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NEC Develops Linux Tablet/PDA Hybrid
zmcnulty writes "I've translated today's PC Watch article (Japanese) about a new tablet/PDA device from NEC - it has an 8.4" (640x480) touchscreen LCD, and a CD-ROM drive. It's also suprisingly affordable; about $645 USD. However, don't expect to be able to buy one soon, as production is limited to only 4,000 units for the first year. Still, this is an interesting prospect, and it's good to see major Japanese corporations interested in Linux."
I agree, the idea of a tablet PC is rather moronic whatever the operating system.
As for sucking battery life, wonder if anyone will start making tablets with Transmeta processors. Might save some juice. But even that wouldn't make the idea very attractive to me.
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Basically, we thought the Linux Tablet/PDA Hybrid was totally overrated and would recommend against it at this time.
_not_ MS.
.pdf w/ annotations using a pen than a mouse, esp. with the new Adobe Acrobat 6 (killer app for Linux, extend xpdf to allow it to annotate and fill in .pdf formas), and I don't have to spend time scanning my (paper) sketchbook, or transcribing notes from it.
Microsoft was actually rather late to the pen computing game --- and only got there by twisting Go Corp.'s invitation to develop apps to an excuse to create pen extensions for Windows since Go didn't follow their suggestion to do so (extrapolation of Jerry Kaplan's version in his book _StartUp_ and the spin placed on the same event in the book _Building Tablet PC Applications_)
Heck, even Atari had a prototype, the STylus.
There was also a Linus machine (no relation to a certain Thorvalds) which a few people have prototypes of.
And of course there was the ill-fated Momenta.
I've been a pen computing afficionado for a long while, and the machines have really gotten practical of late (power, battery life, are decent, storage is phenomenal).
Using a pen system means I've got all of my data with me, and can use it / manipulate it, _without_ needing to sit down and set up / make room for a clamshell laptop (I've been buying laptops since 1985 (GRiDCase III Plus), they're nice enough, but more awkward to use than a pen slate, less acceptable in some situations (meetings, interviews), and require that I schelp around a graphics tablet in addition (okay, graphic designers are pretty much unique in needing that).
But it's a _lot_ easier to mark up a
This device is really interesting 'cause of the size (much smaller than most Tablet PCs --- guess they didn't want to compete with their own LitePad) and for its internal CD-ROM drive --- can you say portable e-book reader? (I'm thinking like the kid CD-ROMs, Living Books, Tivoli, et. al.)
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
nice gadget though, my first thought was.. take out the clumsy cdrom and add wireless, so the translator also suggested.
;) I can imagine, imagine that.
actually, leave out the wireless, just allow for usb, then you could add wireless through a usb plug-in.
the tablet might(will) become the tv companion(client) laying around the couch in numbers for each or most family member. thanks to this tv companion with wireless network connection each tv viewer will engage more interactively with quiz shows, talk shows, movies, competitions, polls, et al. but keep it cheap, slim and modular.
if any tv/media company wants to know what I'm talking about, call the number at: http://sophistic.com (hey it worked when I last talked about watch phones, IBM called
njoy.
This is the truth. All I need to do to lock up my Thinkpad is to close the lid, wait just long enough for Windows to *begin* going to sleep, and then open the lid again. At that point, the laptop is hung. Reliably. Works every time. It's probably one of the most reliable aspects of Windows...
No, no we haven't
3010CT
3020CT
A bit more here:
http://www.ids.org.au/~shaynest/articles/portege/
The NEC is larger, volume wise. Yes, it has a CD drive built in, but who uses those things on the road anyway? Sheesh. How did this make NEWS?
At $2000 with a 3h battery life and 6 pounds of weight, TabletPC is a loser. At $650 with a 6h battery life and 3 pounds of weight, it could be a winner (this device has a 2h battery life and weighs 2 pounds; they should increase the battery capacity--they have the spare weight to do it).
Well, you should be impressed - after all, it took GNOME and/or KDE sever years and releases to make halfway useable dialogs. And they're still not standardized and therefore confusing.
The rest of your post is of course the same tired bullshit everyone tends to spit out every time this comes up, except that interestingly you didn't use the XEROX PARC as the end of the string. "Clippy"? HAHAHAH!!! You forgot "M$ BOB"!!
This all non-innovative crap "M$" keeps churning out... I just don't understand why KDE and GNOME and everyone else keep copying it (badly) year after year. It's distressing, I know. I mean, they copy the Windows shell, Outlook, Visual Studio, .NET, Office, etc. It's maddening, I tell you!
I just got a linux handheld with a 640x480 4" screen, the Sharp Zaurus SL-6000L, from PC Connection for $699.
It was quite inexpensive compared to a Dell Axim, in the sense that the Dell Axim costs ALMOST NOTHING TO PRODUCE, so more of your money can go to wiping out Linux when you purchase the Axim.
Yes, you who purchase the Axim and put Linux on it could, if you would follow your few dollars, find them wending their way to Redmond, and thence to SCO, or wherever the people who are threatened by Linux wish to apply it.
Your total cost of ownership is quite a bit higher than your initial outlay because of this. Also, MY total cost of ownership is higher because you do this, so I am asking you to stop! Buy something with Linux pre-installed for a change!
p.s. The display on the SL-6000L is magnificent! I think a lot of my extra cash went into that.
I think there is, or at least will be, a market for tablet devices. But the options thus far have been crap. A desktop OS, like XP, on a tablet form factor, just doesn't work.
First, portability is important. No, it doesn't need to fit in a shirt pocket. But, a two inch thick brick is not ganna work either. Lose the CD drive, it's not useful enough to waste the space for. Get the thickness down to that of a Palm V, while being lightweight and durable, and you've got something.
Even the hard drive is questionable.. Put enought flash memory in it to hold the OS and Apps. Include a could SD slots for expansion/removable media. Of course, Wifi and bluetooth are needed, along with a USB 2.0 port or two.
Um, they are more 'interested' in Linux than we are! Well, kind of... When I visited Kyoto, all the university nerds wanted to learn was Windows because all the universities tought was Linux. In my university in the US we wanted to learn Linux while all that the university (Columbus State University) tought was windows. :P
Well, my point is to not be too suprised when you see a Japanese product runing Linux because a LOT of Japanese students are being tought how to use it and program for it.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
I've always said I wanted a wireless enabled device thats bigger than a PDA and smaller than a tablet like the pads they use on Star Trek. One of these babies running an ARM processor with WiFi and thinner (no CDROM) would kick major butt. And since it runs linux I asume there is some way I could whip it up to look like LCARS. (LCARS Linux distribution anyone? Please? Linky?!)
Ok, maybe this is just another one of my geek fantasies (like having 24" touch-lcd screens mounted on my walls for quick home automation and internet access) but I'm sure other slashgeeks out there share the dream. Glad to know we're one step closer.
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the