I wish someone would make my dream laptop

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I watched with horror the progress (regress?) of PDAs lately, from
perfectly functional, instantly responsive, highly reliable,
crash-free, data-safe devices with loOoooOong battery life measurable
in months or weeks to bloated, slow, crash-prone, data-screwing devices
with a battery life less than a handful of hours (seriously, a 3 hour
battery life in some, and 6 hours is now considered long??!!), all
thanks to the consumers who wanted to play games on them or watch their
favorite "simpsons/seinfeld episodes" and "movie trailers" (watching
movie trailers on a PDA??!!!), and hammered Palm with complaints and
consumer threats, that unfortunately Palm responded to against the best
interests of its core consumers, that is, people who used PDA as
personal digital assistants, not the latest "pimp-gear" they saw some
rap guy use on MTV. I suspect a similar thing must've happened with
cellphones, and, unfortunately, laptops too. I really wish I could find
a working man's laptop, with with no-nonsense, with the following
features

1. it would use generic rechargeable batteries, be them AA, C, D or 9v,
with a battery life measurable in DAYS at least; all other points below
should keep to this
2. it would have a monochromatic display optimized for text, 12' or
even 10' is good enough (are there any color displays that use less
power than monochrome?)
3. it would NOT use a hard drive, but will boot off a flashcard and
store data to another flashcard, hence it should have at least two
flashcard readers, preferably three
4. it would have a comfortable full-size keyboard, at least one
comparable to that of the apple ibook
5. it would be made of a tough but inexpensive material, with a
no-nonsense styling, it should endure being dropped on the floor, all
flashcard readers should encase and lock-in the card similar to how
digital cameras do
6. it would have an efficient processor, the lowest power usage
possible so as to keep with the above battery requirement, be it
crusoe, 68k, or even 8bit
7. it would use an open source operating system that boots from the
flashcard and can be changed by the user, be it one of those mini-linux
distributions such as the ones that range from 1mb to 256mb, or even
zcn or contiki
8. it would be reasonably priced

Basically, a tough, monochrome ibook with an open source OS and a
battery-life of several days using generic batteries. I do NOT want to
play games or watch friggin Seinfeld/Simpsons; I just want to edit text
files and use a command prompt.

The closest thing I found was the amstrad nc200 of the early 1990s, or
modern equivalents such as the overpriced quickpad pro/alphrasmart
dana.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

> 1. it would use generic rechargeable batteries, be them AA, C, D or 9v,
> with a battery life measurable in DAYS at least; all other points below
> should keep to this
> 2. it would have a monochromatic display optimized for text, 12' or
> even 10' is good enough (are there any color displays that use less
> power than monochrome?)
> 3. it would NOT use a hard drive, but will boot off a flashcard and
> store data to another flashcard, hence it should have at least two
> flashcard readers, preferably three
> 4. it would have a comfortable full-size keyboard, at least one
> comparable to that of the apple ibook
> 5. it would be made of a tough but inexpensive material, with a
> no-nonsense styling, it should endure being dropped on the floor, all
> flashcard readers should encase and lock-in the card similar to how
> digital cameras do
> 6. it would have an efficient processor, the lowest power usage
> possible so as to keep with the above battery requirement, be it
> crusoe, 68k, or even 8bit
> 7. it would use an open source operating system that boots from the
> flashcard and can be changed by the user, be it one of those mini-linux
> distributions such as the ones that range from 1mb to 256mb, or even
> zcn or contiki
> 8. it would be reasonably priced
>
> Basically, a tough, monochrome ibook with an open source OS and a
> battery-life of several days using generic batteries. I do NOT want to
> play games or watch friggin Seinfeld/Simpsons; I just want to edit text
> files and use a command prompt.

