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Credit-card sized Linux system 102

Posted by CowboyNeal from the smarter-card dept.
FnH writes "Swiss startup Smartdata unveiled a credit-card sized embedded Linux computer called -computer Chipslice. The tiny device, which runs uClinux, is intended to be used in a wide range of mobile, portable, and wearable computing applications. Read more about it here " I can already dream of several possibilities of one of these combined with wireless internet access.
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Credit-card sized Linux system More

Credit-card sized Linux system

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  • If someone could set up Iomega Click! drive, or IBM micro drive support for one of these.

    tcd004

  • Hmm (Score:1)

    by Signal 11 ( 7608 )
    So how come Europe is getting all these cool technologies and decent lawmakers while the US is getting stuck with Microsoft and crummy laws? :(
  • Notice that the Linux kernel that this thing runs is uClinux, of which the first working platform it ran on was the PalmPilot.

    Also notice that the Motorola processor used in this computer is the same Dragonball processor used in the Palm IIIx and Palm V.
  • European smartcards indeed have CPU's and memory on them. However, none of them is powerful enough to become a modular pocket internet appliance. In fact, until recently it was impossible to have a RSA implementation on a smartcard because they lacked the processor power.
  • Now I can build a beowulf cluster the size of a laptop!
  • I doubt this will be force on us. I've heard the mark of the beast thing. I'd think micro credit cards that are placed under the skin would fit the mark better.
  • > 16MHz 68EZ328 DragonBall Microprocessor

    Way cool,thought I though dragon ball's were bigger than that... and 16 MHz does sound a little slow ;-)
  • Yes, vaporware is frustrating and tantalizing. From Yopy to Red Hat set-topper broadband access boxes, all kinds of things promise to run Linux that still seem to be clever drawings and marketing.

    But Yopy's devpmt kit is not available, and compaq has released as GPL the communications protocols for their portable 4.6 gig MP3 player, and uClinix which many people are referencing on here has linux running on a board the size of a DIMM, with ethernet, flash memory, video driver, and a dragonball. It's not vapor, even if it's not exactly what Reginald Consumer wants to stir his coffee with.

    And do Linux boxes have to be ugly beige boxes? Absolutely not. In fact, an Apple G3 or G4 tower running Yellow Dog linux is pretty rockin', and iMacs can play too. Also, there are cases available in all kinds of colors and shapes. Run Linux on a nice Dell Inspiron bolted to the underside of your desk, and display on an external 17" flat panel monitor -- that would be stylish. Translucent cases, or ones in all black ... you're not restricted to beige unless you want to be :) Also, computer cases take well to spraypaint -- sand first, use thin coats and plenty of drying time, but you could have a quintiple-buffed metal-flecked aggie case if you want. Or you could hang your computer from the ceiling as a mobile, as some slashdot readers have done.

    I wonder if your last graf, including the line "there will be no incredible OSS contributions to things like wearables, and car/portable linux devices" means that I have been successfully trolled;)

    If so, mach's nichts, still had to be said.

    timothy

  • changing mind on tiny computers (Score:5)

    by timothy ( 36799 ) on Sunday April 30, 2000 @09:31AM (#1100765) Journal
    my predictions usually end up wrong, so don't listen to anything I say;)

    But since before they were called PDAs, when the height of technology was a calculator that allowed you to store memory when it was off, I always expected them to die. "Too small!" I scoffed. "Desk calculators are cheap and easy to use, have printers. Who would want to carry a less capable, clumbsier device?!"

    Talk of handheld computers did the same thing "Why would you suffer the indignity of whatever painful input device you must use to input text, and forget about pictures or color! bah!"

    Things like the Sharp Wizard and the various Casio gizmos only reinforced this -- either they had tiny QUERTY keyboard (bad enough) or else sequential numbers and letters which made text entry a horrible joke on the user.

