I switched to the HP1910 PPC as the hardware (4.2 ounces, bright vibrant screen, removable battery, fast CPU, 64MB RAM) and low price (retails for $299 but I got it for $199) were too irresistible. However, if I could run PalmOS on this thing, I would. PPC is sluggish, installing apps is a pain, and ActiveSync is unreliable. That said, while I found my old Sony Clie was superior as a tool in many ways, my HP1910 is adequate and I'm having a lot more fun with it (playing games and viewing images and video is a better experience).
Given that PPCs like the HP1910 and Viewsonic V35 exist, I don't understand why Sony and Palm can't create a sub 5-ounce PalmOS5 device with virtual graffiti. If they don't, a lot of longtime Palm users like me will end up jumping ship.
My wife has a Crusoe-powered Fujitsu P-2000 which is infatuating because it's so small and light (3.4 pounds with internal CDRW/DVD), runs silently, runs cool, and is reasonably priced.
However, the Crusoe is just too slow for power users... people say it's equivalent to a P3 at roughly 1/2 the clock speed, but I've compared the P-2040 to a 4-year-old Inspiron 3500 (p2/300) and the Inspiron was noticebly faster at starting and switching between apps. At the leog forums, most topics involve improving performance. Windows XP and 2k run some apps OK if you don't multitask, but even then you need to tweak the OSs for speed. You can forget about XP's eye-candy. Hope you like browsing with Opera because you can forget Mozilla... even Phoenix is too sluggish on the Crusoe! (yet Phoenix runs fine on the above-mentioned P2/300!) Also, don't bother installing the newest versions of Mandrake or Redhat... either use an older release or stick with Desbian and Gentoo.
For anyone in the USA who needs speed in a small laptop, check out dynamism, which imports many cool Japanese laptops (at a premium, unfortunately).
There is also the Sony Vaio SRX99. Unfortunately, it's missing Fujitsu P-2000's slick hi-res 5:3 ratio widescreen, but it's the same size, is lighter (2.7 pounds vs 2.8 pounds for the Fujitsu-without-CDRW/DVD), has a faster CPU (P3/850), larger screen (area-wise), has a touchpad, and even gets better battery life. It does not have an internal CD bay, but Sony's external CDRW/DVD drive is small, light, and bus-powered.
So, I don't see TabletPC saving Crusoe. Any Tablets that weigh 3+ pounds can use Pentiums and there isn't enough of a market for slow 2 pound devices (tablets or notebooks) outside of Japan.
Yeah it's cool that it weighs 1.8 pounds, but is it functional? Forget the keyboard being unusable... the screen is *tiny*. Compare the DPI of various screens:
Inspiron 8000 15.1" UXGA 132 DPI
Fujitsu P1000 8.9" 1024x600 133 DPI
Fujitsu P2000 10.6" 1280x768 141 DPI
Sony Clie T665 PDA 3.1" 320x320 145 DPI
Sony PCG-U1 6.4" XGA 200 DPI!!!
The DPI is significantly higher than even the Clie PDAs!
I'm surprised that Fujitsu laptops are often overlooked; they have many well priced models of various sizes:
The widescreen format of Fujitsu's smallest laptop, the P-1000 Series, provides a fairly usable keyboard. It also has a *touch*screen and costs only $1100. Weighs a bit more at 2.2 pounds. A newer version is rumored to be released next month:
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p1000_summer02_t s
The P-2000 mentioned above has *internal* DVD/CDRW,is only 3.4 pounds (2.8 pounds with weightsaver in place of CD drive), has battery options to get up to 14 hours, and costs $1500. A newer version is also rumored to be released next month (933 MHz CPU). Check out the P series forums at http://www.leog.net
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p2000_summer02_t s
If you want a lightweight full-sized notebook, the S series has a 1.2 GHz P4-M CPU, 13.3" XGA, weighs 4.5 pounds, and costs $1500 (personally I wish this one had a 1280x1024 screen).
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/s_series_fall02_ ts
The new Zaurus looks sweet, but I can't help but to wonder why Sharp didn't utilize the extra space on the screen-half of the folding design. They could've used an 800x480 screen. Or if that was unrealistic due to cost/hardware/battery life/whatever, then they could've at least placed hardware buttons in the space next to the VGA screen (which I can't imagine would be difficult.
I'd rather have the extra screen resolution, but the photos here suggest that the screen-half swivels around, allowing the device to be used in tablet mode (much like the Sony NR and upcoming NX series). Look closely at 06.jpg and you can see the pivot point and that the screen-half is beveled on both sides. So hardware buttons next to the screen would be quite useful...
BTW, these other images also indicate it can swivel: 01.jpg , 02.jpg , 05.jpg.
