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Tiqit Handheld PC
ParisTG sent us: "Tiqit Computers unveiled the eightythree, basically a handheld PC (as in IBM compatible). It will even boot Linux. Comes with 128-256MB RAM, 266-300MHz, 640x480 18bit screen, and a 10GB hard drive. The brochure with images (pdf) is online."
First Handheld Computer to Run Windows, Linux or Unix OS to Be Unveiled at CeBIT
March 8, 2002. eightythree, said to be the first computer that combines the portability of a handheld with the functionality and software compatibility of a Windows/Linux/UNIX PC, will be unveiled at the opening of CeBIT next week by Tiqit Computers.
According to Tiqit, although this feature was previously considered impossible to engineer, the eightythree is not a concept product. Instead, Tiqit says it has built - a mass produced -- a fully functioning x86 handheld device out of cutting-edge but available parts, designed specifically for enterprise use and immediate production. The computer will be introduced at CeBIT, the world's largest telecommunications and IT conference, scheduled for next week, March 13-20, in Hannover, Germany.
According to the company, eightythree offers clear benefits to the enterprise community. Workers reportedly gain increased mobility and function with a device that allows them to depend on a single operating system, and companies can reduce their total cost of ownership. Possessing the storage capacity and processing power to enable the extension of many software services to areas formerly unreachable, the eightythree also has the flexibility of using all of the software and hardware extensions currently available in the mainstream PC market, Tiqit maintains.
"This product will greatly accelerate adoption and use of handhelds in the enterprise," said Ian Blasch, CEO, Tiqit Computers. "It uses standard operating systems -- Windows XP, Linux or UNIX -- and is compatible with all associated applications, including legacy software. Almost anything you can do on a laptop or PC, you can do on eightythree -- only it is smaller and more mobile."
The eightythree form factor is 5.4-in long, 4-in wide, 1.1-in thin and weighs 20 oz. It is the size of a large PDA, has laptop-quality screen resolution, SMS keyboard, thumb-operated micro joystick with mouse buttons, touchscreen, a cardbus PC card slot to support all standard wireless modems, a USB port, a Secure Digital (SD) slot and internal speaker. Therefore, says Tiqit, it connects with other standard devices, from digital cameras to bar code scanners to docking stations. On the software end, it incorporates all the applications you would find on a laptop or PDA, including voice communication, e-mail, web access, PIM, enterprise applications and the ability to download attachments.
In terms of components, eightythree's CPU is the National Semiconductor Geode, 266-300 MHz, RAM is 128 MB or 256 MB, and there is a 10 GB hard drive. The screen is a 4-in 640X480 TFT (18-bit color) with touchscreen and backlight. The external monitor displays up to 1280 x 1024 at 75 Hz, 1024 x 768 at 85 Hz. eightythree is powered by an internal lithium ion rechargeable battery.
Actually, you can still buy Librettos, now based on the Crusoe (and with expected long battery lives). Take a look at http://www.transmetazone.com for reviews or http://www.dynamism.com/libretto/index.shtml to buy one (for shipping to the states).
Intel tried and failed to enforce trademarks on numbers when it lost its suits against rival chipmakers who were stamping their chips 486. And so the Pentium was created instead of the 586.
Under that precedent, TI doesn't really have much of a case. Of course, I am not TI's lawyer or your lawyer, so go get a lawyer if you want an answer to rely upon.
Mirror site up here.
That url is
http://www.netmar.com/~will/TiquitBrochure.pdf
Notes on mirror: ONE. Brochure is property of Tiquit designs, or whoever that company is. It's not mine.
TWO: If you're gonna hammer my server, sign up for webhosting with my company - www.netmar.com. Linux web hosting for $8/month, w/ 100 MB of space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email aliases, PHP, Perl, C Cgi's, MySQL, etc.
~z
sig?
Here is information on their earlier machine with some mention of pricing.
Applications
1. Factors and Considerations
The MPC is intended for situations calling for a small, light, low-powered, respectably
performing, silent commodity PC. The MPC meets these requirements as follows.
Size 5 cubic inches (84 cc)
Weight 3.3 oz (93 g)
Power 3 to 7.5 watts
Performance Positioned midway between a laptop and a PDA, the MPC is a 32-bit 66 MHz
computer, while its hard drive spins at 4500 RPM and transfers data at approximately 1
MB/s.
Noise The MPC has no fan, and the hard drive has in common with a Swiss watch not only its
precision but its near-silent operation.
Platform The MPC is based on the ubiquitous x86 architecture and can therefore run the
user's choice of Windows, DOS, Linux, OS/2, Solaris, QNX, and other x86 operating
systems.
