Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Linux Finds Its Way to More Handheld Devices

Posted by timothy on from the promises-promises dept.

LXrider writes "The coolest new handheld to pick Linux as its OS is the Pepper Pad. This device was one of the most exciting products to be found at this year's otherwise lackluster C3 Expo in NYC. The Pepper Pad runs MontaVista Linux on a Intel XScale PXA270 (624 MHz) processor and it used for viewing multimedia, surfing the net, and controlling your home's electronics."

3 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. It may run Linux... by akeyes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...but the video on the site requires Windows Media Player 9.

  2. Fujitsu p1120 and Sharp mm20 are much better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Although p1120 is two years old technology, it is much better:

    1) slightly lighter (2.2 pounds).
    2) bigger screen (8.9 inch compared to 8.4).
    3) higher resolution (1024x600 compared to 800x600)-Much better for watching 16:9 movies.
    4) regular clamshell laptop design with a regular keyboard.
    5) slightly better cpu, i386 architecture (transmeta crusoe 800 MHZ).
    6) regular 2.5 inch hard disk. It comes with a 30 GB drive which can be replaced with a 100GB drive. Drive upgrade is very easy, only two screws.
    7)Better upgradability, it has a regular cardbus slot+a mini PCI slot. Ih comes with a mini card which is a wireless b/modem combo -it can be easily replaced with a g wireless card.
    8) Standard i386 architecture makes it possible to run multiple operating systems. On my current system I run

    1)Suse Linux 9.3-slower than Suse 9.0, faster than Solaris 10.
    2)Suse Linux 9.0-this is the fastest OS for the laptop.
    3)BeOS 5.03- faster than Suse 9.3 Solaris and Windows.
    4) Solaris 10 (only at 800x600 resolution)- a bit slow. To install solaris I had to put the dive on another machine; once installed solaris runs fine on p1120.
    5) Win 2k (it came with winxp home)

    All on a 100 gb drive.

    Disadvantage : more expensive, $1199 from Fujitsu USA. Last week it was on sale at NEWEGG for $1050. The difference in features is worth the money.

    Other alternatives: Sharp mm20 ($1200-1300), it is even lighter, 1.9 pounds. It has a regular 10.4 screen but has a 1.8 inch drive (20 GB) There are 1.8 inch drives up to 60GB (9.5 mm) but mm20 can only take a 7 mm drive. Right now it can be upgraded only to 30GB. It has a better CPU, efficeon 1GHZ, and 512 MB RAM. Compared to p1120 it has a big disadvantage, it is very fragile. Fujitsu p1120 is sturdy, you can drop it in a bag or purse without any problems.

  3. Re:Over priced, Under powered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    I work for Pepper.
    1. Wait a few months, you'll get 2.6. FWIW Montavista has backported most of the exciting stuff from 2.6 to the 2.4 kernel we use, so we're not missing out on all that much.
    2. 1024x768 on an 8" screen gets a bit small, and the LCDs are hard to find.
    3. It has video out, read the spec sheet. DVD playback is best accomplished by copying the DVD to the Pad. Perhaps someday there will be a better solution.
    4. We're working on it
    5. The XScale only supports USB 1, so adding USB 2 requires more chips = more space, more power, more cost. Stay tuned.
    6. Firewire may not be the best high-speed bus to add. We'll see.
    7. Read the spec sheet, it has bluetooth. Works, even!

    Who's going to provide support for Knoppix? You? We're a step ahead of you in that department, we already have a Linux that works, we control what packages are included, and we've locked down the UI for normal users so they don't know it's Linux underneath. Hackers can get underneath just fine if they really want, we like them.

    DVD drives take up space, cost money, and use a godawful amount of power. It's a *good* thing we didn't include one, trust me.