The Mail client interface is mediocre, but it supports SSL *and* message filtering on IMAP servers (a combination that's not too common). Why M$ only implements message filtering on POP3 with OE is beyond me... some say to filter IMAP folders goes against the advantage of using IMAP in the first place. However, some ISPs require you use IMAP and SSL. So, unless you setup server side stuff (like procmail), you have to filter your spam manually.
A nice feature missing from OE: if running it on a network, Mozilla/Netscape profiles can be stored on the server without having to dealing with Windows' roaming profiles (kill me now) or editing the registry (not that big a deal, but more work than clicking on a directory).
Also, Mozilla is less buggy and more secure than OE/IE.
It's always nice when a quality cross-platform product is released...
The built-in Plucker instructions may be a bit advanced for the average user, but they're not that bad. However, when we found out about Avantgo's new policy a few weeks ago (a little slow on this one, eh/.?), our solution was to post our own simpler instructions on installing Plucker (in Windows) as well as links to iSilo.
BTW, if you don't like Plucker and don't want to pay for iSilo, iSilo-free is still available for download (older version with fewer features).
Since we're on the subject... why don't these offline browsers let you set different Link Depth options for on-site and off-site links? (or is there a way to do this and I just missed it?)
/.palm is a perfect example of where this would be useful... with Plucker you could set your onsite depth to a high number and offsite Depth to 1 so you could read the linked stories as well as the posts without creating a huge file.
This is obviously mostly marketing hype (their PalmOS vs PPC list is as bad as M$'s PPC vs PalmOS list). Give us some real information... What kind of memory protection will the new OS have? (currently PalmOS has none!). How's the file system going to work? Multitasking wasn't menioned, but has been brought up in the past; how is it being implemented? (PPC's multitasking sucks)
The only thing that really stands out to me is "supports up to 320x320 resolution". Big deal... Sony has that now. Why the Hell don't they support up to 480x320? You'd get the high resolution that the Sony units along with the virtual graffiti area that PPCs and Handeras have. Some people prefer one over the other, but pretty much *everyone* would appreciate having both.
As far as all the "PalmOS is dead, PPC rules" posts, you're either uninformed, stupid, or running a FUD campaign. PalmOS *still* controls 80% of the market, despite M$ pouring huge amounts of money into PPC. If PPC was its own company, they would've gone under a long time ago. Palm doesn't have a sugar daddy, and they're not in great shape financially, but they're certainly alive and kicking. It's possible that they'll go under in a few years (they are buring through their cash pretty quick) but who knows?
As far as comments about Palm being nothing more than an organizer and PPC being a computer, (1) that's been discussed to death and (2) who the crap modded them up? A quick refresher... having a taskswitching vs multitasking OS does not differentiate between a PDA and a computer. Multimedia isn't required either. All PalmOS devices can run spreadsheets, databases, programming languages, word processors, games, email, web browsing, etc... They are real computers.
Some people want better audio and video playback, so Palm is adding it. Does this go against the Zen of Palm? Perhaps... depends on how it's done. We'll know soon.
Actually, I disagree with the characterization of PalmOS being a PDA and PPC being a mini-computer.
PalmOS is primarily a PDA, however, it is also a mini-computer. Sure it's task-switching, but I use spreadsheets, databases, wordprocessors, email, do programming, play games, etc... Yes, movie playback is a joke on any Palm, and while some units have MP3 playback, mine doesn't. But multimedia and multitasking are not requirements to be a computer.
Most PPC apps tend to be *much* more than twice the size as PalmOS counterparts. As far as apps are concerned, 4MB on a Palm goes farther than 16MB on a PPC, 8MB Palm is about the same as 32MB on a PPC, and 16Mb on a Palm doesn't quite go as far as 64MB on a PPC. Some Palms now come with 16MB and some come with 8MB. Some PPCs come with 64MB and some with 32MB.
Data storage is another story, however: the ratio is much closer.
The PPC's multitasking is poorly implemented too. You can argue that PalmOS doesn't even have it, but I'll take its seamless taskswitching over PPC's system slow-downs (yes, I've used, PPC2002 on a 200MHz CPU with 64MB and it still does it). Also, have you ever used a Linux or EPOC based handheld? Running the same hardware as PPC, the EPOC and Linux devices are far more responsive.
Of course, if you're wealthy, you can install 128MB or even 256MB upgrades to PPC devices, but I'd prefer a solution around making the OS efficient rather than throwing absurd amounts of memory (and money) at it.
I'm not sure if you're criticizing Palm or PalmOS hardware, but I agree that Palm's hardware sucks. Sony's PalmOS hardware, on the other hand, is excellent.
Actually, the 4 points brought up in the post you replied to are accurate. (1) PalmOS doesn't require that you partition memory, (2) PalmOS programs are smaller, (3) the PalmOS GUI is simpler, and (4) there are far more PalmOS apps out there.
