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New Netbook Offers Detachable Tablet
Engadget is reporting that a new "Touch Book" being previewed at DEMO '09 in California by the company "Always Innovating" promises a new take on mobile computing devices. Touting 10 to 15 hours of battery life, this ARM-powered netbook weighs less than two pounds, but the true magic comes with the detachable screen that can function as a completely stand-alone touchscreen tablet. The machine is currently running a Linux OS with a touchable 3D UI, the entire screen is magnetic for mounting on a metal surface, and the whole package is being projected for less than $300.
Even looks nice!
Watch out for Psion!
Am I the only one more interested in the ARM part than the screen part?
So it should be something like $450 to $600?
Not particularly newsworthy in itself, but it's nice to see that a lot of ARM-based computers are starting to hit the market.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I'm more interested in the $300 price tag, though still doesn't do much good without a set of specs to go with it.
However, I do like the idea of it being magnetic mountable to a refrigerator.
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
Then does that mean its ok for everyone else to start calling their website slashdot, so long as they have a slightly different domain name?
This is my sig.
Now thats pretty nifty.
I'll have two thanks.
Love & kissy
Outcast
Add a GPS, and maybe XM-WX weather, and this would make an AWESOME Electronic Flight Bag!
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Holy saucer separation, Batman!
I've never heard of Ninnle Linux. What's the website number?
From the looks of it, I think it's more accurate to say this comes with a removable keyboard, rather than a removable screen.
All the ports are on the screen half, and it's twice as thick as the keyboard half.
http://www.mhall119.com
For anybody who is wondering/(not living in the 1800s) two pounds is equal to 0.90718474 kilograms.
It has a touch interface, weighs a little less than two pounds, detachable, stand-alone, and the whole package.... Mmm, nothing about the length. Oh, wait... It's for a tablet PC. Damn.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I for one have been waiting...and waiting for this rather obvious extension of the data device metaphor. Basically, an Ipod touch that has about 4-5x the screen size would be exactly what I (and by extension everyone else) want. Shall I go out on a limb and coin the term "net tablet" right now?
It comes up easily on Google.
Nothing. Move along.
Are you sure?
wake up and hold your nose
I accidentally your entire hard drive, is this bad?
I know the TC1100 isn't a netbook, but it had the detachable tablet screen in 2004. Great little machine, I just bought one. Wish HP never killed it.
This looks like something I'd really like to get. I may actually replace my Eee PC with something like this if the price point remains the same as projected. The magnetic option seems neat. Slap it onto an appropriate surface and throw on a video. Now I need to install a metal plate onto my wall just above my desktop monitor...
When IBM and HP came out with clamshell handhelds, we didn't call them "netbooks". Who came up with this new terminology?
"10-12 hours battery life" = static display, guessing 3-4 hours battery life if actually browsing the web or watching a video.
"whole package for $300" = $529.95 at launch, settling down to $450 or so when the smoke clears.
"Spring of this year" = limited quantities shipping in August 2009, hey, isn't that spring in New Zealand?
Halves as in two parts. The screen part accounts for two thirds of the total thickness, and the keyboard part for the other third.
A magnetic case?
I don't know about everyone else, but having magnetic objects anywhere near digitally stored data devices was, to the best of my knowledge, a very bad idea.
Did these guys forget about all that, or did they find a solution?
Even if the device itself is immune to the effects of a strong magnetic field, what about the other machines you hook it up to, say, for example, a USB external HDD?
What am I missing here?
see the HP TC 1100, a tablet with detachable keyboard, wifi , bluetooth
probably the best tablet formfactor so far
now discontinued (unfortunately) as HP didnt realise how nice it was at the time
i hope they bring it back
Now I really want to find EMR solutions that will run on Linux. This would be a *perfect* piece of hardware for a clinic setting... if the whole EMR industry wasn't so infatuated with MS. (The reps from NextGen seem to think that MySQL is a dodgy, fly-by-night operation next to their MSSQL server.)
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
What is in the keyboard? extra port connectors? a dvd players? Obviously it's not the batteries or anything actually required to run.
but it has to be heavy enough not to tip over. Since the batteries are in the screen, the base must be filled with lead?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Just because YOU haven't managed to find it...
All I see in TFA are computer renderings of a concept and bunch of claims about price and performance. Wake me up when they show a working prototype of it.
Gizmodo has a much better overview with a video of the device in action, detailed specs, etc. http://i.gizmodo.com/5162584/always-innovating-touch-book-is-a-part+netbook-part+tablet-open-source-frankenstein?skyline=true&s=x
Seriously, stop calling it a NetBook (TM)! -Psion
Add "inter" to net tablet, and you get a Nokia N800/N810.
