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Handhelds Hardware

Tiqit Handheld PC 132

Posted by michael from the tisket-a-tasket dept.
ParisTG sent us: "Tiqit Computers unveiled the eightythree, basically a handheld PC (as in IBM compatible). It will even boot Linux. Comes with 128-256MB RAM, 266-300MHz, 640x480 18bit screen, and a 10GB hard drive. The brochure with images (pdf) is online."
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Tiqit Handheld PC More

Tiqit Handheld PC

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  • now if only I could see the site... (argle! /. effect)
    • Actually, doesn't this remind you of a few things? Toshiba tried something along these lines, but not quite, with the Libretto line of super-mini laptops. They don't make them anymore, but this line of thinking HAS been tried.
      • It reminded me of the Poqet PC, actually. Now that's old-school. A PC that run on AA batteries, it was an 8086 compatible with a CGA display. Not a real speed demon, but you could get Lotus going in the palm of your hand, an amazing feat for the day (late '80's or '90).
        • I still use an HP-200LX (actually, I have two
          that work, and another for parts). This is basically a PC-XT in a hardshell calculator-sized
          case. It runs MS-DOS, and uses a PCMCIA card for
          "disk space". The screen is basically B&W CGA. Runs "forever" on two AA cells - and can recharge them "intelligently" right in the unit!

          The IR link is Pre-IRDA, so there are problems in communicating with other machines (you need to download an IRDA driver), and a few other quirks. However, it is a wonderful machine with an almost-fanatical following.

      • Libretto Availability (Score:2, Informative)

        by ehikory ( 323540 )
        Actually, you can still buy Librettos, now based on the Crusoe (and with expected long battery lives). Take a look at http://www.transmetazone.com for reviews or http://www.dynamism.com/libretto/index.shtml to buy one (for shipping to the states).
      • What do you mean they don't make them anymore?

        http://www.dynamism.com/libretto/index.shtml

  • Seems slow, first link text: (Score:5, Informative)

    by redhotchil ( 44670 ) on Sunday March 10, 2002 @11:11AM (#3137703) Homepage Journal
    First Handheld Computer to Run Windows, Linux or Unix OS to Be Unveiled at CeBIT
    March 8, 2002. eightythree, said to be the first computer that combines the portability of a handheld with the functionality and software compatibility of a Windows/Linux/UNIX PC, will be unveiled at the opening of CeBIT next week by Tiqit Computers.

    According to Tiqit, although this feature was previously considered impossible to engineer, the eightythree is not a concept product. Instead, Tiqit says it has built - a mass produced -- a fully functioning x86 handheld device out of cutting-edge but available parts, designed specifically for enterprise use and immediate production. The computer will be introduced at CeBIT, the world's largest telecommunications and IT conference, scheduled for next week, March 13-20, in Hannover, Germany.

    According to the company, eightythree offers clear benefits to the enterprise community. Workers reportedly gain increased mobility and function with a device that allows them to depend on a single operating system, and companies can reduce their total cost of ownership. Possessing the storage capacity and processing power to enable the extension of many software services to areas formerly unreachable, the eightythree also has the flexibility of using all of the software and hardware extensions currently available in the mainstream PC market, Tiqit maintains.

    "This product will greatly accelerate adoption and use of handhelds in the enterprise," said Ian Blasch, CEO, Tiqit Computers. "It uses standard operating systems -- Windows XP, Linux or UNIX -- and is compatible with all associated applications, including legacy software. Almost anything you can do on a laptop or PC, you can do on eightythree -- only it is smaller and more mobile."

    The eightythree form factor is 5.4-in long, 4-in wide, 1.1-in thin and weighs 20 oz. It is the size of a large PDA, has laptop-quality screen resolution, SMS keyboard, thumb-operated micro joystick with mouse buttons, touchscreen, a cardbus PC card slot to support all standard wireless modems, a USB port, a Secure Digital (SD) slot and internal speaker. Therefore, says Tiqit, it connects with other standard devices, from digital cameras to bar code scanners to docking stations. On the software end, it incorporates all the applications you would find on a laptop or PDA, including voice communication, e-mail, web access, PIM, enterprise applications and the ability to download attachments.