There are advantages (responsive and efficient) and disadvantages (no native file system, but instead a quirky virtual file system without consistant support) that come with those attributes, but they aren't FUD.
Also, PalmOS *has* undergone architectural improvements over the years. CE/PPC is still closely based on NT with its registry, DLLs, complicated directory structure, etc... The architecture of PPC2002 is not that much more advanced than CE1.0. PPC sports tweaked code and extra features (color, MP3, 802.11b, etc), but at its core, it has not changed any more than Palm has.
And your assessment that CE devices have the same amount of quality software is simply untrue. CE/PPC does have a lot of good stuff out there, but there are way more quality programs for PalmOS (and PPC has nothing equivalent to Wordsmith yet, the best PDA word processor I've seen).
You've missed the point of this device. It's small, lightweight, simple, and elegant.
That said, I agree it's underwhelming. Sony has color PalmOS units with 320x320 screens under 5 oz now... a monochrome 160x160 data-only device at this price (wireless connectivity or not) is not going to sell well. And the 33 MHz CPU offers OK performance for most apps, but for number crunching or other FPU intensive stuff (like using large spreadsheets) it's sluggish.
Obviously, CE/PPC does certain things better. But if a taskswitching device covers your needs (and it does for most people), Palm still provides a smaller, lighter, simpler (and in most cases cheaper) solution.
After the i705 flops, maybe Palm (if the hardware company still exists) will release a color 320x320 model with the upcoming 66 MHz CPU. I wouldn't bet on it though:-)
I gotta agree... this thing looks cool, but it's no iPod killer. For one thing, the Riot is *huge*. The iPod is almost too big as it is, but at least it fits in a pocket, which makes is far more useful for many situations.
Plus, the iPod's spinning wheel interface is the best I've ever used in a portable electronics device. With other players, you need to click buttons repeatedly or hold them down (waiting for menu scrolling to accelerate). It can be irritating. With the iPod, it's quick and intuitive. This is the iPod's best characteristic, IMHO. Judging by the control layout of the Riot, navigation will not be as easy.
We also don't know if the Riot is as responsive as the iPod (which is instant on / instant play).
Lastly, while bbum was way off when he said it'd take 2 days to xfer 20gb, 5+ hours is not that great. Sure, you can let it run overnight, but the point is that with the iPod, you don't have too.
If I had to choose between the Riot and iPod, I'd take the iPod. For now, I'll stick with my $100, 192 MB, 3 oz., solid state player.
First off, ST sucks in general. Hey, I'm a fan, but let's be honest... go back and watch the movies again. They're not that great (and the episodes are hit and miss too).
That said, I thought ST8 was, for the most part, well done. I didn't like the concept of the Borg queen, her fascination with Picard, or her attempted seduction of Data (very silly, IMHO).
But, those were my only complaints. The plot was actually fairly interesting and it was nice to see a movie on time travel that didn't invlove going to the present!
So, I rank ST8 a close second to ST4. And ST9 was better than expected... yeah it was bad, but it also had a decent plot (for ST). Besides, what do you expect for an odd ST movie? My ranking:
When are we going to see hardware accelerated voxel? Before 3D hardware took oof, Novalogic released many cool games using this technology (Commanche3 comes to mind). Had those games been hardware accelerated with anti-aliasing, they'd have terrain detail far more impressive than polygon based engines.
Here in Western Mass I counted 605 in 50 minutes (from my front yard too). My somewhat rural area is rated at a limiting magnitude of 5.4 according to darksky.org. So, I can imagine how many I would've seen had I driven up to an even more secluded spot.
It's cold out, but that was worth it!
FYI, I saw Bruce Campbell speak during his book tour/signing; he's level headed, funny, and articulate.
Anyway, FYI, he answered the first part of you question there: he said the credentials of all the people involved in Congo was so impressive, that no one would've guessed it would turn out so poorly. He originally thought getting involved in that project was a no-brainer.
Actually, cost is not that much of an issue anymore. You can get an Inspiron 8100 for $1200! (check out www.techbargains.com) Also, you can get good deals on refurbished laptops (with the same warranty as a new one).
Getting an LCD screen for a desktop that displays 1280x1024 is $600+. You can save a few hundred by not getting an LCD, but after using them for a while, I've sworn off CRTs (LCD = less eye-strain and crisper image).
So at that point, there is no difference in cost! The only problem is that your upgrade path is *very* limited... however, at the end of your 3 year warranty (which is excellent), you can just sell that laptop (which will have a better resale in 3 years than today's desktops) and get a new one.
Personally, after doing the math I decided I didn't need a desktop anymore. Now I browse the web and play Counterstrike from my couch/bed/bathroom ala 802.11b!
The RioVolt is reasonably priced. Personally, I bought a new RIO500 for $70 on Ebay and a 128MB Smartmedia card for $40 (techbargains.com). It's a great little device:
1. solid state!
