Crusoe WebPads By FIC

p0rkmaster writes "Found a nugget in a Tom's Hardware Guide report from Computex in Taipei - FIC was showing off TransMeta Crusoe 'WebPads' " Interesting specs, but no comment on what OS it's running, or on the type of wireless LAN used. If it's Linux and 802.11, we may have a winner ...

Comments

Re:What does this mean for Palm?

[Carnage4Life]

I may be totally wide of the mark here, but does this spell trouble for Palm? Not just from the increased competition, but the Nerd factor must surely be in favour of Transmeta now.

I won't say your off the mark, more that you probably just hang out with geeks. In my experience Palms have brought us much closer to ubiqitous computing than MSFT, Intel and Apple combined. The palm is the only device I have seen turn people both young and old (teens to people in their mid-fifties) into blubbering nerds. I seen people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds become enraptured with a Palm due to it's simplicity, usefulness and all around coolness. No tech-company today can say that their device elicits squeals of delight both from college students and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
Basically what I am trying to say is that Palms attract a lot more people than just nerds and even amongst the nerds that are attracted a lot of them aren't the slashdot-type/linux/free-software/hardware-hacker type, so thinking that some product will steal market share from Palm simply because Linux geeks will want to buy Transmeta is a false assumption.

Latest on Release

[dearmar]

Just spoke to the folks at FIC about a release date and they are saying third quarter of 2000. They are also saying that a real prototype doesn't even exist!!! (Where'd they get that nifty little device posed on the site that's stirring up all this conversation?)

802.11b

[MAXOMENOS]

The website mentiones 802.11b specifically as an example of their RF card. It's probably a safe assumption that they use 802.11 as their RF standard.

Now if we can only get confirmation that it runs Linux....

The Second Amendment Sisters

It's BeIA

[sugarman]

If you go to the other product, the desktop unit, it lists the OS as BeIA. Sweet!

Oh yeah, the direct link is here.

Crusoe and Linux

[de Selby]

I seem to remember that the 400Mhz Crusoe was meant for Linux while the 700Mhz one was for Windows. That would imply that this runs Lunux.

BeOS; curdled English

[Sebbo]

Well, we do know that FIC has a contract with Be, Inc. to use BeIA (whenever the damn thing comes out) in "internet appliances." Whether that means the Aqua is going to be running BeIA isn't clear.

Love that language in the page, though. Favorite phrases include:

• Aqua uses Touch panel and Stylus to be the input device for spontaneous Internet accessing.
  
• ...we can turn it to the backside and let Aqua stand firmly on the desk. How amazing it is!
  
• using Lithium battery to complete superior wireless Internet access out of question.
  

What the hell is this????

[Reality Master 101]

[rant gun to full power]

If I want a Palm, I'll get a palm. When I heard "web pad", I pictured a notebook-sized unit with an 800x600 or 1024x768 screen, say about 1/2" thick that I could toss around the living room. At least, I think that was the unit described at the (in)famous Transmeta coming out party.

This is totally worthless for surfing the web. The technology is there for a real web pad... my IBM laptop's screen is only a half-inch thick. Put the electronics and battery around the sides of the screen and boom! instant web pad, the way it should be.

Come on Crusoe licensees, get a clue. If you want to make a Palm, make a palm. But don't call it a web pad when the SCREEN IS TOO SMALL TO SURF THE WEB.

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