    In terms of components, eightythree's CPU is the National Semiconductor Geode, 266-300 MHz, RAM is 128 MB or 256 MB, and there is a 10 GB hard drive. The screen is a 4-in 640X480 TFT (18-bit color) with touchscreen and backlight. The external monitor displays up to 1280 x 1024 at 75 Hz, 1024 x 768 at 85 Hz. eightythree is powered by an internal lithium ion rechargeable battery.
    • One of the best parts to me seems like USB support. Instead of having to buy a 100 dollar special keyboard, just plug in a usb one. Same goes for mice. I personally despise Graffiti, and almost always use my StowAway keyboard or the onscreen keyboard (for Visor)


      PCMCIA support is great too for 802.11b and things like that. Now if they can keep the price less than $700 or so, it will be perfect.

    • First Handheld Computer to Run Windows, Linux or Unix OS

      Funny how everyone seems to have forgotten the IBM PC110 [pc110.ro.nu]...

      It was 6.25 x 4.5 x 1.3 inches in size, making it only fractionally larger than the eightythree.

      • The first thing that came to my mind was the Toshiba Libretto [amherst.co.uk].

        That was a badass little computer.
        • Librettos are expensive even used, so I probably wouldn't buy one, but I had one given to me a few years ago (with the Japanese keyboard, which is a pain), so I turned it into a very nice little portable file server: When I'm travelling, I now find it much easier just to bring the Libretto along, knowing I can have instant Ethernet access to all the critical resources I might need. This is much easier than dragging along a regular laptop that needs its own luggage. (Rule for road warriors: NEVER buy a computer that requires luggage!)

          It's only a 75 MHz Pentium w 16MB RAM, so it was never even suitable for Win95, but it runs a slim Mandrake just fine. Even KDE works, although it takes a while to start up. :-)

          I will say that installing any OS on this thing is a major PITA, since it has no floppy and no CD-ROM. I'd like to replace Mandrake with e-smith, which is rapidly becoming my favorite general-purpose server distro, but e-smith only installs from CD - Ugh! I could work around it if I spent several hours, but that kind of defeats the purpose of e-smith.

          I suppose there are smaller file servers, out there, but not by much, especially with a built-in UPS... :-)
    • Yes IBM made a machine about the same weight with a 5" or so 640x480 DSTN colour display, a 486 CPU and 8-20Mb of RAM. Oh and its also a phone handset, modem, fax and has 2 PCMCIA slots and a CF slot.

      Its sad its taken from 1994-now for anyone to do anything with the concept mass market, even sadder that IBM killed the original rather than following the line further.

      As regards image quality - the PC110 runs XFCE acceptably and X is quite usable.
  • does it cost? the text posted from the article doesn't say.. i can't get the to the site, it says it has a lithium ion battery as well, how long does it power the handheld? how long does it take to charge? 10 gb sounds good, i could take half my mp3's and half my porn *anywhere*, i've just become a roach pirate propagating wherever i may roam (metallica pun intended) ;)
    • Are you sure that being able to watch porn in anywhere is a good idea? The temptation to wank in public would be too great for most of us to stand.

  • Tiqit Computers unveiled the eightythree, basically a handheld PC

    During high school, I used a device called a "TI-83" in math class. It was an 8-bit computer that came preloaded with graphing calculator software. Would selling this "eightythree" handheld PC with pre-loaded graphing calculator software constitute trademark infringement?

  • Looking through the specs, one sees that the unit only has a four-inch screen. That's just slightly larger than a Palm's display area, without the silkscreen.

    As someone who owns (and uses) an old stylus-based x86 touchpad with an 8-inch screen, it's hard enough on that screen to accurately select things like forms or manipulate windows. Shrink the screen size to half of that, and certain Windows or X controls will be downright lilliputian. It looks like the Tiqit includes a joystick to supplement the touchscreen, but that'd be problematic as well at that kind of screen size. I'd also be very concerned about readability.

    With a custom interface, would using the device be viable? Oh sure, probably -- but that's what the other handhelds do already. Using Explorer or E or most existing apps, I can't imagine it being particularly functional.

    Eschatfische.

    • Re:A four inch screen? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ehikory ( 323540 )
      The eightythree has a VGA port, and also accepts USB, so if you don't want to use the supplied touch-screen, use an external mouse, like the FinRing (http://www.bosswave.com/mouse/finring/index.shtml ) or even a Twiddler (http://www.handykey.com/) if you want the keyboard as well. For output, 640x480 should be readable for most things one might want on a PDA, and HMDs get ever closer (you could use the Shimadzu personal display (used on the Xybernaut POMA and Hitachi WIA), if you got a DFP PCMCIA card, but the Cy-Visor (revewed prevously here) would block vision, which might make using the device on the street a little difficult (unless you have a USB camera).