2. lightweight: 3 oz
3. small size: 0.6x3.5x2.4"
4. 13 hour battery life on a single AA
5. 192 MB!
Sure I can't store my whole collection on it, but I can fit 2.5 hours using VBR or 3+ hours at 128 kbps. That's more than adequate for most uses and doesn't require any screwing around with CDRs or Minidiscs.
As far as the RipGo goes, are they on crack? It's a cool device, but at $400 I'll pass. Recording abilities or not, this thing is way overpriced... since most users don't need recording, they should come out with a player-only unit similar in price to the RIO-Volt.
They've got a 33Mhz 16-bit Motorola Dragonball processor. It can (slowly) serve the most basic mobile data needs (email, instant messaging), play a couple of neat little games, and be a pretty effective organizer, but that's about it.
Well, I routinely use my 320x320 16-bit color Sony Clie (which you can get for $300) for spreadheets, word processing, databases, offline web browsing, viewing images, games, etc...
I could've paid more for MP3 playback (either in a different model Clie or a PPC), but my $70 Rio500 does that nicely and for less money. However, those who listen to MP3s on a handheld can simply put them on a flash card... the amount of internal RAM is not an issue (unless you have a device that needs an expansion sleeve for flash cards).
It's true that movie playback and hi-res image editing is so slow, it's unusable. If you need that, then do not get a PalmOS device (of course you'll have to carry around a larger, heavier device and likely also have to pay more $).
Do I want memory protection or multitasking? Well, since my PalmOS device seldom crashes, I'm not worried about memory protection. And I can see reasons for some people to need multitasking on a handheld, but I don't need it myself; taskswitching is fine for most uses.
PalmOS is capable and efficient. You don't need movie playback for a successful wireless platform.
They serve different purposes. PocketPC is meant as a replacement for a laptop in the cases where a laptop would be an overkill. PalmOS is meant to be a PDA [meaning a contact list/organizer] only.
It's true that they serve different purposes, but it is not simply PIM vs computer.
The original PalmOS was designed for PIM *and* any other programs people could think of that could run on a monochrome 160x160 touch-screen computer (more recent versions of PalmOS also support color and higher resolution screens).
There have been databases, spreadsheets, word processors, offline browsers, games, RPN calculators, etc... for the Palm platform for years. Palm is a real computer. Sure, both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, but dismissing Palm as nothing more than an organizer is even worse than saying that PowerPC [sic] 2002 == Palm III, OS 3.1 (which it isn't).
The new HPs look pretty cool, but personally, I'll stick with my Sony Clie N610C. It was a little over half the cost of the new HPs, has a higher resolution screen, is smaller/lighter, and the real-world battery life with backlighting is as good as HP's advertised battery life without backlighting.
My only request... that Sony puts a 480x320 screen on it:-)
PocketPC2002 looks realy promising... kudos to M$ for fixing so many issues brought up by customers.
And, the new HP units look really sweet: they weigh between 6 and 7 oz, have a removable battery!, a 14 hour battery life (without backlight), and a CF slot.
That said, PocketPC is not light years ahead of PalmOS as so many CE zealots claim. Yes, PocketPC has many advantages, but so does PalmOS. It depends on your needs.
The Sony Clie's battery life with backlighting is as good as the new HPs' without backlighting. The Sony weighs 5.6 oz, has better formfactor for one-handed use, has a higher resolution (but smaller) screen, and you can get the N610C for $320! (a little over half the price of the new HP 64MB unit)
Like I wrote, PocketPC has advantages (especially if you need multimedia or multitasking instead of taskswitching), but it's still inefficient for a handheld OS compared to PalmOS (hence the high memory, CPU, and battery requirements). There are a few things you can do on PocketPC that you can't do with a Palm, but not many (Palms are not just organizers; they have databases, spreadsheets, word processors, etc...).
So, the Sony Clie is still smaller, lighter, cheaper, and easier to use for most computing tasks. PocketPCs can do multitasking and multimedia (BTW, the Clie 710C plays MP3s, but it's $80 more than the 610C and movie playback still sucks).
Choose the platform that fits your needs. For most users, I suspect the Sony is still a better choice.
I also have the BEFW11S4 (I use with a Win2k laptop).
Occasionally, it it stops responding for a min or two like yours, but I think it's a problem with my laptop (since removing my card fixes it).
Otherwise I haven't had any issues with it... And it never crashes. However, I had to return the first BEFW11S4 I got because it crashed all the time (and sometimes wouldn't let me connect at all). This hasn't happened once since I got it replaced.
