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Second Prototype of the $200 Open Source Tablet
holy_calamity writes "TechCrunch blogger Mike Arrington decided last year to invent a new class of low-cost internet tablet using open source hardware and software. The second prototype has been unveiled, sporting a 12-inch touchscreen powered by a Via Nano processor, 1 GB of ram and a 4 GB flash drive. It runs a browser and nothing else on top of a custom Linux build. 'Resolution is 1024×768, which means the vast majority of websites are viewed in full width without scrolling. The device also has wifi, an accelerometer (so when you turn the screen on its side you can view more of a web page), a camera and a four cell battery.'"
So its going to look great on paper, and will be fine for the first hour, but sooner or later the thing will lock solid because Via have cut some corners in the drivers or not fully implemented a standard.
Previous owner of a kt133 (usb lockups), current owner of a CN400 (video lockups).
**TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
If you RTFA (WTF? I know) it says they really think it is going to be $299.
skips resource-sucking parts of the operating system and focuses on the browser?
skips resource-sucking parts of the operating system and focuses on the browser?
skips resource-sucking parts of the operating system and focuses on the browser?
What alternate reality is this guy writing from!
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Today it should be a lot easier, given that they can rely on much cheaper off the shelf components and don't have to squeeze everything into minimal amounts of RAM and flash (for the first version we were working with Opera to get it running with a custom GUI in 16MB or 32MB of RAM total, and about the same amount of flash)...
Hope they make it - I want one.
Excuse me if this is a stupid question, I've not played with such toys.
It runs a browser and nothing else on top of a custom Linux build.
When it ways "and nothing else" does it mean "nothing else except the linux build, fully featured and usable to do whatever you need including changing the browser, upgrading using the toy to read documents in whatever format you download readers for, etc."?
not going to pay $300 for a device just to surf the web. But it's a cool piece of equipment. I see it's running a full installation of Ubuntu. That's cool. I'd like to be able to open an ssh client and use the on-screen keyboard and maybe a notepad of some sort. It doesn't have to be a full blown computer, but something other than just surfing the web should be included. Imagine the business use of this type of open source hardware and software device. Add some kind of notepad software you can write notes quick and immediately send it out to another device/computer. I can't see many people just buying it for a web browser when notebooks are so readily available that can use email client software, not just web mail. And have other usable apps. Remember the web devices that were around in the past? There used to a white one that Staples sold, I don't remember the name, but they didn't hit off to well.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
an accelerometer (so when you turn the screen on its side you can view more of a web page)
I need a larger screen too. Must get myself one of them accelerometers.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
While it does look interesting, I do wonder whether the core idea, that a browser is enough, really is solid. I knew it was Netscape's dream once, but did it work out?
When I think about what I do, certainly Firefox gets a lot of time. However, there's a lot of PDF content out there that I want to view and/or print - does this device do that? That's not an unusual usage scenario, btw. - when you book online tickets, or buy stuff online, very often you get the ticket and/or receipt in .pdf format.
Then there's the whole "download" scenario. Does it do that? Lots of people come across cool stuff they want to download. It doesn't have to launch Keynote, sorry OpenOffice or whatever the external App is, but at least ''saving'' something to an external shared device would be a requirement.
Then there's mail. There are still people around who don't use webmail, you know?
So, I quite like the idea, but I do wonder whether '''just''' the browser isn't a little too little.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Why go with X86 if you want low BOM cost ? Any ARM/MIPS/PowerPC SoC with decent Mhz will do it better for lower bill of materials. Try TI OMAP35xx line for instance, one with Cortex ARM and PowerVR graphics all in one chip. Works out way cheaper than anything x86-based. Getting a Beagleboard is a good way to start.
And now with Canonical throwing official support for ARM-based Ubuntu, you have got your opsys covered as well.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashdot.org Errors found while checking this document as HTML5!
What reasons are there to put an x86 processor in a device like this? The Nano is not exactly low power, with an ARM based solution (Nvidia Tegra would seem pretty great for this for example) you could have many days of standby power without needing to reboot it all the time. Only reason for x86 I can think of is that it could run Windows, but is that really needed for this type of device?
I'm just utterly amazed it's taken this long for somebody to have a serious stab at a device like this. I've been asking for one for years. I got a Nokia Internet Tablet, but it's just too small. When Asus brought out the Eee and then everybody copied them within months I though they'd get the hint a build web tablets with the same kind of kit. But they haven't. Weird. This is exactly the kind of thing I want for browsing the web around the house and they will sell even faster than netbooks have, just as soon as somebody vaguely credible brings a reasonable quality one to market.
As to all the people wondering what else it will be able to do other than run a browser: It's an x86 box running Linux. It'll do whatever the hell you want it to do. Yes to PDFs, yes to ssh, yes to media player, yes to OpenOffice, yes to IM, yes to blowjobs on the beach, yes to absofuckinglutely everything you can do on any other Linux box. It's just a keyboard-less tablet netbook (not that that's not awesome).
(I lied about the blowjobs)
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
the audience this is designed for then. Seriously, go get a laptop.
the article says
But let me tell you something: the difference between $199 and $299 is worlds. There is no LAPTOP near $199. but $299? You are now competing with full laptops. It is now a luxury item, since it would be like asking someone to buy two laptops - one that does almost nothing except surf the web. DONT MAKE PEOPLE MAKE THAT CHOICE.