    I laughed at the Palm, too, when I first saw a picture and read about it, and even when I saw other people using them for things that I thought could be better done with an index card and a rollerball pen. Things like a tiny uCLinux-running credit card thing would have made my eyes roll back in my head.

    Now I am converted. Afer playing with friends' Palms / Pilots over the past few years, I got a visor and discovered that numbers I have on the visor aren't subject to getting crumpled or smeared, that directions I have there don't mysteriously acquire chewing gum decorations, and games on it are disproportionately fun. (Parking Lot! Parking Lot!) Perfect to keep a travel journal, dream diary, contact info.

    So though this ChipSlice thing looks destined for more specialized applications and a more focused userbase than the do-everything Palm and Visor, I'm much more optimistic than I would have been a few years ago that it can be useful and successful.

    But please, Chipslice, if anyone there is listening -- use file formats that other people can use! Plain text! XML! html! Dots and Dashes!

    Make it simple for someone to use one of these for data transfer (you do say it's USB compatible), as a download station for a digital camera, as a hotel-room key via expiring codes, as a million other things, but in some way that they don't have to worry about carrying tons of equipment for "compatibility" with cousin Joe or the New York office.

    That's all:)

    timothy
  • I don't think that one "counts" because I remember that, in one of the gospels (my Bible's indisposed at the moment, sorry for not supplying a verse), Jesus was talking with the Pharisees and the conversation went something like this:

    Pharisees: Which is better, to sacrifice to God or to pay taxes? (I think that's how it started. If not, it began with something like the Pharisees charging Jesus with not tithing or taxing, one of the two).
    Jesus: Let me see a coin.
    Whose face do you see on it?
    Pharisees: Caesar's
    Jesus: Then give unto Caesar's what is Caesar's, and give unto God what is God's.

    So, therefore, it can't be money, because they had it back then when Jesus was here.
  • Is anybody else tired of all these linux vaperware hardware devices?

    come on - let's get real!

    I'm sick of reading about such a wide variety of linux devices, only to find out that most actual implementations are for things like set-top boxes, that are intended/most-likely to be un-usable for typical current linux users.

    I'd like to see:
    1 Cheap linux boxes, with nice form factors, both for current linux users, and new potential users. I know many Mac people, nearly all of whom desire linux boxes, but don't want a large beige box sitting in their rooms.
    Perhaps someone could actually produce the linux devices they're marketing, and then I predict that the linux device market will truely flourish.

    As long as it really takes a 50lb, 20"x10"x20" box to cheaply run linux, there will be no incredible OSS contributions to things like wearables, and car/portable linux devices.
  • IRA Aggie wrote: "Go look at the currency in your pocket. Does it not have a mark upon it? can you buy or sell with out it?"

    Well, no -- but if currency had no regular repeating marks (if it was more, say, like a European phone card with pretty picures and limited editions etc) then you could. US currency is different only in degree (regarding this aspect) from other recognizable currencies of the world, now and historically. (By this I exclude wampum, buillion and, say, the round South Pacific dowry stones, but include Chinese, Roman and other coins as well as paper money.)

    For any money issued by a governing authority (that is, currency of realm), it'd be tough for it not to have "marks" (quoted to indicate things like variable-worth / rechargable instruments like all these damn galactic credits clogging my desk drawer. Earth is so backwards sometimes!).

    So I don't think US paper money is the mark of the devil, though the Masons* certainly got their kicks in with the design;)

    timothy

    *Like my grandfather, who had nothing to do with designing money!
  • Sorry, that should have said "But Yopy's devpmt kit is now available" rather than "not available." That puts exactly the wrong sense to my words!

    mea culpa, bitte vergeben Sie mir,

    timothy
  • When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

    Some people are easily amazed.

  • I'm surprised Clive Sinclair hasn't sued IBM over the name Microdrive, because old uncle Clive, back in the early eighties made a (~120k) endless loop tape drive for the ZX Spectrum and QL computers using that name. It was much faster than a domestic tape recorder, the tapes came in a cartridge abou 1 inch square and was much cheaper that the 3 and 3 1/2 inch floppies of the time...

