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$99 Linux Handheld with WiFi for Instant Messaging

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun Jul 17, 2005 11:05 AM
from the never-offline dept.
Handhelds Hardware
An anonymous reader writes "LinuxDevices.com has an interesting write up about the new Aeronix Zipit instant messenger appliance. It is intended to free up a family PC from IM chatting teens. From the article: "the Zipit is based on a Cirrus EP7312-CR-90, an SoC (system-on-chip) with an ARM720T core that clocks up to 90MHz. This chip is supported by several Linux distributions, including FSMLabs's real-time RTLinux." At $99 (cheaper than many textbooks and graphing calculators) it could even be good for classrooms. With that 802.11b WiFi, I think this might be a perfect note-taking computer for students in lectures. "
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  • Not During Tests, Though (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ndansmith (582590) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:10AM (#13086949)
    At $99 (cheaper than many textbooks and graphing calculators) it could even be good for classrooms.

    With the new epidemic of cheating via txt, I doubt we will see these little devices in the classrooms for tests.

  • hmm (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Capt. Caneyebus (883802) * on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:10AM (#13086950)
    I think i would rather spend the extra $$ and get something like a treo that has a phone feature, and if i am not mistaken the os on them is linux based. Also there is a wi-fi card for a tungsten palm that can be hacked to work on the Treo 650. But this is pretty cool for people on a budget.

    • Re:hmm (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Keruo (771880)
      TA mentions audio features so I guess you could use skype to get the phone features working. Sure, the coverage area wouldn't be anything near gsm, but the device wasn't ment to replace phones to begin with.
      • TA mentions audio features so I guess you could use skype to get the phone features working.

        But the device uses an ARM chipset instead of the usual x86. Skype would have to be recompiled to support the ARM chip and while Skype is a great application, the source is not available requiring us to depend on the vendor to recompile it. I would love to have Skype on my Zaurus but the ARM chipset is not supported though there is a scream for it. [skype.com]
      • It mentions DAC, so I presume it can only output audio. Besides, as other posters have noted, it's probably unable to run Skype anyway.

    • Re:hmm (Score:2, Informative)

      by bodgit (658527)

      I think i would rather spend the extra $$ and get something like a treo that has a phone feature, and if i am not mistaken the os on them is linux based. Also there is a wi-fi card for a tungsten palm that can be hacked to work on the Treo 650. But this is pretty cool for people on a budget.

      IIRC Treo's run PalmOS.

    • The Treo currently runs PalmOS. PalmSource is currently creating a version of PalmOS (named Cobalt, v6.1 I believe) which uses the Linux kernel.

    • Re:hmm (Score:3, Interesting)

      by nametaken (610866)

      If you're REALLY on a budget, there's the 900mhz Motorola IMFree. At the moment it only does AIM, and it's JUST a messenger, but Walmarts have been dropping it to the discount shelves at $15, with the usb base station. The girlfriend and I have them, and we can roam to each others base stations at each house. Someone also developed linux support for them. Really slick for a $15 setup.

  • Nice but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eth00 (612841) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:10AM (#13086951) Homepage
    While it does look like a nice device for chatting I cannot see it doing much more. The idea of taking notes on something that small is impossible for most classes where you are moving pretty fast. I ended up getting a laptop with a full size keyboard so that it would be easier to type.

    I am all for little devices running linux but I do not see this exact device being used for anything like textbooks. With a lot schools (high school and college) implementing WIFI it will however be a great distraction from what is being taught...

  • It's a neat little gadget, but ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Slayk (691976) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:16AM (#13086983)
    For $99, this thing is a good way to experiment with embedded linux for those who are interested. I haven't gone out to get one myself, but I've seen one with a serial header soldered on (for flashing the ROM with better linux goodness than what is provided). It's rather small, has a wireless connection, and has decent battery life.

    The downside to the whole thing is that the device does not fully conform to the LGPL (there's some issue surrounding linking), but most of what they've used is available [zipitwireless.com]

  • OLD NEWS (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:19AM (#13086999)
    Read this story ages ago on linuxdevices.com.

    http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4557745057.html [linuxdevices.com]

    What's next? Will /. tell me WiMAX is a "disruptive technology"?

    http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3095094669.html [linuxdevices.com]

  • What's wrong with paper? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CyricZ (887944) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:25AM (#13087021)
    What's wrong with taking notes in class using a pen and paper? If anything, it is probably quicker than trying to use one of these little doodads.

