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Info on the New iPAQ H3800
Jason Dunn sent us to a link on his site about the new
new iPaq which is due out relatively soon. Aesthetic changes, more memory, and I assume Linux will run on it as well or better then the
existing models.
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sorry, compaq...it's nice, but until it's got bluetooth and some kind of wireless connectivity (built-in CDMA phone capabilities???), I'm not gonna shell out the $400+ you're asking.
I'll stick with my Palm V for now...
Gee, that sure sounds like a thousand dollar pda to me. But why do you want both bluebooth AND wireless connectivity??
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
A very cool tool, but looking at the specs, I got the feeling that everything has been added because it can, not because it could be useful for a PDA. I mean: a 5 button joystick interface? If they would have integrate cell-phone functionality, then this would really rock. Anyone got any ideas on how long such a battery will last without recharging?
I intend to live forever, so far so good.
(no body)
Well, I would definitely love to see some 802.11b in there, especially now that they have the technology down to the size of a CF card. BUT... it's a bit understandable, since 802.11a products are coming out (supposedly) this winter. It makes sense for Compaq to wait until 802.11a technology is small enough to fit in an iPaq PocketPC. There are many enterprises waiting for the 5GHz stuff to come out. At any rate, why do we have to always wait for the cool stuff!?!?!
Presumably, QNX will run on these as well? I guess if you can install Linux, QNX will go on as well. Hopefully the QNX install process with be easier than the Linux one.
... because it makes an ass out of "u" and me.
Seriously though, why do you assume it will be designed to run Linux better? I'm just curious as I read the information and all it mentioned was Windows.
Also, I don't like this spec:
The H3800 Series combines USB, serial, and power into a single connector. Earlier H3000 Series Pocket PCs have separate USB/Serial and power connectors.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the UNIVERSAL serial bus? I thought the great thing about USB is that as long as you have a USB port you can plug in any USB device. Now you have to make sure you have their special connector to access the USB port...
Otherwise, it looks pretty cool, if it does run Linux well I may have to get one!
~ now you know
Wired has an article on what Palm might be up to with Be. Interesting in light of this story.
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If you look at the descriptions, One illustration lists the hole on the upper left (correctly) as the earphone jack, the other lists it as the Bluetooth status indicator. And the '5 way' joystick is listed at the voice recorder button. (And what should be the voice recorder button is incorrectly listed as the ambient light sensor.)
Looks like somebody was a little rushed to print.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
I'm a proud owner of a Cassiopeia E-100, the first colour handheld ever. It's aging quite nicely -- the processor is only 133 MHz, but that's MIPS and not this cheap-slow-crunches-x86-code-easily StrongARM BS that looks nice on benchmarks but can't feed graphics to save its life. The problem is that the E-100 is stuck in time, there's not really much development going on for Windows CE 2.11 and the developers who used to give us a hand-me-down build when compiling for 3.0 usually just blow us off entirely. Some of the new graphics APIs, which don't really have a parellel in Pocket Linux are very swift and are allowing handhelds to really blow up the market with features like full motion video, great VNC support, and really bitchin' audio interfaces.
What, say those of you still stuck in the dark ages of the "i can do anything a pencil and paper can do, only 500 times more expensive" PalmOS, why would you want motion video? Well, because it's terribly useful for making a lot of the things you want a palmtop for more descriptive. Take, for example, the latest topographical software that comes with TopoUSA (a maptech product I think). It can display a 3d gradient of an area. Not too useful? I beg to differ. There have been a number of times up in the 'dacks where I've bivouaced up a mountain and come down on the totally wrong side. I can't read contour lines for shit, because I don't have a degree in geography. With the isometric view that this topo software provides, i could just input the direction i was facing, and scroll until the terrain matched what I was seeing (no, GPS wouldn't be useful here, because it would be at least ten meters off...and in a land of overgrown trails and thousand foot cliffs, ten meters is a lot). There are lots of other uses for a decent graphics API, too, such as video conferencing and web browsing.
