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Technology

Incredible Shrinking PC 228

Posted by CmdrTaco from the things-to-lust-after dept.
Lawrence_Bird writes "Reuters is reporting that IBM is set to announce next week a prototype PC called a 'metapad' 5"x3"x0.75". 128Mb Ram, 10GB, and an 800 Mhz cpu. Understand this is a module that can be plugged into other devices, such as a LCD screen or docking station. "
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Incredible Shrinking PC More

Incredible Shrinking PC

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  • ...putting one in your pocket on a crowded subway?
    ...trying to *type* on this thing?
    ...the cost of these things?
    ...how this will impact the PDA market?
    ...the cost of these things?
    ...having a Beowulf cluster in a card catalog?
    • http://welcome.to/metapad [welcome.to]

      It's the Notepad alternative!
    • ...being pickpocketed and losing your computer!
  • Nice, now I can have a pc where ever I go! Oh wait, then what would I do with my laptop? Maybe I can attach it to my laptop, and use Merlin with it :)
  • .. the better/smaller the device, the easier it is for pickpockets ;)
    • I was crossing the street one day and a few steps in front of me was a young lady talking animatedly on a cellphone. So animatedly was she talking, in fact, that she failed to notice the height of the curb and consequently stumbled when she reached the other side. The cellphone flew out of her hand and crashed down in the gutter, whereupon the battery fell off the back of the phone.

      Leaving two very small black rectangular objects.

      Both of which were easily small enough to fit in the gaps between the bars of the sewer grating on which they landed.

      ...unfortunately, as much fun as it may be to leave it there, I have to report they didn't fall down the drain, but instead both bounced off the bars and onto the road. Pure dumb luck she didn't lose them both.

  • A 10-gigaBIT hard drive? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pomakis ( 323200 ) <pomakis@pobox.com> on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:51PM (#2961826) Homepage
    The article actually claims that the unit has a 10-gigaBIT hard drive. I wonder if that was a mistake, or an intentional marketing ploy to make it sound more impressive than it actually is.
    • Given the rest of that sentence, "The portable computing device, which IBM Research will unveil on Feb. 11 at a technology conference in Phoenix, Arizona, includes 128 megabytes of dynamic random access memory, a 10-gigabit hard drive and a microprocessor -- which is the brain of the computer -- that runs at 800 megahertz, or 800 million cycles per second.", I suspect the author is not a computer expert and that it's just a typo.
      • And since it says "Ocheltree said IBM doesn't have specific plans to sell the prototype, which could be ready for market in few years" the exact specs aren't really that important.
        In 3 years the capacity you can fit into the space will probably be significantly higher than 10 GByte, let alone 10GBit.
        • Ocheltree said IBM doesn't have specific plans to sell the prototype, which could be ready for market in few years Why on earth would it take a few years to get this pretty basic (albeit small) computer to market? Besides, those specs in a few years won't be very impressive and if they improve dramatically then it's not really the same device will it take another few years to prototype that package? ;) Why not just but a PCI edge on it and whip up some drivers for it and start making those fancy blade clusters? (or whatever they're called) Marqis
    • It's also possible that the device will sport the latest 10GB HD that will also be featured in a upcoming rev of the Apple iPod (really soon now.)

      PPA, the girl next door
  • Understand this is a module that can be plugged into other devices, such as a LCD screen or docking station.

    In other words this is a laptop without a screen?

  • MetaPad?? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tonywestonuk ( 261622 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:52PM (#2961839)

    MetaSearch=Search a set of search engines

    MetaModerate=Moderate a set of Moderations

    MetaPad=Pad a set of Pads???!!

    Can 'Meta' prefix a Noun, rather than a Verb?

    • Re:MetaPad?? (Score:5, Informative)

      by screwballicus ( 313964 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:57PM (#2961878)
      From www.m-w.com:

      Main Entry: meta-
      Variant(s): or met-
      Function: prefix
      Etymology: New Latin & Medieval Latin, from Latin or Greek; Latin, from Greek, among, with, after, from meta among, with, after; akin to Old English mid, mith with, Old High German mit
      1 a : occurring later than or in succession to : after b : situated behind or beyond c : later or more highly organized or specialized form of
      2 : change : transformation
      3 [metaphysics] : more comprehensive : transcending -- used with the name of a discipline to designate a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one
      4 a : involving substitution at or characterized by two positions in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom b : derived from by loss of water

      Looks like 'meta', as a prefix, can mean a great deal of abstract things. Presumably, the idea of transcendence is what they're looking for here.
    • Symbolics used the word Metakeys for their bunch of modifier keys.

      The only diff is : Metakeys sounds cool. Metapad sounds dumb.