    • Re:What's wrong with paper? (Score:5, Funny)

      by NightWulf (672561) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:30AM (#13087045)
      Yeah pens and paper, yeesh gramps why not just ask us to carve it into stone tablets. Get with the times!
    • Compared to this, yes, pen/paper is better. Compared to a laptop with a keyboard - assuming you can type at least 40-60 wpm and aren't a hunt'n'pecker - pen/paper is horrible.
        • Yes. Very often. And they're usually quite insightful. I struggle these days with the young engineers who have grown up using their instant messegers and typing like fools. Their typed documents are often more difficult to read than any handwritten documents from older engineers.

          On small devices such as these it is no doubt that unintelligble shorthand will be used. Your typical "OmG i b l8 4 wrk cuz caR brk dn" malarky.

          I'd take a written document any day.

    • That's quaint, old man. You probably run Debian, too. Get with the times.
    • Some of us are more comfortable with keyboards that with p&p. We type faster than we write, we make fewer mistakes, it's easier to read our notes, and electronic notes are easier to search and organize.

      So you're more comfortable with p&p. Nothing wrong with that. Nor is there anything wrong with other people using the technology they are comfortable with.

      What is wrong is people getting all righteous about other people who want to do things differently.

  • Could it be any uglier? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DoorFrame (22108) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:32AM (#13087053) Homepage
    Just wondering.
    • Sure, it's mac inspired looks are a little dated (a 1998 Johny come lately M$ ringer) [morochove.com], but I prefer that simple look to the really ugly athletic shoe inspired junk. The folding case is good. Of course, the 1/3 to 1/10 price tag is something to be admired.

      This is just a sign of things to come. With a MMC or CF card slot and less intentional crippling, this would be a better buy than a $80 stand alone music player. Cheap, multi function wireless devices based on free software will soon flood the market.

  • ZipIt Wiki - How to install new firmware.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by GameGod0 (680382) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:34AM (#13087061)
    There's a wiki dedicated to the ZipIt located here [elinux.org] that contains useful HOW-TOs explaining how to install Linux on the thing... Myself and several others have written up tons of instructions on how to hack this thing. For example, I use my ZipIt as a wireless SSH client (the OpenZipIt firmware includes dropbear ssh...), and also to play streaming MP3 radio (groovesalad is nice...) It's a really cool device, and there's a ton of hacking potential...

  • Answer to why it's not open (Score:3, Interesting)

    by PhYrE2k2 (806396) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:44AM (#13087107)
    Aeronix does not have a subscription revenue from Zipit usage. They would benefit from making the platform as open as possible without incuring any additional expense. Leaving solder points for the serial ports and additional points for the unused GPIO pins would make enhancing the product much easier. The more things that can be done with the device, the more devices people will buy.


    Take a look at any MSN/Yahoo/AOL clone application for example. MSN changes their code, Trillian/GAIM/etc catch up and release a patch.

    You can't have that nearly as much with a mobile device. I'd imagine there's a licensing issue with Microsoft's protocol for example as to keeping it tight and protected so that others can't get at it.

    -M
  • Does anyone know of a similarly priced/featured device that supports IMAP? Seems Instant Messaging alone will get you a fairly restricted market, but if you added mail into the equation, you'd be in good shape.

  • Blackberry wannabe (Score:3, Insightful)

    by HermanAB (661181) on Sunday July 17 2005, @11:54AM (#13087149)
    It looks to me like a Blackberry Wannabe. This is not a notebook PC by any stretch of the imagination.
  • Although it seems that the company has created an interesting linux based device, from reading some of the linked pages it seems it has a few flaws. The foremost being that the company isn't fully embracing the open source nature of the devices operating system. Apparently they have chosen to make it more difficult to develop for the unit by encrypting their firmware updates. Even worse, until they were asked to, they neglected to make the GPL and LGPL licensed software they used in their device available.

