OLPC-like device...

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OLPC-like device...

Blake-5
Hey, Squeakers:

        I'm looking to put together an appliance and the OLPC device is probably  
closest (perhaps with some tablet PCs) to what I envision.

        I need a small, light, tough touch screen, no keyboard or mouse or  
hard-drive, but a wireless connection and maybe some flash memory.

        And, obviously, it has to be Smalltalk-capable. :-)

        Most of the interface will be on the level of fast food order  
taking--although, come to think of it, I probably need some  
handwriting-recognition functionality.

        I know a lot of folks deal with unusual hardware here, anyone have any  
thoughts?

        ===Blake===

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Re: OLPC-like device...

Bert Freudenberg

On Jan 30, 2007, at 18:35 , Blake wrote:

> Hey, Squeakers:
>
> I'm looking to put together an appliance and the OLPC device is  
> probably closest (perhaps with some tablet PCs) to what I envision.
>
> I need a small, light, tough touch screen, no keyboard or mouse or  
> hard-drive, but a wireless connection and maybe some flash memory.
>
> And, obviously, it has to be Smalltalk-capable. :-)
>
> Most of the interface will be on the level of fast food order  
> taking--although, come to think of it, I probably need some  
> handwriting-recognition functionality.
>
> I know a lot of folks deal with unusual hardware here, anyone have  
> any thoughts?

What's your budget? And how "small" - PDA size, tablet pc size? The  
OLPC XO is inbetween (7.5" display) but has no touchscreen.

I guess Pocket Smalltalk could be ported basically everywhere, Squeak  
needs some more power.

- Bert -



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Re: OLPC-like device...

Aaron Reichow
In reply to this post by Blake-5
Blake-

The Nokia 770/N800 sounds like it'd fit the bill- except for the  
toughness. It isn't especially breakable, but it is only as tough as  
most PDAs and tablets are.  I think you could toughen it up with a  
little work and thought, however.

And, naturally, it runs Squeak w/ Morphic pretty well.  You get  
character recognition free with Squeak via Genie, or you can use what  
is built-in, which isn't as good as Squeak's Genie.

Regards,
Aaron


On Jan 30, 2007, at 11:35 AM, Blake wrote:

> Hey, Squeakers:
>
> I'm looking to put together an appliance and the OLPC device is  
> probably closest (perhaps with some tablet PCs) to what I envision.
>
> I need a small, light, tough touch screen, no keyboard or mouse or  
> hard-drive, but a wireless connection and maybe some flash memory.
>
> And, obviously, it has to be Smalltalk-capable. :-)
>
> Most of the interface will be on the level of fast food order  
> taking--although, come to think of it, I probably need some  
> handwriting-recognition functionality.
>
> I know a lot of folks deal with unusual hardware here, anyone have  
> any thoughts?
>
> ===Blake===
>


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Re: OLPC-like device...

Blake-5
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg
On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:59:11 -0800, Bert Freudenberg  
<[hidden email]> wrote:

> What's your budget? And how "small" - PDA size, tablet pc size? The OLPC  
> XO is inbetween (7.5" display) but has no touchscreen.

About the size of a clipboard or smaller. I should think a tablet's a bit  
too big and a PDA is a bit too small. I don't want users squinting at the  
thing.

> I guess Pocket Smalltalk could be ported basically everywhere, Squeak  
> needs some more power.

I don't want a terribly underpowered device, though obviously size and  
price constrain.

I want to keep the devices under $1K.

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Re: OLPC-like device...

Blake-5
In reply to this post by Aaron Reichow
On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:00:11 -0800, Aaron Reichow <[hidden email]>  
wrote:

> Blake-
>
> The Nokia 770/N800 sounds like it'd fit the bill- except for the  
> toughness. It isn't especially breakable, but it is only as tough as  
> most PDAs and tablets are.  I think you could toughen it up with a  
> little work and thought, however.

The N800 looks pretty good, but maybe too small. I may have to have  
several different styles, though. Thanks for the tip. That's a good start.

> And, naturally, it runs Squeak w/ Morphic pretty well.  You get  
> character recognition free with Squeak via Genie, or you can use what is  
> built-in, which isn't as good as Squeak's Genie.

Cool. Muchos gracias.

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Re: OLPC-like device...

