Roy Schestowitz wrote:
__/ [Karel "de Jazz" Jansens] on Monday 17 October 2005 17:55 \__
Maybe because Debian is a rock-solid distro? If you're going to put
Linux in a PDA, you're not looking for last-second gizmos, right? You
want something that needs rebooting approximately once every decade.
I know the feeling, but there are many other distros out there which are
quite solid. The Debian community affiliated with a business PDA just does
sit right IMHO. If you were to use SuSE, for instance, being a
Novell-affiliated distro (licensing issues?), I think you would be better
off.
The Open Source Community (or the subsetthereof that is maemo.org)
appears to disagree: they are contributing their *sses off to this
commercial project. :)
Then again, I run two Ubuntu (Debian codebase), so I shouldn't complain.
That is, of course, for many people the downside of Free: You really
cannot complain. :)
(well, you can, obviously, but noone is obliged to listen) :D
Writing is somewhat of an antiquated method for input, which we have either
been led to take for granted or is also perceived as a selling point, for
new users in particular (less technologically inclined, that is).
>
I think there are still big steps to be made because even handwritten text
upon paper (higher tolerance) can never be as fast as input using keyboard
by a skilled and experienced typist. With Dvorak layout, that speed if even
further improved. How we can take advantage of the fact that we have 10
fingers and incorporate it into miniscule PDA's input, I don't know yet.
That alone might be a million dollar idea, but would involve a learning
curve.
Here I have to disagree: I do a lot of writing and although i agree that
the speed of input of a (trained) typist is indeed very high, there is
something about actually writing with a pen that makes the whole process
different from typing.
I seem to be a lot more creative on my Newton or my Fujitsu than behind
a keyboard; there is a sense of involvement that I just don't get by
hammering away at plastic keys. So, although the mileage of HWR input is
lower, its productivity (as in: text that doesn't get deleted) is a lot
higher. :)
Also, it is the most compact form of (useable) text input that we have
today: you just need the pen and no extra realestate outside the screen
of your computer/PDA. The paradox is that, while I like the Nokia 770,
my old Newton Messagepad 2100 really has the ideal footprint and form
factor for a handheld, HWR-input PDA. Unfortunately, it's just too big
to keep on your person.
What I really think someone should invent, is an A6-sized PDA (like the
Nokia 770) that folds open to a seamless A5-sized screen (like the
newton. As to how, well I can't do everything, right?
Indeed. The only Deterrent, to me at least, is still the size. I can't
imagine ever taking it into the gym or pull it our of a shirt's pocket in
the street. I sometimes begin to lead myself into thinking that tablets are
a step back, which should be avoided by all means.
The 770 will be only slightly bigger than my P910, and I have to
remember what pocket I dropped that one in or I can't find it again.
I'm personally really looking forward to the screen; I watch a lot of
movies on my P910 and having a screen four times the resolution would
really make the difference (of course, that would also mean that I won't
be able to squeeze four xvid-movies on a 512 MB card anymore)
Incidentally, here are some screenshots of that gorgeous screen, taken
from a real-life evaluation:
http://www.randomtype.com/archives/2005/10/nokia_770_hands.html
It really is almost as good as print on paper. Imagine working on a GIMP
picture on that screen (and the GIMP /will/ be ported to the 770!)
http://www.mobile-harddisk.nl/asus-wireless-harddisk-usb11-wlan-lan-inclusief-harddisk-p-36.html?language=en&op=list
will be an interesting companion for my Nokias.
I have never seen any of these before. Interesting, in my opinion, because
you can avoid lugging around a heavy LifeDrive and still have the high
capacity, possibly in your pocket rather than your hand.
One caveat: it runs on AC only, no batteries. I was thinking of using it
as a server to our fleet of 770s in the house. I'll probably stick some
1 gig cards in the Nokias for portable storage.
It all sounds expensive, but not if you realize that the Nokias are
going to replace all the laptops and all but one of the desktops we were
originally planning to buy. I've calculated we'll be saving about half
the budget. And that's just in our house (a house of geeks, admittedly,
but still...); imagine what a creative company could save with these things?
And lastly, the more affordable:
* http://www.powerplaydevices.com/products/ppvs_info.html
Looks interesting. There doesn't seem to be much software for it though...
True, but if you were to recommend a simple, cost-effective PIM to a friend
who is new to PDA's, why not point the stick at that direction? Think of it
as a Zire - (minus) software + penguin.
No comment there, mate.
--
Karel "de Jazz" Jansens
"Those of us who fail history, are doomed to repeat it in summer school."
(Buffy Summers)
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