If this could be scaled to larger display sizes (not huge, just regular display size), then we could finally have a good sunlight-readable color dispay.
That would be very nice for those times I have to work outside with that big bright-ball-in-the-sky thingy overhead.
Then again, a backlit (or self-lit, when OLED arrives) display makes more sense for the dark, dank dungeon I toil in now...
I'm not in the medical field, so I don't know anything about your exact requirements.
However, why couldn't you place a conventional PC outside of the operating room, and run video, keyboard, mouse connections through conduit to a "patch box" or a "KVM Extender". This way you could run whatever type of PC you wanted without worrying about contamination (and, if the system died in the middle of an operation, it could be replaced without working in the operating room itself).
There are many products that allow such connections over very long distances(100's of feet) using few wires (cat-5 ethernet cable). The device I've had personal experience with is the LongView KVM extender from Avocent (formerly Cybex). You may have to have 2 such units to support 2 monitors, but still even that only requires running 2 cat-5 cables. Even though you are routing video signals over UTP cable, we get great video quality over runs of about 100feet.
The cost is around $500-600 for a transmitter/ receiver pair, depending on configuration.
There are many similar products out there. This might start you taking a slightly different look at how to approach the problem
At higher data rates, parallel busses start to run into a few problems:
- It is difficult to synchronize the signals so that you are sure that every line is at the correct level when the data is read. Of course, SCSI does this very well, but it takes careful design to get it right.
- Each signal line requires its own driver circuit, connector, wiring, power consumption, etc.
Serial communications help solve these problems in the following ways:
- fewer signal lines mean lower part count, lower power consumption, lower cost.
- synchronization is much easier (1 data line!) If you use a suitable addressing scheme, you can gang up as many synchronous channels as needed to move more data with very little overhead (though this is not done with Serial ATA as far as I know). Properly done, the bandwidth should scale almost linearly with number of channels.
- With fewer signal lines, it is easier to use techniques like LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) to minimize noise interference. Again this is done with parallel busses too (SCSI), but it is cheaper to do it for a small number of lines.
Statement of Bias: I "administer" several UNIX OS versions (Solaris, IRIX, Linux, occasional HP-UX), but in an isolated network with no outside connections (so very little emphasis on security).
Two factors come to mind:
No matter how close the systems are, you will still "loose" time to training (either formal or OJT) requirements for the new system. This may actually be a benefit for your staff (wider perspective, more to put on Resume).
Depending on how much focus is placed on security, you may end up doubling the time required to track vulnerabilities and install patches. Again, this may be an advantage as well since a single-os shop tends to have equal vulnerabilities on all systems. In a multi-os shop an attacker will have to work harder to get control of everything.
While I can't think of a single useful thing to
do with 3000 children for 2 days, here are a couple of ideas for hardware...
www.aquapad.org - FIC is finally shipping these now, I belive. Cost might be around $1000 each for everything... so only 3 million and you'd be set! Midori Linux or Windows CE The advantage would be a full-size screen, and the possibility of some systems with flash, others with hard drives, etc.
www.simputer.org - promises a sub-$200 handheld of some type. Don't know if they have actual hardware, but is an "open design" I recall there were some interesting ideas in application development.
There was another "open" linux pda project that recently bit the dust. The design was done and prototype boards were tested, but the creators couldn't get enough orders of the pre-production units to make it worthwhile. I just can't remember the name. I do remember the device looked cool and if I believed that PDAs were actually useful I would've signed up.
If you are gung-ho to build your own (a very good way to spend someone else's money in my opinion) give some though to the IBM metapad concept (http://slashdot.org/articles/02/02/06/1448209.sht ml). This is just way too cool. Use the same core for a PDA, webpad, wearable, or desktop configuration depending on your purpose.
I've just got one of these keyboards in the office for evaluation for a few days and I've got to say I agree 100% with the comments. The spacebar is a bit of a pain (Thanks for the left-hand tip, it does help!). Other than that, it types OK (I'm on it now).
With about 15 people giving it a go, the only other real complaint is that there are no LEDs for Caps/Num/Scroll Lock. The consensus was that it shouldn't have been too hard to include them in bulge on the left side (which must also contain the chip(s) anyway.
FYI we're evaluating them for use in a sandy environment rather than a wet one.
If the flexable screen technology ever pans out this could be seriously cool...
I second (third, fourth,...) the posts advising the use of metal shelving.
Rather than the thin, metal-only units, however, I suggest you look for the "heavy duty" models which have a frame and plywood or particle board shelves. These are heavier and more study for holding loads than the all-metal kinds. The one I use cost about $60 at the local Home Depot.
While they aren't pretty, they go together easily with no tools (a hammer helps to tap things into place), and you can place the shelves at any level you want. At home, I have the bottom of the shelf loaded with "ballast" (heavy old junk I rarely need), so I could mount the PCs higher for easier access.
Just remember to leave enough wiggle room behind the rack before you load it up!;-)
I have recently gotten a Panasonic ToughBook 71 (300 Mhz PII, 64 MB Ram, 6GB Hd, 13" display, CD, USB) and am very pleased with it.
It is not fully ruggedized, it has the magnesium shell and gel-padded HD/display, but is not a sealed unit (it has an air vent for the CPU). I don't think I'll try standing on it (300lbs), but it has taken some rough handling already.
I'm running Debian 2.1 and Win 95. Linux compatibility is great, but I'm still working on sound (The 2.2 kernel has the an OPL3-SAx driver, but I haven't played with it much).
Word of advice, go ahead and order the "optional" cable that lets you use the floppy and the CD-ROM at the same time (this SHOULD be standard...).
Slashdot Mirror
If this could be scaled to larger display sizes (not huge, just regular display size), then we could finally have a good sunlight-readable color dispay.
