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FreePad: A Linux Handheld Wireless Computer
terrified writes "A Norwegian company called Screen Media is advertising a new product, called the Freepad, on their website. Apparently it is a Linux-based portable device with wireless technology, letting you roam about 300m from its "base station." This thing looks quite promising, but unfortunately there's next to nothing in the way of information on their website. " Its a tablet style machine does look pretty excellent, but its tough to make out much more.
I remember about a year back seeing a product which I will describe...
It was a pad. Wireless, rechargeable. All it did was trap your mouse, keyboard and monitor, then sent them wirelessly to the pad. And back when you input anything. It allowed you to take your pc anywhere within a reasonable distance from the base transciever.
Does anyone know where I can find a beast of this kind? Or was I hitting the crack pipe a little hard that week?
-Steve
My intelligence insults itself.
I love Toys, From my X10 devices everywhere in the house to the BeepWear PRO on my wrist.. I love Toys.
But these palm computer things don't interest me at all. I'm not sure why. I have tried a few but much more than using it as a calculator I have found them useless.. The writing tablet types are horrible (have you ever been able to read anything you signed on the UPS tablet?)
A mp3 "walkman" would be the best use for a palmdevice for me. But this is just me.. How do you use yours?
Fish! LipHo
This tool looks like the type of thing that would greatly assist hospitals. Doctors could write or dictate their orders to the pad while examining the patient and the Freepad would update a main database of the things that a patient would need.
The possibilities of this tool in a hopsital setting are endless...
a cordless web browser. Now my dream of surfing
the web on my toilet can be realized.
I really think there are uses for this type of thing. True hospitals may have problems with them, but some manufacturing lines could use it. Just-In-Time manuf especially. Letting orders come down better. Of course they were bilking this thing for home use so I'm not sure how tough it would be if it could stand a manufacturing line.
For a much further discussion about it check out the last time it was posted (Sep 7).
-cpd
Here's the last /. article on this http://slashdot.org/articles/99 /09/07/0951244.shtml The web site looks exactly as devoid of information as I remember it. I don't think they've done anything new.
Yes it does sounds like an excellent thing to use in any enviroment. I still have a few slight worries tho. First of all as you mentioned using it in a hospital setting, I'm worried how much disturbance a transmitter of this kind will have on the often very sensitive medical eletronic equipment.
The second concern is equal, it's also a technical one. All those transmitters would need to have a unique modulation frequency, otherwise what I do on my term might affect your terminal. So then you'd either need to have a transmitter with tweakable frequency, or each computer has a receiver with which only one transmitter goes. In the first case you'll have jokers, scanning to find someone elses frequency, in the latter case you'll have to have an administration of what you allready have in a certain room, in case you want to add more of the same machines.
It's a great technology, and I certainly see it's uses, but there's still the last worry, that we're getting more and more wireless technology, and the air is getting more and more polluted by electro-magnetic fields (low energetic radiation).
Beware of Wight Supremacists!
This isn't a palm type device... There's two models with 10.4" and a 12.1" LCD screens... Unless you have really big palms, I wouldn't call that a palm device. They also have on screen keyboard, and USB support if you want a real keyboard.
send flames > /dev/null
Only 'flamers' flame!
There have been several of these kinds of devices, but the Zenith CruisePad achieved a fair degree of success , especially for providing mobility in hospital and healthcare environments. (I used to do healthcare IT consulting.)
The initial CruisePads weren't really computers in their own right with wireless LANs, but rather Windows Terminals that used a wireless link to remotely control another PC. This made them quite expensive, so they never became very popular outside the places where mobility has a high value.
I think the company continued on for a while after Zenith was gored by Bull, but other than a non-responsive link at cruisetech.com, and some fossils at ZDS, there doesn't seem to be much left of them.
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
Ok, we all know that this story was on slashdot not too long ago, but there is a little bit more info on the web site. Well, ok, some more pretty pictures anyway. The real question here is whether the friendly developer who took part in the original discussion is back, and whether he has any more technical info. In particular I would like to know whether his "Geek Version" of the pad, with the OS opened up, is going to be a reality. Just now I believe they are going to lock down the OS to make it "User Friendly". This means I won't be able to "export DISPLAY=" from my Linux servers to it. :-((
Stealing a rhinoceros should not be attempted lightly.
