draw and slightly faster write speed.

But... the bit about downloading MP3s on the phone made me wonder - the best bandwidth I've heard of over a cellphone is 14k4 ... what kind of MP3s can I get at that bandwidth? Would my batteries last long enough? :)

Not necessarilly: the page states that: You can download MP3 music to the phone, or you can insert a pre-recorded MultiMediaCard. (from SanDisk)

Now, an interresting question (or a matter of ignorance from my part) is: is it possible (probably, if so how?) to record such disks from - say - a PC, and transfer those to the phone? SanDisk? Now, from where I am, the SanDisk www-server http://www.sandisk.com/cons/ appears to be down, but perhaps someone can enlighten me....

I've for a long long time wanted a mobile phone, which could also replace my PalmIII and my Rio - and preferably one with a modem and an IrDA-port too - merge the Nokia Communicator with this CyON MP3-phone, and we are almost there (after reducing the size a bit).

I realize that this is going to illicit a strong response from the readers but here goes:
Ever consider a WindowsCE product? I bought a Casio E100 8 months ago and have feel it was the best purchase Ive ever made.
When I saw my first PDA, I knew I had to have one, but recognizing how limited the hardware was, I resolved that I would resist my horrible 'first adopter' tendencies and wait for the 'next gen' products. When the E100 became available I thought it was sufficiently spec'd to be useful. 8/8 ROM/RAM, Industry Standard Compact Flash (none of this springboard stuff), Stereo Output (portable MP3), Excellent 65k colour TFT Screen (was showing StarWars Trailer on this guy 4 hours after release). It is still the best specs available in a PDA. I have a 96MB CF(for MP3s), a 56k CF (bought @ less than $80 through a promotion), and an Ether CF (onto the network I go).
I purchased a Nokia 56xx(forget exact model #) and use the adapter ($150!!!!) to dialup my ISP.

No hassle internet - no 'services', or 'content products'

This setup set me back a bit (600+80+600+150 $CDN(subsidized by the odd 'deal' and my employer))but I feel it is the only VIABLE portable/wireless computing solution available (presently).

Sure its WinCE - but it really does perform its duty. The OS is not the only reason I bought the device. Please be objective about my decision to buy this setup - Im as much a lover of GNU/Linux and free(dom) software as you are, but what were my choices to match this performance?

This is wonderful---all the Palm spin in one place. But we're (mostly) Linux people, right? Aren't we immune to software marketing spin? After all, much of the following sounds strangely familiar...

Palm OS(R) handhelds are the standard

Microsoft operating systems are the standard

- Palm OS has more than 75% market share worldwide, and our installed base doubled in the last year.

Microsoft operating systems have 99.44% market share worldwide. Installed base doesn't have room to double.

- Palm OS has more than 5,000 software programs, 10-50 times more than any other handheld platform.

Windows has a (countably) infinite number of software programs.

- Palm OS is supported by the leaders in enterprise software, including Oracle, Siebel, SAP, Lawson, Sun, and Sybase

Don't get us started.

Those are all great arguments against Linux as well.

OK, on to some better ones.

Palm OS handhelds are the leader because they were designed from the ground up for your needs.

- They're designed for information management when you're on the go, not to be a shrunken PC. Key features of a handheld are different from a PC:

- Simple. You can instantly access the information you need.

Microsoft at least is making gestures in this direction in this release.

- Wearable. It's small and light enough that that you can carry it in a pocket or a purse all day, and the batteries last long enough that you can go on a business trip without fear of losing information.

Enh, the Everex Freestyle (no longer sold under that name) was always smaller than a 5000/III, and the Compaq 1500 series is competitive in size. Battery life? No question that some PalmOS devices have much bigger numbers. The Casio E-15 I play with has enough rechargable battery life that I don't worry about it much, just like my Pilot 1000.

- Mobile. You can always update your information through wired or wireless connections, even when you are on the go.

Well, duh. The only way I can read this is as a PR attempt to imply that other platforms don't have this capability. The statement itself is vague enough that an IR or cabled connection to a cellphone would qualify, and even my Newton talked nice to a cellphone.

The palm-sized CE devices out there are pretty weak in wireless communication, which is why they can get away with this implication. I don't know of any consumer-oriented palm-sized CE devices with integrated wireless net. Palm, because they're that market leader they're bragging about, does get the benefit of high quality third-party networking products (because they're the biggest market). There is nothing like the OmniSky around for CE, and it's the one product that makes me want to go drop ~$800 on a Palm V and that modem.

OK, now on to their evaluation questions. I'm going to divide up Palm operations into three notional organizations. Palm-HW builds the Palm-branded hardware like the Palm V. Palm-Opsys implements PalmOS...and also the applications bundled with it, like Address Book. Palm-Desktop builds the PC/Mac software that works with the device.

- How many software programs and hardware options are available? As for any other computing product, the number of software and hardware options determine how much you can do with it. Palm OS has by far the largest selection, with more than 5,000 software programs and hundreds of hardware expansion options.

Again, Linux people have been through this once before....

