What do you think of the announced development of a sub-laptop machine from Genesi?

http://www.genesippc.com/press.php?date=20051129
http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2005/11/compoogle.html

I think this could be the Eclipsis that some of us has waited for a long time!



[ Edited by takemehomegrandma on 2005/11/30 18:49 ]

By the way, is this "Efika" page new, or did I only miss it?

http://www.genesippc.com/efika.php

...and before you ask, of course it will run MorphOS!

Our wish would be that it runs AmiNet Video too.

That's the "ANV" on the video skin in the screenshot.

What do you think AmigaZeuxes?

R&B

According to the thread at OSNews.com, the 4U2 board is going to cost about 299 USD initially, with probably 199 once produced in higher quantity.

So what do you guess a complete device may cost (initially, as well as in a volume equally to the 199 USD board price)?

500/600$ would be a reasonable price mm ?

If the prize is right and now when I know it will run MorphOS I will be intressted...but of course I want to see specs and price.

When 299$ is the price for a complete computer,
then I'll take two The "magical barrier" where
one is enough is 500$

Quote:

There are two main pricing strategies for introduction of new products - market penetration (low price, low initial profits, but interesting to the masses) and market skimming (high price, faster return on R&D costs, and customers mainly enthusiasts and those who want to be first with cool new stuff). Wonder what they choose? Of course, that goes for only the introduction stage in the product life cycle. But price evolves from then on ...

When it comes to specifications - for a start there is that MPC5200B info on freescales site. Add the wireless technology to that.

Wonder what the graphics will be? Probably something low Watt. Low power consumption will probably be one of key design goals. Some months ago I heard something that Genesi would show off the Efika evaluation board running, powered only by a solar panel. Wonder how that went?

Hmm, you seen this?

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/

[ Edited by takemehomegrandma on 2005/11/30 20:01 ]

In the words of Gerald, the base board in a basic configuration can be the $100 computer using a television set as the monitor and including the keyboard and mouse. Of course, more expensive models can be designed from the same board. Matt makes a good point here in Part 3:

http://likerabbits.blogspot.com/

There are many possibilities and we hope they multiply "likerabbits."

R&B

Not wanting to be pessimistic.. but HOW to install morphOS on such a machine ALONE (not by preparing the Hard drive eg on a peg2) ???

the only way I see would be having USB cdrom /mass storage support into the OF... same for linux.... because it shouldn't be forgotten some people won't have other machine to install software from...

other than that, nice machine to be able to have evrytime a MorphOS system with him... I now have a peg2/G3 for thaat purpose but this 4U2 would be nice

@FALCON1

what prevents u from using an IDE CDROM drive ?? even if there's only one IDE port you can still plug 2 devices on it. Or did i miss something ?

oh right u mean as embeded small device.

[ Edited by SoundSquare on 2005/11/30 20:33 ]

>Our wish would be that it runs AmiNet Video too.
>What do you think AmigaZeuxes?

I guess they think that it could run AmiNetVideo
but never ever AmiNet Video! (hint)

Yeah, would be nice to have MorphOS-capable laptop. I would even exchange my desktop Pegasos for it despite that Efika has lower CPU power. A personal laptop is my dream and MorphOS-compatible laptop is incredible!
$100 laptop concept is... heh... just interesting what it would result in. An idea to educate children with Linux is... Hmm... Unexpected... Even mature professionals often have problems with this OS. Well, if we provide such a solution with especially tuned distro and a limited set of software, well, this would become a children's toy, like that chinese NES-compatible crap under various names. BTW, that also connects to a TV.
Those laptops will never be usable for any _SERIOUS_ education since they are unable to run Microsoft's software and this is mandatory for now.
An idea of building "Linux world" is... mmm... Utopic. But sounds nice

Quote:

Here is a thought (it's from BBRV's blog "Cube4U"):

There could be any number of options. The idea is that the cube would have a tiny module to the OpenFirmware that would be capable of downloading the latest and greatest from any of these good communities: debian, gentoo, CruxPPC, SUSE, Fedora, MorphOS, µnOS, SkoleLinux, Blastware, Blastwave, and maybe even these guys!

All OS distributors can have their distro included in the list of options we offer. The OpenFirmware approach is much faster than the CD/DVD alternatives - instant operating system fine tuned for your computer. Of course, there is even a way to tie it in to a...

Cool idea IMHO!

Speaking of old blogs, it just struck me that this news makes old BBRV blogs make more sense, if you know what I mean. I mean, if you go back in time and read some of them with this new info in mind, things come together.

@ zacman

I don't understand what you mean?

If the price is right I would buy such a thing to control my PC trough VNC... and if it had wireless connection to the keyboard and mouse... it would be sweeeet...

What do I think ?

I'm looking for a complete machine, not a board...

So: is it planned to build a complete (and usable out of the box) based on this 4U2 ?

Leo.

>is it planned to build a complete (and usable out
>of the box) based on this 4U2 ?

The 4U2 *is* a complete (=usable out of the box)
sub notebook. Not just a board.

Quote:

NO!!! NO!!! NEVER DO THIS!!!
This could be an option but never the only way. A possibility to install from solid media is mandatory. Just think of those who are not on the network. What would i do in that case? Just throw that computer out of the window?

I think it the coolest thing I have heard in a long time. I cant wait to get one. If they are in the $500 price range I wont have problem getting it.

Quote:

I think the *whole point* with this device is mobile communication. It's an online device for online services.

Quote:

I would think more in terms of the "Nokia Communicators" than in terms of regular laptops. I think the "sub-laptop" reference is mainly pointing to the *size* of the device. The "4U2" seems to be all about communication and mobile accessable services. At least this is the impression I get from reading bbrv's "back-blogs"

Suddently I wasn't that intressted anymore I want a laptop :)

I think that if this thing is small enough (not bigger than 10"), long battery life, good looking, cheap (not more than 500$) and it can run movies (from compressed Xvid to highend DVD quality) it will be a breakthrough for Genesi and PPC....
PPC will eventually lead this small-cheap low-power world, and I hope so