This hard-to-meet combination is realized with the help of two key components.
The AMD Elan SC410, an x86-based microprocessor designed for low-power embedded applications.
The IBM Microdrive, a 1 gigabyte conventional rotating magnetic hard drive occupying less than half a cubic inch (7.8 cc) and weighing half an ounce (16 g). The Matchbox PC is also available with the smaller 340 MB Microdrive, or with no Microdrive in which case the operating system resides on the 16 MB flash.
No other system available today comes close to equalling the MPC's combination of features.
PDAs such as the Palm Pilot while small and light lack the computing power and storage capacity needed to run the full-scale operating systems used on desktops and laptops. So-called pocket-size Pentium-based platforms such as the Saintsong Espresso are more powerful, but their power is achieved with a much larger package (Espresso: 31 cu.in/508 cc
and 1 lb/460 g), drawing much more power (10-20 W), and making more noise with their fan
and physically larger hard drive.
2. Representative Applications
The following applications are a good match to the MPC's design parameters.
Wearable Computing The MPC was originally designed as a wearable computer. Suitable components complementing it in this application are a VGA headmounted display such as the TekGear M1 or M2 or the Virtual Research V6 or V8, the Handykey
Twiddler chording keyboard and mouse or the WristPC QWERTY keyboard, and a serial wireless modem such as a cellular phone with serial cable or the Novatel Sage CDPD modem.
Transportable Desktop The MPC together with its battery may be unplugged from one port expander and carried to another site where it is plugged into another port expander. The peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, ethernet, printer, floppy) may be left connected at each end, greatly simplifying departure and arrival.
While in transit the MPC can continue to operate, solving preassigned computational problems or beingused as a wearable computer.
Mobile Datalogging Equipped with such mobile accessories as GPS and AD converters connected to its two serial ports, the MPC can log hundreds of megabytes of data unattended. It is ideal when weight is a major concern.
Space Missions Size, weight, and power dissipation are all of concern in the cramped quarters of a space vehicle. Every ounce of payload requires another pound of fuel to launch it. And the absence of gravity inhibits the usual upward flow of heat by convection, leaving Brownian motion of the air molecules as the primary mechanism for carrying heat away (a fan adds size and weight while consuming additional power).
At least as important in space is robustness of the software; an operating system such as Linux that has been closely scrutinized by literally thousands of programmers for eight years stands a much better chance of surviving the surprises of space than one written for a special-purpose platform by a small team of dedicated but fallible programmers.
3. Non-Applications
The MPC is not suited to all applications that one might at first think of.
MP3 Player Although the MPC is ideally sized for a personal MP3 player it lacks support both for audio output and for decoding MP3 without skipping.
Beowulf Node Although a cluster of MPCs would take up little space and draw little power, the performance available per cubic foot is less than that achievable using a smaller number of physically larger and more powerful nodes.
Desktop Replacement Although the MPC has all the functionality of a desktop, with all the capacity of a 1995 desktop, the intervening five years have witnessed dramatic growth in the size and quantity of both software and databases.
A modern desktop outperforms the MPC by easily an order of magnitude in both speed and storage capacity.
The march of progress notwithstanding, many users may be placing the same demands on their desktops today that they did five years ago. Those users at least should find the MPC meets their needs perfectly adequately. For such users the main drawback of the MPC will then be one of economics: the manufacturing costs of a tiny but powerful computer put it out of practical reach when one considers that a new desktop PC can be had for less than half the price of the MPC.
It's not a floppy, it's a pc-card slot.
:)
And I would hope to have one built in. Wireless baby!
It doesn't strike me as much smaller than the good old Libretto 110CT, and the specs are only slightly more impressive; the Libretto was something like 233 mhz (vs 266), 64M RAM (vs 128; this is probably the most significant item), 7G HD (vs 10), 800x480 display (vs 640x480), dual PCMCIA, serial, parallel, video out, and a more usable keyboard than the Tiqit.
(Oh yeah, and the Libretto suffers from being discontinued; very sad how this amazing machine was never marketed well in North America at all. Everyone who saw mine, immediately assumed it was a CE machine due to it's size, and was blown away to see it running Win98 and Linux; several people I showed ended up buying one right away. But Libretto only targeted the Japenese market that well. And their new Librettos are bigger and less appealing to me; they're kinda turning to Viao Picturebooks, rather than keeping their own charm.)
The big issue with the Tiqit will be price. The Libretto was something like $1K when I bought it. I'm guessing the Tiqit will be several times that, judging by their historical pricing on their Matchbox computer (which was cool, but *way* too pricey). Here's hoping they'll prove me wrong by pricing it $1K (and then I'll end up buying one, dammit!)
-me
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.