    • 200 dpi looks almost like paper (Score:4, Insightful)

      by yerricde ( 125198 ) on Sunday March 10, 2002 @11:34AM (#3137753) Homepage Journal

      Looking through the specs, one sees that the unit only has a four-inch screen

      Displays are typically measured diagonally. By Pythagoras's right triangle theorem, the diagonal measure of the display is equivalent to 800 pixels, and on a four-inch display, that's 200 dpi.

      certain Windows or X controls will be downright lilliputian

      Typically, Windows and X controls are drawn to look good between 72 dpi and 96 dpi, but that's configurable in most theme engines. Set up large fonts (in Windows, do Control Panel > Display > Settings tab > Advanced... > General tab > 192 dpi), and you have a very readable display. Throw in ClearType, and you pretty much have print equivalent resolution.

      • Throw in ClearType, and you pretty much have print equivalent resolution.

        Uh, no. Good quality print resolution is generally considered about 1000 dpi, although 600 dpi laser printers look pretty good. You can easily see jaggies with a 300 dpi laser printer.

        • Throw in ClearType, and you pretty much have print equivalent resolution.


          Uh, no. Good quality print resolution is generally considered about 1000 dpi, although 600 dpi laser printers look pretty good. You can easily see jaggies with a 300 dpi laser printer.

          Well, cleartype set aside, and doing a moderate etimation of greyscale anti-aliasing I'd say that a 200 dpi screen can be compared to at least 4 times the printed matter resolution.

          At 800 dpi, you'd have to use 4x4 pixels to get 16 greyscales - and even if this is not literally comparable to resolution a tft screen handles 256 greyscales (16x16).

          Counting just pixels, I'd still argue that cleartype at least will give you 3 times the horizontal resolution.

          • doing a moderate etimation of greyscale anti-aliasing I'd say that a 200 dpi screen can be compared to at least 4 times the printed matter resolution.

            Although I've never done the experiment, I highly doubt that anti-aliasing is going to make up for 4 times of resolution. Put it this way. Which do you think would look better: 25 dpi with 256 shades of gray antialiasing, or 100 dpi of B/W resolution? Or 50/200?

            200 DPI is going to look fairly good, but no one is going to mistake that for a printed page. If you can see the dots, then it's not a quality printed page.

          • Uh, no.

            I work at a lithographic printing company, and our full resolution images that go on the press are 300dpi.

        • Uh, no. Good quality print resolution is generally considered about 1000 dpi, although 600 dpi laser printers look pretty good. You can easily see jaggies with a 300 dpi laser printer.

          Maybe this is the old thing, mistake ppi and dpi? Screen resolutions should be given in ppi (pixel per inch), while b&w printer resolutions should be given in dpi (dots per inch). Even some scanner manufacturers get this wrong.

          A printer needs a lot of dots to form what is one pixel on the monitor. Because one dot is just black or white while one pixel on the monitor has a colour and brightness depth. 200 ppi certainly is a high resolution.

      • Huh?

        Yes, it's 200 dot's per inch, but only if you want to look at the equivalent of a 3.2 by 2.4 inch piece of paper. Or the same size screen as an IPAQ.

        Problem is, the software will treat it like a VGA screen, it will be trying to do things like put up a full page on the screen.

        • Problem is, the software will treat it like a VGA screen, it will be trying to do things like put up a full page on the screen.

          Properly written applications will specify fonts and GUI widgets in terms of point size (a point is defined as 1/72 of an inch), and then the operating system's graphics layer will scale those to a pixel size based on the display resolution. That's why I explained how to set the display resolution in grandparent. The biggest littleness problem may lie in the icons, and recent Windows can scale those too.

    • I've been using the Zaurus with a 1/4 VGA PDA sized screen. Embedded Linux & Trolltech Qt makes for a very readable & usable interface. The same OS & window manager running on this machine would rock -- more pixels to make text readable and graphics detailed. ... and who needs explorer when you have Opera?
    • As someone who owns (and uses) an old stylus-based x86 touchpad with an 8-inch screen, it's hard enough on that screen to accurately select things like forms or manipulate windows. Shrink the screen size to half of that, and certain Windows or X controls will be downright lilliputian.

      I haven't read the specs for this device because all links appear to be /.ed, but it's perfectly possible to have a very small, but very accurate, touchscreen. Apple's Newton 2000 series did it.