    However, they were cheap and nasty.
  • Well hey you gotta admit that's a pretty good answer, eh? Imagine if authorities conspired to set you up, and you answered the trap they posed so deftly... :-)
  • there are some features like that in a character from the "Otherland" series. there is a character who actually has a computer like display which he can call up on his eyeball whenever he wants.

    I recommend the Otherland series highly if you're interested in the future of information technology. It develops the basic 3d technology and internet capabilities that we have now into something which is much more pervasive to our everyday life, as well as developing the realistic technology to go along with it. There are also elements of artificial intelligence involved which is quite fascinating if you are interested in that sort of stuff. Tad Williams, currently up to book 3. I would say the only current rival to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

    www.tadwilliams.com [tadwilliams.com]

  • Would you really want one surgically implanted?

    Think of the disadvantages.

    *You need surgery to upgrade.
    *You'd NEVER have stop working; you'd never have a time when you were all to yourself with just your own brain for company.
    *Think of the implications of back doors and crackers.
    *Think of the the irritation when some component of the system like the heads up display starts malfunctioning.

    Really, if things get small enough, there is little reason to favor surgical implantation over tiny wearable devices, except possibly in certain temporary applications like astronaut telemetry or biological experiments.

  • ...execpt it would be completely pointless to do so.

    But I bet someone does.

  • This sure would be a nice application, but care has to be taken that your privacy doesn't get compromised.

    Having all your personal data on one card you must be sure that your e.g. your library has no means to access your credit card data or your security card data without your consent.

    The CIA, KGB, Police, advertisementmaketeer-next-door would probably love the idea of anyone walking around with an easy to read digital representation of his personal data on one electronic card. Don't forget, you can read data from a monitor a few rooms away just by analysing the emitted rays, so what would prevent anyone from building a scanner that reads your smartcard memory while you walk by?

  • I don't care enough to go through the hassle.

    What hassle you ask? It's just copying and pasting links? Well I'll tell you what hassle. If I go and post links, the slashdot people will concntrate only on those links, and launch attacks against those links, and use them as ammunition to perpetuate their own denial. It doesn't matter if I'm right, or I made a mistake, or whatever, my whole argument will be judged on those links.

    So I leave the links out? What does that accomplish? 1) The people that are in denial can stay in denial without having to expend any extra energy justifying to themselves or to other people (via flames to my post). People in denial will stay in denial, no loss there. 2) Those that are genuinely interested will pick up on the "short search on Microsoft's site" part and actually do research on their own (which they probably would have done anyway even if I had posted links). 3) I can go back to work and not worry about it.

    See, I know how slashdot works. I didn't write that post to get moderated up. I didn't write that post to be insightful or informative. I wrote that post to write it. Now, if you check my profile and go look at the article I posted an hour or so ago, you'll see a post that is intended to be insightful or make people think, present information, and maybe ge moderated up. But on general Linux vs. Windows stuff, I don't get involved. I just wanted to let people know that a Windows Smart Card solution existed, and has for about a year.

    I don't bitch about how anti-Microsoft Slashdot is. I leave that to someone else. I generally bitch about how biased and opinionated Slashdot is (not which way they are biased, just that they are) when they are trying to be a news magazine. "Slashdot needs to figure out if they are MSNBC or Slate."

    Oh, and come on. There isn't anything that goes by in the computer world that ISN'T submitted to Slashdot. :)

  • I would think that it would be difficult to get this patent off. For one thing Microsoft has Embedded Windows NT (2000) on a smartcard, and if Microsoft hasn't applied for a patent (which is something they're starting to do quite a bit now), there would at least be some prior art, I would think.

    I am not a lawyer, but I was in a group legal plan once.