This comes close...

http/www.acecam.com/photography/2619.html

The Psion netbook runs it's own, efficient, operating system (which
instantly boots-up), has a longer battery life than any laptops, while being
much smaller, has a full-size keyboard, is reasonably priced, and perfect
for text-editing, spreadsheets, organising etc... There's no hardrive, but
it has flashcard slots and it's made tough, too. Basically, it's all about
function, and happens to have a few stylistic points about it, too.

Duncan.

 

[ME]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

>This comes close...
>
>http/www.acecam.com/photography/2619.html

Link is wrong

Can u provide the right one?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Duncan J Murray wrote:
> > 1. it would use generic rechargeable batteries, be them AA, C, D or 9v,
> > with a battery life measurable in DAYS at least; all other points below
> > should keep to this
> > 2. it would have a monochromatic display optimized for text, 12' or
> > even 10' is good enough (are there any color displays that use less
> > power than monochrome?)
> > 3. it would NOT use a hard drive, but will boot off a flashcard and
> > store data to another flashcard, hence it should have at least two
> > flashcard readers, preferably three
> > 4. it would have a comfortable full-size keyboard, at least one
> > comparable to that of the apple ibook
> > 5. it would be made of a tough but inexpensive material, with a
> > no-nonsense styling, it should endure being dropped on the floor, all
> > flashcard readers should encase and lock-in the card similar to how
> > digital cameras do
> > 6. it would have an efficient processor, the lowest power usage
> > possible so as to keep with the above battery requirement, be it
> > crusoe, 68k, or even 8bit
> > 7. it would use an open source operating system that boots from the
> > flashcard and can be changed by the user, be it one of those mini-linux
> > distributions such as the ones that range from 1mb to 256mb, or even
> > zcn or contiki
> > 8. it would be reasonably priced
> >
> > Basically, a tough, monochrome ibook with an open source OS and a
> > battery-life of several days using generic batteries. I do NOT want to
> > play games or watch friggin Seinfeld/Simpsons; I just want to edit text
> > files and use a command prompt.
>
> This comes close...
>
> http/www.acecam.com/photography/2619.html
>
> The Psion netbook runs it's own, efficient, operating system (which
> instantly boots-up), has a longer battery life than any laptops, while being
> much smaller, has a full-size keyboard, is reasonably priced, and perfect
> for text-editing, spreadsheets, organising etc... There's no hardrive, but
> it has flashcard slots and it's made tough, too. Basically, it's all about
> function, and happens to have a few stylistic points about it, too.
>
> Duncan.


It hediously priced though.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

casioculture@gmail.com wrote:
> Duncan J Murray wrote:
> > > 1. it would use generic rechargeable batteries, be them AA, C, D or 9v,
> > > with a battery life measurable in DAYS at least; all other points below
> > > should keep to this
> > > 2. it would have a monochromatic display optimized for text, 12' or
> > > even 10' is good enough (are there any color displays that use less
> > > power than monochrome?)
> > > 3. it would NOT use a hard drive, but will boot off a flashcard and
> > > store data to another flashcard, hence it should have at least two
> > > flashcard readers, preferably three
> > > 4. it would have a comfortable full-size keyboard, at least one
> > > comparable to that of the apple ibook
> > > 5. it would be made of a tough but inexpensive material, with a
> > > no-nonsense styling, it should endure being dropped on the floor, all
> > > flashcard readers should encase and lock-in the card similar to how
> > > digital cameras do
> > > 6. it would have an efficient processor, the lowest power usage
> > > possible so as to keep with the above battery requirement, be it
> > > crusoe, 68k, or even 8bit
> > > 7. it would use an open source operating system that boots from the
> > > flashcard and can be changed by the user, be it one of those mini-linux
> > > distributions such as the ones that range from 1mb to 256mb, or even
> > > zcn or contiki
> > > 8. it would be reasonably priced
> > >
> > > Basically, a tough, monochrome ibook with an open source OS and a
> > > battery-life of several days using generic batteries. I do NOT want to
> > > play games or watch friggin Seinfeld/Simpsons; I just want to edit text
> > > files and use a command prompt.
> >
> > This comes close...
> >
> > http/www.acecam.com/photography/2619.html
> >
> > The Psion netbook runs it's own, efficient, operating system (which
> > instantly boots-up), has a longer battery life than any laptops, while being
> > much smaller, has a full-size keyboard, is reasonably priced, and perfect
> > for text-editing, spreadsheets, organising etc... There's no hardrive, but
> > it has flashcard slots and it's made tough, too. Basically, it's all about
> > function, and happens to have a few stylistic points about it, too.
> >
> > Duncan.
>
>
> It hediously priced though.