      How? Use a much higher resolution for the touchscreen than for the LCD behind it. While the Newton 2000's LCD display was 100dpi, the touchscreen sampled at 800dpi. If you read the original Newton 2000 marketing information (some of it can still be found around the Web), it's in the specs.

      This is part of what made the late model Newtons' handwriting recognition work so well while other handheld PDAs still have trouble with it. With a touchscreen resolution four times higher than the display resolution, a well-calibrated screen is pinpoint accurate.


    • Instead of going for a massively small system why doesn't anyone embrase the PADD style of an A4 sized unit of approx Palm [palm.com] thickness. Am I alone in wondering why if the 'communicator' did influence modert mobile phone design, why they can't allow for some design influence in portable computing devices?


      That way you can have a reasonable screen and a larger interface area?

  • This thing must set a new low for battery lifetime. I'm wondering if Tiqit isn't actually a loss-leader for Energizer batteries!

  • Ugly (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    That is the ugliest handheld computer I've ever seen. Yes, very good: I can write complex queries to my local postgresql db with the 83 using just one hand and its corresponding thumb, but in doing so I'd basically be squeezing the surface of a small brick!

  • Slashdotted (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by brad3378 ( 155304 )
    CMNDRTACO:
    If you want to add value to a slashdot subscription,
    Give members a link to a mirror.

  • Comes with 128-256MB RAM, 266-300MHz, 640x480 18bit screen, and a 10GB hard drive

    (yeah I know the cpu is a Geode Semiconductor or something (thanks to someone who mirrored the text), but I am just picking nits here)

    A 266-300Mhz WHAT? A toaster? A camel? An inflatable Linus Torvalds mockup? A Larry Wall action figure? Or just some type of CPU?

    Right... move along, nothing to see here :)

    • Since the blurb says "IBM compatible PC", is it really that hard to figure out that it's using an Intel-compatible CPU?

    • yeah I know the cpu is a Geode Semiconductor or something

      A quick Google search reveals some more information about this device's National Semiconductor Geode (an x86 clone):

      Or just some type of CPU?

      When MHz is used to describe an otherwise unnamed aspect of a computing device, it is generally assumed that the frequency values denote the frequency of either the CPU clock or the device's radio band.

      • I know it was about a cpu, but I just had to say something about the ambiguity of that posting. Note that I refrained from using my auto +1 (as I did here as well).

        As I said, I was picking nits. Fuhgeddaboudit, okay? :)

  • PDF Mirror (Score:2, Redundant)

    by gabeman-o ( 325552 )
    http://www.stormcloudtech.com/~gabe/TiqitBrochure. pdf

  • Someone has to say it! (Score:4, Funny)

    by scorcherer ( 325559 ) on Sunday March 10, 2002 @11:32AM (#3137750) Homepage
    It's so small, no matter where you go, you can tiqit with you.

  • My advice to them... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Don't use one as your webserver, it doesn't work very well :)
  • Anyone know if I can get a 1280x1024 color (or even mono) HUD monitor yet? Haven't heard a lot out of the HUD market lately...
    • yes you can... you'll have to decide between a new bmw 6 series or your beloved head mounted display (a HUD would be stupid with this device) because of the silly resolution requirements. but if you are willing to come down to reality... you can buy a color 640x480 Head mounted display for around $900.00 easily. check the wearable computing sites for information on how and where to buy. (wearables.org is a good start) most everyone who uses a HUD or wearable would puke at the idea of wating resources and money and processing power for such a silly requirement (where you gonna get a pc-104 formfactor Geforce3 to run that?)

      a bit of advice from one of thsoe that have had a wearable computer for over 4 years now (built my first in late 1998) quit setting requirements that are silly and you'll get more enjoyment out of life. I still use my circa 1995 head mounted display that is text only, and uses a vibrating mirror and a row of red led's to produce a nice crisp display that is easily readable when I am focusing on something other than the display

      Oh, a 50column text display is your best choice for data display while moving or not paying specific attention to the data display... and this is the only real reason to wear a Head mounted display... data overlay onto your vision.

      If you want one to look cool... dont... it doesn't look cool.
  • Can someone tell me what the significance of 83 is?

  • Mirror site (Score:4, Informative)

    by zerocool^ ( 112121 ) on Sunday March 10, 2002 @11:53AM (#3137786) Homepage Journal
    Mirror site up here [netmar.com].

    That url is
    http://www.netmar.com/~will/TiquitBrochure.pdf

    Notes on mirror: ONE. Brochure is property of Tiquit designs, or whoever that company is. It's not mine.