  • Since my wallet doesn't fit into my pants even now, I guess I'd have to leave that thingy at home. Oh, but wait! I store my wallet in backpack anyhow. Here we go ... :)

  • SmartQuake(tm):

    unbindall
    name GtD
    number "1234 5678 9101"
    bind +swipe "impulse 9"
    changelevel redmond.bsp //kill Gates!

    Hey. does this mean we get charged interest on every frag?
  • Now all we need is Pokemon for Linux...if you train your card well you can evolve it up to a Gold Card etc...
  • Maybe it's time for some new Mc Gyver episodes?
  • Microsoft released it's own Smart Card OS (Windows for Smart Cards) quite a while ago. In fact a short little search right now of MS's site shows press releases around May of last year.

    But of course it's not Linux so who cares, right? Heck I couldn't even find it on Slashdot.
  • Yes on both counts.

  • Re:yer sig (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yet you post 34 [slashdot.org] comments (hardly a +1 in the bunch) on a site you think is clueless. You support an operating system writen by a monopolistic and preditory company (ms) who is clueless.

    You should have added yourself to the sig. You're the one who's clueless.

  • I was considering the same!

    imagine a hundred of these stacked....

    great minds think alike......and so do we!!

    Atticka

  • That was way funnier than all those Beowulf and credit card jokes.

  • The device is awesome I guess, but a patent? (Score:4)

    by Ace905 ( 163071 ) on Sunday April 30, 2000 @09:45AM (#1100789) Homepage
    "his company has applied for a patent on 'technology that enables the production of cost effective credit card sized modular pocket internet appliances."

    The device is very interesting, but what gives SmartData the right to patent it? 3Com's devices are very close to credit card sized considering they include a screen. And why should one company have a patent over the "size" of a computer? It isn't like everyone isn't going down the road to fingernail sized computing, so why don't we collectively patent, "Technology that enables production of cost effective finger-nail sized computing devices."

    The idea of patenting the technology used to create it, appears to keep the "freedom" of competition for making devices of this size open. That's can't possibly be. Manufacturing computers is done in exactly the same ways, if someone happens to patent a process which is slightly more efficient, than all they are really doing is slowing the progression of the industry, and I don't think we should stand for it.

    As it is, any single company which introduces new technology can already stand to suffer under some competition, that's what keeps them producing there devices for a reasonable price and with enhancements.

    Look at the amount of time it took for Palm devices to drop drastically in price, and offer peripherals like... software to go with the modem, or keyboards, nice screens, now color screens. This is because 3Com introduced a great device and only improved on it as the market demanded. They introduced a modem, but nobody had professionally developed syncing or internet apps for it. The modem's still a 14.4.

    As open-source supporters, we should oppose vague patents on any new technology which are only to be used as scare-tactics and for monopolizing new markets.

  • I doubt this will be force on us. I've heard the mark of the beast thing. I'd think micro credit cards that are placed under the skin would fit the mark better.

    Yeah, I agree, although I do think it'll be something similar to this, albeit very small and implanted under the skin of the hand or forehead (two *excellent* heat sources!). It'll be marketed as a convenience ... notice how little cash trades hands nowadays, everyone is using credit cards? It's just much simpler.
  • I agree. That's the lamest thing I ever posted.

    Ironically however, that is the most karma I ever earned from a single post. My "insightful" and "informative" posts get at best a 2.
  • As in 'Is that a Beowulf in your wallet or are you just pleased to see me ?' ;-)

  • Good point, here it is verbatim:

    Matthew 22: 15-23:
    15Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" 18But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" 21"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." 22When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
  • Forget the credit card, I want a linux system installed directly inside my brain! With the video display as a 'heads up' display inside my eyeball which overlays what I'm looking at. I could have some thin coils in my chest/torso area which would allow for an inductive recharging system to be installed inside my matress. Maybe an IR tx/rx module in my eye too for uploading/downloading. Just think. I could store cheat sheets, reference material, the O'Reilly animal book series, etc. for easy on-demand recall. A mouse pad in my palm to navigate too. Borg, schmorg. Where do I go to get it installed?