Brad Fuller-3
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg
Bert Freudenberg wrote:

>
> On Jan 30, 2007, at 18:35 , Blake wrote:
>
>> Hey, Squeakers:
>>
>>     I'm looking to put together an appliance and the OLPC device is
>> probably closest (perhaps with some tablet PCs) to what I envision.
>>
>>     I need a small, light, tough touch screen, no keyboard or mouse or
>> hard-drive, but a wireless connection and maybe some flash memory.
>>
>>     And, obviously, it has to be Smalltalk-capable. :-)
>>
>>     Most of the interface will be on the level of fast food order
>> taking--although, come to think of it, I probably need some
>> handwriting-recognition functionality.
>>
>>     I know a lot of folks deal with unusual hardware here, anyone have
>> any thoughts?
>
> What's your budget? And how "small" - PDA size, tablet pc size? The OLPC
> XO is inbetween (7.5" display) but has no touchscreen.
>
> I guess Pocket Smalltalk could be ported basically everywhere, Squeak
> needs some more power.

To add to Aaron Reichow post:

Is the Nokia N800 too low in CPU power?

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/nokia-n800-internet-tablet-unboxed/



--
brad fuller
www.bradfuller.com

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Re: OLPC-like device...

Yoshiki Ohshima
In reply to this post by Blake-5
> I need a small, light, tough touch screen, no keyboard or mouse or  
> hard-drive, but a wireless connection and maybe some flash memory.

  How about iPAQ rx4240?

-- Yoshiki

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Re: OLPC-like device...

timrowledge

On 30-Jan-07, at 3:32 PM, Yoshiki Ohshima wrote:

>> I need a small, light, tough touch screen, no keyboard or mouse or
>> hard-drive, but a wireless connection and maybe some flash memory.
>
>   How about iPAQ rx4240?

Hmm, interesting looking device. 400MHz ARM920 would get you roughly  
28M bc/s and maybe 2M sends/s A bit slow for morphic in recent  
versions but plausible.

What a lot of versions they make (or made).

tim
--
tim Rowledge; [hidden email]; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Do you like me for my brain or my baud?



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Re: OLPC-like device...

Aaron Reichow
In reply to this post by Brad Fuller-3
On Jan 30, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:

> To add to Aaron Reichow post:
>
> Is the Nokia N800 too low in CPU power?
>
> http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html
> http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/nokia-n800-internet-tablet-unboxed/
>
>
>
> --  
> brad fuller
> www.bradfuller.com

And too add more-

My brand spankin' new N800 gets this for tinyBenchmarks:

18,348,623 bytecodes/sec and 667,395 sends/sec

I definitely feel the difference between the 770 and the N800 in  
Squeak.  Squeak 3.9 out of the box is still too slow to use, but the  
performance of 3.2 and 3.4 is quite snappy.  For those who may not  
have used older versions of Squeak, or not have used them for a  
while, _please_ _note_ that those older versions aren't that much  
different. It's pretty easy to port code between versions of Squeak  
in the 3.x series.  Some folks seem to think that using 3.2 is like  
using Windows 3.1- far from it.  Newer Squeaks have some features  
that may be required for your app- stuff from SqueakLand, traits, or  
some of the character/language support stuff.  But for what most  
folks do, other than the obvious changes in look, a lot of folks  
wouldn't notice the difference very quickly.

Finding tablets under $1000 will pretty much limit you to PDA like  
devices like the Nokia N800 or possibly older used devices.  But  
depending on your app, using Squeak 3.2 on a Nokia N800 might work  
out very well!

Regards,
Aaron

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RE: OLPC-like device...

Ivan Tomek
Speaking about applications, what do people typically do with Squeak on
their portable devices?

Ivan


-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Aaron Reichow
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:01 PM
To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
Subject: Re: OLPC-like device...

On Jan 30, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:

> To add to Aaron Reichow post:
>
> Is the Nokia N800 too low in CPU power?
>
> http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html
> http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/nokia-n800-internet-tablet-unboxed/
>
>
>
> --  
> brad fuller
> www.bradfuller.com

And too add more-

My brand spankin' new N800 gets this for tinyBenchmarks:

18,348,623 bytecodes/sec and 667,395 sends/sec

I definitely feel the difference between the 770 and the N800 in  
Squeak.  Squeak 3.9 out of the box is still too slow to use, but the  
performance of 3.2 and 3.4 is quite snappy.  For those who may not  
have used older versions of Squeak, or not have used them for a  
while, _please_ _note_ that those older versions aren't that much  
different. It's pretty easy to port code between versions of Squeak  
in the 3.x series.  Some folks seem to think that using 3.2 is like  
using Windows 3.1- far from it.  Newer Squeaks have some features  
that may be required for your app- stuff from SqueakLand, traits, or  
some of the character/language support stuff.  But for what most  
folks do, other than the obvious changes in look, a lot of folks  
wouldn't notice the difference very quickly.