- Do the people around you use it? Handheld users share information. They use the infrared connection to exchange business cards, information, and even software programs. Make sure you're not stuck on a handheld island.

The answer to compatibility is not standardization on a single product. The righteous answer is open standards for interoperation. See IrDA's specs for a good cut at this; in particular, IrMC is relevant to PDAs. Open standards could cut the tie between Palm-Opsys and Palm-Desktop.

App sharing, well, that's a tougher nut. Blah blah blah tcl blah java blah waba blah blah. Shame about Sun, though.

- How many companies sell it? Which companies support the platform? How many? How innovative are they? Palm licensees and OEMs include many of the most innovative companies in electronics, including leaders like Sony, Nokia, and IBM, and hot new companies like Handspring, Qualcomm, and TRG.

I'm amused by this. Microsoft used to have a big pile of HW vendors, and 3com only had the single Palm-HW vendor. Then a year or two passed...

I haven't been impressed with the diversity and innovation of the manufacturers of devices that license PalmOS. They are just grafting a part or two onto the dragonball bus. In many cases, it's obvious they've licensed much of the Palm-HW design as well (why do all those cases look so similar?) The fanciest integration to date is the Qualcomm pilot-in-a-cellphone, but I don't think it's had much market success.

Some of this lack of innovation is due to limitations in PalmOS. They can't switch processors (64k limits must die) or go to a higher res screen without breaking those thousands of apps they're bragging about. (Yes, they could add LCD to the current silkscreen area, but going to a 240x320 screen will not make pixel-positioned forms very happy.)

- Is it open? Make sure your freedom of choice is protected.

...coming from a proprietary OS vendor (Palm-Opsys), this rings hollow.

Some handhelds restrict your choices by forcing you to buy all of one company's software programs,

Not CE, and I think this is another false argument-by-implication.

limiting you to a single expansion technology,

Even the CE hardware vendors appear to be rebelling against "must have CF". The iPAQ moved CF and PCMCIA support into expansion packs, and there are some MultiMediaCard CE boxes coming.

or not working with the full range of corporate software. [...]

standards, standards, standards. Not in Palm-Opsys's best interest though.

- Are you forced to pay for features you don't want? Everyone wants different things from a handheld. Adding hardware features increases the weight and cost of the system. Bundling extra software costs you money, and uses extra memory which adds even more cost and reduces battery life.

Oh, Palm is going to tout price competitiveness? That's a win for everyone, especially if it eats into those huge per-device profit margins.

More seriously, there is a complicated set of tradeoffs here. Bigger hardware can reduce software development costs, if done right (CE is a poor example, of course). Adding more software to ROM or flash adds just the marginal cost of more storage to the hardware price; it does not suck more RAM or CPU if not used. The additional software bundled then has development costs, but if the software broadens the appeal of the device sufficiently, it may amortize over a greater number of units, and push up those economies of scale.

The real fun begins once you really unbundle the system. Say, an OS like Linux as common ground for HW manufacturers, a couple choices of app framework (gtk, fltk, W, microwindows, plus extensions), a few good PIMs to choose from, all interoperating with a variety of synchronization tools on the desktop. The market could make better decisions in the bundling/feature space if component costs were explicit.

- How simple is it, really? Beware of companies that try to cram an entire PC into your pocket. [...]

- How well do the features work in real life? Sometimes features work better in a demo than they do in real life. A prime example is browsing the Web. [...]

This is the best battering ram against CE that Palm has. Trust me. I own both. :-)

I'm going to elide the feature list because they seem to be going for parity with CE rather than superiority.

Jay

That would eliminate the long wires needed to connect the memory to the control unit, "so the whole computer operation itself will be significantly speeded up," Yoder said.

Long wires are not the only thing that makes data storage slow; they gave no numbers on the read/write speeds here, and I'm not convinced that this is going to be fast. There is already an abundance of NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM) available (eg. SanDisk), but it's VERY expensive (eg. 16MB = $75.00). The read is fast for Flash RAM, but writes are real slow. This, however, isn't Flash...

The real issue I see there is they're trying to say that this will be the normal RAM for a system, and that it won't be erased on reboot - think about this - if you crash WinDoze, you want the memory to be rebooted! You don't want the pooter to be in the same state upon reboot!!! If they're trying to use this as some kind of ROM that gets copied into the RAM on startup, well, that's already around. The only thing I see this doing is replacing NVRAM (eg, Flash, CMOS, etc), which will replace hard drives when it gets cheap (and fast) enough.

NVRAM harddrives have been available for a while. The CRAY T932 has 800GB/s memory bandwidth, I'd say it's safe to say that that bus is running at at least a GHz. I haven't heard of a 10GHz CPU, unless you are talking in the aggregate (eg. 10 processors running at 1GHz each), in which case the CRAY T932 almost certainly qualifies. You should go out and get one, and install an NVRAM harddrive in it.

Or if you want a device that's removeable and electrically IDE compatible, go with SanDisk's CompactFlash... (doesn't have to be SanDisk; other companies manufacture them) I think they're up to 96MB/card densities now.

The other nice thing about CF is the digital camera generated demand; more market to drive mass-production and lower costs.