New Handheld Computer Is 100% Open Source

Posted by kdawson on Friday June 4, 2010 @02:46AM from the small-wonder dept.

metasonix writes "While the rest of the industry has been babbling on about the iPad and imitations thereof, Qi Hardware is actually shipping a product that is completely open source and copyleft. Linux News reviews the Ben NanoNote (product page), a handheld computer apparently containing no proprietary technology. It uses a 366 MHz MIPS processor, 32MB RAM, 2 GB flash, a 320x240-pixel color display, and a Qwerty keyboard. No network is built in, though it is said to accept SD-card Wi-Fi or USB Ethernet adapters. Included is a very simple Linux OS based on the OpenWrt distro installed in Linksys routers, with Busybox GUI. It's apparently intended primarily for hardware and software hackers, not as a general-audience handheld. The price is right, though: $99."

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Re:A couple of the potential uses by Anonymous Coward · 2010-06-04 04:54 · Score: 0, Troll

The entire 'feature' list looks like a long list of limitations, with the exception of the underlying OS. If this is the tech crowd's answer to the iPad, they need to try harder. What the hacker crowd needs is a feature and spec sheet compatible (or better) handheld with a FOSS OS underneath the covers. This is not it.