Finding tablets under $1000 will pretty much limit you to PDA like  
devices like the Nokia N800 or possibly older used devices.  But  
depending on your app, using Squeak 3.2 on a Nokia N800 might work  
out very well!

Regards,
Aaron


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Re: OLPC-like device...

Andreas.Raab
In reply to this post by Aaron Reichow
Aaron Reichow wrote:
> I definitely feel the difference between the 770 and the N800 in
> Squeak.  Squeak 3.9 out of the box is still too slow to use, but the
> performance of 3.2 and 3.4 is quite snappy.

I think the main differences can be explained by the following threads:

http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2006-October/110506.html
http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2006-November/111315.html

Generally, 3.9 should be slightly faster than the above mentioned
versions just because some effort went into optimizing some bits and
pieces of Morphic display. Unfortunately, the above two can easily
overshadow any improvements that have been made in the meantime.

Cheers,
   - Andreas

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Re: OLPC-like device...

Aaron Reichow
In reply to this post by Ivan Tomek
I do similar things that I do with my desktop- I use it for most of  
what I do, with the exception of web browsing. For my PDA, that means:

1. Remote access via telnet and VNC
2. Notetaking
3. PIM stuff (there aren't any PIM apps that come installed on the  
Nokia tablets, so that's handy!)
4. Scripting of all kinds- like on the desktop, I like being able to  
write little snippits of code to tell me stuff.

I'm sure I"m forgetting something... but yeah, there you go!

Regards,
Aaron

On Jan 30, 2007, at 7:15 PM, Ivan Tomek wrote:

> Speaking about applications, what do people typically do with  
> Squeak on
> their portable devices?
>
> Ivan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
> Aaron Reichow
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:01 PM
> To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
> Subject: Re: OLPC-like device...
>
> On Jan 30, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>> To add to Aaron Reichow post:
>>
>> Is the Nokia N800 too low in CPU power?
>>
>> http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html
>> http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/nokia-n800-internet-tablet- 
>> unboxed/
>>
>>
>>
>> --  
>> brad fuller
>> www.bradfuller.com
>
> And too add more-
>
> My brand spankin' new N800 gets this for tinyBenchmarks:
>
> 18,348,623 bytecodes/sec and 667,395 sends/sec
>
> I definitely feel the difference between the 770 and the N800 in
> Squeak.  Squeak 3.9 out of the box is still too slow to use, but the
> performance of 3.2 and 3.4 is quite snappy.  For those who may not
> have used older versions of Squeak, or not have used them for a
> while, _please_ _note_ that those older versions aren't that much
> different. It's pretty easy to port code between versions of Squeak
> in the 3.x series.  Some folks seem to think that using 3.2 is like
> using Windows 3.1- far from it.  Newer Squeaks have some features
> that may be required for your app- stuff from SqueakLand, traits, or
> some of the character/language support stuff.  But for what most
> folks do, other than the obvious changes in look, a lot of folks
> wouldn't notice the difference very quickly.
>
> Finding tablets under $1000 will pretty much limit you to PDA like
> devices like the Nokia N800 or possibly older used devices.  But
> depending on your app, using Squeak 3.2 on a Nokia N800 might work
> out very well!
>
> Regards,
> Aaron
>
>


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Re: OLPC-like device...

Brad Fuller-3
Aaron Reichow wrote:
> I do similar things that I do with my desktop- I use it for most of what
> I do, with the exception of web browsing. For my PDA, that means:
>
> 1. Remote access via telnet and VNC
> 2. Notetaking

What do you use to take notes?

> 3. PIM stuff (there aren't any PIM apps that come installed on the Nokia
> tablets, so that's handy!)

What PIM stuff do you use?