I did a search on some Norwegian websistes, and according to digi.no (a leading norwegian web-based newspaper), the price will be somewhere around 5000 NOK (approximatly 625 USD). It will have 16MB RAM, and a touch-screen with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels (beware of smudgy fingers!).
Also, it will have a DECT-based basestation (connected to a phoneline [regular, ISDN, ADSL, whatever]), and it will be possible to share this basestation with a total of eight FreePads. The DECT-DMAP protocol will enable speeds up to 500 Kbit/second, something that will be quadrupled over time (the article does not say how/when).
According to the article, the people behind the idea, are former employees at Alcatel (french-owned multi-national telecoms corporation) and Telenor (largest norwegian telecommunications company).
reference: article at digi.no (in norwegian)
The software team is busy working on the software. A well known Linux company is doing the DECT drivers, and Opera is porting their web browser to Nano-X for us (screenshots should be available shortly).
As for the prototype pictures: The one on the main page is computer generated, but the others are pictures of the real-life prototype.
Regards, Vidar Hokstad VP of R&D, Screen Media AS
I sent these folks an email in early September and here's what I got from Vidar Hokstad (vidarh@screenmedia.no) Director of Technical Development (these are his words, my layout)
*Estimated release date Q1 2000
*Estimated cost: less than USD 500 (very rough estimate, hopefully even cheaper).
*Variations: There's versions of the base station that is ready or in the works that support ISDN, CATV (can replace the cable modem), Ethernet and modems.
*Includes a POP3 mail reader
I've been on slashdot so long I'm starting to get out of touch with the cool stuff if it ain't on slashdot.
It's probably not pot, then..
I've never been so pro-linux as when I am stoned.
To keep this on-topic (even while replying to a Troll) I feel that the Pad is a) a neat idea and b) a very neat Idea.
This is because it a) Runs Linux
and b) presumably has a wipe-clean screen just in case I get any ash on it.
--Nick
Very Pro-Linux at the moment, thank you.
Replying to Troll *thwack* Bad! *thwack*
I am considering buying a palmtop computer, mostly for browsing the web, and maybe, if possible, email and instant messaging.
Anti-Microsoft ideals put aside, the WinCE machines look pretty attractive. I've read some info on the wince version of IE, and it seems like a pretty nice browser. Can anyone tell me how Palm compares to this?
I know that ICQ is available for Palm, is it available for wince? I know that AOL just released a beta of AIM for wince. What about Palm?
What about wireless modems? How do they work with Palm? Wince? (are they even supported?) How much can I expect to pay for wireless net access for these machines?
The one featured in this story runs Linux, but I have seen comments that say it doesn't run X, which means I can't use it for web browsing (unless I use Lynx, which I'm not ready to do). Also, I have seen nothing about wireless modems...
Is there anything else I should know that I haven't mentioned here?
--
Vidar, thanks for patiently responding to all questions on your product. Can you tell us what the projected price point is? I know LCD prices sometimes fluctuate, but a ballpark figure would be useful. And second, off-topic question: Does anyone know if GSM has been approved for hospital use?
Zigbee Central: A Zigbee weblog
I noticed you were posting on Slashdot, so I have a question for you: Is there anyway to enter text? Can this thing be used with a stylus to write things down, similar to what a Palm does? Also, what type of graphics engine does it use? How open is development for it? Basically, I have always dreamt of a way to read something with a Pad of some sort, and be able to doodle comments on it. I would we sort of like reading a book and writing on it, only my information is stored digitally. I would alse like the ability to do homework on a little thing like this with a keyboard. Will it run emacs? Thanks for your input.
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Is there anyway to enter text? Can this thing be used with a stylus to write things down, similar to what a Palm does?
Also, what type of graphics engine does it use? How open is development for it?
Basically, I have always dreamt of a way to read something with a Pad of some sort, and be able to doodle comments on it. I would we sort of like reading a book and writing on it, only my information is stored digitally. I would alse like the ability to do homework on a little thing like this with a keyboard. Will it run emacs?
Thanks for your input. Sorry about the last one, I forgot to preview.
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The way it looks, I think it would be great for students. Can you Imagine having a device like that that held all your books electronically, and was able to do quick searches of text. Also students could use the device for reference material and keep track of all their assignments. I've always thought that the big market for PDA's and electronic books are college students
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
I don't see what all the fuss is about, its just a Palm Pilot running Linux right? Say, I wonder what the inside of a Palm Pilot looks like... ( gets _*^THE LOOK^*_ on his face)....