  • Gee (Score:1)

    by deep13 ( 157030 )
    It's so liddle!
  • Buttet says his company has applied for a patent on "technology that enables the production of cost effective credit card sized modular pocket internet appliances."

    Does anybody have more information on this patent? It sounds scary.

  • Whoa. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Good thing it's LINUX. Now my wallet can be 31337!
  • Once we become more internet-based in cars and such, these could be what we see and use every day. Credit card firewalls!
  • Now I can play Quake on my credit card.

  • Cool! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    But will this mean I can get rid of my MasterCard and get a unversal LinuxCard? Will my local Italian restaurant accept it? e-cash potential here?

  • Saw it... it's impressive (Score:5)

    by Max von H. ( 19283 ) on Sunday April 30, 2000 @07:13AM (#1100801)
    I saw it a couple of weeks ago on local TV (I live in Geneva, Switzerland), and was impressed. The concept is, AFAIK, you can add/remove/change "slices" of the computer, just by changing one or several credit-card sized slices that stack together. One of them being the screen, anoher one the CPU, then a GSM receiver or whatever you want. I guess the battery is another "slice".

    Basically, the possibilities are quite huge... And you can build a dedicated PDA in a matter of seconds. One of the interresting applications is to "stack" your credit card (the ones with the chip, pretty much standard in Europe) in the PDA and be able to pay straight from it. Mix it with a WAP module and you got a perfect system for electronic buying.

    Cool.

    max.

  • What we must consider... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What about a Beowulf of these?
  • Doesn't seem to be in the IBM Patent Server [ibm.com] -- maybe it's a Swiss patent, in which case it might be somewhere in here [www.ige.ch]. How's your German/French?

    ========

  • smart cards are usually made to be cheap and distributed in huge numbers. The characteristics of this one makes me seriously wonder about the target of this technology.

    it surely have its applications in very specific markets... not in the mainstream (at least for now. Especially since most of the countries in the world still have those shitty, crappy, old magnetic based cards.

  • Dual use (Score:4)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 30, 2000 @07:14AM (#1100805)
    Cracking encryptions and opening locked doors.
  • Typical applications targeted by the devices include mobile internet appliances, wearable computers, PDAs, mobile phone companions, PC companions, mobile micro webservers, and smartcard readers.

    We keep hearing more and more everyday of tiny little computers that are going to be great for wearable computers and micro webserevrs... But I don't see them coming in anytime soon. :-) The picture of the card here [smartdata.ch] looks very similar to our 'SecureID' piece of junk :-)

    Anyways, I think it would be great to see linux take shape in the handheld market, I wasn't tihnking something like this. But, more power to it if it's going to cause any kind of revolution.

    But really... maybe you can call me a jocky computer geek, but I don't forsee myselfing wearing any 'wearable computers' at any time in the future. It's hard enough to get ladies as it is, that' all I need is ... "Hey baby... My glasses run linux baby... DO I MAKE YOU HORNY?!?!"...

    This should be interesting to follow tho... :)

  • Seems like every french guy's name is Jean-Pierre, dunno why. It claims to have USB support? Where is the USB controller hidden? Is that a seperate product which will interface with the credit card? Are all of the components seperate from the credit card? They seem un-realisticly large for fitting on a object I put in my wallet.

    So, then is the credit card only 2-4 MBytes of data storge? That's pretty usefull in itself, but then everywhere you go you need the actual guts of it to be available.

  • scary indeed. What if the palm decides to get a little smaller, or thinner.. Is it now infringing on their patent?
  • When combined with a broadband cellular connection, the only thing missing from the wearable computing experience is a good output device. Most display devices I've seen are either confusing or blinding.