> 4. Scripting of all kinds- like on the desktop, I like being able to
> write little snippits of code to tell me stuff.
>
> I'm sure I"m forgetting something... but yeah, there you go!
>
> Regards,
> Aaron
>
> On Jan 30, 2007, at 7:15 PM, Ivan Tomek wrote:
>
>> Speaking about applications, what do people typically do with Squeak on
>> their portable devices?
>>
>> Ivan
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [hidden email]
>> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
>> Aaron Reichow
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:01 PM
>> To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
>> Subject: Re: OLPC-like device...
>>
>> On Jan 30, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>>> To add to Aaron Reichow post:
>>>
>>> Is the Nokia N800 too low in CPU power?
>>>
>>> http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html
>>> http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/nokia-n800-internet-tablet-unboxed/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- brad fuller
>>> www.bradfuller.com
>>
>> And too add more-
>>
>> My brand spankin' new N800 gets this for tinyBenchmarks:
>>
>> 18,348,623 bytecodes/sec and 667,395 sends/sec
>>
>> I definitely feel the difference between the 770 and the N800 in
>> Squeak.  Squeak 3.9 out of the box is still too slow to use, but the
>> performance of 3.2 and 3.4 is quite snappy.  For those who may not
>> have used older versions of Squeak, or not have used them for a
>> while, _please_ _note_ that those older versions aren't that much
>> different. It's pretty easy to port code between versions of Squeak
>> in the 3.x series.  Some folks seem to think that using 3.2 is like
>> using Windows 3.1- far from it.  Newer Squeaks have some features
>> that may be required for your app- stuff from SqueakLand, traits, or
>> some of the character/language support stuff.  But for what most
>> folks do, other than the obvious changes in look, a lot of folks
>> wouldn't notice the difference very quickly.
>>
>> Finding tablets under $1000 will pretty much limit you to PDA like
>> devices like the Nokia N800 or possibly older used devices.  But
>> depending on your app, using Squeak 3.2 on a Nokia N800 might work
>> out very well!
>>
>> Regards,
>> Aaron
>>
>>
>
>
>


--
brad fuller
www.bradfuller.com

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Re: OLPC-like device...

Aaron Reichow
The answer for both questions - a few apps I've written myself,  
things that were meant to be for Dynapad, but lack the polish to  
really share them. Very, very rough, but you always love your own  
children, eh?

The other big thing I do on any mobile device is reading books, and a  
simple .txt ebook reader is something I've been meaning to do for  
Squeak for a long time...

Regards,
Aaron

On Jan 31, 2007, at 12:28 AM, Brad Fuller wrote:

> Aaron Reichow wrote:
>> I do similar things that I do with my desktop- I use it for most  
>> of what
>> I do, with the exception of web browsing. For my PDA, that means:
>>
>> 1. Remote access via telnet and VNC
>> 2. Notetaking
>
> What do you use to take notes?
>
>> 3. PIM stuff (there aren't any PIM apps that come installed on the  
>> Nokia
>> tablets, so that's handy!)
>
> What PIM stuff do you use?
>
>
>> 4. Scripting of all kinds- like on the desktop, I like being able to
>> write little snippits of code to tell me stuff.
>>
>> I'm sure I"m forgetting something... but yeah, there you go!
>>
>> Regards,
>> Aaron
>>
>> On Jan 30, 2007, at 7:15 PM, Ivan Tomek wrote:
>>
>>> Speaking about applications, what do people typically do with  
>>> Squeak on
>>> their portable devices?
>>>
>>> Ivan
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: [hidden email]
>>> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
>>> Aaron Reichow
>>> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:01 PM
>>> To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
>>> Subject: Re: OLPC-like device...
>>>
>>> On Jan 30, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>>>> To add to Aaron Reichow post:
>>>>
>>>> Is the Nokia N800 too low in CPU power?
>>>>
>>>> http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html
>>>> http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/nokia-n800-internet-tablet- 
>>>> unboxed/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- brad fuller
>>>> www.bradfuller.com
>>>
>>> And too add more-
>>>
>>> My brand spankin' new N800 gets this for tinyBenchmarks:
>>>
>>> 18,348,623 bytecodes/sec and 667,395 sends/sec
>>>
>>> I definitely feel the difference between the 770 and the N800 in
>>> Squeak.  Squeak 3.9 out of the box is still too slow to use, but the
>>> performance of 3.2 and 3.4 is quite snappy.  For those who may not
>>> have used older versions of Squeak, or not have used them for a
>>> while, _please_ _note_ that those older versions aren't that much
>>> different. It's pretty easy to port code between versions of Squeak
>>> in the 3.x series.  Some folks seem to think that using 3.2 is like
>>> using Windows 3.1- far from it.  Newer Squeaks have some features
>>> that may be required for your app- stuff from SqueakLand, traits, or
>>> some of the character/language support stuff.  But for what most
>>> folks do, other than the obvious changes in look, a lot of folks
>>> wouldn't notice the difference very quickly.
>>>
>>> Finding tablets under $1000 will pretty much limit you to PDA like
>>> devices like the Nokia N800 or possibly older used devices.  But
>>> depending on your app, using Squeak 3.2 on a Nokia N800 might work
>>> out very well!
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Aaron
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> brad fuller
> www.bradfuller.com
>


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Re: OLPC-like device...

Blake-5
In reply to this post by Blake-5
Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions.

Currently I'm working with the Nokia N800. It's not ideal (bigger screen  
would be better) but I'm thinking it will make a good baseline for  
development.

        ===Blake===