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NanoNote Goes Wireless
dvdkhlng writes "Even though completely copyleft, the NanoNote hand-held platform failed to get the attention of many due to its low specs and the lack of wireless connectivity. The objective to keep things open had its price, and wireless technology is a mine-field of patents and NDAs. Now, a few gifted hackers designed an add-on card to bring wireless to the NanoNote. It's not what you would expect; WLAN compatibility was sacrificed, going for the less encumbered IPv6 over the 802.15.4 standard instead. The resulting dongles won't win a prize for the highest bandwidth, but excel at simplicity, energy efficiency and manufacturability. Want to see the ugly details? Designs, source code and production documentation are published under open source licenses."
I think I gleaned the true meaning of your blather.
Really? You're comparing this to those? Wow. Take a look at the specs of this thing, and then take a look at the specs of even the humble Blackberry. Then feel ashamed for even comparing the two. Not all "wireless" is created equal. The protocol this one supports is pretty shit.
I'm pretty sure most people already have a small, handheld device in their pocket which can do all of those things, and more, and which has a better screen, better connectivity, more storage, and far better support.
The NanoNote has a USB device controller, but no USB host controller. So you can connect it to a PC and run ethernet over USB, but you cannot connect other devices directly to the NanoNote.
I'm pretty sure most people already have a small, handheld device in their pocket which can do all of those things, and more, and which has a better screen, better connectivity, more storage, and far better support.
Do they have them for $100?
Seriously, I could think of a few things to do with this, and I'm not all that creative.
Wikipedia in a hand-sized device (although there was that other Wikipedia handheld thing), basic word processing, email and webmail, Telnet / SSH access... Hell, it's running linux, so you could have all kinds of useful utilities on the silly thing as a sysadmin.
Yes, most First World Geeks (and some Second World Geeks) have PDAs and Smartphones, but for underprivileged geeks? Young hackers (in the correct sense of the word) interested in learning basic computer/electrical engineering and code modification? I couldn't afford an iPhone when I was a kid (still can't, really) but this? I could have swung this and had an absolute ball mucking about with it.
Yes, it's not a Smartphone. But it's nothing to just scoff at.
Can that open source OS do anything his blackberry OS can't?
This sounds like an excellent open source hobby kit, but a practical device it does not appear to be.
I got a phone that runs linux for well under â100 on contract, and it has more than enough space for Wikipedia. It has word processing, email, webmail, telnet & ssh access, samba, etc. etc. etc.
You can buy old second-hand phones for well under $100 that can do all of this, too. Prices for these devices have tumbled.
Interestingly, "ben" is also the measure word used in Chinese for books, which speaks to the usability of this device as an e-reader.
Yeah, now that I realize I have to learn Chinese to understand it, it's even less useable than I thought!
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
If people want to design and play with these for the fun of it, more power to them
Except your post basically comes off as "they should never have bothered, because they're dirty zealots and it's been done better by others and I don't find it interesting."
it's poorly conceived
How so?
will never be very successful at reaching the hands of hobbyists
It's been around since 2009 at least and hasn't died yet. Maybe it is, and you're just making things up?
As I told the other gentleman, if they're dedicated to open hardware, they'd be better off creating open hardware for desktops where they wouldn't have bad space, heat, and power constraints
Maybe the goal was to have a singular portable device not dependent on any other platform, that was completely open. In fact, I believe that was the goal. They seem to have succeeded.
rather than poorly duplicating functionality of something that most people carry around already.
Which generally aren't open in multiple ways. I defer to my earlier snark.
I realize that a lot of people consider the contract that make smartphones affordable are evil... but you know what? I'd pay for voice and data on my phone anyway. Arguably without the contract I'd have more freedom to move to different networks to squeeze a few more pennies out of my bill every month, but practically I don't think I'd move that often. Most of the major players charge similar amounts for equally mediocre service. If I was really on the ball I doubt I'd save more than a hundred bucks or so by always shopping the best carrier deal; and I save way more than that by buying a phone under contract rather than paying full price for it.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Guess what? It still has low specs, and it still lacks wifi. I'd never heard of the NanoNote, and I'd never heard of 802.15.4. Now they're combined into a single product that no one will be interested in. I guess that's an improvement, right?
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
It would be a perfect place to keep your Bitcoin wallet. You could carry it around in your pocket to keep your bitcoins safe from hackers.
In fact, I'm surprised the summary didn't read something like Potential Bitcoin wallet goes wireless. In Bitcoin news today, Bitcoin experts said that Bitcoin uptake of Bitcoins could increase with the addition of Bitcoin wireless to a device which might, potentially, at some point, be used to store Bitcoins. Asked to comment on the development, a Bitcoin-using Bitcoin promoter replied "Bitcoin Bitcoin Bitcoin Bitcoin. And furthermore, Bitcoin."