$300 is just for the tablet. "The whole package" costs $400, according to the pre-order page.
I haven't been interested in any of the existing netbooks, because I can't stand typing on the small keyboards. But I would be interested in an inexpensive tablet, if the linux build they provided was customized to work well as a tablet. I hope they have a configuration option that includes a normal dock in place of the keyboard.
The TC1000 was a hot item on eBay just 3 or 4 years ago after Compaq went under
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_TC1000
yeah what we want is a cheap netbook with a touchscreen like:
http://www.2gopc.com/2goPC_ConvPC.html
when can I buy one in Europe?
ARM's OMAP 3 is the news: it's a non-Intel netbook.
Maybe not today, but this is the way the Intel monopoly ends: a smaller, simpler, cheaper, more power-efficient chip that is customized for what is needed today, not weighed down by decades of legacy decisions.
A barrier is applications for the platform: I'm sure Windows doesn't run on it; and they'll be few binary linux applications. But I think the web is now mature enough, so web apps + multimedia.
Then again, Intel is an incredible competitor. Nothing stops them from disrupting themselves. They surely have internal non-legacy projects just like this. Several. (Andy Grove's blurb is on the cover of "The Innovator's Dilemma").
I wonder if THEY go topless in the office...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
OK, I've got this keyboard and a display and, and, I can take them apart and use one without the other. I might even be able to use a keyboard that wasn't the one that came with the original...
Now this seems hauntingly familiar .... Where have I seen a form factor that offers this kind of mix and match modularity?
All joking aside, what matters is your data and your tools for manipulating the data. I think it makes sense to give your data and at least some of the software a distinct physical module, like the case of desktop computer but smaller and detachable.
I hesitate to say this, because of the heinous crimes committed in the name of what I'm about to mention, but I'm almost tempted to think of this as the model-view-controller pattern applied to form factor. I should be able to detach my model and use it anyplace I please with whatever peripherals I please.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
So it will be 1500 when it hits the streets.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Provided this device doesn't ship with something like a 200MHz CPU and 128Mb RAM/storage, this will be a real dream device. Pretty much exactly what I've been waiting for since the MobilePro 900 came out years ago. It's a logical extension of both the netbook and these small portables.
Basically, it's a tablet with an integrated/novel dock that is likewise portable with the tablet in an easy fashion which adds portability. It's an interesting (and somewhat obvious, in hindsight) innovation.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
This device is built on the same hardware platform (TI-OMAP3 ARM Cortex-A8) as the Pandora, but in a larger form factor. This is great news for the community as it will mean that much more software available for the Cortex-A8 platform.
More info follows:
- ARM® Cortex(TM)-A8 600Mhz+ CPU running Linux
- 430-MHz TMS320C64x+(TM) DSP Core
- PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
http://www.openpandora.org/
Nevermore.
Being visually impaired, I can't use a laptop because I can't get close enough to the screen. The keyboard gets in the way. Having a detachable monitor is what I have always been looking for. Now I just need to find a way to hold it close to my face while I type.
I am all for anything that gets more diversity in the software landscape, and ARM based netbooks will do that. I just hope that drives the various entities - both companies like Canonical and individual Free Software package creators - to fix the damn cross-compilation issue.
I have spend the past couple of WEEKS trying to build a proper set of binutils, GCC (C and C++), and glibc to do cross-compiles to the Beagleboard: It is absolutely INSANE that I should have to build ON THE BEAGLEBOARD when I have a nice multicore machine here on my desktop, just because too many developers don't understand that HOSTCC does NOT always equal CC (that the computer compiling the code is not the same as the computer that will be running the code, to make it a bit clearer to those who have not done cross-compilation).
I've fought with OpenEmbedded, with no success - trying to build anything non-trivial just fails, and I've gotten tired of posting to the OE groups and getting the collective equivalent of an ass-scratching "Duh, I dunno, it works for me." or "Try pulling the latest (broken) code from the version control system, because we cannot be bothered to actually RELEASE anything."
And while the OMAP3 has some neat hardware (OpenGL ES 2.0 accelerator, DSP, etc.) actually GETTING THE CODE FROM TI TO COMPILE is a slog-fest itself.
Seriously: I *hope* things like this will help drive the clean-up of the code, but until Somebody Big (Canonical, Red Hat, IBM) gets on the issue of identifying the projects that don't cross-compile gracefully (I'M LOOKING AT YOU GLIBC) and helping the maintainers fix that, it is going to be difficult for the various software sources to make their apps available under That Which Is Not X86.