  • Taking notes? (Score:4, Informative)

    by ShyGuy91284 (701108) on Sunday July 17 2005, @12:26PM (#13087271)
    He's joking, right? On that little keyboard? I've used little keyboard devices before, they work for some things, but taking notes on it (quickly most likely too) would be hell.... I'd just spend a couple hundred more for a old craptop if I needed something to do that that badly..... Or a cheap PDA and keyboard....
  • From TFA:

    "Aeronix Inc. originally did not post any of the GPL and LGPL source code used in the Zipit. After we confirmed that they used Linux, we politely asked that they comply with the license terms. I am one of the copyright holders in the code they use. I am pleased to see that they have at least posted pointers to the tools they used. They are still in violation of the terms of the LGPL for glibc."

  • Looks like a nice remote (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BeBoxer (14448) on Sunday July 17 2005, @12:50PM (#13087374)
    This looks like a nice form factor to be a remote for a freevo or jukebox system with the right software. And the price is right to play around with. Much more reasonable than buying a Zaurus or something to use as a remote. It looks pretty tempting. Linux. WiFi. Flash-able. Under $100. Very tempting.

  • Neat toy but... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by uncoveror (570620) on Sunday July 17 2005, @01:00PM (#13087420) Homepage
    I would like one with a color screen. My job requires me to travel to some really out of the way places, and my cell phone has wireless internet. With a full Qwerty keyboard and a decent screen, I could get on mapquest, but the ultra thin laptops I could hide under my seat cost way too much. Anyon know of a gadget like the one in the article with a color screen and a USB port?
  • It needs a browser and email client.

    And it needs to come in BLACK. It will still look like a GBA SP, but at least the color won't make you throw up.

  • Zipit Wiki (Score:2, Informative)

    by Fusen (841730)
    http://www.elinux.org/wiki/ZipIt [elinux.org] useful for anyone looking to hack it
  • Seems that this device, which appears to be aimed at a market of teens for chatting, is not ready to be sold for that purpose.

    One look at the bug/wish list at http://www.elkgrovewireless.com/zipit [elkgrovewireless.com] will show you that.

    It will also remind many of us of the Audrey -- 3Com's very clevery attempt at a similar type of device that did a LOT more than chat and still didn't sell.

    Granted, their device was around the $300 range (now you can get them for about $50 on eBay), but it had a 640x480 screen and full web br

  • Using the Zipit (Score:5, Informative)

    by lightyear4 (852813) on Sunday July 17 2005, @01:35PM (#13087583) Homepage

    I have one of these little darlings, and in addition to helping on the devel front [yahoo.com] I have done quite a bit of truly productive work actually using. The linux devices article was, quite frankly, the best starting resource to date for anyone wishing to obtain and play with a Zipit. Prior to it, there were no concise collections of relevant links. Do stop by the wiki [elinux.org], as it is currently under construction and showing some good progress.

    For the curious, a brief overview of impressions and capabilities:

    • The device comes (stock) with:
    • ARM720T processor @ 90mhz
    • 16 mb RAM
    • 2 mb ROM for kernel and userspace programs
    • 320x240 grayscale LCD
    • Agere 802.11b/g wifi
    • Wolfson Micro stereo DAC audio
    • ships with linux kernel 2.4.21 with the rmk arm patch, as well as an aeronix-specific extension to this patch, plus wireless extensions
    • the standard pcmcia-cs wifi driver with two relevant patches
    • Busybox 1.00 pre1
    • uClibc 0.9.15
    • glibc-2.2.5
    • Wireless Tools 26

    Also included are non-GPL'd bootloader, audiodriver, and the zipit messaging application.

    As-is when purchased, the device is indeed running linux natively. The appropriate drivers and programs are brought about with a few init scripts, all transparent to the user. The zipit messaging program is a rather large 1.6ish megabyte arm binary which includes framebuffer, embedded audio, some decent graphics, and generally stable performance. NOTE: The zipit messaging binary is statically linked to glibc, therefore containing GPL'd code, yet Aeronix has thus far refused to release the code for this program!! If this bothers you (as it should), do something about it. At time of writing, the current firmware does not support the playing of streaming audio, though it is promised in a future upgrade.

