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AMD Moves Closer To Linux PDA
Ryan writes "Mobilemag is reporting that AMD has advanced the prototype design of their current Linux-based PDA handheld, adding full-screen video capabilities, and completing work on the device's battery charger. The device is based on AMD's 400MHz Alchemy 1100 processor." However, "AMD has yet to find a hardware maker that has committed to bringing the Alchemy-based reference design to market as a commercial product."
AMD Inc. has begun showing an updated reference design for a PDA running the Linux operating system to hardware makers, according to a company executive.
The announcement brings the reference design one step closer to availability as a commercial product.
Based on AMD's 400MHz Alchemy 1100 processor, an early prototype of the PDA reference design was demonstrated in August by the company at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.
Since then, AMD has advanced the prototype's design with the addition of full-screen video capabilities and has completed work on the device's battery charger, said Phil Pompa, vice president of marketing for AMD's Personal Connectivity Solutions group, in an interview on the sidelines of the Computex exhibition here last week.
"It's certainly at the point where we can go hand to this to an OEM," Pompa said, adding that AMD is currently working on improvements to the design's power management capabilities
The Au1100-based PDA runs Metrowerks Corp.'s Linux-based OpenPDA software suite, which includes an embedded Linux kernel and a range of software, such as applications for playing music and video files. OpenPDA also includes Trolltech AS's Qtopia multilingual user interface, Opera Software ASA's Opera Web browser, and support for both Personal Java and J2ME (Java 2 Platform Micro Edition).
AMD sees the ability to play full-screen video as a key feature of the PDA reference design, Pompa said, demonstrating the design's ability to play full-screen video on a 320-pixel by 240-pixel screen with no screen artifacts and without the assistance of a graphics processor.
"If you're really going to use this as a multimedia device, you have got to have good-quality video," Pompa said.
Video capabilities aside, AMD has yet to find a hardware maker that has committed to bringing the Alchemy-based reference design to market as a commercial product. But Pompa said hardware makers have already shown interest in the reference design.
"We're showing it to our customer base," Pompa said, adding that one hardware maker had been given a prototype to show to a customer at Computex last week.
Note: AVI is just a container. There's others, like Matroshka Video (.MPV I think?) The real question you should be asking is, does this thing have enough horsepower to play an MPEG4 video stream. At that low resolution, that might be within the device's limits.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It looks pretty cool - http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/Pro ductInformation/0,,50_2330_6625_6012%5E8407,00.htm l
Handheld Computing Device
3.0x5.5x0.8 inches
2.1x2.8-inch Portrait Mode Panel
266MHz 400MHz Operation
MIPS32 Instruction Set
1.2V Core Operating Voltage, 3.3V I/O
64 Mbytes SDRAM
32 Mbytes AMD Flash Memory
Video Support
TFT QVGA Panel with LED Frontlight
Integrated Touchscreen
Li Polymer Battery
Target Normal Operation 2.5 - 4 Hours
Removable and Rechargeable through Docking Station or with AC Adapter
Compact Flash Memory Slot
Secure Digital Card Slot
Audio via WM9705 Wolfson AC-97 CODEC
Integrated Speaker, Stereo Headphone Jack
Integrated Microphone
IrDA
Integrated Joystick
4 Programmable Buttons
USB Type B (Device) Connector
Docking Station
USB Type A (Host) Connector
USB Type B (Device) Connector
10/100 Ethernet Connection
DC Jack for Standard AC Adapter
Serial Connector
EJTAG
$ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
I honestly don't understand why this is rated "funny". Not only is this joke old, but AMD chips have been *less* power hungry than the competition (i.e. Intel) for a long time. Even more so with the next generation (AMD64 vs. P4EE/Prescott).