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Ever since the first EEE netbook was announced I have been certain that it was only a matter of time before someone would make a go of it with a nice ARM chip. There are so many advantages to ARM in a portable, low-cost device -- for instance, the power consumption that Intel can only dream about, as well as higher system integration and small die-sizes which mean lower production costs.
The Cortex-A8 (and soon, A-9 in OMAP 4) cores are a different beast than previous ARM processors -- a comparison in Intel-speak would be to compare an Atom to a Core 2 processor. The core has strong floating-point and SIMD extensions, and packages like the OMAP and i.MX 515 add a DSP for media codecs and some really impressive 3D capabilities built right in. In the OMAP3's, you don't even have to have the expense of external RAM/ROM because you can buy a single chip with the RAM/ROM dies stacked on top of the CPU.
The only downside to ARM is software compatibility, but there are some important signs that this will only be a temporary problem -- First, ARM is now the second-most supported platform among Open Source software, behind x86 and ahead of PowerPC, and adoption will only speed up with cool, arm-based laptop and PC-like devices. Second, ARM is the basis for nearly every small portable device on the planet right now, and small media-convergence devices will drive things like ARM support in the Flash player, which are essential to a full internet experience -- in short, the popularity of ARM in these devices already, and the fact that consumers want them to do basic PC tasks give OEMs and middle-ware providers incentive to invest in ARM development.
Seriously: I *hope* things like this will help drive the clean-up of the code, but until Somebody Big (Canonical, Red Hat, IBM) gets on the issue of identifying the projects that don't cross-compile gracefully (I'M LOOKING AT YOU GLIBC) and helping the maintainers fix that, it is going to be difficult for the various software sources to make their apps available under That Which Is Not X86.
Yeah, I hear you. I've fought on and off with both openembedded and pokylinux (an OE derivative), and can't even get a basic toolchain built on my bog-standard ubuntu 8.10 desktop, let alone cross-compiling anything.
It should get better, though, when Ubuntu ARM Edition is released. This was announced at LCA 2009 by David Mandala from Canonical. He basically said they had a large proportion of the desktop repository already building, and were working on the rest. IIRC he said they hoped to have it pretty much done by the next release (9.04).
Finally a replacement for fans of the old HP TC1000 series!
As for general issues with random packages messing up cross-compiling - yeah, it sucks. Your best bet is using a collection of patches and build scripts like OpenEmbedded, as you already do. Can't help you there if it doesn't work, but maybe you can try a different build environment like OpenWrt or ptxdist (though at least the latter is much smaller than OpenEmbedded)
The toolchain itself should be relatively easy, though. Have a look at crosstool-ng, it does the same thing as the original crosstool, but works with recent versions of gcc/glibc/binutils. Also, it has a really nice menuconfig interface.
Proud member of the Ferengi Socialist Party.
I was hoping this would be another OS X compatible Netbook, but it probably isn't because of the ARM processor. Oh well.
Eh? I'm cross-compiling glibc for ppc. OK, it's not nice, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
If you have your cross-compiler built properly, it should be fairly straightforward.
"It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
Cross compilation is hard to get into. I cross compile for the PPC (not PowerPC yet) architecture daily from a PC, using buildroot, busybox and uclibc. Once to toolchain is defined properly, things go rather smoothly.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
Long answer: Hell, yes.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
"I don't currently use MacOS day-to-day"
I think we all can guess that one ....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
To misquote George Orwell, "All architectures are equal, but some are more equal than others." PPC currently is pretty clean in GLIBC, while ARM is supported only by a "features" patch for glibc, and lots of things that get regularly beat upon under PPC don't get as much attention on ARM.
I assert that is part of the problem here: since cross compiling in general is hard, people don't do it, so less common platforms don't get built as often, so bugs and problems don't get found (let along fixed), so cross compiling on those platforms is hard, so they don't get cross compiled as often - close the feedback loop.
That's part of why I'd like to see it get to the point where a programmer working on $FOO can easily install cross compile environments for as many architectures as possible, even if he isn't planning on actually working in those environments, just so that he can at least insure what he is doing will BUILD in those environments.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Dell and ASUS make laptops. Mead and Moleskine make notebooks.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
Rob Landley has a project called Firmware Linux that can do compliation of ARM binaries inside QEMU which might help sidestep the issue of code that does not support HOSTCC (at a speed price).