However, this new iPaq still has the same crummy 12 bit downsampled (meaning that the proc takes time to shave off the extra 4 bits) screen as its predessors. So while the processor is faster, the display (which is the biggest bottleneck, pocketpcpassion.com had a benchmark showing that even the E-100 could beat the 32 meg iPaq to the screen using the old graphics APIs) is slow as it ever was. Kind of a shame, considering all the features...like putting a big engine, big gas tank, great stereo, leather seats, GPS and handheld telephone into a nice little lightweight chassis, and then gearing it for torque.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
As for why use linux, well:
- Because you can. Some people will try and run linux on everything that has a CPU and RAM.
:) It's a geek thing, I think...
- Custom uses; here you have nicely packaged hardware with a reasonable amount of RAM (go back 2-3 years and 64MB was a privilege!); I'm sure you could develop some good custom utilities that require portability (e.g. stock inventories in a warehouse). Using linux allows a custom kernel to be deployed making such tools more efficient (hopefully!) and/or making integration with an existing linux/Unix infrastructure easier. That said, many tools could simply be deployed as Pocket PC apps.
Your point about being custom made is good, though. I bought mine as a PDA, not as a mobile computing platform. All I need is something to sync up contacts and calender info and the ability to browse the web using IR and a GSM phone. Pocket PC 3.0 lets me do this quite happily with Outhouse (not my choice; company standard) at work.Its probably is on the same scale as normal iPaqs...
Mine lasts about 4-6 hours without the backlight ever on, and that goes down to 2-3 with it and depending if I'm using proc intensive stuff...
Need a lot more if its gonna be a cell phone, though the expansions do come with more batteries...
Your signatures belong to me.
It's got more RAM and processor power than my primary PC, Pentium 100 with 32 MB. Yeah, I live in the dark ages, but it works great under Linux, just not X.
Wow! I didn't realize that my 8 weeks in Army Basic Training qualified me for a degree in geography!
Seriously, it just takes practice to learn map reading. A lensatic compass helps alot. Up in the mountains is not the place to learn, do it in the foothills. The big advantages of a map and a compass for hiking is that they don't require batteries, and you can drop them without breaking them.
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... or, considering the iPaq's size, maybe it should be a Gollum cluster of these. ;->
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
Has anyone tried to find a fucking JOB lately! May all employers spontaneously combust!
In light of the HP/Compaq merger, it seems likely that at least one of these products will either never see the light of day or will be killed in short order. (I vote for croaking the iPaq.)
Yeah, I live in the San Diego area and have been a UNIX sys admin for 15years. I lost my job of 3 months in the 1st week of Aug 2001 and I still have not found anything, WTF.
"The Brady Bunch is back...working homicide"
Can you get it with Linux pre-installed; or no operating
system? I'm not buying one of these things until it is possible
to get one without giving money to Microsoft.
No XScale, no BT as standard. I guess the other rumours were untrue. I wonder when they will come with MPEG1/2/4 decoders as standard;)
So, I thought we'd be seeing the amazing new Xscale interation of Arm in handhelds by now.
Hasn't the chip been out for a little while, and isn't it supposed to be a lot faster/or have much longer batter life?
I am working in a Project which uses loads of iPaqs, thats why Compaq invited me and my project collegues to their stand at the Swiss Orbit-Expo on Thuesday to get a demo of the new iPaq. (They told us that there are only 3 of those iPaqs in europe, and I guess they had to, since this was a VIP event :)
;)
Here is what I found:
First off the new design is really cute, and the integrated card slot is also very practical, which brings me to the first negative point. Why did they introduce a new card format? (I mean besides the cash, and probably license fees they will get)
The screen hasn't improved much as far as I could see, but as you may know, the screen was already very sharp and very bright, actually one of the best screens on PDAs over all.
The new MS OS running on that iPaq was all smooth and anti-aliased, kept in the typical XP style, which itself is of course kept really close to the OS X aqua GUI
I had the impression that the overall system speed has also somewhat improved.
What they didn't fix is the fact that the iPaq still does a factory reset when power goes out. Just like a Palm, but my Palm runs over 5 weeks before he does so. And also the iPaq doesn't turn the screen of, say 10 minutes in advance, which would save the RAM contents for some days I guess. OTOH they did include 32 MB of ROM, which makes is possible to install more apps in the ROM.
The GPRS-Tri-Band jacket which is also brand new, looks like a really nice thing to have if you travel a lot, it gives you "gsm connectivity in virtually any gsm networks on this planet" according to compaq. I think this is pretty much the case, except for some African Networks. Only the price was relatively high, it costs about 550 $ (850.- SFr).