This is what I think you should do:
Batteries dont matter as much as you think, because it's okay to leave the thing plugged in, like digital picture frames. In fact, that's how I read in bed: with an old LCD monitor connected to the desktop next to me, in my hands, with the power and VGA cables going off to the side. (I scroll with the mouse, in my other hand). I am your real target market. If you need to have a $199 version that has a 1-hour battery do it. If you can't, do it without a battery, so it only works while plugged in (like a digital picture frame). Do whatever it takes. You need to get this thing down to $199, no matter what.
I can spend that much for it just to read my bookz (scanned books from the net) - it's the price of 10 hardcover books. But $299 and I can't justify it.
And you don't need RAM. You need video RAM. I know, because I use a 500 mhz desktop with 128 MB of RAM all day - with a video card that has more RAM than it does. Flawless web use - flawless youtube etc. I'm waiting to upgrade until I drop about $2000, which I'm not doing in this economy. Meanwhile I get flawless web use out of this old POS.
Lower your standards until you can squeeze this thing out for $200. Have a $199 version with a sucky battetry (or none at all if you must), no camera, or accelerometer. And then a $299 version with all that, if you want to.
Do you want to know what will happen if you price this thing at $299? All your customers will settle on something smaller for $229.
Just my 2 cents.
I've got an Eee. It's not the same thing. Laptops force you to a particular body position to use them, it's just unpleasant to use a laptop/netbook when lying on your side, for example. You can be as free using a tablet thingy like this as you can be while reading a paperback. I'd prefer something a little more compact than their prototype though - an 8 or 9" screen should be plenty if it's light enough to hold in one hand.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
"Barely boots" ... What? What does this mean? Either it boots or it doesn't. It's like being 'a little bit preggers'.
As for the screen size, you don't want a massive screen on a little tablet PC. I have a 12" tablet right now and other than weight, it's about perfect.
$300 is an okay price. HP has a $350 8.9" laptop with 1.6Ghz processor. If they can afford to do that for a 'real' laptop, I think $300 is a bit on the high side for a laptop that can only run a web browser.
Having said that, I paid $1200 for my tablet and felt I got a really good deal at the time. Previous tablets I looked at were in the $2500 range.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
It's Duplo.
cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
"Way faster" is not necessarily the best way to prove a chip's value.
Does it have good cost/performance?
Is a certain level of performance required?
Can the package fit on the board?
Is there application support for the instruction set?
There's no reason you need to have the fastest chip on the block if you're only interested in showing webpages and playing web-video.
I do not know.
However, I would urge moderators to mod the grandparent down; TFA clearly mentions Ubuntu Linux.
Ignore this signature. By order.
I would love a device like this with pen input, so I can use it to take notes in class.
Notebook computers are great for textual classes, because I can type like a demon.
But much of my engineering curriculum is math, and keyboards don't lend themselves well to that.
I would ABSOLUTELY JUMP for a $300 tablet computer that let me write on it like digital notebook paper.
I paid about this much for my first engineering calculator (HP32S).
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
It is called browser plugin.
Awesome stuff man, really awesome and cutting edge.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
If you need x86 for flash, why does the Nokia n810(TI OMAP 2420, an ARM11 SoC) have support for flash?
I have an Eee, and use it for reading rather frequently. Have you ever tried turning it on its side? (Either with screen rotation, e.g. xrandr, or a program like FBReader which includes a rotated mode?) The Eee 900, at least, is even balanced such that you can lay it with the back of the screen flat against a horizontal surface (when it's not plugged in). Also, unlike most paperbacks, it actually stays open on its own at whatever angle you choose.
A matte-reflective screen (e.g. e-Ink) would be an improvement, but otherwise I generally find FBReader on the Eee to be just as readable as any printed book.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Well, I know that by posting this I officially brand myself as a corporate shill, but here's a device that runs Linux, has a touch screen, has an open API, and already exists and can be yours for $239:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/digital-photo-frames/b425/
And you can use it as a picture frame out of the box. =)
Probably for it's (much) bigger screen and (slightly) lower price.
I have an iPod touch, and I use it mainly for web browsing and other apps. I can't even find my headphones, because it's been so long since I've used them.
IF they can keep the price of this thing at around $200, it might be a very viable alternative for those of us who want to compute rather than listen.
Don't put yourself down like that, your very acute.
Aaand you're missing the point.
For most web apps, you only need Java or Flash, unless you're talking about a ActiveX type component.
Seriously.
And if you're talking ActiveX, either you're doing WINE or Windows (Linux has to use WINE and CE need not apply here- won't have support there... ;-) )- since most of the relevant websites that one would use a WebTablet on don't use ActiveX and one of the two aforementioned other "binary only" applications- then you're covered even with ARM.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
No... Nokia contracted with Adobe to produce a proper ARM Linux binary just for the Nxxx web tablets.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
It burns through batteries at a rate at least 4-5 times that of a similarly decked out ARM OMAP3 machine.
Rather than waving your hands, let's have some real numbers. The BeagleBoard, which is an OMAP3530, uses 1.8W, including the CPU, flash, 256MB of RAM, the DSP (fast enough for decoding 720p H.264) the GPU (PowerVR, OpenGL ES 2.0 compliant) and other on-board components. The only other power drain on a system built with one of these is the display and any wireless adaptors you plug in. The Via Nano draws up to 25W for just the CPU.
Now, the Nano is faster, but a lot of the most CPU-intensive things you'd want to do on a machine like this can be offloaded to the DSP or the GPU on the OMAP (both are on-die).
Reading press releases about power efficient x86 chips makes me giggle.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
But why the camera and accelerometer? Lose those and you would probably be able to get closer to the $200 price tag. I'm sure that for a lower price folks will be happy to hit the button on the desktop for landscape mode, and if they are like me they have enough crap with cameras in it NOW, thank you very much. And in this economy lower price trumps all.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.