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AMD Moves Closer To Linux PDA

Posted by simoniker on from the portable-penguin-power dept.

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."

4 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Looks great by Ianoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure, YALPDA, but it looks as though it's as capable as any of the others out there. I see it runs Qtopia too... sensible choice considering the large number of people developing for it (and its various forks, in case Trolltech ever trys to call in fees on the technology, but I doubt they'd be stupid enough to do this!).

    This appears to be becoming almost a "de facto" standard for PDA development. The useful thing though, when compared to PPC or POS is that it doesn't really matter what hardware it's running on, so unlike Microsoft or PalmSource, companies won't have their exact hardware specifications dictated in advance.

    Hopefully this should lead to some real innovation (and looks like it already is) rather than heaps and heaps of PDAs that look and work exactly the same just because they run the same operating system, even right down to the number of hardware buttons they happen to have. I've always considered this a little silly.

  2. Re:Another Linux PDA. by Dielectric · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The sneaky thing is that it will run WinCE as well. That just doesn't get mentioned because this is Slashdot after all.

    AMD wants to make chips, not finished consumer hardware. This is a reference design for an ODM or OEM to pick up and run away with. It's basically a "Here you go, market this and build it yourself, then buy the processor and the flash memory from us. Love ya, AMD."

    So, basically, if someone in Korea took the hardware design and optimized it for a small form factor, you'd get what you want. Don't be looking to AMD for it, though.

  3. Re:Another Linux PDA. by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The point of a linux PDA is that you are never stuck with no upgrades. It's running linux! You have the source! You can personally update it. Meanwhile an assortment of tiny linux distributions are being quietly pieced together to unify all of these PDAs.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Re:Temprature by RedTyde · · Score: 3, Insightful
    AMD chips weren't always hotter than Intel chip. It's really only the Athlons that are hotter. The P60 and P66's were so hot (running at 5 volts) that people actually claimed that the computers they came in would occasionally catch fire.

    Most of the time, the Intel chips actually ran hotter. I had an AMD 486 running at 160MHz that didn't even need a fan, just a heatsink.

    Even as late as the Pentium III, Intel chips ran very hot.

    You also have to consider the typical "My chip is way too hot" source. My stock Athlon is running at 44C under load. However, my overclocked running at 2.2v Athlon rarely dips below 62C. People overclocking (and AMD is more overclocking friendly) are going to have more "I'm overheating" stories.

    Prehaps it could be marketed as a small pocket heater
    They will probably list this right under, "It makes perfect Julian fries!"