    TWO: If you're gonna hammer my server, sign up for webhosting with my company - www.netmar.com [netmar.com]. Linux web hosting for $8/month, w/ 100 MB of space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email aliases, PHP, Perl, C Cgi's, MySQL, etc.

    ~z
    • heh
      /me goes to watch bwm spike...
    • Hehe, good call on netmar, they do rock. If you give them your credit card, they knock $2 off the monthly fee too, so it's more like $6 a month if you trust them.
      • eh, at the expense of having pissed off potential customers, it's $10/mo, but if you auto bill the credit card it's $8/mo. But, the same thing works for the solaris accounts - you can get solaris hosting w/ a 1 meg account (for small web pages =) for 4.95/mo, and if you autopay with a card, it's 2.95. Also, if you prepay a year, you get free domain registration.

        But rock on, word of mouth rules =).

        • Oh, D'oh. I'm still on the Solaris hosting so I havn't kept up with the Linux prices. I've been meaning to call them to move me over, but I keep forgetting.
    • can you please tell me what your promotion code is for that $8.00 deal? the website says $10.00 so you obviously are offering slashdot readers a discount.

      also what is the terms on the discount? is it a specific time limit? or the typical,"until we change the TOS agreement without notifying you" that ISP's and hosting companies pull all the time.

      thanks for the deal offer anyways!
      • It's a deal where if you set it up so that your credit card is auto-billed, you get the discount. We figure it saves us postage and paperwork, so we can use that to hook the customers up. But before we can auto bill your credit card, we have to get written authorization, i.e. mail or fax. If you want to do the automatic account set up online, where you get setup almost instantly, you'll have to fill out the form and fax it to us later this week, and that means paying the $10 for the first month. We'll credit back the $2 for the first month (s) you have paid, once we get the authorization form, and we'll change your recurring fee to $8.

        If you want to wait, you could call us on monday. I forgot the 1800 number, but the LD number is 540 951 9404.

        As far as I know, that deal is good until the end of time, your recurring charge becomes $8/month. If you want a more firm answer, feel free to talk to the owner of the company, he'll be there sometime around 11:30 EST. There's only 5 employees, so you get personalized service - we're on a first name basis with a few of our clients, and we know quite a few more just by recognizing their account name.

        Anyway, I'm sorry we can't do it online, but you see, since the promotion is linked to autobilling of a credit card, we really just *can't* do it without a written authorization. We're a laid back business, but you can't afford to do things without paperwork.

        • Cool thanks!

          and I'll pass this info around.. I know of quite a few guys that need php
          for the lan-party registration website. (low bandwidth except for registration-a-thons..)
      • A better term would have been un-metered. As in, we don't say "you can have 3GB / month".
        • It's still bullshit. Lets theorize a bit... If I'd set up it to serve some mystical files ending .r01 , r02 etc.. (guess the content yourself ;) with frontend somewhere else, you'd pull the plug in less than 24 hours because all your bandwidth is saturated several times over.

          There is no such thing as 'unlimited' or 'unmetered' webhosting service. If I'd purchase your package, and then put something there that saturates every pipe you have 24/7, you are going to pull the plug. Or go bankrupt.

          Don't advertise what you cannot provide.
          • Well, then. I'll put it this way. You have to agree to the terms and conditions when you sign up. They say "NO PORN and NO WAREZ". Beyond that, you can use up to however much of our 2 T-1's you want to. Obviously, it can't be unlimited. An OC 128 has a limited amount of bandwidth. The point is we don't charge based on bandwidth useage, our business model is based on disk useage.

  • Hey... (Score:1)

    by Shuh ( 13578 )
    Is that a Beowulf Cluster in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
  • Has anyone else noticed the similarity between the pictures of this thing and the Hitchikers' Huide to the Galaxy that was in the TV episodes?

  • Not the first Tiqit machine to run linux (Score:3, Informative)

    by Veteran ( 203989 ) on Sunday March 10, 2002 @12:08PM (#3137829)
    Here is information on their earlier machine with some mention of pricing.

    Applications

    1. Factors and Considerations

    The MPC is intended for situations calling for a small, light, low-powered, respectably
    performing, silent commodity PC. The MPC meets these requirements as follows.

    Size 5 cubic inches (84 cc)

    Weight 3.3 oz (93 g)

    Power 3 to 7.5 watts

    Performance Positioned midway between a laptop and a PDA, the MPC is a 32-bit 66 MHz
    computer, while its hard drive spins at 4500 RPM and transfers data at approximately 1
    MB/s.