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I switched to the HP1910 PPC as the hardware (4.2 ounces, bright vibrant screen, removable battery, fast CPU, 64MB RAM) and low price (retails for $299 but I got it for $199) were too irresistible. However, if I could run PalmOS on this thing, I would. PPC is sluggish, installing apps is a pain, and ActiveSync is unreliable. That said, while I found my old Sony Clie was superior as a tool in many ways, my HP1910 is adequate and I'm having a lot more fun with it (playing games and viewing images and video is a better experience).
Given that PPCs like the HP1910 and Viewsonic V35 exist, I don't understand why Sony and Palm can't create a sub 5-ounce PalmOS5 device with virtual graffiti. If they don't, a lot of longtime Palm users like me will end up jumping ship.
My wife has a Crusoe-powered Fujitsu P-2000 which is infatuating because it's so small and light (3.4 pounds with internal CDRW/DVD), runs silently, runs cool, and is reasonably priced.
However, the Crusoe is just too slow for power users... people say it's equivalent to a P3 at roughly 1/2 the clock speed, but I've compared the P-2040 to a 4-year-old Inspiron 3500 (p2/300) and the Inspiron was noticebly faster at starting and switching between apps. At the leog forums, most topics involve improving performance. Windows XP and 2k run some apps OK if you don't multitask, but even then you need to tweak the OSs for speed. You can forget about XP's eye-candy. Hope you like browsing with Opera because you can forget Mozilla... even Phoenix is too sluggish on the Crusoe! (yet Phoenix runs fine on the above-mentioned P2/300!) Also, don't bother installing the newest versions of Mandrake or Redhat... either use an older release or stick with Desbian and Gentoo.
For anyone in the USA who needs speed in a small laptop, check out dynamism, which imports many cool Japanese laptops (at a premium, unfortunately).
There is also the Sony Vaio SRX99. Unfortunately, it's missing Fujitsu P-2000's slick hi-res 5:3 ratio widescreen, but it's the same size, is lighter (2.7 pounds vs 2.8 pounds for the Fujitsu-without-CDRW/DVD), has a faster CPU (P3/850), larger screen (area-wise), has a touchpad, and even gets better battery life. It does not have an internal CD bay, but Sony's external CDRW/DVD drive is small, light, and bus-powered.
So, I don't see TabletPC saving Crusoe. Any Tablets that weigh 3+ pounds can use Pentiums and there isn't enough of a market for slow 2 pound devices (tablets or notebooks) outside of Japan.
Yeah it's cool that it weighs 1.8 pounds, but is it functional? Forget the keyboard being unusable... the screen is *tiny*. Compare the DPI of various screens:
. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p1000_summer02_t s
. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p2000_summer02_t s
. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/s_series_fall02_ ts
Inspiron 8000
15.1" UXGA
132 DPI
Fujitsu P1000
8.9" 1024x600
133 DPI
Fujitsu P2000
10.6" 1280x768
141 DPI
Sony Clie T665 PDA
3.1" 320x320
145 DPI
Sony PCG-U1
6.4" XGA
200 DPI!!!
The DPI is significantly higher than even the Clie PDAs!
I'm surprised that Fujitsu laptops are often overlooked; they have many well priced models of various sizes:
The widescreen format of Fujitsu's smallest laptop, the P-1000 Series, provides a fairly usable keyboard. It also has a *touch*screen and costs only $1100. Weighs a bit more at 2.2 pounds. A newer version is rumored to be released next month:
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks
The P-2000 mentioned above has *internal* DVD/CDRW,is only 3.4 pounds (2.8 pounds with weightsaver in place of CD drive), has battery options to get up to 14 hours, and costs $1500. A newer version is also rumored to be released next month (933 MHz CPU). Check out the P series forums at http://www.leog.net
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks
If you want a lightweight full-sized notebook, the S series has a 1.2 GHz P4-M CPU, 13.3" XGA, weighs 4.5 pounds, and costs $1500 (personally I wish this one had a 1280x1024 screen).
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks
I'd rather have the extra screen resolution, but the photos here suggest that the screen-half swivels around, allowing the device to be used in tablet mode (much like the Sony NR and upcoming NX series). Look closely at 06.jpg and you can see the pivot point and that the screen-half is beveled on both sides. So hardware buttons next to the screen would be quite useful...
BTW, these other images also indicate it can swivel: 01.jpg , 02.jpg , 05.jpg.
The Mail client interface is mediocre, but it supports SSL *and* message filtering on IMAP servers (a combination that's not too common). Why M$ only implements message filtering on POP3 with OE is beyond me... some say to filter IMAP folders goes against the advantage of using IMAP in the first place. However, some ISPs require you use IMAP and SSL. So, unless you setup server side stuff (like procmail), you have to filter your spam manually.
A nice feature missing from OE: if running it on a network, Mozilla/Netscape profiles can be stored on the server without having to dealing with Windows' roaming profiles (kill me now) or editing the registry (not that big a deal, but more work than clicking on a directory).
