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Another Peep From Transmeta
Robrt writes: "According to this news.com article, the first Crusoe based products will be released at PC Expo. The article doesn't give much other information. " They comment that they're not sure if we'll see laptops or webpads, but we might see something. I'd love one of those webpads with the Lucent wireless, and say, 8-12 hours of battery life.
That's where having little tiny saws built into the floppy drive comes in handy.
Word on the streets here in Taipei, Taiwan is that Transmeta will be making a major announcement at Computex 2000, Taipei (June 5th-9th).
Considering that a local manufacturer called FIC (First International Computer) plans to manufacture a Carusoe based web pad, and the fact that they will be making a Bluetooth demo at their booth (on PCs). I would guess that a announcement of a Bluetooth enabled webpad contract with some Taiwanese manufacturers would be the order of the day.
Because I live in Taipei, I will certainly be at the show, and I will be making up-to-date reports on my website... so be sure to tune in!
Tim
tim@mobilelinux.com
www.mobilelinux.com
We will either find a way, or make one.
- Hannibal
We will either find a way, or make one. - Hannibal
However, low-power means more than just battery life. It also means less EMI, at least from the processor. That might make for embedded processors in areas computers couldn't otherwise be in.
Now, if Transmeta could only come up with room-temperature superconductors... Now, THAT would reduce heat output!
After that, what's left? The hard disk is a big energy user, but you only need energy to overcome friction. Reduce friction, reduce power requirements.
Then, there's the floppy drive. Hardly anyone uses those, any more. (Apart from me. I've carried around the entire source for X11R6.3 on 3.5" floppies, before now!) Not a whole lot you can do, there, though. I suppose you could try spinning the read heads, rather than the disk.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Just this morning, I was wishing that these things would debut already...
I needed to review a pile of code, walk aroun with it, get comfy like with a print out..
Something a half-inch thick, with an 8.5x11 screen, with hand-writing recognition, would be ideal. If I could sit "indian style" on my desk, and review/edit some code... Mmmm...
Personally, I don't think it should be MEANT for web browsing. Browsing is an application. This thing should be an actual computer - a 'full size' PalmPilot if you will.. With a virtual keyboard or graffitti, full color. 128MB Ram, a several Gig of drive space...
Something the size of a large notebook's screen, with all the functionality of the notebook. Yeah, that's what I want. If it's a dedicated browser, forget it - I have too many other things I want to do.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
I don't know about you, but I don't see anybody selling web pads. I'm very much looking forward to a nice wireless pad that I can use on my home 802.11 network.
I *have* a StrongArm laptop - a NetBook from Psion. (www.psion.com). Still very rare in the U.S., but the coolest portable computer I have ever owned. Instant-on symbian OS, cute little browser, enough pre-loaded software to do some *real work* with the thing, touchscreen instead of touchpad, and a keyboard *just* big enough for real typing.
Everyone who's seen my NetBook wants it. And no, you can't have it. It's MINE!!!
(manical laughter)
- Robin
Throw in the politics that Steve Jobs came back, and really didn't want anything that wasn't MacOS, and it pretty much turns into a situation of having no way of being able to support the product.
You might find some Newtons out there; there may be some useful things to learn from it. Practically speaking, it's now more a curiosity than anything important. Which is fairly regrettable...
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
I think the web pad is so darn cute! I'm not certain what application one would have in my business, so I'd better get one and write some apps! The thought of having a wireless transmitter to a Point of Sales server would be interesting... then my waitress might be able to get my order right... regards, Benjamin Carlson
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
Given PC Expo's current leanings toward corporate and high-end users, it would make more sense for Transmeta to go with Crusoe-powered laptops and leave the Webpads for another time. Besides, the appliance market is still somewhat unproven, while pretty much everybody (myself included) is salivating for a laptop that can last for more than two hours. The laptops are potentially a much better market for Transmeta.
Mike
"We hope to have a variety of interesting and sexy products shipping in high volume in time to be under the Christmas tree," he said.
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It's getting all hot and steamy in the handheld industry. People in the lab are drooling in anticipation... just don't tell our significant others about the objects of our fancy. =)
Humorless sig goes here.
The "advanced link of the day" today is Oleg's Scheme Environments that add a hierarchical data store that consciously remembers NewtonScript "soups," which essentially represent a useful way of throwing "queries" from one place to another.
In contrast, while PalmOS does make pervasive use of persistent data, it doesn't have an equivalent to "soups."
The point here is that while "web slates" and the like may make neat "eye candy," some of the stuff Apple has discarded (and they had to discard Newton; they had lost the ability to maintain it...) is more advanced than some of the fancy things we think are k001 today.
That being said, I carry around a Palm III. Newtons were a bit too expensive, rather large, and, importantly today, the fact that they're complex critters that are not supportable by anyone because the technology was lost makes them unacceptable for future use...
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Well, since my submission has been rejected from the queue, I might as well post this link here, in a relevant topic:
Transmeta's magic show
--The more you know, the less you know.
Personally, I want something I can leave on a coffee table and not worry about it. Something about a quarter inch (say, the thickness of a CD case) and less than a pound. About a 14" screen.
Does anyone know any size details of any of the upcoming web pads?
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
My iBook usually goes between 3 and a quarter to 4 hours as long as I don't run the CD too much.
Scary thought. Hate to see it happen to Transmeta.
Got Rhinos?
"I think that while these low powered CPU's are great, the real solution will be better batteries."
Better batteries would be great for extending running time, but as processor speeds increase, at some point you'll run into a fundamental problem. With such small form factors, these devices are going to have problems dissipating heat.
You could put in a small fan, but the fan takes up space and consumes part of your power budget. Heat pipes are compact and passive, but the heat still has to go somewhere, so they're only good up until the power dissipation is enough to make the case uncomfortably hot. At that point you must reduce power consumption.
It's been posted before that AOL & Gateway threw money at Transmeta for wireless webpads... I'll betcha that's what will appear. No time for links, gotta run.
Score -1: tantalizing, yet lacking real info
(Search for aol & gateway press releases....)
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In contrast, the point of Transmeta is to design a family of microprocessors. They don't build the boxes to put them in.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
The register reports that Transmeta has now 0.15 micron Crusoe CPUs. This leads to even lower power consumption than anticipated. Maybe with this they will be able to keep up with the new ARMs powerwise and the mobile Athlon performancewise.
I want HAL back there in the back room feeding it the information, and letting me talk to it.
But I won't let HAL control the doors.
We were supposed to have HAL in 1997, and the NewsPad was a piece of toss-off technology so mundane that it should have apparently been old when HAL was new. But we still don't have it, primarily because of display cost. If a big color flatpanel is so expensive, mate it to more electronics and call it a laptop, instead of a mere limited-function display. Besides, Clavius base was SO big in 2001 that it must have been in existance for several years. And here we are flirting with a space station about to fall out of the sky before it's ever really occupied.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
They're established with us geeks, but the rest of the world doesn't know who they are.
Got Rhinos?
If Transmeta makes one, I'll buy it.
Maybe. :o)
Got Rhinos?