    Noise The MPC has no fan, and the hard drive has in common with a Swiss watch not only its
    precision but its near-silent operation.

    Platform The MPC is based on the ubiquitous x86 architecture and can therefore run the
    user's choice of Windows, DOS, Linux, OS/2, Solaris, QNX, and other x86 operating
    systems.

    This hard-to-meet combination is realized with the help of two key components.

    The AMD Elan SC410, an x86-based microprocessor designed for low-power embedded applications.

    The IBM Microdrive, a 1 gigabyte conventional rotating magnetic hard drive occupying less than half a cubic inch (7.8 cc) and weighing half an ounce (16 g). The Matchbox PC is also available with the smaller 340 MB Microdrive, or with no Microdrive in which case the operating system resides on the 16 MB flash.

    No other system available today comes close to equalling the MPC's combination of features.
    PDAs such as the Palm Pilot while small and light lack the computing power and storage capacity needed to run the full-scale operating systems used on desktops and laptops. So-called pocket-size Pentium-based platforms such as the Saintsong Espresso are more powerful, but their power is achieved with a much larger package (Espresso: 31 cu.in/508 cc
    and 1 lb/460 g), drawing much more power (10-20 W), and making more noise with their fan
    and physically larger hard drive.

    2. Representative Applications

    The following applications are a good match to the MPC's design parameters.

    Wearable Computing The MPC was originally designed as a wearable computer. Suitable components complementing it in this application are a VGA headmounted display such as the TekGear M1 or M2 or the Virtual Research V6 or V8, the Handykey
    Twiddler chording keyboard and mouse or the WristPC QWERTY keyboard, and a serial wireless modem such as a cellular phone with serial cable or the Novatel Sage CDPD modem.

    Transportable Desktop The MPC together with its battery may be unplugged from one port expander and carried to another site where it is plugged into another port expander. The peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, ethernet, printer, floppy) may be left connected at each end, greatly simplifying departure and arrival.

    While in transit the MPC can continue to operate, solving preassigned computational problems or beingused as a wearable computer.

    Mobile Datalogging Equipped with such mobile accessories as GPS and AD converters connected to its two serial ports, the MPC can log hundreds of megabytes of data unattended. It is ideal when weight is a major concern.

    Space Missions Size, weight, and power dissipation are all of concern in the cramped quarters of a space vehicle. Every ounce of payload requires another pound of fuel to launch it. And the absence of gravity inhibits the usual upward flow of heat by convection, leaving Brownian motion of the air molecules as the primary mechanism for carrying heat away (a fan adds size and weight while consuming additional power).

    At least as important in space is robustness of the software; an operating system such as Linux that has been closely scrutinized by literally thousands of programmers for eight years stands a much better chance of surviving the surprises of space than one written for a special-purpose platform by a small team of dedicated but fallible programmers.

    3. Non-Applications

    The MPC is not suited to all applications that one might at first think of.

    MP3 Player Although the MPC is ideally sized for a personal MP3 player it lacks support both for audio output and for decoding MP3 without skipping.

    Beowulf Node Although a cluster of MPCs would take up little space and draw little power, the performance available per cubic foot is less than that achievable using a smaller number of physically larger and more powerful nodes.

    Desktop Replacement Although the MPC has all the functionality of a desktop, with all the capacity of a 1995 desktop, the intervening five years have witnessed dramatic growth in the size and quantity of both software and databases.

    A modern desktop outperforms the MPC by easily an order of magnitude in both speed and storage capacity.

    The march of progress notwithstanding, many users may be placing the same demands on their desktops today that they did five years ago. Those users at least should find the MPC meets their needs perfectly adequately. For such users the main drawback of the MPC will then be one of economics: the manufacturing costs of a tiny but powerful computer put it out of practical reach when one considers that a new desktop PC can be had for less than half the price of the MPC.

  • Handheld? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Heinrich ( 118942 )
    Please consider that this ``handheld'' has dimensions of 5.4" x 4" x 1.1" and a weight of 20oz (567g). This is neither something like a palmtop (except for very large palms) nor one of these slim notebooks. While it is without question quite some achievement to squeeze all this stuff into this format, you might still wonder if it is practical.
    • "Please consider that this ``handheld'' has dimensions of 5.4" x 4" x 1.1" and a weight of 20oz (567g). This is neither something like a palmtop (except for very large palms) nor one of these slim notebooks."

