Hey don't forget the EverLED! It uses a 1 watt luxeon star side-emitter, which works with your flashlight's existing focusing reflector.
The trouble with the 5 watt luxeons is that they make so much heat, it's difficult to dissipate it fast enough inside of a flashlight. Something like a maglight with a lot of metal is okay, but put it in a plastic housing and run it at full tilt and it will probably melt.
The sun is getting hotter! We're serious! See, we were right all along, all the fossile fuels we've burned haven't had any effect on the climate. There is plenty of oil left for the next 200 years and you'll be dead by then so who cares?
This sounds like a big-oil scam to me. I wish it was, because it obviously isn't. But I'm sure they'll use this to their advantage to justify not making cars more fuel efficient, building more coal burning plants, drilling in Alaska, etc.
My point was that the fact that they keyboard uses bluetooth offers absolutely no advantage to the customer vs. other wireless keyboards. Bluetooth was supposed to standardize wireless peripherals and thus make them cheaper, yet the MS bluetooth keyboard is 2x as much as an equivilent logitech non-bluetooth keyboard. The ONLY possible advantage I can see is that if your computer already has bluetooth built in, you don't need to use the included MS receiver, but I don't know if it even can work with generic bluetooth receivers. Maybe range is better but seriously how far away from your computer are you going to try and use your keyboard? Anyway this is pretty offtopic so I'm finished.
I would give dillo a shot. I just built it on my desktop and with -O3 it's memory footprint is only 6 megs. Yeah Opera is probably less. It may have some other features to reduce it's memory usage. I know people are using it on Ipaq's running Linux.
You know those products were on the market and still would be except that Americans weren't buying them. I wish they still were. I'm sort of considering buying a Jornada 720 to run Linux. I did just buy a Zaurus. I can actually type fairly quickly on it's keyboard, although obviously not the 80wpm I can type on a normal keyboard. It's also kind of a pain to type anything other than letters.
The thing is, most Americans aren't interested in sub-notebooks and palmtop computers. They want electronic datebooks, so that's what Palm and MS give them. When Americans buy computers, they want BIG BEEFY AMERICAN COMPUTERS WITH HUGE AMOUNTS OF STORAGE AND THE FASTEST CPUs. Sounds a lot like the American automobile market vs. the Japanese.
Me, I wish I'd bought a Jornada 720 or something similar when I started college, so I could write code in class. Frankly I hate handwriting recognition. My handwriting sucks. And the screens on pocket pc's is just too small and narrow for real text editing. The 640x240 screens on the original win CE machines was much better, IMO. Of course if manufacturers would just turn their pocket PCs 90 degrees... I think that would be a much better form factor. I'd rather be able to read a line of text without wrapping, and scroll a little more often.
PDAs are still cutting edge. I think we'll be seing a lot of changes in the coming years.
I forgot to mention that during the summer we also had weekly cookouts/softball games against other local businesses. We played Vermont Public Television and My Web Grocier a lot.
At my last job, we were required to play at least one game of fooseball per day, and we had an office-wide Counter Strike game almost every day after work. Even the vice prez played. It was really great for morale and team togetherness.
Also think about what kind of extra services you can easily offer your employees using existing resources. Set up a webserver where employees can host personal web sites, for example.
There is a place that will sell you an English C700 for $700.
http://www.dynamism.com/zaurus/index.shtml
Purchasing information: The Sharp Zaurus SL-C700 ships direct to you from Japan, arriving in about 3 business days. We do accept returns within 5 days, and subject to a 15% restocking fee. (Returned units will be sold at a discount on our specials page.) For the latest delivery info, please call a sales representative at 800-711-6277. Please see our pricing page for ordering information.
The MAJOR drawback to the C700 is crappy battery life, only about 4 hours. Thats not much better than most laptops.
1. They run WinCE. Automaticly hated by people around these parts. (excluding me)
My only major problem with Windows CE is that it's an MS product. It's actually quite a capable and compact embedded OS. They'll probably screw it all up with CE.NET though.
But bash gets my vote. I had the same problem when I installed NetBSD. I had to suffer through using sh untill I could networking up. Bash was the first thing I downloaded.
Check out the EverLED. It uses a single LED, but it's a 1 watt Luxeon LED. Plus because it's a side-emitter LED, you can still focus your Maglight's beam. Try that with any other LED Maglight bulb.
Consider putting an EverLED in a Maglight. It's everthing you've come to expect from a Maglight plus the increased brightness and battery life you get from the EverLED. It works in all C and D cell Maglights, regardless of how many cells. Another big advantage for you is that the EverLED never just dies. When the batteries finally start to give it up, it dims slowly, giving you ample warning. And if you turn the light off for a few minutes and give the batteries a chance to catch their breath, you can get another minute of good light. Repeat this and you can make it all the way home on effectively dead batteries.
