This is a very interesting concept, and it'd be fun just to see if it could be done. Seems like a lot of the responses here have forgotten that sometimes it's just all for fun.
You mention a checkerboard system-- how about proof of concept by writing just that: a checkers game where it reads the move the other computer made right off of that system's screen. Utterly worthless, sure, but damn geeky.
What about all of those various power-line devices currently in use? There's also the possibility that power line networking could interest businesses in marketing NEW power-based technologies; thus I have to wonder how the networking will affect the line and further developments...
Has it now? I'm betting that the decrease in XP piracy is maybe 3% or less. Microsoft left a huge backdoor in the works with the name Corporate on it, and no matter how good your key encryption is, someone'll find a way to break it.
Thus, XP Corporate editions are as easily pirated as ever-- each with a different key indistinguishable from a Microsoft key.
So your 'undisputable' truth has been disputed. However, the frontiers you mention are still entirely possible, but very dependant on both the will of the customer, and the will of the pirates who are breaking these protections.
I'm betting a major reason is that this "x86 hack" as you call it outperforms the Itanium and will have much higher market penetration. Getting an Itanium was extremely difficult for a long period of time, and the lawsuits over the possibility Intel stole IP from competitors for use in Itanium makes it all the more likely MS didn't want to touch it with a 10' pole.
If that's true, then why is everyone afraid of Sony? They've singlehandedly killed the PS/2 modchip market under similar pretenses. I think that it's already been decided that the DMCA applies to modchips-- as a device with the POTENTIAL to bypass protection, they're now illegal to possess or sell.
You're forgetting about the homebrew software scene which has been making serious progress in mapping out the X-Box hardware.
There's still a very large group of people working on that sort of thing, and many of them are either being very quiet, posting under psuedonyms, or out of the USA because you simply can't homebrew code without a modchip.
Rugged computing device? My Toshiba e310 can do just about anything I throw at it. Yeah, it's the cheap model, so I have to add a memory card to have sufficient space for heavy computations, but don't underestimate the hardware for the OS.
Tunes? Not a problem. My e310 comes with Media Player; it'll handle MP3 or WMA. Fill a memory card up with tunes, grab headphones, and go!
As for web browsing.. granted, PocketIE isn't the best there is, but it's decent for the screen size. Can't see why anyone'd want to do any serious browsing from such a small screen as a cellphone or a pocketpc/palm with the screen on these things.
I think the 'server in your pocket' thing is kinda overrated, myself. You're going to need wireless to pull that off, and security on wireless isn't anywhere NEAR safe enough to trust walking around with a mobile server in your pocket. Though, I'm pretty sure there're plenty of servers on PocketPC-- I just haven't actually looked.
I'm running a PocketPC 2002 (Toshiba e310) and I've never had any memory leakage. I only have to reboot the thing from the occasional unstable 3rd party application. As for missing functionality, keep in mind WinCE 2.0 was purely a minor step up from 1.0; it wasn't until 3 that they really got it anywhere NEAR right.
Legitimate points, but I'm not so sure that you'd be able to convince the masses that a Windows CE machine meets their needs. After all, as soon as you explain that it's a "cut down version of Windows", people are going to think less of it than it really is.
I'm the owner of a Toshiba e310, and it's actually pretty damn useful. My college has a ban on use of their computers for "frivolous" things (including instant messaging) so I just hook my pocketpc up to any machine there through USB and get things done on my own hardware. SSH, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC.. pretty much anything I need to get any work done.
Well, I use the built-in screen keyboard right now myself; not the most elegant solution, I assure you.
I'm considering looking for a keyboard/case combination for mine. Though, in the end, I might wait until AFTER I upgrade next so that I can pick up something with wireless LAN.
Depending on what your needs are, you might be better off with a Zaurus. By your commentary, I'm guessing you're somewhat high end on the tech scale, so a Zaurus might be just what you really need.
The best toolkits are self-designed. Find yourself the tools to make a bootable CD with menu system, then dump install files for every Windows you can cram on there-- at the very least, 95, 98, and 98SE.
You want NTFS DOS Pro to clean up NTFS partitions from a plain DOS disk, Knoppix for working with systems you're really having problems with (and emergency internet access), a memory tester utility, diagnostics to test hardware, and Partition Magic never hurt...