Also, Mozilla is less buggy and more secure than OE/IE.
It's always nice when a quality cross-platform product is released...
Looks cool, but with 400 MHz X-Scale PDAs coming out within months, I'm not too excited about a device based on the 206 MHz StrongARM CPU.
Any word on when/if Sharp is going to release a version with an X-Scale CPU?
The built-in Plucker instructions may be a bit advanced for the average user, but they're not that bad. However, when we found out about Avantgo's new policy a few weeks ago (a little slow on this one, eh /.?), our solution was to post our own simpler instructions on installing Plucker (in Windows) as well as links to iSilo.
BTW, if you don't like Plucker and don't want to pay for iSilo, iSilo-free is still available for download (older version with fewer features).
Since we're on the subject... why don't these offline browsers let you set different Link Depth options for on-site and off-site links? (or is there a way to do this and I just missed it?)
/.palm is a perfect example of where this would be useful... with Plucker you could set your onsite depth to a high number and offsite Depth to 1 so you could read the linked stories as well as the posts without creating a huge file.
Just because the series is ending, don't think the characters are done:
http://www.upcomingmovies.com/xfiles2.html
This is obviously mostly marketing hype (their PalmOS vs PPC list is as bad as M$'s PPC vs PalmOS list). Give us some real information... What kind of memory protection will the new OS have? (currently PalmOS has none!). How's the file system going to work? Multitasking wasn't menioned, but has been brought up in the past; how is it being implemented? (PPC's multitasking sucks)
The only thing that really stands out to me is "supports up to 320x320 resolution". Big deal... Sony has that now. Why the Hell don't they support up to 480x320? You'd get the high resolution that the Sony units along with the virtual graffiti area that PPCs and Handeras have. Some people prefer one over the other, but pretty much *everyone* would appreciate having both.
As far as all the "PalmOS is dead, PPC rules" posts, you're either uninformed, stupid, or running a FUD campaign. PalmOS *still* controls 80% of the market, despite M$ pouring huge amounts of money into PPC. If PPC was its own company, they would've gone under a long time ago. Palm doesn't have a sugar daddy, and they're not in great shape financially, but they're certainly alive and kicking. It's possible that they'll go under in a few years (they are buring through their cash pretty quick) but who knows?
As far as comments about Palm being nothing more than an organizer and PPC being a computer, (1) that's been discussed to death and (2) who the crap modded them up? A quick refresher... having a taskswitching vs multitasking OS does not differentiate between a PDA and a computer. Multimedia isn't required either. All PalmOS devices can run spreadsheets, databases, programming languages, word processors, games, email, web browsing, etc... They are real computers.
Some people want better audio and video playback, so Palm is adding it. Does this go against the Zen of Palm? Perhaps... depends on how it's done. We'll know soon.
Actually, I disagree with the characterization of PalmOS being a PDA and PPC being a mini-computer.
PalmOS is primarily a PDA, however, it is also a mini-computer. Sure it's task-switching, but I use spreadsheets, databases, wordprocessors, email, do programming, play games, etc... Yes, movie playback is a joke on any Palm, and while some units have MP3 playback, mine doesn't. But multimedia and multitasking are not requirements to be a computer.
Most PPC apps tend to be *much* more than twice the size as PalmOS counterparts. As far as apps are concerned, 4MB on a Palm goes farther than 16MB on a PPC, 8MB Palm is about the same as 32MB on a PPC, and 16Mb on a Palm doesn't quite go as far as 64MB on a PPC. Some Palms now come with 16MB and some come with 8MB. Some PPCs come with 64MB and some with 32MB.
Data storage is another story, however: the ratio is much closer.
The PPC's multitasking is poorly implemented too. You can argue that PalmOS doesn't even have it, but I'll take its seamless taskswitching over PPC's system slow-downs (yes, I've used, PPC2002 on a 200MHz CPU with 64MB and it still does it). Also, have you ever used a Linux or EPOC based handheld? Running the same hardware as PPC, the EPOC and Linux devices are far more responsive.
Of course, if you're wealthy, you can install 128MB or even 256MB upgrades to PPC devices, but I'd prefer a solution around making the OS efficient rather than throwing absurd amounts of memory (and money) at it.
I'm not sure if you're criticizing Palm or PalmOS hardware, but I agree that Palm's hardware sucks. Sony's PalmOS hardware, on the other hand, is excellent.
Actually, the 4 points brought up in the post you replied to are accurate. (1) PalmOS doesn't require that you partition memory, (2) PalmOS programs are smaller, (3) the PalmOS GUI is simpler, and (4) there are far more PalmOS apps out there.
:-)
There are advantages (responsive and efficient) and disadvantages (no native file system, but instead a quirky virtual file system without consistant support) that come with those attributes, but they aren't FUD.
