Re: [NTLK] Inkwell and cursive HWR in OS X

Lord Groundhog wrote:
> ~~~ On 2008/05/07 21:20, Marcus Hammerschmitt at
> marcus.hammerschmitt@t-online.de wrote ~~~
>
>> ... Will Einstein
>> be ready then fo day to day use?
>
> ...and just as important, will there exist a piece of hardware worthy of the
> reincarnation of NOS? I think of the usefulness of the Newton in all kinds
> of situations (even allowing for its now-excessive weight and old
> technology), its usefully sized screen and realistically proportioned and
> weighted stylus. Then I think of the alternatives: painfully small screens
> not conducive to real writing, impractically large tablets even less
> pocket-friendly and portable than the Newton, scrawny styli apparently
> designed to be held by gerbils. No matter how ready Einstein is, it'll
> need suitable hardware, but the iPhone isn't it, the iPod Touch isn't it,
> and the other things out there are (IMO) even worse for the most part.
>
> As things stand now, either my Newts need to last *very* much longer than
> usually projected, or I need to die a lot younger than I originally planned
> and hoped. ;)

How about we make our own?

I've been spending time with the Pandora crowd
(http://www.openpandora.org/), learning all kinds of drool-inducing
things about this upcoming gadget.

One of the things I learned was this: http://beagleboard.org/hardware .
It's a bare-bones board based on the OMAP3530, the latest-n-greatest TI
ARM powerhouse. If there's someone on the list with deep pockets and no
fear of putting his money where his mouth is, he could pull a "Craigix"
(go see the Pandora sites for an explanation for this) and make a new
Newton.

In a pinch, I believe the Pandora might do also, given that its specs
outshine those of the Nokia Internet Tablets, but the Pandora is a mini
clamshell with a keyboard, so handwriting input might be hampered.
Pandora's other advantage over the Nokias is the extreme openness of
both its hardware and software, which will probably make it very easy to
have it boot a bare-bones kernel with all the features still available.

Oh, and yes: I am so going to buy a Pandora. This thing is awesome.

PS: I just had an awesome idea: That Beagle board might even fit in a
Newton case! How kewl would that be, eh? :)

-- 
Karel Jansens
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