      Who knows, they call the XBox controller handheld...

  • Realize that this thing is pretty far from fitting in your palm; it's four times as heavy as normal handhelds. You'll see why if you turn to the second page of the PDF; the picture on the first page makes it look nice and tiny, but the other pictures reveal its true thickness.

  • Skeptical (Score:2, Insightful)

    by feldsteins ( 313201 )
    I don't see where using an operating system designed for large screen use is going to be very efficient on that tiny thing. Neither do I see where you're going to get more than 4 seconds of battery life out of that thing just judging by the hardware components and the size/weight remaining for actual battery.

    I think it's neat, don't get me wrong. I just don't think it's practical. Not by a longshot.

    I must also sieze this opportunity to point out something that nags me about slashdot. I've said it before and I'll say it again - this site and it's readers are looking through Linux-colored glasses at the world. This gets annoying to the readers who don't actually use it. Case in point - the submitter doesn't say what OS the device uses, but he does say that it can run Linux. Frankly I rather doubt we'd even be discussing it here if it didn't. "Slashdot: We like Linux. Not much else" would be a more accurate tag-line to appear at the top of each page.

    And yet I love you guys anyhow. :P
  • I might be living under a rock...but won't this be a hindrance for X/whatever? i mean, won't we need a special X server for this? Or is this just a standard bpp value, albeit a little rare?
    • 6 bits per color; I suspect you'd just truncate the two least significant bits from each color for 24-bit color. There'd be a little banding in your images.
    • Im just wondering if the 2 bit diference between 16 and 18 bit would make any significant or practical diference. They could make it 16 and save some battery maybe. I have 4k colors on my ipaq and its fine for me. I believe that were not going to make any photoshop image manipulation on a handheld in order to have that many colors!!!

      • The difference is that the color space is uniform, which means you can have true greys. 16 bits is done as 5 red 6 green 5 blue. That means you can't really have true greys because the color values are spread out differently among the color channels. There will always be a little more or less green. Having 18 bits makes that smooth and is a significant advantage.

        • which is why more oftern than not 16bit is really 15bit 5,5,5 + 1 bit for alpha, is it not?

          • Only on a Mac. :) Under X a 16 bit display is 5,6,5. X also allows 15 bit color which is 5,5,5 with the last bit ignored. Also remember that the pixel format is independent of the pixel packing. So you can have a 24 bpp display with a 32 bpp packing just because it's easier for the graphics card to handle.

            That extra bit for alpha can be useful for things like pixmaps and texture maps before they are put down on the framebuffer.

        • 16 bits is done as 5 red 6 green 5 blue. That means you can't really have true greys because the color values are spread out differently among the color channels.
          With a 5-6-5 scheme you can always turn off the least significant green bit. That gives you perfect emulation of a 5-5-5 scheme. Hence, 5-6-5 can give you perfect grays, just like 5-5-5.

          • No you can't. Think about it.

            A color channel with 5 bits will split up the 256 color output values as:

            0=0, 1=64, 2=128, 3=192, 4=255

            A color channel with 6 bits will do something like

            0=0, 1=51, 2=102, 3=153, 4=204, 5=255

            So, even if you ignore the least significant bit, the color values are never going to match up. That's the difference between 16 bit and 15 bit. If you're hardware supports 15 bit (packed into 16 bits of storage) then you get the right behavior.

            • So you're saying that 5-bit means I can pick from only 5 values? Hint: I can pick from 32 values. 6 bits give me 64 values. I can throw half of them away by setting the LSB to zero, then I'm back to 32 values.
              • Unfortunately, this doesn't give you perfect greys. None of the 64 values, except 0x00 and 0x3F, will perfectly match any of the 5 bit values in intensity except of course 0x00 and 0x1F. Essentially, the 5 bit values rate the intensity of the color as x/31, and the 6 bit values rate the intensity as y/63. In no cases will x/31 = y/63 except when both x and y are zero, or x = 31 and y = 63. Thus, there's no way to match the intensities and thus no way to get true greys...
                • The numbers you should be using are x/32 and y/64. You have 32 and 64 possible values, respectively. I have no idea how you manage to destroy one.
  • x86 is the last architecture that I want in my hand. It's cool, but a bad choice for that kind of device.