Oh yeah, and a few tools to grab Windows install keys from the registry. Be sure you grab one that supports XP; you'll probably end up working on at least one install when you can't find the keycode.
On the hardware side, pick up an extra PS/2 keyboard and mouse to keep around for testing purposes. Also an old style DIN keyboard and serial mouse, if you can find any. You can't underestimate the value of having replacement hardware for two of the most common pieces of broken kit.
Well, that about covers the setup I've been carrying with me for my repair jobs.
Interestingly enough, I once saw a pirated XP setup disc called "8-in-1" at my local college; by extremely careful use of deliberate crosslinked sectors, they were able to get eight different installs of XP onto a single CD, plus a copy of Partition Magic, and NTFS DOS Pro-- plus the disc was still bootable (it had all of the original boot sectors from the original CDs) and had a nice menu for which section to boot.
I'm not advocating piracy here, but that's the kind of tools you want-- extremely compact and workable.
Eh, what do you expect from a group composed of people so passionate about their hobbies/jobs that they'll argue BSD/Linux, Microsoft VS The World At Large, and so forth to the death?
I'm not saying I'm much better if I am at all, but seriously.. remember the target audience. We all take this just a hair too seriously sometimes.
No kidding! I gave DC++ a try in December of last year. Just to get onto most hubs, I had to find an "acceptable" selection of files to share that amounted to over 60GB *plus* had to deal with other restrictions such as number of hubs I could be connected to and the amount of open bandwidth.
I ended up dropping DC++ in favor of eDonkey and BitTorrent for grabbing the files I want because the requirements were prohibitive for new users. The funny thing is.. my motherboard had died shortly before I went to try DC++, and so I was trying it on a borrowed P2-350 without access to any of my collected files. A very unpleasant reminder of how hard it can be to get started.
Sure, fine, up until the point an upgrade breaks VNC, network functionality goes down, or one of a hundred other things that can kill VNC connectivity outright.
VNC is nice, yes-- I use it myself-- but it's not perfect. In the end, the LCD might prove to be a lifesaver in a very small package.
Month? You mean months to years. The rate ADV is releasing stuff at, you could see digital fansubs a week after they're on TV in Japan and 3-4 years before it hits the US.
Ah, the joys of being an otaku in the digital age-- it's a lot easier than it was for the first generation.
You're kidding, right? Last time I saw one of those, which was a few months ago, it was less than a tenth of its size from the likes of 1993. I remember seeing inch plus thick Computer Shoppers on shelves, heavy enough to cause head injuries if used as a weapon...
Just how big ARE your hands? I find the X-box controllers to be unwieldly and uncomfortable, even the smaller rerelease. On the other hand, I found the GC controller to be too small...
Well, I'm an old-timer for this sort of thing. I've been watching the console wars since the early 80s, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that the power of a console doesn't matter nearly as much as the software for it.
Time after time, weaker systems have won because the games were better. The Atari 2600 beat out Coleco and Intellivision. The NES beat out the SMS. The Super NES beat the Genesis except in sports games. PSX managed to beat Dreamcast.
As a gamer, I'm loath to trust a company with the track record of Microsoft. Sure, I like the idea of X-box Live-- a cheat-free online environment that the gaming companies are actually willing to support-- but there aren't THAT many killer games for it.
Your argument that the developers spend more time "trying to figure out how to get the PS2 running at all" is false-- for that to be right would mean they'd have to develop the versions simultaneously and that's almost NEVER true. Take a look at Splinter Cell; there'd been a considerable wait for the PS2 version to even start development and in the end it's nearly as good as the X-box version.
I've been wondering where the point of collase is for some time. Unfortunately, while there's no easy way to pinpoint the exact point of no return, we're headed there rapidly and have been for at least 15 years.
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This is a very interesting concept, and it'd be fun just to see if it could be done. Seems like a lot of the responses here have forgotten that sometimes it's just all for fun.
You mention a checkerboard system-- how about proof of concept by writing just that: a checkers game where it reads the move the other computer made right off of that system's screen. Utterly worthless, sure, but damn geeky.
Actually, this is an important question.
What about all of those various power-line devices currently in use? There's also the possibility that power line networking could interest businesses in marketing NEW power-based technologies; thus I have to wonder how the networking will affect the line and further developments...
