On Sun, 6 Aug 2000, J. van de Griek wrote:
> Quite hard. It would still be rather difficult to make a device as powerful
> and versatile as the Newton and make it as small as the Palm. And size does
> matter in the case of PDAs. Plus, Palm has the market already.
Actually, you can download the hardware plans for such a device for free
right now, though its license limits you to non-commercial use. Digital
(now Compaq) has had the Itsy research platform around for awhile. It's a
strongarm based platform in the same form factor as a palm pilot, with
PCMCIA and lots of RAM. It's got a tilt sensor too. Very handy
gadget. I got to play with one a few days ago. I've seen them with
WaveLAN cards on the 'net, and playing MPEG video on their tiny
screens. Though, I did find bash to not be very useful without a keyboard.
Actually, the Itsys are usually smaller and lighter than many Palm
devices. Two AAA batteries, though I don't know the life. While you can
download the plans to build your own, you can't actually build one. NOt
without a lot of resources. Multi-layer circuit boards, BGA packages,
that kinda stuff make sit hard to build your own.
They are not being sold; I don't think they will be in the near
future. They are not FCC approved (and are actually usually
unshielded). If you want one, getting involved in a university research
project is your only hope right now...
gopi.
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