LEDs CAN be far more efficient and produce light for a much longer time than halogens. The problem is that they need driver circuitry, specifically they need a constant current supply. This isn't that big a deal, the circuits are cheap and simple. The problem is that the cheapo lights usually don't use them. The higher end lights, like the EverLED bulb, usually do.
Again it depends. The newer biking halogens are pretty darn bright. You would have to put several LEDs together to get the same brightness. However they would still be more efficient.
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the bike market. It does seem like a perfect application for LEDs.
As a distributor for the EverLED, I am a bit biased. But please allow me to briefly sum up why I think the EverLED really is the best LED flashlight solution on the market today.
Most LED flashlights currently on the market suffer from one or more of these shortcomings
Relatively poor battery life. Most cheapo LED flashlights just use a resistor to limit the current to the LED. This makes the LED only slightly more efficient than an ordinary bulb, and as the battery voltage drops the current to the LED also drops, causing the LED to dim long before the batteries are really dead.
Lack of, or fixed focus/reflector. Most LED flashlights use the optical characteristics of the LED itself to focus the beam. You're stuck with whatever beamwidth the LEDs happen to be, which can be anywhere from 100 degrees to 10 degrees.
Poor design/construction. Most LED flashlights are cheapo plastic. Even the well constructed ones often have design flaws, like the one mentioned earlier that requires a jewelers screwdriver to change the batteries. They might be fine for recreational use, but if lives are on the line, forget it.
Not very bright. Some of the multi-LED array flashlights solve this problem, but in general the small T1-3/4 LEDs used in most flashlights are not exactly the brightest around.
The EverLED addresses all of these issues.
The EverLED bulb houses an efficient regulated driver circuit, which maintains a near constant current to the LED until the batteries are almost dead, then slowly cuts back so that the light dims gradually, but never totally shuts off. This way you have some warning that your batteries are dead, and even dead batteries will produce some light. See this graph.
The EverLED uses a "side emitter" LED. Instead of a lens, like normal LEDs, the LED used in the EverLED uses a prism to direct the light out the sides in a toroidal pattern. The flashlight's existing reflector is used to focus the beam. If your flashlight features an adjustable reflector, such as the Maglight, you can retain it's use.
The EverLED itself is housed in machined brass and potted in epoxy, so it's probably stronger than it needs to be. It will happily work inside almost any industrial strength flashlight.
The EverLED uses a 1 watt LED. It's up to 10 times brighter than other LEDs, and up to 4 times brighter than a typical krypton flashlight bulb.
So for the reasons above, plus the fact that the EverLED works with any size flashlight from 1 to 6 cells, pretty much makes it the best LED flashlight solution going. Nobody will touch you with a 6 cell LED Maglight. That's just my $.02
Yeah the ARCHITECTURE of XFree is obviously highly modular. However in it's current form XFree86 development and releases is/are mostly monolithic. I'm saying it shouldn't matter what drivers get included in what release or whatever. I'm saying new drivers shouldn't have to wait for the "core team" (sounds almost cultish) before being made available. NVidia seems to be getting the right idea.
But from the user's point of view, the problems are quite similar. For example, you still can't get a 2.4 Linux kernel with decent ACPI support, reasonably complete FireWire support, or lots of other features that have been out individually for months or years.
I'm honestly not up to speed on the kernel support for ACPI or FireWire. But lets face it, there are what now, a billion computers out there? And how many of them have ACPI or FireWire? Not the majority, thats for certain.
And the 2.5 kernels do not even come close to compiling cleanly in most configurations (at least the half dozen I have tried).
Well it IS a development kernel afterall...
Both the Linux kernel and XFree86 suffer from similar problems: they are very well-written and well-tuned C programs, but there is only so much magic even the best C wizard using the best tools can work on huge C source trees.
Again, there's nothing stopping anybody from releasing these drivers indipendantly of Linus' releases. If they prove good then I doubt if Linus would reject them.
Linux is so much more stable than Windows because Linus is so picky and doesn't just cobble stuff into the kernel before it's ready.
I'll admit, Mike Harris' comments are slightly disturbing. But perhaps the real solution isn't to fork XFree86. Why do XFree drivers have to be released by XFree with the core release? Can't they be developed and released indipendantly? Can't ATI just release their drivers themselves? If XFree is slow on the uptake then let the distributions package them. It's not like everybody forgoes the latest Windows video drivers until they're included with a major release of Windows, christ you'd never get them then. It sounds like XFree needs to modularize their development efforts. And if XFree isn't willing to do so then there is nothing stopping anybody from standing up and releaseing their own XFree drivers pack.