Has it now? I'm betting that the decrease in XP piracy is maybe 3% or less. Microsoft left a huge backdoor in the works with the name Corporate on it, and no matter how good your key encryption is, someone'll find a way to break it.
Thus, XP Corporate editions are as easily pirated as ever-- each with a different key indistinguishable from a Microsoft key.
So your 'undisputable' truth has been disputed. However, the frontiers you mention are still entirely possible, but very dependant on both the will of the customer, and the will of the pirates who are breaking these protections.
I'm betting a major reason is that this "x86 hack" as you call it outperforms the Itanium and will have much higher market penetration. Getting an Itanium was extremely difficult for a long period of time, and the lawsuits over the possibility Intel stole IP from competitors for use in Itanium makes it all the more likely MS didn't want to touch it with a 10' pole.
It's backwards compatible. Read all the Hammer articles from the past year for details on AMD's 64-bit plans.
If that's true, then why is everyone afraid of Sony? They've singlehandedly killed the PS/2 modchip market under similar pretenses. I think that it's already been decided that the DMCA applies to modchips-- as a device with the POTENTIAL to bypass protection, they're now illegal to possess or sell.
You're forgetting about the homebrew software scene which has been making serious progress in mapping out the X-Box hardware.
There's still a very large group of people working on that sort of thing, and many of them are either being very quiet, posting under psuedonyms, or out of the USA because you simply can't homebrew code without a modchip.
Simple. Custom homebrew programs. Or Linux.
Take a good look at the homebrew segment for the Dreamcast; they've done some simply amazing codeworks, including ports of Doom and Wolf3D.
Rugged computing device? My Toshiba e310 can do just about anything I throw at it. Yeah, it's the cheap model, so I have to add a memory card to have sufficient space for heavy computations, but don't underestimate the hardware for the OS.
Tunes? Not a problem. My e310 comes with Media Player; it'll handle MP3 or WMA. Fill a memory card up with tunes, grab headphones, and go!
As for web browsing.. granted, PocketIE isn't the best there is, but it's decent for the screen size. Can't see why anyone'd want to do any serious browsing from such a small screen as a cellphone or a pocketpc/palm with the screen on these things.
I think the 'server in your pocket' thing is kinda overrated, myself. You're going to need wireless to pull that off, and security on wireless isn't anywhere NEAR safe enough to trust walking around with a mobile server in your pocket. Though, I'm pretty sure there're plenty of servers on PocketPC-- I just haven't actually looked.
So, all in all.. your arguments don't stand up.
Did you install any of the patches?
I'm running a PocketPC 2002 (Toshiba e310) and I've never had any memory leakage. I only have to reboot the thing from the occasional unstable 3rd party application. As for missing functionality, keep in mind WinCE 2.0 was purely a minor step up from 1.0; it wasn't until 3 that they really got it anywhere NEAR right.
Legitimate points, but I'm not so sure that you'd be able to convince the masses that a Windows CE machine meets their needs. After all, as soon as you explain that it's a "cut down version of Windows", people are going to think less of it than it really is.
I'm the owner of a Toshiba e310, and it's actually pretty damn useful. My college has a ban on use of their computers for "frivolous" things (including instant messaging) so I just hook my pocketpc up to any machine there through USB and get things done on my own hardware. SSH, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC.. pretty much anything I need to get any work done.
Well, I use the built-in screen keyboard right now myself; not the most elegant solution, I assure you.
I'm considering looking for a keyboard/case combination for mine. Though, in the end, I might wait until AFTER I upgrade next so that I can pick up something with wireless LAN.
Depending on what your needs are, you might be better off with a Zaurus. By your commentary, I'm guessing you're somewhat high end on the tech scale, so a Zaurus might be just what you really need.
Well, this is not really the best of advice, but it is an option nontheless.
You could always mod your PocketPC to run Linux, if you've got one of the 'supported' models. I've got a Toshiba e310, so no conversion for me.
You could give Mocha Telnet a try. It has SSH and Telnet. It's what I use. License is $25 for single user.
The best toolkits are self-designed. Find yourself the tools to make a bootable CD with menu system, then dump install files for every Windows you can cram on there-- at the very least, 95, 98, and 98SE.
