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. […] 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. […]”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.“
PDA Which Runs Windows/Linux/UNIX OSes to be Unveiled at CeBIT
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Eugenia Loli
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… i want BeOS (or BeIA) on that device!!
that would certainly kick ass.
Can you just imagine using Wagner on that puppy!??
Yeah, forget windoze… BeOS would RULE on that thing. Sleek, lightweight, and can become your next best friend with a portable BIYS setup.. ROXORS!
AFAIK, BeIA needed 800×600 as minimum resolution (at least most of its builds where for 800×600), while this PDA works natively on 640×480. BeOS would have a better chance running on that PDA than BeIA itself.<BR>In fact, all the BeIA builds I have seen, are built for a specific hardware configuration, configurations as requested by the Be partners (and I used to be a Be partner for the company I was working for in UK). Therefore, there is a big chance that a random BeIA image won’t even boot to this thing. I firmly believe that BeOS has a better chance than BeIA. Sorry to dissapoint.
Ignoring the packaging & LCD display, the specs are very similar to some PC104+ boards. A few the 20 odd companies making these embedded 4″ by 4″ boards esp those in the UK include cool x86s, Transmeta to 700/800 MHz & NS Geode to 300MHz. See pc104.org.
Specs usually include all classic PC stuff + 10/100 nic, SODIMM, sometimes including LCD/SVGA graphics ctlr. Intended for embedded use so prices are usually a couple hundred $ & volumes are tiny, They do not usually feature USB or Firewire so they are modern for 97.
Ofcoarse they run Win, Linux but who knows if they could run BeOS, I would give it a try if I had one. I would imagine the Geode version could have been the prototype for Tiqit.
18 bit is like amiga aga chiset, can it be 24bit on the monitor output?
What about the size, shock resistance (the HD concern me), weight and energy consumption.
What is the video? VESA? It seem that if window will work on it BeOS have a big chance. I can already see me hack the pastic case to include a row of green pulse led, paint the case in blue and stick a “Pocket BeBox” sticker on it
What about the sound feature. Will it support dpad and button for game support (i like the vertical/horizontal layout for the bandai wonderswan).
http://www.tiqit.com/TiqitBrochure.pdf
Install BeOS on it!
Then try AtheOS…
This is exactly the kind of market we would like to target with Petros. We certainly don’t need 128meg of ram though. Petros still boots in 2meg of ram although we recommend 4meg. Its requirements are low, the rest of ram is dedicated to user apps and disk cache.
P
This looks pretty cool (although, it isn’t as innovative as they pretend it to be).
I wonder what kind of performance one can expect from NS’s geode chip …
We’ll just wait and see i guess.
Take Care
Kevin
Be lives