That would be very nice for those times I have to work outside with that big bright-ball-in-the-sky thingy overhead.
Then again, a backlit (or self-lit, when OLED arrives) display makes more sense for the dark, dank dungeon I toil in now...
I'm not in the medical field, so I don't know anything about your exact requirements.
However, why couldn't you place a conventional PC outside of the operating room, and run video, keyboard, mouse connections through conduit to a "patch box" or a "KVM Extender". This way you could run whatever type of PC you wanted without worrying about contamination (and, if the system died in the middle of an operation, it could be replaced without working in the operating room itself).
There are many products that allow such connections over very long distances(100's of feet) using few wires (cat-5 ethernet cable). The device I've had personal experience with is the LongView KVM extender from Avocent (formerly Cybex). You may have to have 2 such units to support 2 monitors, but still even that only requires running 2 cat-5 cables. Even though you are routing video signals over UTP cable, we get great video quality over runs of about 100feet.
The cost is around $500-600 for a transmitter/ receiver pair, depending on configuration.
There are many similar products out there. This might start you taking a slightly different look at how to approach the problem
At higher data rates, parallel busses start to run into a few problems:
- It is difficult to synchronize the signals so that you are sure that every line is at the correct level when the data is read. Of course, SCSI does this very well, but it takes careful design to get it right.
- Each signal line requires its own driver circuit, connector, wiring, power consumption, etc.
Serial communications help solve these problems in the following ways:
- fewer signal lines mean lower part count, lower power consumption, lower cost.
- synchronization is much easier (1 data line!) If you use a suitable addressing scheme, you can gang up as many synchronous channels as needed to move more data with very little overhead (though this is not done with Serial ATA as far as I know). Properly done, the bandwidth should scale almost linearly with number of channels.
- With fewer signal lines, it is easier to use techniques like LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) to minimize noise interference. Again this is done with parallel busses too (SCSI), but it is cheaper to do it for a small number of lines.
Statement of Bias: I "administer" several UNIX OS versions (Solaris, IRIX, Linux, occasional HP-UX), but in an isolated network with no outside connections (so very little emphasis on security).
Two factors come to mind:
No matter how close the systems are, you will still "loose" time to training (either formal or OJT) requirements for the new system. This may actually be a benefit for your staff (wider perspective, more to put on Resume).
Depending on how much focus is placed on security, you may end up doubling the time required to track vulnerabilities and install patches. Again, this may be an advantage as well since a single-os shop tends to have equal vulnerabilities on all systems. In a multi-os shop an attacker will have to work harder to get control of everything.
While I can't think of a single useful thing to
t ml). This is just way too cool. Use the same core for a PDA, webpad, wearable, or desktop configuration depending on your purpose.
do with 3000 children for 2 days, here are a couple of ideas for hardware...
www.aquapad.org - FIC is finally shipping these now, I belive. Cost might be around $1000 each for everything... so only 3 million and you'd be set! Midori Linux or Windows CE The advantage would be a full-size screen, and the possibility of some systems with flash, others with hard drives, etc.
www.simputer.org - promises a sub-$200 handheld of some type. Don't know if they have actual hardware, but is an "open design" I recall there were some interesting ideas in application development.
There was another "open" linux pda project that recently bit the dust. The design was done and prototype boards were tested, but the creators couldn't get enough orders of the pre-production units to make it worthwhile. I just can't remember the name. I do remember the device looked cool and if I believed that PDAs were actually useful I would've signed up.
If you are gung-ho to build your own (a very good way to spend someone else's money in my opinion) give some though to the IBM metapad concept (http://slashdot.org/articles/02/02/06/1448209.sh
I'm definitely of the second type, but I still bought it. A good story and some great artwork, even those that didn't fit "my idea" of the characters.
The picture of Rincewind wearing the dragon-powered jetpack alone made the book worthwhile.
I've just got one of these keyboards in the office for evaluation for a few days and I've got to say I agree 100% with the comments. The spacebar is a bit of a pain (Thanks for the left-hand tip, it does help!). Other than that, it types OK (I'm on it now).
With about 15 people giving it a go, the only other real complaint is that there are no LEDs for Caps/Num/Scroll Lock. The consensus was that it shouldn't have been too hard to include them in bulge on the left side (which must also contain the chip(s) anyway.
FYI we're evaluating them for use in a sandy environment rather than a wet one.
If the flexable screen technology ever pans out this could be seriously cool...
I second (third, fourth, ...) the posts advising the use of metal shelving.
;-)
Rather than the thin, metal-only units, however, I suggest you look for the "heavy duty" models which have a frame and plywood or particle board shelves. These are heavier and more study for holding loads than the all-metal kinds. The one
I use cost about $60 at the local Home Depot.
While they aren't pretty, they go together easily with no tools (a hammer helps to tap things into place), and you can place the shelves at any level you want. At home, I have the bottom of the shelf loaded with "ballast" (heavy old junk I rarely need), so I could mount the PCs higher for easier access.
Just remember to leave enough wiggle room behind the rack before you load it up!
Good Luck
The FAT Guy
I have recently gotten a Panasonic ToughBook 71 (300 Mhz PII, 64 MB Ram, 6GB Hd, 13" display, CD, USB) and am very pleased with it.
It is not fully ruggedized, it has the magnesium shell and gel-padded HD/display, but is not a sealed unit (it has an air vent for the CPU). I don't think I'll try standing on it (300lbs), but it has taken some rough handling already.
I'm running Debian 2.1 and Win 95. Linux compatibility is great, but I'm still working on sound (The 2.2 kernel has the an OPL3-SAx driver, but I haven't played with it much).
Word of advice, go ahead and order the "optional" cable that lets you use the floppy and the CD-ROM at the same time (this SHOULD be standard...).