Slashdot Mirror
Transmeta Powered High-End Portable?
NETHED writes: "CNet is running a
story on the oQo (Very flash heavy) ultra portable computer. 'Along with Windows XP, it will come with a 5800 Crusoe processor from Transmeta, a 10GB hard drive, 256MB of memory, connection ports for FireWire and USB (universal serial bus), and wireless networking connections through either WiFi or Bluetooth.' Sounds like a winner, considering they want it to cost LESS than 1000USD. Now, only if this didn't sound like vaporware."
isn't indicative of the speed of their computers.
doh! can you feel the slashdotting...?
This could have a very interesting effect on MMORPG players. Why ever disconnect (unless your internet access fees are exorbitant)? Just pull it from your station at home, play on the bus/carpool to work, and then stash it in your drawer, checking frequently that your macros are still working properly.
I know I'd find it incredibly usefuly in WW2Online, for those moments I notice a weakness in the front, and just five minutes of game time could make a difference!
What the heck is transmeta? Liquid? Gas? Have fun with your gadget, but I'll stick with my *electricity* powered portable thank you. And don't complain to me if you can't buy a transmeta refill canister at CompUSA. I never saw any.
That is pure and simple FUD and you know it. I am running a 650mHz PIII with 256 Megs and 11 Gig and I have more than enought room for everything plus. XP runs just as stable and fast as any Linux box with KDE or Gnome running. (for those of us who like a GUI)
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
"We see this as 'This is your only computer,'" said Colin Hunter, executive vice president of OQO. "It isn't a PDA (personal digital assistant). With this device you can dock it in and it is your PC."
I don't see this as my only computer... I just see it as taking up where handhelds leave off. Anyone remember the Apple Newton? That's what I want in a handheld. A fully functional computer with great battery life. I'm not looking for a desktop replacement ("portable desktop" might be more accurate) since I need a desktop for a lot of what I do. I'm not looking for a Palm/WinCE device, since I want more features than they offer. I'm looking for an instant-on, compact, take-anywhere, digital notebook. I'm out to replace pens and paper.
--Bennett Prescott
Former Lord Of Packets
"The screen measures just four inches in diameter"
Um, so is oQo introducing the hot new 1940s-style-television round-screen craze to the market, too?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Big corporations are so pro-Intel
<best Bill Lumbergh voice>
Ah, uhm, I'm going to have to, ah, disagree with you there Bob.
</best Bill Lumbergh voice>
IT departments of "big corporations" don't know an AMD from an Intel from a MC68K (trust me on this one). More importantly, they don't care. All they can differentiate is OEMs: Dell, Compaq, Toshiba, etc. The OEM is the entity that provides all of the post sales service/support for the machines, so large IT crews are more interested in this than the processor.
If "alternative" processor manufacturers want to make inroads into "big corporations" they are going to have to start buddying up to the OEM's that supply PCs to them and get their chips inside those putty boxes.
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
Well, I'm sure they wanted to put a larger hard drive in the unit but since they are using the small hard drive from Toshiba (the one that comes in the iPod) I don't think they had much of a choice what with only 5 and 10 gig versions.
Regardless, this thing seems pretty well connected. With that connectivity, why not store your mp3's on an external drive/system? Then you can just stream your music via samba or http or something to the device? You could probably have a small (1 gig or so) "cache" of your favorite songs at the time. I'd love to have an mp3 player with a built in 802.11[a|b] card. My home and my workplace have wireless internet access so I'd just need an hour or so of music for the commute and such.
Looks like a pretty cool device but I'd want to see if the small screen is crisp enough to read and browse the web with.
Geoffeg
The screen measures just four inches in diameter
[Boggled look] The screen is round?
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
The real bottleneck to shrinking computers are no longer really the actual chips and disks. These are getting smaller and lighter and more energy efficient (well, at least the first two anyway).
What has not been effectively shrunk yet is the areas of human interface. The input (mouse and keyboard) and output (computer screen)
On the input size, cameras and microphones are shrinking, so these may be useful. On the output side, I know there are small screens out there, but to get real work done, you often need a big screen area.
evanchik.net
"Despite the faster chip, the batteries on the OQO run about 9.5 hours, Ditzel and Hunter said. Although the Crusoe processor runs on fairly low amounts of energy, the small screen size helps enormously."
Power consumption of a 4" LCD CCFL is around 1W, which is the same for any 4" - 15" single lamp LCD panel. The small screen size does not help any with the reduction of power consumtion. Power consumtion for this device will about the same as any Crusoe powered laptop since memory and the hard drive will still draw the same amount of power. This unit will only see a 9.5 hour battery life if the CCFL is off and the hardrive is powered down with the processor running at under 20% with not many accesses to memory.
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
Crusoe comments...
As somebody using a Toshiba Libretto L1, with a 600MHz crusoe chip in it, I think I can offer some insight.. basically, the 600MHz crusoe is similar to 450MHz PII. So... yeah, it's slow. But the speed is fine. I'm currently running Debian with Mozilla + KDE as my main apps. But then, I only really do basic web browsing, etc on it.
Also, you can't compile for the Crusoe. it spends a lot of memory on code morphing caches (16MB of main memory), and looks to all the world like an x86 chip. And it's very much an emulation mode... only thing is, you can't get out of it. Which Transmeta sees as a good thing, 'cause they can change the underlying chip without anyone noticing from one rev to the next... the 5800 could have a different ISA from the 5600, if they wanted. They haven't said, so I assume it doesn't, but still...