OSNews:

OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/19795/VIA_Unveils_Open_Source_Notebook_Design Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:01:53 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com All popular Linux distributions http://osnews.com/thread?315858 http://osnews.com/thread?315858 Define "popular" please.
On one of the linked sites they talk about Ubuntu and SUSE. And.. G/OS. Seriously, I never heard about it. And it's not in the Top 300something of Distrowatch either (even though that doesn't say much).

So what exactly do they mean with "popular"? Tue, 27 May 2008 23:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Crono) Comments ..... http://osnews.com/thread?315859 http://osnews.com/thread?315859 I like this company more and more each time I read something about them and plan to refit all my pcs with Via processors.

Just got to love their concepts and think its the way forward for us in the developing world amidst the current energy challenges.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/27/via-openbook-hands-on/

GO Via!Edited 2008-05-27 23:40 UTC Tue, 27 May 2008 23:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (islander) Comments RE: All popular Linux distributions http://osnews.com/thread?315860 http://osnews.com/thread?315860 http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=gos

Gos is number 30 on distrowatch at the moment Tue, 27 May 2008 23:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JPisini) Comments RE: All popular Linux distributions http://osnews.com/thread?315862 http://osnews.com/thread?315862 It is GOS on Distrowatch and is at #30 presently. I have never used it but if I recall correctly it was the distro preinstalled on the Linux PCs from Walmart. Beyond that and the factor that it is an Ubuntu derivative I do not know much about it. It has seen commercial distribution before though so I would not classify it as obscure.

Is it just me or does $500 for a starting price seem a bit high to be in competition with the EEE? I would be interested in it to be sure but I would have to classify it in a slightly different market with the probable $600-800 price tag for a configured system. Tue, 27 May 2008 23:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kokopelli) Comments Via??? http://osnews.com/thread?315868 http://osnews.com/thread?315868 There are benchmarks of the VIA C7 and the Intel Celeron and Atom processors on the internet. Please check them out before you decide to buy a VIA based system. Wed, 28 May 2008 00:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bolomkxxviii) Comments RE[2]: All popular Linux distributions http://osnews.com/thread?315869 http://osnews.com/thread?315869 EEE PC 900 is $550. The 901 is set to be $650. I think $500 is well competitive with that

The specs are ballpark. If they can put an Isaiah in it when that comes out the processor should be competitive (though until then, the c7 is as noted a little anemic). Hard Drive instead of flash is a negative for some, a positive for others (space), though there's no reason someone couldn't stick a flash drive in there.

So yeah, price is a little higher than the EEE 2g surf, but $500 is lower than the current EEEs.

/disclosure: Just ordered an EEE myself. Happy with the choice. I like flash drive, and slightly smaller size. But I wouldn't rule out the OpenBook.Edited 2008-05-28 00:46 UTC Wed, 28 May 2008 00:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MamiyaOtaru) Comments Processors http://osnews.com/thread?315872 http://osnews.com/thread?315872 How has the design of their processors been coming along? I don't have anything against them really, I like their mini-itx boards, however back in the day when I "upgraded" from a 486dx4 100mhz to a Cyrix PR200 (150mhz), I gained some processor cycles with a huge sacrifice to floating point operations. We benchmarked that thing and it basically said the floating point compared to a 80287 coprocessor... around 1998-99.

IIRC, which I may not

, I believe that the VIA chips are originally based off the flawed Cyrix processors, does the new VIA versions fare any better?

Or maybe I just ramble nonsense?

Wed, 28 May 2008 01:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (endar98) Comments Give me a Pentium-M please. http://osnews.com/thread?315876 http://osnews.com/thread?315876 [quote]...coupled with the higher levels of performance..[/quote]
I read it through twice before I believed my eyes that they are claiming this. Yu know what higher levels of performance means when your YouTube video jitters...

I really regret buying the VIA PC2500 mother board as it performs terribly (either CPU or disk controller wise) and it's not really that cheap. I can get a comparable (and certainly better) AOpen P-M MB + CPU for the same amount of money, even using roughly the same amount of electricity, maybe? Wed, 28 May 2008 01:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shyouko) Comments RE: Processors http://osnews.com/thread?315877 http://osnews.com/thread?315877 Right, it's still doing floating point maths at snail speed, even on the C7.Edited 2008-05-28 01:22 UTC Wed, 28 May 2008 01:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shyouko) Comments RE: ..... http://osnews.com/thread?315879 http://osnews.com/thread?315879 It's just marketing when they cannot compete on real performance. About performance per watt? Lose hands down to any modern Intel or AMD offering. Wed, 28 May 2008 01:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shyouko) Comments CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?315884 http://osnews.com/thread?315884 What program are the CAD files for? If they are saved in Autodesk's proprietary CAD format, then you can hardly call the design "open". Wed, 28 May 2008 02:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Munchkinguy) Comments openbook http://osnews.com/thread?315900 http://osnews.com/thread?315900 I still remember the cyrix chip. Oh man it was bad, my PC would hang suddenly and so many compatibilies issue

