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New Tablet PCs With A Linux Option
Oliver Wendell Jones writes "InfoWorld is running an article about a new kind of inexpensive (starting under $800) tablet PC that runs your choice of Windows 2000, Windows XP or the Lindows distro of Linux. The PC is called the DocuNote and features an 8.4" touch screen with digital camera and microphone. The PCs are being created by a company called StepUp, which is formed of a lot of people from the old eMachines organization. DocuNotes are scheduled to start shipping in mid-December."
Check the DocuNote picture and then check the picture here, at Lindows news.
Here's the site of the company that's making this thing:
http://www.stepupcomputing.com/
Wonder if they'll sell an OS-less version, so we don't have to pay the Windows tax?
---- I made the Kessel Run in under 11 parsecs.
Most likely it's going to be some windows app running under wine.
Is at http://www.docunote.com/.
It looks pretty nice, even has a d-pad/mouse, but alas no thumbboard.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
And many functions of pen computers don't require handwriting recognition at all (ink notes, browsing, e-books, etc.)--just getting rid of that bulky keyboard alone when it's not needed would be worth the pen computer.
http://www.handhelds.org/projects/xscribble.html
http://evoketv.com - TV Listings 2.0
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
There is plenty of Linux software designed to run with pen input--after all, Linux has been used on handhelds for a number of years.
Most mouse based applications work naturally with a pen anyway. Web browsing, e-book reading, marking up text, drawing, and things like that work like a charm with standard Linux applications on a Linux-based tablet. And even with no handwriting recognition, an on-screen keyboard makes entering text and data quite easy and quick and, again, requires no application changes (given the modular X11 architecture). And fully integrated handwriting and gesture recognition also already exists for X11.
Maybe it was a lot of work to integrate pen input into Windows, but Linux and X11 are modular and mature enough that this is not an issue.
:wq
I know it was founded by the former founder/president/ceo of mp3.com, and that it is not opensource. They are a for-profit organization which looks to take on microsoft by, um, emulating their every move.
Great, we get rid of one inferior company which steals from competitors only to have it be replaced by an equally inferior and shady company.
Yay for Lindows! Personally, something is wrong with an OS when it's main selling point is emulation.
Pictures and more information is there.
Here're a couple of links which may help with this sort of thing:
c ollaboration w/ PDAs)
t ural UI design)
t ch and ink-based toolkit)
o rmal tools for GUI and web design)
- http://www.linuxslate.org
(drivers &c. for Fujitsu and other pen slates, also XScribble (graffiti-like handwriting recogntion)
Various Berkeley Java based Pen / gestural UI things (w/ source):
starting at:
http://guir.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/
NotePals - http://guir.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/notepals/
(
Quill and GDT - http://guir.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/quill/
(ges
SATIN - http://guir.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/satin/
(ske
DENIM and SILK - http://guir.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/
(inf
Someone else already mentioned Squeak, a SmallTalk implementation suitable for use w/ pens www.squeak.org, as well as www.handhelds.org, (which should be obvious)
www.mira2go.com had Linux pen systems pretty recently (and was even advertising here on Slashdot).
The critical issue to my mind is getting some sort of natural ink handling w/ nicely integrated gesture support as well as document annotation.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
On my linux tablet I use the touchscreen normally as you would a mouse. Works just fine for surfing, playing mp3's, etc.
For many things xstroke suits my needs quite well. (I've had a Palm for years so I'm used to grafiti. When I have to have a keyboard I pull up xvkbd and if I really need to type I plugin in one of those "industructable" keyboards that I keep in my desk or drop into my satchel.
So yeah, linux tablets work well, and having the power to download OSS apps, and or develop my own tools makes them excellent tools for the "power" user.
..next step get kdepim on it to sync with my desktop and my Palm...infomation everywhere, yeah team!
credo quia absurdum
Jaguar (OS X 10.2) has Inkwell handwriting technology built in (for tablets et. al.). So they have a good foundation.
Use final scratch!
I'll agree that SCCI, USB, Firewire, dropping the floppy, Newton etc.. were all advances, but if my understanding is correct, by including the iMac, specifically stating its a flat panel, implies that Apple was the first to do this, which is not the case. Gateway was the first to market (albeit, it was a pretty poor attempt) with a flat panel display built into a computer. Unless I too am mistaken (either in the company, or my assumption about your statement)
Ricoh G1200-S Tablet. touch-sensitive 16-bit color LCD screen, Does Win98, Linux... Costs less than $100 on Ebay.
So whats the big deal?
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
Try GDAM! Designed by DJs, built by DJs...