Also, PalmOS *has* undergone architectural improvements over the years. CE/PPC is still closely based on NT with its registry, DLLs, complicated directory structure, etc... The architecture of PPC2002 is not that much more advanced than CE1.0. PPC sports tweaked code and extra features (color, MP3, 802.11b, etc), but at its core, it has not changed any more than Palm has.
And your assessment that CE devices have the same amount of quality software is simply untrue. CE/PPC does have a lot of good stuff out there, but there are way more quality programs for PalmOS (and PPC has nothing equivalent to Wordsmith yet, the best PDA word processor I've seen).
You've missed the point of this device. It's small, lightweight, simple, and elegant.
That said, I agree it's underwhelming. Sony has color PalmOS units with 320x320 screens under 5 oz now... a monochrome 160x160 data-only device at this price (wireless connectivity or not) is not going to sell well. And the 33 MHz CPU offers OK performance for most apps, but for number crunching or other FPU intensive stuff (like using large spreadsheets) it's sluggish.
Obviously, CE/PPC does certain things better. But if a taskswitching device covers your needs (and it does for most people), Palm still provides a smaller, lighter, simpler (and in most cases cheaper) solution.
After the i705 flops, maybe Palm (if the hardware company still exists) will release a color 320x320 model with the upcoming 66 MHz CPU. I wouldn't bet on it though
I gotta agree... this thing looks cool, but it's no iPod killer. For one thing, the Riot is *huge*. The iPod is almost too big as it is, but at least it fits in a pocket, which makes is far more useful for many situations.
Plus, the iPod's spinning wheel interface is the best I've ever used in a portable electronics device. With other players, you need to click buttons repeatedly or hold them down (waiting for menu scrolling to accelerate). It can be irritating. With the iPod, it's quick and intuitive. This is the iPod's best characteristic, IMHO. Judging by the control layout of the Riot, navigation will not be as easy.
We also don't know if the Riot is as responsive as the iPod (which is instant on / instant play).
Lastly, while bbum was way off when he said it'd take 2 days to xfer 20gb, 5+ hours is not that great. Sure, you can let it run overnight, but the point is that with the iPod, you don't have too.
If I had to choose between the Riot and iPod, I'd take the iPod. For now, I'll stick with my $100, 192 MB, 3 oz., solid state player.
First off, ST sucks in general. Hey, I'm a fan, but let's be honest... go back and watch the movies again. They're not that great (and the episodes are hit and miss too).
That said, I thought ST8 was, for the most part, well done. I didn't like the concept of the Borg queen, her fascination with Picard, or her attempted seduction of Data (very silly, IMHO).
But, those were my only complaints. The plot was actually fairly interesting and it was nice to see a movie on time travel that didn't invlove going to the present!
So, I rank ST8 a close second to ST4. And ST9 was better than expected... yeah it was bad, but it also had a decent plot (for ST). Besides, what do you expect for an odd ST movie? My ranking:
4 ***
8 ***
2 ***
6 ** 1/2
7 ** 1/2
9 ** 1/2
3 **
1 **
5 *
When are we going to see hardware accelerated voxel? Before 3D hardware took oof, Novalogic released many cool games using this technology (Commanche3 comes to mind). Had those games been hardware accelerated with anti-aliasing, they'd have terrain detail far more impressive than polygon based engines.
Here in Western Mass I counted 605 in 50 minutes (from my front yard too). My somewhat rural area is rated at a limiting magnitude of 5.4 according to darksky.org. So, I can imagine how many I would've seen had I driven up to an even more secluded spot. It's cold out, but that was worth it!
FYI, I saw Bruce Campbell speak during his book tour/signing; he's level headed, funny, and articulate.
Anyway, FYI, he answered the first part of you question there: he said the credentials of all the people involved in Congo was so impressive, that no one would've guessed it would turn out so poorly. He originally thought getting involved in that project was a no-brainer.
FYI, in the notes in the limited edition AOD DVDs, Bruce Campbell stated that he thinks the original ending is "far more appropriate".
:-)
Personally, I disagree with him; I like the happy ending better
Actually, cost is not that much of an issue anymore. You can get an Inspiron 8100 for $1200! (check out www.techbargains.com) Also, you can get good deals on refurbished laptops (with the same warranty as a new one).
Getting an LCD screen for a desktop that displays 1280x1024 is $600+. You can save a few hundred by not getting an LCD, but after using them for a while, I've sworn off CRTs (LCD = less eye-strain and crisper image).
So at that point, there is no difference in cost! The only problem is that your upgrade path is *very* limited... however, at the end of your 3 year warranty (which is excellent), you can just sell that laptop (which will have a better resale in 3 years than today's desktops) and get a new one.
Personally, after doing the math I decided I didn't need a desktop anymore. Now I browse the web and play Counterstrike from my couch/bed/bathroom ala 802.11b!