Also, it uses lithium ion batteries, not generic ones.

Has anyone tried to make a DIY laptop?

I'm thinking that all I need is a motherboard with onboard processsor,
perhaps an epia, that can run off generic batteries and connect to an
small monochrome lcd display, compact flash reader, and laptop
keyboard.

Anyone tried such a thing? can epia run off generic batteries? are
there alternatives to epia that can run off generic batteries?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Take two...

http/www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/netbook/netbook.htm


<me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:8llj91dsiipcddfvqe7eo7gq2leafblkvb@4ax.com...
> >This comes close...
>>
>>http/www.acecam.com/photography/2619.html
>
> Link is wrong
>
> Can u provide the right one?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

casioculture@gmail.com wrote:
> I watched with horror the progress (regress?) of PDAs lately, from
> perfectly functional, instantly responsive, highly reliable,
> crash-free, data-safe devices with loOoooOong battery life measurable
> in months or weeks to bloated, slow, crash-prone, data-screwing
> devices with a battery life less than a handful of hours (seriously,
> a 3 hour battery life in some, and 6 hours is now considered
> long??!!), all thanks to the consumers who wanted to play games on
> them or watch their favorite "simpsons/seinfeld episodes" and "movie
> trailers" (watching movie trailers on a PDA??!!!), and hammered Palm
> with complaints and consumer threats, that unfortunately Palm
> responded to against the best interests of its core consumers, that
> is, people who used PDA as personal digital assistants, not the
> latest "pimp-gear" they saw some rap guy use on MTV. I suspect a
> similar thing must've happened with cellphones, and, unfortunately,
> laptops too. I really wish I could find a working man's laptop, with
> with no-nonsense, with the following features
>
> 1. it would use generic rechargeable batteries, be them AA, C, D or
> 9v, with a battery life measurable in DAYS at least; all other points
> below should keep to this
> 2. it would have a monochromatic display optimized for text, 12' or
> even 10' is good enough (are there any color displays that use less
> power than monochrome?)
> 3. it would NOT use a hard drive, but will boot off a flashcard and
> store data to another flashcard, hence it should have at least two
> flashcard readers, preferably three
> 4. it would have a comfortable full-size keyboard, at least one
> comparable to that of the apple ibook
> 5. it would be made of a tough but inexpensive material, with a
> no-nonsense styling, it should endure being dropped on the floor, all
> flashcard readers should encase and lock-in the card similar to how
> digital cameras do
> 6. it would have an efficient processor, the lowest power usage
> possible so as to keep with the above battery requirement, be it
> crusoe, 68k, or even 8bit
> 7. it would use an open source operating system that boots from the
> flashcard and can be changed by the user, be it one of those
> mini-linux distributions such as the ones that range from 1mb to
> 256mb, or even zcn or contiki
> 8. it would be reasonably priced
>
> Basically, a tough, monochrome ibook with an open source OS and a
> battery-life of several days using generic batteries. I do NOT want to
> play games or watch friggin Seinfeld/Simpsons; I just want to edit
> text files and use a command prompt.
>
> The closest thing I found was the amstrad nc200 of the early 1990s, or
> modern equivalents such as the overpriced quickpad pro/alphrasmart
> dana.

That sounds almost like my old Radio Shack Model 100. It only had a 40
character 8 line lcd, however.....

jak