  • Doesn't have much on the good old Libretto (Score:3, Informative)

    by PhotoGuy ( 189467 ) on Sunday March 10, 2002 @01:39PM (#3138162) Homepage
    It doesn't strike me as much smaller than the good old Libretto 110CT, and the specs are only slightly more impressive; the Libretto was something like 233 mhz (vs 266), 64M RAM (vs 128; this is probably the most significant item), 7G HD (vs 10), 800x480 display (vs 640x480), dual PCMCIA, serial, parallel, video out, and a more usable keyboard than the Tiqit.

    (Oh yeah, and the Libretto suffers from being discontinued; very sad how this amazing machine was never marketed well in North America at all. Everyone who saw mine, immediately assumed it was a CE machine due to it's size, and was blown away to see it running Win98 and Linux; several people I showed ended up buying one right away. But Libretto only targeted the Japenese market that well. And their new Librettos are bigger and less appealing to me; they're kinda turning to Viao Picturebooks, rather than keeping their own charm.)

    The big issue with the Tiqit will be price. The Libretto was something like $1K when I bought it. I'm guessing the Tiqit will be several times that, judging by their historical pricing on their Matchbox computer (which was cool, but *way* too pricey). Here's hoping they'll prove me wrong by pricing it $1K (and then I'll end up buying one, dammit!)

    -me
    • One more point. With the Libretto, people were impressed by the size and the slick look. With the Tiqit, I think most people will assume you're playing with an oversized label maker, which in certain circumstances would look even geekier than normal. :-)

      -me
    • Libretto:
      8.3" x 5.2" x 1.4" (60 cubic inches); 37.4 oz

      eightythree:
      5.4" x 4.4" x 1.1" (26 cubic inches); 20 oz

      Granted, the Libretto is a wonderful machine with often better specs [toshiba.ca] (example: 7.1" 800x480 instead of 4" 640x480 screen, better keyboard), but it's 2.3x the size and 1.8x the weight of the eightythree -- they cater to different markets.
    • "Oh yeah, and the Libretto suffers from being discontinued; very sad how this amazing machine was never marketed well in North America at all."

      what's funnier is that they are selling for a mint at ebay to this date. How stupid are coporations anyway? It seems like somebody would get off their ass and make a modest performance (200mz or so) x86 PC in a small form factor and sell it for $300 to $400 and make a mint.

    • I'm lucky enough to have one - upgraded to 96MB. Shipped with Win98 and runs NT, Win2K and Linux. Pretty cool with 2 PCMCIA slots

      I first saw these at a M$ PDC in '98 or '99 - all the presenters were using them. The Librettos got more attention than the content, IMO :)

      The keyboards are an ergonomic nightmare which I think had some role in the limited US marketing. Our corporate ergo folks nixed these for that reason.

  • For the DIY crowd, you could probably build a similar device yourself. It would not look as pretty or have quite as small dimensions -but might be close.

    I fit the core of a 300MHz/128MB/15GB computer into a 6" x 4" x 1 1/2" enclosure (without battery). That core plus a 4inch LCD and some USB peripherals would meet or exceed the eightythree's specs.

    The key is power consumption. The board I use only draws 5W (depending on amount of RAM). A couple of regulated camcorder batteries could power it for 10+ hrs.

    Here are some of the components I used:

    -Nagasaki PC104-586V [bwi.com] ($415)
    -128MB SODIMM
    -15GB HDD (but note, you can get up to 60GB these days!)
    -small USB ethernet
    -small USB audio (better quality than on-board anyway)
    -wires, leds etc
    I use Sony infolithium camcorder batteries as a power source. I'm going to use a head-mounted display, so I haven't hooked up a small screen (they cost hundreds of dollars).

    I hope that some of you will become interested in embedded hardware so we can improve the web's knowledgebase.

  • But...

    Can it compile the Linux kernel in 23 seconds?
  • ...are field techs who don't want to have to lug a huge notebook everywhere with 'em. A ruggedized version could easily replace 2-3 seperate specialized instruments that a phone company tech carries on him right now (have you seen the teeny vt100 terminals those guys carry as an interface to their dialup order/status tracking database?)
    Something like this is also much easier to 'embed' as a frontend/interface to complex manufacturing or testing equipment...

    Their main hurdle will likely be price, as something so integrated can't possibly be cheap.

  • I'm pretty sure this thing can run any decent emulator up to the 16-bit generation. So, stick SNES9x on it, and it's a really advanced handheld. Yeah, I know a WinCE machine can do that too, but this will have higher-quality graphics (640x480 vs. 240x320) and, you can use the keyboard as a controller!

  • From the top it looked neat until you see if from the side, its about as wide as a brick.

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