Oh and BTW from http://www.xfree86.org/developer.html
How to Become an XFree86 Developer
Get and build the latest XFree86 code from the CVS repository, and subscribe to the XFree86 developer list (see above).
I don't know if Mike's quote from that page is old or just innaccurate.
It sounds like XFree could use some new blood. It's too bad there aren't just more active developers as it would help to steer it in the right direction. The Linux kernel is a good example of a piece of software which is ultimately controlled by Linus' inner circle, but which is really driven by the hundreds (thousands?) of other people who hack on it and release their own trees, etc. Maybe writing GUI code is boring by comparison, or something.
I glad you think so because the general opinion at every place I've ever worked at is that they are the single biggest pain in the ass ever invented and someone should be shot. Nothing like when an ignorant luser accidently remaps their enter key and doesn't even realize it and calls tech support freaking out. Then YOU have to come in and try to remember how the hell to fix it. It's usually cheapest just to replace the keyboard rather than try to screw with it. So yeah there should be plenty of those things kicking around if you want to try one:)
Forth kicks ass! I learned Forth just so I could hack my Mac's Open Firmware. Everybody should learn Forth. There is also GNU Forth available on gnu's site.
The NEC MobilePro is probably the most elite handheld PC I've seen. I don't understand why they aren't more popular. There are lots of them on ebay, and on the newer ones you can run NetBSD with X even (have a big CF card obviously.) The 770, 780, and 790 are the ones to look for. The 800 also runs NetBSD with X, but it's a larger laptopish form factor.
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Hey don't forget the EverLED! It uses a 1 watt luxeon star side-emitter, which works with your flashlight's existing focusing reflector.
The trouble with the 5 watt luxeons is that they make so much heat, it's difficult to dissipate it fast enough inside of a flashlight. Something like a maglight with a lot of metal is okay, but put it in a plastic housing and run it at full tilt and it will probably melt.
The sun is getting hotter! We're serious! See, we were right all along, all the fossile fuels we've burned haven't had any effect on the climate. There is plenty of oil left for the next 200 years and you'll be dead by then so who cares?
This sounds like a big-oil scam to me. I wish it was, because it obviously isn't. But I'm sure they'll use this to their advantage to justify not making cars more fuel efficient, building more coal burning plants, drilling in Alaska, etc.
My point was that the fact that they keyboard uses bluetooth offers absolutely no advantage to the customer vs. other wireless keyboards. Bluetooth was supposed to standardize wireless peripherals and thus make them cheaper, yet the MS bluetooth keyboard is 2x as much as an equivilent logitech non-bluetooth keyboard. The ONLY possible advantage I can see is that if your computer already has bluetooth built in, you don't need to use the included MS receiver, but I don't know if it even can work with generic bluetooth receivers. Maybe range is better but seriously how far away from your computer are you going to try and use your keyboard? Anyway this is pretty offtopic so I'm finished.
I would give dillo a shot. I just built it on my desktop and with -O3 it's memory footprint is only 6 megs. Yeah Opera is probably less. It may have some other features to reduce it's memory usage. I know people are using it on Ipaq's running Linux.
You know those products were on the market and still would be except that Americans weren't buying them. I wish they still were. I'm sort of considering buying a Jornada 720 to run Linux. I did just buy a Zaurus. I can actually type fairly quickly on it's keyboard, although obviously not the 80wpm I can type on a normal keyboard. It's also kind of a pain to type anything other than letters.
The thing is, most Americans aren't interested in sub-notebooks and palmtop computers. They want electronic datebooks, so that's what Palm and MS give them. When Americans buy computers, they want BIG BEEFY AMERICAN COMPUTERS WITH HUGE AMOUNTS OF STORAGE AND THE FASTEST CPUs. Sounds a lot like the American automobile market vs. the Japanese.
Me, I wish I'd bought a Jornada 720 or something similar when I started college, so I could write code in class. Frankly I hate handwriting recognition. My handwriting sucks. And the screens on pocket pc's is just too small and narrow for real text editing. The 640x240 screens on the original win CE machines was much better, IMO. Of course if manufacturers would just turn their pocket PCs 90 degrees... I think that would be a much better form factor. I'd rather be able to read a line of text without wrapping, and scroll a little more often.
PDAs are still cutting edge. I think we'll be seing a lot of changes in the coming years.
I forgot to mention that during the summer we also had weekly cookouts/softball games against other local businesses. We played Vermont Public Television and My Web Grocier a lot.
At my last job, we were required to play at least one game of fooseball per day, and we had an office-wide Counter Strike game almost every day after work. Even the vice prez played. It was really great for morale and team togetherness.