The RioVolt is reasonably priced. Personally, I bought a new RIO500 for $70 on Ebay and a 128MB Smartmedia card for $40 (techbargains.com). It's a great little device:
1. solid state!
2. lightweight: 3 oz
3. small size: 0.6x3.5x2.4"
4. 13 hour battery life on a single AA
5. 192 MB!
Sure I can't store my whole collection on it, but I can fit 2.5 hours using VBR or 3+ hours at 128 kbps. That's more than adequate for most uses and doesn't require any screwing around with CDRs or Minidiscs.
As far as the RipGo goes, are they on crack? It's a cool device, but at $400 I'll pass. Recording abilities or not, this thing is way overpriced... since most users don't need recording, they should come out with a player-only unit similar in price to the RIO-Volt.
They've got a 33Mhz 16-bit Motorola Dragonball processor. It can (slowly) serve the most basic mobile data needs (email, instant messaging), play a couple of neat little games, and be a pretty effective organizer, but that's about it.
Well, I routinely use my 320x320 16-bit color Sony Clie (which you can get for $300) for spreadheets, word processing, databases, offline web browsing, viewing images, games, etc...
I could've paid more for MP3 playback (either in a different model Clie or a PPC), but my $70 Rio500 does that nicely and for less money. However, those who listen to MP3s on a handheld can simply put them on a flash card... the amount of internal RAM is not an issue (unless you have a device that needs an expansion sleeve for flash cards).
It's true that movie playback and hi-res image editing is so slow, it's unusable. If you need that, then do not get a PalmOS device (of course you'll have to carry around a larger, heavier device and likely also have to pay more $).
Do I want memory protection or multitasking? Well, since my PalmOS device seldom crashes, I'm not worried about memory protection. And I can see reasons for some people to need multitasking on a handheld, but I don't need it myself; taskswitching is fine for most uses.
PalmOS is capable and efficient. You don't need movie playback for a successful wireless platform.
They serve different purposes. PocketPC is meant as a replacement for a laptop in the cases where a laptop would be an overkill. PalmOS is meant to be a PDA [meaning a contact list/organizer] only.
:-)
It's true that they serve different purposes, but it is not simply PIM vs computer.
The original PalmOS was designed for PIM *and* any other programs people could think of that could run on a monochrome 160x160 touch-screen computer (more recent versions of PalmOS also support color and higher resolution screens).
There have been databases, spreadsheets, word processors, offline browsers, games, RPN calculators, etc... for the Palm platform for years. Palm is a real computer. Sure, both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, but dismissing Palm as nothing more than an organizer is even worse than saying that PowerPC [sic] 2002 == Palm III, OS 3.1 (which it isn't).
The new HPs look pretty cool, but personally, I'll stick with my Sony Clie N610C. It was a little over half the cost of the new HPs, has a higher resolution screen, is smaller/lighter, and the real-world battery life with backlighting is as good as HP's advertised battery life without backlighting.
My only request... that Sony puts a 480x320 screen on it
PocketPC2002 looks realy promising... kudos to M$ for fixing so many issues brought up by customers.
And, the new HP units look really sweet: they weigh between 6 and 7 oz, have a removable battery!, a 14 hour battery life (without backlight), and a CF slot.
That said, PocketPC is not light years ahead of PalmOS as so many CE zealots claim. Yes, PocketPC has many advantages, but so does PalmOS. It depends on your needs.
The Sony Clie's battery life with backlighting is as good as the new HPs' without backlighting. The Sony weighs 5.6 oz, has better formfactor for one-handed use, has a higher resolution (but smaller) screen, and you can get the N610C for $320! (a little over half the price of the new HP 64MB unit)
Like I wrote, PocketPC has advantages (especially if you need multimedia or multitasking instead of taskswitching), but it's still inefficient for a handheld OS compared to PalmOS (hence the high memory, CPU, and battery requirements). There are a few things you can do on PocketPC that you can't do with a Palm, but not many (Palms are not just organizers; they have databases, spreadsheets, word processors, etc...).
So, the Sony Clie is still smaller, lighter, cheaper, and easier to use for most computing tasks. PocketPCs can do multitasking and multimedia (BTW, the Clie 710C plays MP3s, but it's $80 more than the 610C and movie playback still sucks).
Choose the platform that fits your needs. For most users, I suspect the Sony is still a better choice.
FYI, I get 13+ hours on my Diamond RIO500 (single AA battery). Power draw from spinning CDs is significant.
Occasionally, it it stops responding for a min or two like yours, but I think it's a problem with my laptop (since removing my card fixes it).
Otherwise I haven't had any issues with it... And it never crashes. However, I had to return the first BEFW11S4 I got because it crashed all the time (and sometimes wouldn't let me connect at all). This hasn't happened once since I got it replaced.
So maybe you got a defective unit too?