    Voice recognition can be done by server-side DSPs on the other end of the "phone". In the U.S., the real problem is that broadband phones aren't here, while the infrastructure's already in place in Europe and Asia. Sure, you can get the occasional high-speed wireless solution, but you can't roam the countryside with it. Why? Because. [time.com]
  • Dude, are you putting down my Mastercard?
    Wait, let me guess, you live in Finland, that money is automatically pulled out of your ass by a telnet session with your bank
  • From their website [smartdata.ch]:

    SMARTDATA's objective is to design and develop a revolutionary architecture that will allow for multiple combinations of functionality within one device, and targeting the fast growing mobile Internet appliances market. A patent for this new architecture was applied for in August 1999 and is currently pending.

    From the linuxdevices.com [linuxdevices.com] article:

    Buttet says his company has applied for a patent on "technology that enables the production of cost effective credit card sized modular pocket internet appliances."

    I agree, this is scarey, credit card sized computers are quite an obvious way to go in the computer industry with the "smaller, faster, better" mantra. Not to mention some prior art in uCSIMM? Don't the european smartcards already have CPU's on them?

    I don't know about this at all... If they only patent their own technology which allows them to make these, instead of the device itself, then I guess someone else can develop a similar device another way, but both these statements show different things being patented.

    -- iCEBaLM

  • Another OS Card article? (Score:4)

    by Squeeze Truck ( 2971 ) <xmsho@yahoo.com> on Sunday April 30, 2000 @08:15AM (#1100812) Homepage
    This is the second OS Card [slashdot.org] story on slashdot today!!

    :p
  • Hey, I like this. If I fail to pay my Mastercard bill on time, they can lower my clockspeed until I pay.

    Eventually, if you still don't pay, they change the kernel to command.com and kill your wife.

    :)
  • What the hell are you talking about? It sounds like a fairly specific patent for a piece of hardware, or possibly a manufacturing process.

    wooo... that sure is scary.

    or perhaps you were just after some cheap karma??
  • Where can I get a Beowulf Wallet of these things?
  • "[The anti-Christ] also forced everyone, small and great ... to receive a mark [smart card?] on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark" -Revelation 13:16

  • wow (Score:1)

    by smash ( 1351 )
    just imagine the beowolf cluster of these you could make :P

    seriously though, the smaller complete systems get the easier it would be to build redundancy into comparitively cheap boxes... round-robin failover in the one machine...

    smash

  • Not until it becomes "modular".

  • End the madness! (Score:5)

    by ca1v1n ( 135902 ) <snook@nOSPam.guanotronic.com> on Sunday April 30, 2000 @09:53AM (#1100820)
    My god! Someone mentions a patent on slashdot and the sky falls! They're not patenting thin-ness! They're patenting a specific implementation. Try finding a microprocessor or motherboard that doesn't have a few dozen (or few hundred) patents on it. You can't. It may be Intel, AMD, Cyrix, IBM, Motorola, Sun, or any other company that makes a buck on their own hardware designs.

    Yes, there are stupid patents out there. Too many, in fact. That's still no excuse for jumping to conclusions like this based on a VERY short quote that doesn't describe the nature of the patent very well. It sounds to me like they're just going through the standard procedure of patenting their own engineering. Take careful note that he mentions a patent on the production method, not the concept. There are many different ways to produce things. Relax, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong here at all.

  • [The anti-Christ] also forced everyone, small and great ... to receive a mark [smart card?] on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark -Revelation 13:16

    Go look at the currency in your pocket. Does it not have a mark upon it? can you buy or sell with out it?

    James

  • It appears to me as though they're showing off all their products, of which this is the latest iteration. I think we should be proud that they're advancing to Linux, rather than settling for Linux.

  • Re:The device is awesome I guess, but a patent? (Score:3)

    by I R A Aggie ( 32996 ) on Sunday April 30, 2000 @10:04AM (#1100823)
    The device is very interesting, but what gives SmartData the right to patent it?