Also think about what kind of extra services you can easily offer your employees using existing resources. Set up a webserver where employees can host personal web sites, for example.
Look up the PC-104 spec.
There is a place that will sell you an English C700 for $700.
http://www.dynamism.com/zaurus/index.shtml
Purchasing information:
The Sharp Zaurus SL-C700 ships direct to you from Japan, arriving in about 3 business days. We do accept returns within 5 days, and subject to a 15% restocking fee. (Returned units will be sold at a discount on our specials page.) For the latest delivery info, please call a sales representative at 800-711-6277. Please see our pricing page for ordering information.
The MAJOR drawback to the C700 is crappy battery life, only about 4 hours. Thats not much better than most laptops.
But bash gets my vote. I had the same problem when I installed NetBSD. I had to suffer through using sh untill I could networking up. Bash was the first thing I downloaded.
"Full spectrum" lighting is a scam. See FAQ about Lighting, Mood, and Performance.
Why does MS sell wireless keyboard for over $100 by marketing them as BLUETOOTH?
That's just the last straw. I will not buy from Amazon again.
Check out the EverLED. It uses a single LED, but it's a 1 watt Luxeon LED. Plus because it's a side-emitter LED, you can still focus your Maglight's beam. Try that with any other LED Maglight bulb.
Consider putting an EverLED in a Maglight. It's everthing you've come to expect from a Maglight plus the increased brightness and battery life you get from the EverLED. It works in all C and D cell Maglights, regardless of how many cells. Another big advantage for you is that the EverLED never just dies. When the batteries finally start to give it up, it dims slowly, giving you ample warning. And if you turn the light off for a few minutes and give the batteries a chance to catch their breath, you can get another minute of good light. Repeat this and you can make it all the way home on effectively dead batteries.
Well it depends :)
LEDs CAN be far more efficient and produce light for a much longer time than halogens. The problem is that they need driver circuitry, specifically they need a constant current supply. This isn't that big a deal, the circuits are cheap and simple. The problem is that the cheapo lights usually don't use them. The higher end lights, like the EverLED bulb, usually do.
Again it depends. The newer biking halogens are pretty darn bright. You would have to put several LEDs together to get the same brightness. However they would still be more efficient.
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the bike market. It does seem like a perfect application for LEDs.
The EverLED comes in both white and red, although not in the same bulb.
Most LED flashlights currently on the market suffer from one or more of these shortcomings
The EverLED addresses all of these issues.
So for the reasons above, plus the fact that the EverLED works with any size flashlight from 1 to 6 cells, pretty much makes it the best LED flashlight solution going. Nobody will touch you with a 6 cell LED Maglight. That's just my $.02
Yeah the ARCHITECTURE of XFree is obviously highly modular. However in it's current form XFree86 development and releases is/are mostly monolithic. I'm saying it shouldn't matter what drivers get included in what release or whatever. I'm saying new drivers shouldn't have to wait for the "core team" (sounds almost cultish) before being made available. NVidia seems to be getting the right idea.
Well it IS a development kernel afterall...
Again, there's nothing stopping anybody from releasing these drivers indipendantly of Linus' releases. If they prove good then I doubt if Linus would reject them.
Linux is so much more stable than Windows because Linus is so picky and doesn't just cobble stuff into the kernel before it's ready.
Oh and BTW from http://www.xfree86.org/developer.html
I don't know if Mike's quote from that page is old or just innaccurate.
It sounds like XFree could use some new blood. It's too bad there aren't just more active developers as it would help to steer it in the right direction. The Linux kernel is a good example of a piece of software which is ultimately controlled by Linus' inner circle, but which is really driven by the hundreds (thousands?) of other people who hack on it and release their own trees, etc. Maybe writing GUI code is boring by comparison, or something.
I glad you think so because the general opinion at every place I've ever worked at is that they are the single biggest pain in the ass ever invented and someone should be shot. Nothing like when an ignorant luser accidently remaps their enter key and doesn't even realize it and calls tech support freaking out. Then YOU have to come in and try to remember how the hell to fix it. It's usually cheapest just to replace the keyboard rather than try to screw with it. So yeah there should be plenty of those things kicking around if you want to try one :)
Forth kicks ass! I learned Forth just so I could hack my Mac's Open Firmware. Everybody should learn Forth. There is also GNU Forth available on gnu's site.
The NEC MobilePro is probably the most elite handheld PC I've seen. I don't understand why they aren't more popular. There are lots of them on ebay, and on the newer ones you can run NetBSD with X even (have a big CF card obviously.) The 770, 780, and 790 are the ones to look for. The 800 also runs NetBSD with X, but it's a larger laptopish form factor.