You use it on the back side, there are integrated mics and speakers on there. This makes sense if you don't need to know how your ears look when pressed upon a glass surface. And of course you would hit buttons on the touchscreen while phoning.
They also made a little but vital change to the pen, its now completly round so can put it in either way, unlike with the current models where putting the pen in the wrong way can result in a pen stuck in an iPaq.
Oh, yeah, almost forgot, they have really good coffee and croisants at their stand.
Not to rain on somebodys parade but I did expect some CPU and memory improvements for the next model, like at least >400 MHz and 128 MB ram.
I've always considered the availability of specs for the HW the best point of the iPaqs. Being able to review the hardware and port whatever OS you might choose is very encouraging. It looks to me like one of the best opportunities to have a truly secure system.
That's right, I don't necessarily trust the average motherboard to not have a keylogger built in.
Blah blah you're gay
No H3800 for me, thanks.
Hey CmdrTaco. Do you understand that you write for one of the most widely read sites on the Internet? Don't you think you should learn to write english or just use your native language?
Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than Then Than
- Hail to our fearless misleader! Fool speed ahead!
I did not see any indication that they fixed the serial button interface. I want to play arcade style games without the fuss of one key press at a time. (Yes, I do work too, but darn it, fix the serial interface.)
>400MHz? 128MB?
/. karma instead.
Better make that battery a bit thicker. You know I still, compile, browse and do my e-mail on a 233MHz/64MB Thinkpad - I'd say the little iPAQ is still pretty hot even though it may not be a multimedia monster.
I've been having this sneaking suspicion lately that unless you're into video you just don't need the processing power of a 1 or 2 GHz CPU or the wide open spaces that 1 GB of RAM presents. ( My kids have machines like that.) I think what we need now is imagination and interesting and clever ideas to use what we have.
All I have is a $.03.
My penny change, please.
If ya ain't got change I'll take
Actually, if you click on the "buy it today" link in the article, it looks like there are 3 models to choose from, including one w/64K colors, and one w/64K colors and bluetooth.
= 84348
http://www.pocketpcfanatic.com/compaq.asp?REFERER
(Note, the referer ID belongs to the pocketpcthoughts guy, not me.)
If you want Linux on a PDA, why not buy a Linux PDA? The Agenda VR is a decent, very compact Linux PDA, and there are several others. And HP has announced a Jornada based on Linux.
Just try to play a MAME game under that situation.
So my question is, did they fix that annoying problem in this new iPAQ?
I've seen the black and white screen iPaqs for $200 with a $50 rebate. Handhelds.org couldn't tell me if it'll run linux. Can you?
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -Gandhi
they have a distro ready i think
I'm sorry if this is a bit off-topic...
I'm looking into handhelds right now to help curb my natural "absentminded professor" tendencies. I have the Palm, the Visor, the iPAQ, and now the VR3.
The Agenda is already running Linux...what's everyone's take on it versus the iPAQ???
-PONA-
+that's funny...I don't FEEL tardy.+
I'll buy an iPaq on the day it has Linux (or just the bootloader) preinstalled, and none of my money goes to a criminal organization. Even if that wasn't relevant, there's absolutely no sense in paying for software that you don't use and actually remove on the first day.
Well, I might try the Agenda while waiting for the windowless iPaq. It's much cheaper, too.
I remember that the iPaq Linux port had some problems with the deep sleep mode (APM stuff) earlier. I guess those have been corrected by now? It would be kind of silly to have a PDA which batteries only last 2 hours or so.
Jason Dunn sent us to a link on his site about the new new iPaq, which is due out relatively soon. [subject verb?] Aesthetic changes, more memory, and I assume Linux will run on it as well or better then the existing models.
Dear Cmdr Taco:
Your first sentence is missing a comma and includes too many instances of the word "new." It is also awkwardly worded. Your second "sentence" is not actually a sentence. You forgot to include a subject and a verb! Plus you should have used the word "than" instead of "then." Was there an English requirement for your GED?
cpeterso
It is definitly dfinite definite dfinitly dfinite finitely finite dfinitly finit finitely and definately not definate
Feel for you fella, truely do. :(
I used to work as a PM/Sys Admin for Blue Chips.
Decided to pack in my job and work in Australia for a year.......can barely get a job as an office temp
Po