    I have seen several querys about this. Is quite simple:

    "his company has applied for a patent on 'technology that enables the production of cost effective credit card sized modular pocket internet appliances'." [emphasis mine]

    It is a manufacturing process patent. It isn't look, it isn't size, it isn't feel. This is the sort of thing patents are supposed to protect.

    James

  • From their site (http://www.smartdata.ch):
    Fully modular and multipurpose mobile Internet appliance based on SMARTDATA's CHIPSLICE achitecture. EP patent pending / design registered
    IANAPL, but is an EP patent one of the everywhere in Europe (EU, EEA + a couple of others) bundles? I would assume that the actual patentable idea is the way they have managed to clag the modules together, rather than a patent on pure size.
  • Maybe the mention of linux is merely a market ploy. They could be pulling a LinuxOne on us. If they start talking about synergy anywhere on their website, then we will know or sure.
  • Slashdot the uClinux home page [uclinux.org]. Their basic concept is porting Linux to platforms which lack a MMU (like a lot of microcontrollers).

    Hey elite hacker d00ds -- port uClinux to the TI-89. Please?

  • Re:Cool! (Score:3)

    by Glowing Fish ( 155236 ) on Sunday April 30, 2000 @10:20AM (#1100827) Homepage

    The cost of the hardware: cheap

    Cost of the OS: free

    Cost of your favorite software: free

    Cost of system upgrades: free

    Cost of the source code: free

    For expensive stuff, there's Master Card, for Free Beer, there's Linux Card

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I'm just trying to make up for the (sniff) unfair metamoderation which has sullied my karma of late :)
  • Okay, so if the Palm gets smaller it's not infringing as it's not modular. What about the Visor? While not truly modular IMO, it does support the Springboard expansion modules. If that were to become, say, half as thin, then it'd be quite close to the thickness of a few stacked credit cards. And, of course, it's all modular software-wise. Of course, this is all academic as we don't know the actual wording of the patent. It sounds interesting enough to go actually look at though.
    ---
  • You're St00pid.

    --
  • You know, this might be possible. A system that allows for a programmable magnetic strip would allow you to easily carry multiple credit cards in one card, or multiple cards (library card, if it's magnetic and not barcode like mine, security card, and so forth). Bring on the smart cards!
    ---
  • I don't want to imagine what happens to your brain when the kernel panics or get oops...

    In second thought, the computer inside your brain may still operate after you get killed. Something like a black box.

    But make sure you have no security leaks, otherwise someone could crack into your brain, if your brain has a permanent IP ...

  • You'll be able to tell how many MIPS someone has by the thickness of their wallet.

    --
  • I loved it actually, nice work....

  • That's not l33t at all d00d! You'd have to run a BSD or you wouldn't be kewl at all!

    lol

    Actually, that's kind of a good idea...hmmm...

  • Wearable Linux Computer......Hmmmm......
    with Broadband wireless internet connection...yum.....
    mabye some bluetooth...oh...baby....
    and then I want some speakers implanted directly into my ears and some HUD contacts.....yes.....yes...



    flatrabbit,
    peripheral visionary
  • Mmmmmmm... microcomputers. How novel.
  • not really the size of a credit card... quite a lot thicker, and bigger on the sides... anybody notice that in the pic [smartdata.ch] has it running wince?
    think i'll hold out for the yopy...
  • Would it infringe their patent if someone made a card that was 0.1mm smaller or larger than a standard creditcard?
  • I like the looks of this computer. However, there seem to be some limitations. There is only 4 MB of flash, you wouldn't be able to run very many applications. The 16mhz processor will need some lean apps anyway. I think that this could be an improvement on the current wearables, but it doesn't really have the power or expandability (other than USB) to really compete with the high-end wearable market. It will be good for very small embedded applications (POS data tracking, addresses, etc.) but don't count on getting one to do any real computing (although a USB wireless NIC and a remote shell would be possible).