Anyway this would make a good low cost smart client laptop. Running Windows player and browser locally and running processor intensive apps on the server via ThinServer

http://www.aikotech.com/thinserver.htm Wed, 28 May 2008 06:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Different) Comments RE: CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?315909 http://osnews.com/thread?315909 Well it's about open hardware, not neccerely open software. (The specs even mentions Windows XP)Edited 2008-05-28 07:00 UTC Wed, 28 May 2008 06:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TLZ_) Comments RE: CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?315934 http://osnews.com/thread?315934 Do you know any alternative compatible files? You may suggest a file format to then, you know...

(the cruel reality is... this manufacture partners are using plain common proprietary CAD... sad, but true...) Wed, 28 May 2008 11:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JrezIN) Comments RE: Via??? http://osnews.com/thread?315939 http://osnews.com/thread?315939 They really need to get the Via Isaiah chip out soon; I haven't seen a single POSITIVE review of Via chips in the popular press (the HP 2133's ratings have suffered due to the C7 being slow). They need a better chip, fast. Wed, 28 May 2008 12:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DigitalAxis) Comments great http://osnews.com/thread?315948 http://osnews.com/thread?315948 Regardless performance debate, opening design of such things can only be welcome, even if it's much harder to build those than it is to recompile software.
Of course if VIA wants to donate one so we can port Haiku to it, we'd be happy to oblige.

Wed, 28 May 2008 14:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mmu_man) Comments RE[2]: CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?315958 http://osnews.com/thread?315958 (the cruel reality is... this manufacture partners are using plain common proprietary CAD... sad, but true...)

the cruel reality is that there is no open-source cad application availabel (only some little sketching-tools)

and for file-formats it only gets as open as dxf and xt Wed, 28 May 2008 16:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (smashIt) Comments RE[2]: CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?315963 http://osnews.com/thread?315963 The open standard is DXF (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DXF).Edited 2008-05-28 17:24 UTC Wed, 28 May 2008 17:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Munchkinguy) Comments RE: Processors http://osnews.com/thread?315992 http://osnews.com/thread?315992 I'm afraid this is mostly nonsense - perhaps due to a badly written benchmark program (not uncommon). Actually, the Cyrix FPU needed 4-7 cycles to do a FADD (a typical operation) while the i387 needed 23-34, and the i287 took 70-100 cycles to do the same.

Regarding FSQRT (important in many early 3D games) the numbers are 59-60 for Cyrix, 122-129 for the i387, and 180-186 for the i287.

On integer code, the Cyrix chip was faster than a Pentium, "clock for clock", and thus much faster than a i486 (see datasheets).

Also, while VIA sold the Cyrix designs for a while, the IDT/Centaur-designed C3 and C7 has nothing to do with the Cyrix chips, at least not regaring technical solutions used.

/Best Regards Wed, 28 May 2008 19:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Henrik) Comments RE[3]: CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?316045 http://osnews.com/thread?316045

(the cruel reality is... this manufacture partners are using plain common proprietary CAD... sad, but true...) the cruel reality is that there is no open-source cad application availabel (only some little sketching-tools)

Quite a few of these Linux CAD applications:

http://www.tech-edv.co.at/lunix/CADlinks.html
http://linuxgazette.net/issue54/frost.html
http://www.roseindia.net/linux/linux-cad-software.shtml
http://caladan.nanosoft.ca/software.php

... are considerably more capable than "some little sketching-tools".

http://www.cad-schroer.com/index.php?screen=1.3&ziel=Products-M...

http://www.ribbonsoft.com/qcad.html

http://www.varicad.com/en/home/

A number of them (such as Qcad) are open source.

There is even an option for PCB layout and production:

http://www.cadsoft.de/info.htmEdited 2008-05-29 03:37 UTC Thu, 29 May 2008 03:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lemur2) Comments RE[4]: CAD files http://osnews.com/thread?316086 http://osnews.com/thread?316086 and which of these tools are opensource and useable?

qcad is just a little sketching-tool (as is autocad) Thu, 29 May 2008 18:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (smashIt) Comments