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More on the Samsung Linux Handheld
Max von H. found the
following on PalmStation: "It seems Samsung is about to ship out a Linux PDA this summer, and it will be called Yopy. Neat, isn't it? " A little slow link, but definitely more interesting then most of the other data on the Samsung devices we've seen in the past. It looks like it's mimicing a lot of the wince stuff... also appears to have a camera option. Nifty stuff
tho.
http://www.sem.samsung.co.kr/eng/product/digital/p da/index.htm
Samsung is falling into the same pitfall as the manufacturers of WinCE devices before them. Trying to cram an entire desktop operating system into a handheld is simply ludicrous. Admittedly, Linux is pprobably better suited for these purposes than CE, but it doesn't look Samsung did a whole lot to tune the interface for a PDA. As a user of both Palm and CE devices, I much prefer a simplified GUI like the Palm. It seems like this would have been possible with Linux, but the screenshots still show the dreaded Start menu. Alas, a good idea shot down by poor implementation.
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Threshold -1, Flat mode, and newest first
One of the problems with the current mod system is insightful comments are often missed because they are so far down the story that the moderators have used up their points on trolls before they get to them.
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...without a keyboard?
Questions I have:
1. Does a keyboard peripheral exist or is one planned?
2. Can you get beneath the desktop? It would be great if they allowed the user to customize the interface. They could even create new interfaces later and let you switch between the one you want.
3. The battery is listed as 1400mA Recharge Li-Ion. Has anyone heard any estimates of how long it lasts? (esp. when used as a continuous MP3 player.)
4. I want the power! Can the user trash features they don't want to make room for features they do? (If I don't get the camera, I don't want the baggage.)
5. Okay, if I do want the camera, am I stuck with just one choice? Price?
Nitpicking aside... looks way cool.
Work as if you don't need the money,
Love as if you've never been hurt, and
Dance as if no one's watching.
So, rather than appear foolish afterward, I renounce seeming clever now.
The way I see it, it all comes down to what you can do with it. You could put linux on a toaster if you wanted to but what would be the point? If you can actually use it LIKE linux, on this pda then that's great, but I think realisticly that all the os is probally going to be on a rom somewhere leaving you with no customization maybe meaning that you are stuck running KDE, Gnome or what ever they want you to.
Now as for all this talk of playing quake or other games, I don't think it would be very good just for the fact of the strange resolution that it probally has, and that there are only two buttons and a directional type pad, would make it bad to play.
All I have seen on this is the pictures on the link from this story, and the info on samsung's page, but from what I can see, it looks just like Samsung is trying to hop on the Linux bandwagon.
It does look like a nice palmtop though, so it might be a good product. I'm just worried about the actual customizability.
-DNS
Hi!
It mentions USB port in specs. I am wondering
does this USB port allows only to connect this
PDA to computer, or does it also allows to
connect various devices to PDA?
Connecting USB keyboard or ZIP drive
could be pretty cool option!
The GMate guy at CeBIT expected the price to be in the US$400-600 range, depending on memory size (16/32MB or 32/32MB RAM/Flash). BTW: This 1400mAh battery is said to last about 10h ... Mali
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The crinkly bits compared to a palm are:
The pictures on the original page indicate that Linux will run out of 32-megs of ROM and 32-megs of RAM. It also looks like SAMSUNG is going to try to take advantage of all the chip's features (the disappointing thing about Palm is that they didn't take advantage of all the Dragonball's features).
The thing to remember is that Samsung is like only putting together a reference design from Intel with a reference implementation of Linux (probably from Lineo) and standard off-the-shelf apps (like MP3 players) with minor modifications. The PDA-style apps are probably the Lineo PDA suite. Getting all this to work well in a limitted power budget will be tough enough. The first version will probably not contain any wizbang features beyond this.
The burning questions I have: