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"Tight" PDA/Handheld Console
david-currie writes: "Looks like a company called Technopop is developing a Gameboy-styled handheld console based on the Pentium I called Tight. This will allow you to download and play games like Quake and Tomb Raider and provide PDA features They also announce a titanium case and $100 price-point, which could be very nice ... " Total vapor of course, but it's a nifty goal.
Maybe it's just me, but a PI with enough RAM is still usually more computer than most consumers know what to do with. Sheesh, my mom has a perfectly fine iMac and is already making noises like it isn't enough computer for her. Reason? Marketing.
You ask the average PDA or whatever user a few questions about how they use/would like to use their computers and you quickly(and I mean quickly) find that most all of them are usually happily within their range of usefulness(games not withstanding). The only complaints I hear about consistently are small screens and/or games run 'slow'(whatever that really means). A lot of this is pure psychology at work.
I want to get a Palm V when the prices bottom out. A PDA only has to do a few things for me and I'm not sure playing games is really all that high on the list, though I know that being able to play games on a PDA will means more powerful PDAs for the kind of work that I really want them to do :).
I certainly don't want or even expect the kind of performance that I get out of my desktop machine, but then again, I started piddling with a Commodore PET in 1980-81. You know, back when computers were still new enough to still be thought of as tools, not merely game engines ;)
In space, no one can hear you moo.
Technopop appears to be a Gaming Company, don't be suprised if this is going to try and be something similar in the vien of the Tiger Electronics handheld "computer" which was suppose to be a gaming machine with some limited web surfing/email slapped on to make it "connected" ( it did look like a cool idea though ). Judging by the company's web site though...it looks rather...unprofessional, and a search though some of the major engines didn't really bring up much. I'd say this is a classic example of vapor ware..yet, like most vapor ware, some intresting things exist. If you notice they claim to have long relations with Sega...could this somehow be related to the Dreamcast? Hmm...a supersized VMU?
Keep in mind though, this is the only place i have seen/or can find this news...including the PDA only news places ( and they would have SNAPPED this up in a heartbeat ), anyone got any firmer links?
another rambling post brought to you by:
SgtPepper
Cute, but a little pricey at $899 (+/- various options)... cheaper than a Vaio 8^)
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
Ti has about the strength of steel, and is slightly heavier (IIRC) than aluminum, but not by much. The reason for the expense of Ti is that it is difficult to work. It has to be machined at low speeds, because it heats up quickly, and can actually weld itself to cutting tools. It is tough to polish, cut, and can wear out stamps and other tools quickly. All this adds to the expense of a final product.
WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
(Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)
If the case is titanium, shouldn't they use that new Itanium chip?
Gee I wonder why?
From McMaster-Carr:
12"x12"x1/8" Acetal Copolymer = $10.74 (in black)
12"x12"x1/8" Titanium = $364.90
Funny how that basic material cost factors in.
-cpd
Although I'd like to see what becomes of this product (I can't even connect to the site!), I'd just like to inform everyone that Quake on a PDA is not only possible, but has been done. :)
There's a port to the Apple Newton at the NewtonQuake homepage.
The Newton has a pretty large display though, and the screen shots look very nice. Haven't got a chance to play it, but it almost makes me want to get a Newton 2100 to replace my lost Newton 100!
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Why not just go with a color palm pilot? Or for that matter, why not just get a color GameBoy?
Part of the point is to be able to run the old x86 games, hence the need for an x86 processor.
As for the power consumption, you are only considering Pentiums the way they were, using a 0.5 micron process, 3.3 volts, and a high Mhz. Today, they could be manufactured in the now obsolete 0.25 micron fabs. This would make for a lower voltage and lower power consumption. Besides, Intel would love to get some more life out of these fabs before overhauling them into something else.
They also won't need to run these full out. 100Mhz or even 60Mhz would be fast for the games they are talking about. Remember that they ahve a small screen, fewer dots to push around. Throw in some power saving technics and you lower the requirements even farther.
Finally, just because they are talking Pentium I now, doesn't mean that they will stick with it. The point they are trying to make is "x86 compatible processor." Maybe they will go with the Crusoe or an AMD chip, but for now, they want the Intel name, which doesn't scare off venture capitalists.
I still won't say that these won't be battery hogs, but they may not be as bad as you think.
Thanks buddy....some of us are browsing from work, and can get fired for downloading pics like that one.
Go ahead and troll....just don't lay traps like that one that could (if my boss had been looking over my shoulder when I clicked the link) put me out on the street, alright?
-- WhiskeyJack
How can we prevent this in the future? Now that Slashdot has been Borgified by the Andover folks, they've got enough funding and computer resources to cache the front couple of web pages and pictures for the articles they post, so that most of the load can be absorbed there and only the small percentage of people who read the deeper links will have to hit the real site.
Technical comment:Yes, I know this only helps people who have real html pages, and doesn't do as much for javascriptified dancing animated Shockwave voice-recognition GUIs making it hard to find the actual content. I don't feel bad about this
Shameless commercial plug: Caching is your friend. In addition to the server capacity at Slashdot and the caches at your ISP, there are caching service vendors such as AT&T (that was the plug) and of course Akamai. Caching also does a better job of speeding up pages that use real HTML (and also imagemaps), and again I don't feel at all bad about making well-behaved user interfaces get better treatment.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Slashdot should Cache linked sites in case of the Slashdot Effect
Sure, its a great idea, but it has a lot of legal implications. For example, commercial sites rely on their banner ads to generate revenue. If I cache one of their pages, this will mess with their statistics, and mess with their banner ads. In other words, this will piss them off.
Of course, most of the time, the commercial sites that actually have income from banner ads are able to defend themselves from the Slashdot effect. So perhaps we could draw the line at only sites that don't have ads. They are, after all, much more likely to buckle under the pressure of all those unexpected hits. But what happens if I cache the site, and they update themselves? Once again, I'm transmitting data that I shouldn't be.
So the quick answer is: Sure, Caching would be neat. It would make things a lot easier when servers go down. But I'm just not interested in dealing with the legal aspects, or the overhead required to ask permission (and do you really want Slashdot stories to wait 10 hours while I wait for a reply from someone in charge of a website to ask if its ok if I cache their server?). I wouldn't want people to cache Slashdot without asking my permission, so it seems only fair that I don't cache others either.
--
47% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
When are we going to start seeing devices based on Transmeta chips ? Thats not vapor anymore.
This paid my last vacation, it mi
Does this mean that the Pentium Floating Point Bug jokes are going to become cool again? If so, I'll be cool again! =-)
Doh!
How exactly can you play Quake or Tomb Raider on a screen the size of your thumb?
How to write successful vapor specifications that will appear on slashdot:
Take an already existing technology (like GameBoy)
Mix in hype words like "Download" "Quake" "PDA"
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
- tokengeekgrrl
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions
You could also use it as a convenient space-heater/hand-warmer given the CPU they're using. Should sell well in Minnesota this winter.
FYI, the Palm V case is blasted aluminum, *not* titanium.
Titanium is stronger than steel and (I think) lighter than aluminum. It doesn't corrode. It obviously can stand a lot more heat than plastic, provides *much* more protection, and probably doesn't weigh much more. Now if it was common and cheap why would we even bother with the other materials?
Because it *isn't* common or cheap, and it is very hard to work with. It's a metal reserved for high-stress and temperature environments -- the SR-71 is skinned in titanium. Before composites every aircraft designer would have loved to build a whole plane out of titanium, but only a few could afford it.
Titanium is just one of those raw materials (unlike steel, silicon, or aluminum) that is relatively rare and expensive. Like I said, if it was common we'd make everything from it and we wouldn't think of using steel and aluminum in cars, airplanes, and cases any more than we'd think of using tin.
Personally, I have doubts about making a titanium case by itself for $100, much less a whole computer. Maybe Magnesium, but the thing is named "Tight", not "Might".
It seems to me, first of all, that this would just be too big to be a useful PDA. My Palm works for me because it does fit in my pocket. Really. Anything that doesn't, I'm just not going to carry around. Period. Second, the page indicates that this is really a gaming machine. Any PDA features will likely be an afterthought and not be too great.
It's called the Scannor Scanz and it receives AND RECORDS MPEG2 video which are shown on its 4" color screen.
I think it uses some sort of wireless LAN protocal as the video has be broadcast locally, such as at a sports stadium.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
ARS had a link on this device yesterday..a celeron box the size of a zip drive. It's supposed to be used with a desktop monitor. The biggest pro with this is that you can easily lug it around.. video is limited though
http://www.ibuypower.com/product -pc/pocket-epc.htm
Also, they state that some of the things that BeIA includes is not required? Bullshit. Protected memory, and a reliance on a GUI interface? Well, how do they think people are going to choose things with a D-pad? With a CLI? And wouldn't protected memory be a bonus, to keep your little toy from crashing while in the hands of young-uns?
Nice try kids, but trolling BeOS users is pretty weak. This thing will never see the light of day.
--sugarman--
Vapor means stuff that never sees the light of day. I pentium is not vapor because it came out, and lots and lots of people had them (I did). You can debate its usefulness all you want, but you need a different word.
Bad things often happen to good people,
It is up to them to see that they remain good.
http://beos.about.com/compute/beos/library/weekly/ aa031600.htm?rnk=r&terms=tight+gaming+pl atform
Great. Stuff a Pentium 55C in there and watch your AA batteries get sucked down in 3 minutes. Lithium doesn't make a difference. The Pentiums are hogs anyway. Why not just go with a color palm pilot? Or for that matter, why not just get a color GameBoy? The merging of the two doesn't make much sense beyond bragging rights.
--
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
http://www.ticalc.org/arch ives/files/fileinfo/40/4042.html
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/36/3 634.html
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/34/3 439.html
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