Re: TI-H: Morse-eye
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Re: TI-H: Morse-eye
First off, what's PCI? I haven't seen any significant developments in
PC design since Microchannel. (This can lead to many rants, so let it
die NOW). Next, AOL is just fine, but not for people who need all that
the internet can offer. If all the people who could benefit from a
regular ISP would leave AOL, it would probably reduce internal traffic
enough to be even better for the non-internet-savvy user.
Next, IDE? ugh. You of all people should appreciate SCSI ove IDE, even
on wearcomps. Granted, a SCSI HD is an IDE drive with an SBIC (Go
ahead, compare boards and block diagrams, it's true. You might have a
few enhancements to eliminate the IDE bottleneck, but that's about it),
but still, SCSI provides better usability.
Currently, I have what I consider a really crappy wearcomp, but it dual
booted back when it worked. Simple design, I did what most people do:
Hack stuff onto a laptop. In this case, it was a camera viewfinder w/
VGA/NTSC converter, noise cancelling mike, and no pointing device.
Worked under 95 w/ Kurzweil voice recog software, although it looked
like crap (B&W), power was through a Li-Ion battery to the NTSC
converter, and therefore weighed very little. This was my "PC
compatible" wearcomp. It also booted into Linux, using Afterstep (wharf
icons are visible since they're 64x64), and I was toying with some
X-based voice recognition. Since it was a laptop, all I had to worry
about was opening it up to select boot mode and getting past xdm.
Granted it was ugly, but the only real visible hardware was the
viewfinder, which I made removable. More than anything, it was there to
show that I could do it. Now I'm working on a PC/104 based wearcomp.
Final goals are to include a camera, arm based carbon contact keyboard,
inertial mouse (mercury switch with a LOT of bounce correction), and
full blown two way audio with CDPD networking for citywide coverage. I
also plan on including GPS and a few other things that go into my MechE
based dreams. Guess as much as you want.
As for TI's, this is way off topic. Reply privately to discuss more.
On the TI topic, though, I'm thinking about the ultimate design: a
flexible PCB (they exist) so you can have an arm mounted calc with a low
power LCD and the battery pack on the other side of the arm. Forget a
case design, just wear the calc! You'd have to modify the keypad
slightly, but it would work and be a lot lighter, not to mention
unnoticable with a long sleeve shirt. Kind of eliminates those games
that need both hands, though. Too bad. This isn't what they're made to
do. They're educational tools, not toys. You want games? Get a Game
Boy.
CK
Grant Stockly wrote:
>
>
> I'm quite familar with that. :) I'm on the MIT wear-hard ML and am
> working with testrante (media lab) to impliment IDE on a Strong ARM.
>
> I did the alphabet for a mockup twiddler, but got bored of it when it came
> down to control and alt...
>
>
> My wearable is a 386 DX 33. :) It has one PCMCIA onboard, and all the
> trimmings. Its about the size of a $20 ethernet card.
>
> Hopefully after the MIT IDE StrongARM thing, they will send me a prototype.
> :) Their estimate is that you could make it the seze of a Discman. HD and
> all.
>
> Think about that...you could add a flat 256x128 LCD and make it half an
> inch higher... That would be cool.
>
> I havn't found the time to buy a $600 pair of sun glasses, so for now I use
> it for a recording and notetaking device.
>
>
> Usually the 'nerds' are just thinking they know all, and aren't afraid to
> say that. :) It goes without saying that those type of people think AOL
> is high tech 'hard stuff' and PCI is a term that they don't know. ;)
>
> Grant
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