Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["jeremy snyder" <halffinn AT hotmail.com>]

Hi,

I've actually visited the OQO offices in SF, met a couple of the people 
there, and seen a demo unit. It was OK. Their demo unit worked fine - it's 
just an XP workstation with kind of low specs, but very portable. They've 
done a bit to work on the interface to make it a comfortable portable, like 
they took the keyboard design and spacing basically from BlackBerry. And 
they decided to make the screen with a standard width (well, if 800 can be a 
standard width) and then you scroll the height.

The OQO people told me that the FlipStart machines have a few engineering 
problems. They should have released by now, but they haven't been able to 
fix this. FlipStart is a Vulcan company. Vulcan is Paul Allen's venture 
capital firm. FlipStart has made some interesting features with a low power 
display for new email, MP3 playing, calendar, contacts.

I've also seen the Sony unit when I was in Japan earlier this year. You can 
already get this in the US from a few specialty resellers. And Sony just 
announced that it would be bringing the unit to the US in the next couple of 
months. It was OK, mostly like a very small tablet PC.

One of the big disadvantages that these machines, and all ultra-portables 
have, is that pretty much everything is external, aside from the CPU, 
memory, HDD and screen.

Jeremy

> From: Ilan Volow <listboy AT clarux.com>
> Reply-To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/"; 
> <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/"; 
> <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Palmtops
> Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 20:18:22 -0500
>
> I've always tended to be skeptical of people trying to shoehorn user 
> interfaces and os'es  that were made for full-size desktop computers into 
> tiny palm-sized hardware that often gets more design input from electric 
> engineers that ergonomists (I've owned a Sharp Zaurus--can you tell?) These 
> things virtually always end up as nothing but geek toys whose sole purpose 
> is to be used by systems administrators who sit in coffee shops and run ssh 
> terminals into who-knows-where when they're not playing anime on the damn 
> things.
>
> IMHO, a well designed mobile device is designed from the ground up both in 
> UI and in OS, and is designed around how people work and move when they're 
> on the run. I think that some mutation of the iPod or BlackBerry would 
> probably make a better mobile device than most of the below devices, and 
> would probably gain more market acceptance. Especially if there was some 
> kind of cell-phone integration.
>
> As for looking to the future, I'm curious as to why most "primitive" humans 
> from 50,000 years ago knew more about how to make mobile tools that fit 
> comfortably in the hand than most silicon valley engineers know today. 
> Perhaps what the tech industry needs to do is to commandeer a Klingon 
> vessel, go back and time, and rescue a few extinct neanderthals who will 
> save them from making yet even more mediocre stuff. ;)
>
>
>
> On Nov 14, 2004, at 1:44 PM, Alan MacHett wrote:
>
> > Anyone have or ever use a palmtop?  What's your experience or opinion?
> >
> > OQO:
> > http://www.oqo.com/
> > http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4054087444.html
> >
> > Vulcan FlipStart:
> > http://www.flipstartpc.com/
> >
> > Sony VAIO U, coming soon:
> > http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=3662
> >
> >
> > Any of you older folks ever use the Atari Portfolio?
> > http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/pccomputers/portfolio.html
> >
> > just curious; I'm still waiting for that future promised to us, oh, 20
> > years ago...
> >
> > -Alan