Itsy's Back...

[Troy Johnson <john1536@tc.umn.edu>]

I have sent some comments to Compaq at this address:

	http://www.compaq.com/comments.html

because I'd really like to see something like the Itsy in the near
future. Here is an article url:

	http://www.theregister.co.uk/990521-000027.html

and here is the article:

Posted 21/05/99 5:03pm by Tony Smith

  Compaq may release Linux micro-PC to open
  sourcers

  John Gettys, Compaq consulting engineer and Linux Expo keynoter,
yesterday said a
  tiny, 'deck of cards'-sized computer developed by the PC vendor might
be made
  available to the open source community. 

                        The Palm-style device, dubbed Itsy, sports a
200x300-pixel
                        screen, contains 32MB of memory, is powered by a
                        200MHz processor and is based on Linux. It was
                        developed by Compaq's Western Research Lab,
based in
                        Palo Alto, California. 

                        Itsy is based on a voice-recognition system that
promises
                        to do away with even the fiddly styles favoured
by most
                        shipping handheld machines. Gettys said the
device could
  be used to access and download email. 

  Gettys also said Compaq was investigating whether the Itsy device
could be "made
  available to the Linux community". Quite what be meant by this is
unclear. If the device
  is as powerful as he suggested, it's hard to imagine Compaq not
wanting to turn it into
  a commercial product. 

  That said, Compaq is currently backing Windows CE, and releasing a
Linux-based
  handheld too, might confuse the market and, what's more, annoy
Microsoft. The
  Western Research Lab was acquired by the company when it bought
Digital. Given it
  appears to be having difficulty figuring out what to do with Alpha, it
might experience
  similar problems with Itsy. 

  In any case, given Itsy is based on a modified version of the Linux
kernel, the OS at
  least would have to be released under the GNU Public Licence. Which,
given that's
  how 3Com is attempting to build developer support for the Palm
platform, might well
  give Itsy a lead too.