Re: [TCLUG:6132] Itsy's Back...

["Troy Johnson" <troy@minco.com>]

I wish! :-)

Hope you're having a good time, though.

<<< Bob Tanner <tanner@real-time.com>  5/21  9:26p >>>
Troy are you at the Linux Expo?

We should hook up and talk.

I have lots of notes to share with the LUG when I get back.

Quoting 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.
> 
>
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-- 
Bob Tanner <tanner@real-time.com>       | Phone : (612)943-8700
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