    Enigma
  • Moderators, I'm gonna leave it up to you to decide whether this is hilarious and brilliant, or insipid and in very poor taste.

    =P

  • It may have an IR port that connects to a USB docking station, that'd be my best guess at least.

    Infrared seems like it will be a good enough technology for the smaller devices. I know it hasn't been getting much use in notebook computers, mainly because of the slow transfer rate (115kbps?), but for credit-card sized devices with small bandwidth requirements, IR might be key.

    Does anyone know of any USB Infrared ports? That may be something worth checking out.

  • So now I can finally say "Damn.. I left my 80x3n in my other 80xxor5."

    Beautiful.

    //Phizzy
  • Why don't I just use preview?
  • So if I go on a diet and my palm gets smaller or thinner then I may be infringing on a patent? My palm is digital, but adding or removing modules requires proper training and equipment.
  • Hmm. So instead of writing a script
    marketwatch.pl | notifyme.pl
    I could put those two scripts in separate processors and stack them...if there are cards which allow processors to connect to processors.

  • Re:Gee (Score:1)

    by Sarek ( 20380 )
    wonder how long before we have devices like Selma from "Time Trax" :)
  • The Anti-Christ will be using PocketPC in his implementation, not ucLinux.

    -JD
  • If you were really CmdrTaco, you would have made a Gargoyle reference. ;-)

    Nonetheless, this *is* a pretty cool gadget and opens up fabulous "wearables" opportunities.
  • "It is a manufacturing process patent. It isn't look, it isn't size, it isn't feel.", that is my point exactly. I would like to see the patent for there process, because I am willing to bet that it involves making circuit boards & connecting electronic components to it. The same process used for everything; perhaps they use a less corrosive acid on the perf boards and do some ionizing here & there. Essentially it is the same process used by any other company for there small devices.

    Why should we allow companies like PepsiCo and CocaCola to patent there own Colors, only to be used against us, and other small companies who unknowingly happen to use the same shade of blue or red, or produce a device using some or all of the same methods employed by SmartData.

    Once in our lives, maybe when we were kids, we happened to make PepsiCo's shade of Blue, or one which fell under there patent legally. I am sure that SmartData has not invented the wheel with there "credit card sized" pc production.

    My point is that patenting new forms of technology may be important to ensure there success. Patenting old forms of technology is monopolizing on a pirated market.

    Unless these new devices use bio-nano-technology in there production, there patent is going to simply be covering old-ground, and introducing fear to the implementation of new ideas. [mds-networks.com] Whether a patent can be legally backed up or not is irrelevant, the original purpose of the patent was to cover small inventors from being ripped off by huge financial leeches soon after producing new forms of technology. The size of there device is directly involved in the discussion, since they are patenting a process which creates already existing devices, in a way every other company has already shown a vested interest in doing themselves.

    By putting down there flag first, we the consumers will suffer under a monopolization of technology we have all been waiting for, and waiting for from many different competing companies to ensure our rights as consumers are met with diversity and competition.
  • Will I have to edit config files to use a new credit card in the near future?


    ...................

    ... paka chubaka

  • And why should one company have a patent over the "size" of a computer?

    why should apple have the patent to a color of a computer???

    tim
    www.mobilelinux.com
  • Too bad its only 6 M of total memory, two megs more and we would have been able to run Xwindows on it. I hope that this is enough to run Apache. The world's smartest webserver? :)

  • Unlikely trademark (Score:3)

    by cybaea ( 79975 ) <(moc.aeabyc) (ta) (enalla)> on Sunday April 30, 2000 @07:27AM (#1100855) Homepage Journal

    A search for SMARTDATA found it in an unlikely place [americanexpress.com].

    Maybe we really will be able to buy stuff with this card :-)

  • ..build a beowulf cluster of them!

    Oh, wait, that's exactly what you could do for serious processing (if it proved feasible). It'd be like HorsePower for cars. Or legos for computers..lots of ideas...How soon?


    --

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