I read about this early this morning.. Lindows sent this our this morning to all the Lindows Developers... Imagine an Etch-A-Sketch size computer on the front of your refrigerator or maybe on the coffee table in your living room. Anytime you want movie times, sport scores, news headlines, or need to check your email, you'll have a handy, battery-operated, wirelessly-networked computer ready for your use. This is what the tablet computer is all about. We've been working on a tablet computer running LindowsOS, which should be ready near the first part of the year. (See below for how you can signup to hear about their release first.) I wanted to share with you some of our thoughts to get your feedback on where we're headed in the tablet market. I think you'll see our thinking about these devices may be different from others. Coming soon - LindowsOS Tablet PC 1) Tablet computers will need to be close to $500 to be practical. The LindowsOS Tablet PC will be around this price! Newly announced tablet computers are debuting with big price tags in the $2,000 to $3,000 range. While there will always be some techno-elite who purchase the latest toys no matter what the price, most people can't justify such costs. To reach the masses, tablets need to be substantially below $1,000. Anything priced higher will simply be a novelty and something you won't want to risk spilling coffee on. 2) Tablet computers will not replace desktops or laptops (and no all-in-one type of computers). If you've ever used a laptop's tiny screen or keyboard or fumbled with their abbreviated pointing device, you'll appreciate the old adage that bigger sometimes is better. Cramming everything into a tiny form function (which tablets need in order to be useful) makes general computing more difficult. Furthermore, people like keyboards. In my book, they're essential. Even a poor typist can outpace a fast hand writer. A tablet computer's usefulness will be primarily used as an easily accessible informational display device. Tablets won't be used for any intensive computing work. Instead, it will be used to go places where desktops or expensive laptop can't, due to price or bulkiness. Tablets will supplement desktops and laptops, not replace them, and only that if they are at a low, attractive price. 3) Handwriting recognition won't work reliably enough to be practical. Have you ever gotten a letter from your grandmother? The cursive writing was probably impressively precise. Now, compare that with the last letter from a friend. If you're under 40 you probably can't remember getting one, because written letters have largely been preempted by Email messages. So, think back to the last greeting card. Chances are the writing was fairly poor. That's because there's a lot less emphasis on handwriting in school and in business as much of today's communication is keyboard driven. As a consequence, handwriting has gotten sloppier making even the most accurate software unusable. 4) Even if we could perfect handwriting recognition, people wouldn't use it. Just because a particular technology becomes possible doesn't mean people will flock to use it. Voice navigation is now quite good, but that doesn't mean that people are talking to their computers. In fact, I know of virtually no one who regularly uses voice navigation, despite the fact that many predicted widespread adoption years ago. Sometimes, it's not just because of technical challenges why people don't perform a task a certain way. Even if hand writing on screens performed flawlessly, it doesn't mean that's what people will want to do. People like keyboards. People need keyboards. They are efficient. My kids will always be more proficient typists than writers. Society has made a remarkable transition over the last 20 years as the computer has taken hold (and before that with the typewriter). Younger folks have keyboard mentalities. It's primarily 40-plus-year-olds, who grew up in handwriting eras, who believe that handwriting will play a major role in computing. Active cursive writers are the very same people who are least likely to own computers and will be the last people to plunk down $3,000 for a tablet PC. The LindowsOS tablet will be an affordable device priced close to $500 - which is where it needs to be to gain mass market acceptance. It will supplement the PC and laptop already in use by providing a handy way to get quick access to information in a wireless manner. By using the low-cost solution that LindowsOS provides, we'll be making these devices at a much more affordable price. If you're thinking about how you could use a tablet computer be sure and sign up for our tablet mailing list to be notified first when we ship the LindowsOS tablet. Sincerely, Michael Robertson
Slashdot taught me how to use the preview button!
Transmeta offers a specialized Linux OS based on Redhat 7.1 that is optimized for it's chips. Here is the link: http://midori.transmeta.com/
I would think this would be the optimal OS to run on this tablet. Not to mention its GPLed and is a Sourceforge project.
It's a piece of crap.
My sister won one of the Wal-Mart PCs in a raffle. I was not at all impressed by it. First of all, everything is run as root; there are no other users. There are no text virtual terminals. And there is almost no software installed by default. You have to download everything. For example, there is no gcc.
Supposedly, the click-and-run system lets users download whatever software they want easily. My sister didn't have much luck with it, however. She was able to download a calculator and KNotes. Everything else she tried to use failed to install. She tried to show me how it worked, but it couldn't even connect to the click-and-run server (I think that was what it was trying to do; I never saw it work).
I understand that you can use apt-get to install software on them, but I don't use debian, so I tried to look at the man page. But man wasn't installed.
And if you could get the click-and-run to work, you could only download 10 programs without paying $99 to subscribe.
As I said, I was not impressed.