You want NTFS DOS Pro to clean up NTFS partitions from a plain DOS disk, Knoppix for working with systems you're really having problems with (and emergency internet access), a memory tester utility, diagnostics to test hardware, and Partition Magic never hurt...
Oh yeah, and a few tools to grab Windows install keys from the registry. Be sure you grab one that supports XP; you'll probably end up working on at least one install when you can't find the keycode.
On the hardware side, pick up an extra PS/2 keyboard and mouse to keep around for testing purposes. Also an old style DIN keyboard and serial mouse, if you can find any. You can't underestimate the value of having replacement hardware for two of the most common pieces of broken kit.
Well, that about covers the setup I've been carrying with me for my repair jobs.
Interestingly enough, I once saw a pirated XP setup disc called "8-in-1" at my local college; by extremely careful use of deliberate crosslinked sectors, they were able to get eight different installs of XP onto a single CD, plus a copy of Partition Magic, and NTFS DOS Pro-- plus the disc was still bootable (it had all of the original boot sectors from the original CDs) and had a nice menu for which section to boot.
I'm not advocating piracy here, but that's the kind of tools you want-- extremely compact and workable.
What, did you have detail maxed out? I used to play on a 386-SX16, the absolute lowest you can do on a 386, and it wasn't anywhere near that bad.
Eh, what do you expect from a group composed of people so passionate about their hobbies/jobs that they'll argue BSD/Linux, Microsoft VS The World At Large, and so forth to the death?
I'm not saying I'm much better if I am at all, but seriously.. remember the target audience. We all take this just a hair too seriously sometimes.
No kidding! I gave DC++ a try in December of last year. Just to get onto most hubs, I had to find an "acceptable" selection of files to share that amounted to over 60GB *plus* had to deal with other restrictions such as number of hubs I could be connected to and the amount of open bandwidth.
I ended up dropping DC++ in favor of eDonkey and BitTorrent for grabbing the files I want because the requirements were prohibitive for new users. The funny thing is.. my motherboard had died shortly before I went to try DC++, and so I was trying it on a borrowed P2-350 without access to any of my collected files. A very unpleasant reminder of how hard it can be to get started.
Sure, fine, up until the point an upgrade breaks VNC, network functionality goes down, or one of a hundred other things that can kill VNC connectivity outright.
VNC is nice, yes-- I use it myself-- but it's not perfect. In the end, the LCD might prove to be a lifesaver in a very small package.
Month? You mean months to years. The rate ADV is releasing stuff at, you could see digital fansubs a week after they're on TV in Japan and 3-4 years before it hits the US.
Ah, the joys of being an otaku in the digital age-- it's a lot easier than it was for the first generation.
"Giant"? Computer Shopper?
You're kidding, right? Last time I saw one of those, which was a few months ago, it was less than a tenth of its size from the likes of 1993. I remember seeing inch plus thick Computer Shoppers on shelves, heavy enough to cause head injuries if used as a weapon...
Not so different from being overruled by management for being a bit behind on the timetable, is it?
Congrats, you got one of the few that actually make sense!
More comfortable? X-box controller?
Just how big ARE your hands? I find the X-box controllers to be unwieldly and uncomfortable, even the smaller rerelease. On the other hand, I found the GC controller to be too small...
Well, I'm an old-timer for this sort of thing. I've been watching the console wars since the early 80s, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that the power of a console doesn't matter nearly as much as the software for it.
Time after time, weaker systems have won because the games were better. The Atari 2600 beat out Coleco and Intellivision. The NES beat out the SMS. The Super NES beat the Genesis except in sports games. PSX managed to beat Dreamcast.
As a gamer, I'm loath to trust a company with the track record of Microsoft. Sure, I like the idea of X-box Live-- a cheat-free online environment that the gaming companies are actually willing to support-- but there aren't THAT many killer games for it.
Your argument that the developers spend more time "trying to figure out how to get the PS2 running at all" is false-- for that to be right would mean they'd have to develop the versions simultaneously and that's almost NEVER true. Take a look at Splinter Cell; there'd been a considerable wait for the PS2 version to even start development and in the end it's nearly as good as the X-box version.
I've been wondering where the point of collase is for some time. Unfortunately, while there's no easy way to pinpoint the exact point of no return, we're headed there rapidly and have been for at least 15 years.