    On the devel front involved in hacking the zipit, thanks go to Aibopet and Ken McGuire primarily for their work in deciphering the process by which the firmware operates and updates. The yahoo community [yahoo.com] by which much of this work has been accomplished, has also produced an OpenZipit linux "distro" of sorts. It is superior in several ways to the stock Aeronix linux distro; indeed, McGuire from the abovementioned yahoo group has rewritten the audio driver to perform much better than the supplied driver. Streaming audio via madplay and freebase is indeed possible, and having played with it myself, does truly function well. While a bit underpowered for some uses, the processor has quite enough power to decode mp3/ogg audio (if you want to whine about processor speed, go get a laptop; the zipit is not for you). Others in the group were instrumental in tracing gpios and adding a serial port for troubleshooting. OpenZipit includes, among others, madplay, freebase, dropbear ssh, and the busybox versions of (b)ash, vi, ftp, telnet, etc. Please see the yahoo message board and the wiki for more information involving OpenZipit and its specifications.

    From a user standpoint, the zipit is quite useful. One of my specialties is in wireless networking and wireless security; the zipit is quite good for a handheld auditing tool. (a port of kismet is in the works, for those of you that are interested). The range and robust nature of the wifi chip has never failed to surprise me: it has better range and sensitivity (perhaps not on paper, but indeed in use) than many of the most popular wifi cards available (orinoco, senao). Additionally, with the dropbear ssh client, any open (legal) wifi signal is a free ticket to your box of choice for console based applications. Battery life is an astounding 6+ hours. The 2mb ROM is too tiny for much in the way of userspace apps, but as the device is built for wireless connectivity, ssh serves as a gateway to most applications you mig

    • NOTE: The zipit messaging binary is statically linked to glibc, therefore containing GPL'd code, yet Aeronix has thus far refused to release the code for this program!! If this bothers you (as it should), do something about it

      Glibc is not GPL'd, it is LGPL'd. They are not in any way obliged to release the source. They are, however, required to release the compiled object files for their program to people who purchase the device so that an end user can link them with a newer or modified version of glibc

  • Note taking? Please. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by realmolo (574068) on Sunday July 17 2005, @01:45PM (#13087642)
    If you are typing your notes, you're doing it wrong.

    Notes are supposed to be quick and dirty. Pen and paper are the best tools for note-taking, because you can cross things out, draw arrows, underline important ideas...all of which are impossible to do (in real-time, anyway) if you are typing.

    A computer isn't the best tool for every job, guys.

  • Unexpected point of entry (Score:3, Insightful)

    by erroneus (253617) on Sunday July 17 2005, @03:02PM (#13088035) Homepage
    It just occured to me (yeah I know people have probably realized this for years now) that Linux's most effective means of entry is in areas where it is the most invisible. The consumer doesn't care as long as it works ... whatever it is. The people spending money only care that it's as inexpensive as possible and sells as much as possible.

    The lure of Linux embedded in devices is irresistable. Most stand-alone devices don't need to be "compatible" with other things so outside of adjusting to this "foreign" development environment, there's not much reason to use anything but the free environment that Linux stuff offers.

    So I'm thinking that the more Microsoft targets these areas of the market (home appliances) the more I see that Linux is already beating them to the punch. But I wonder how this will help in getting this edge as leverage into the desktop? I wonder if, by the time it happens, the desktop is a thing of the past? I'm doubting that the desktop PC/workstation will ever be a thing of the past in the office... and by extension, that it will ever expire at home.... well anyway... just random thoughts.

  • VNC/RDP Terminal (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nurb432 (527695) on Sunday July 17 2005, @06:19PM (#13089173) Homepage Journal
    This might make a cheap little 'terminal' to access your home machine via your local free wifi point..

    Too bad the screen is a bit small, and B/W.. Hard to find anything that isnt color these days..

    • $exyNerdie wrote:
      Motorola IMFree Handheld Instant Messenger Kit for $19.99

      Local walmart has the same on sale for $15...

      It never ceases to amaze me how many self-declared "nerds", "geeks", and "hackers" completely miss why something is cool.

      If you think it's cool because it does wireless IM, and there's something similar at Wal*Mart, so it must be cool too, and it's a lot cheaper, you aren't really a nerd, geek, or hacker.

      It's cool because:

      1. It uses WiFi, not some proprietary wireless technology, an

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