      PPA, the girl next door

    • MetaPad ... with Wings? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Chiana ( 398181 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @01:13PM (#2961982)
      MetaPad sounds WAY too much like a super-absorbent feminine hygiene product.
    • MetaModerate=Moderate a set of Moderations

      Can 'Meta' prefix a Noun, rather than a Verb?

      Well, you would understand what I said if I said "MetaModeration", right?
    • ...I never metapad I didn't like.
    • You mean like metaphysics, metastasis, metamorphosis?

      Yeah, I think so.

  • Okay... (Score:1, Troll)

    by InfinityWpi ( 175421 )
    So, it's a really tiny computer. One that you still have to plug into a docking station. If you want to use the same computer everywhere you go, use a laptop. If you want to bring your work home with you, there's ZIP disks or CompactFlash cards. What, exactly, does this get us besides "Hey, look what we can do, even tho nobody'll use it?"

    • Actually this would be perfect for... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This would be perfect for health care providers. I develop software for hospitals and using these devices will make doctors, nurses, patients level of care quicker and more reliable. My company is using iPaq's / Palm PDA's currently and looking into the Viewsonic SuperPDA [viewsonic.com] for Tablet based entry.
      So in short it will have viable use.

  • Just a mini-mini-minitower (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:53PM (#2961844)
    ...In other words, no keyboard, no mouse, no screen, no input or output of any kind. It's a PC you're meant to take home and plug into a docking station which has all your input and output devices ready for you.

    Why this is any better than an ultraslim laptop, which has pretty much all the same features plus the ability to use it without a docking station when needed, is not immediately clear to me.
    • Why this is any better than an ultraslim laptop, which has pretty much all the same features plus the ability to use it without a docking station when needed, is not immediately clear to me.
      Actually I see more use for it in the other way around. I.e. to have a portable docking station and stationary very small computer, e.g. in car or somewhere...
    • I think it is step in a certain direction, not an ultimate desintation. Because of the aging of the population, I've been imaginging something like this for a long time, but much more advanced. As people get older one of the things that should be done is to keep them independent as long as possible consistent with safety. They will need technology that will help them deal with the decay of their ability to remember recent events, their ability to orient themselves geographically, and their hearing and seeing.

      What I have imagined is a device that could be worn like a wristwatch (perhaps it will be a wristwatch), that would function as a supplementary memory, but be less obtrusive and less easily misplaced than a PDA. It would have voice recording/recognition, medical alert data, PDA functions, two way paging, and emergency location, and general computing features such as record keeping. Because of its small size and senior's perceptual difficulties, it would have only basic UI capabilities on its own, but it could interface wirelessly with large format displays, public kiosks, smart vehicle systems, and perhaps with a number of user interface appliances. For example, you could perhaps add an LCD pad which interfaced wirelessly with your wristwatch computer to provide "continuous translation" when your hearing is no good anymore.

      We'll all be there some day, so I personally applaud every advance towards ultraminiaturization of computers and wearables, even if I personally have little need for them today.

    • Make it 802.11 capable, then build generic keyboards and screens that use that work through RF. Bluetooth, if it ever works, would fill the bill nicely if it ever gets cheap enough.

      Storage? Firewire enabled hard drives in at your office or home, or connect to your data bank in your house via modem, broadband, or RF.

      And hard drives are shrinking. And MRAM is coming in a few years, which means solid state non-volatile storage.

      The PC is dead, long live the PC! The world is changing again. I think modular 802.11 micro-micros with commodity peripherals are the next wave.

      And what a HELL of an e-book reader it could be!

  • Transmeta makes a comeback.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Evanrude ( 21624 ) <david AT fattyco DOT org> on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:53PM (#2961847) Homepage Journal
    This sounds like something that would be a great application for a Transmeta CPU. These will definitely need low power and cool-running chips. It's too bad the article didn't have many details.

  • Brilliant (Score:2, Interesting)

    by AlexCV ( 261412 )

    With a little device like this, I could move my "Computer" from home to work, have the laptop be a "dock" for the computer.

    Taking it one step further, an industry standard device could allow one to buy laptops as a chassis with engine. I could buy the Thinkpad X's chassis and plop in a transmeta computing module to get 2x the battery life.

    Alex

    • I like your idea. The removable "engine" could contain the cpu/memory/hd/video... and the chassis could contain the screen, battery compartment, removable drive-bay. The screen is one of the pricier parts of a laptop, I'm guessing, and not likely to change much, given that 15" is about as big as a laptop screen can get, and smaller pixels aren't of much use. Might make a decently upgradable laptop, just replace the "engine", the battery, the removable media drive, whatever. Break the screen? Just get a new chassis and move everything over. So, who's gonna make this?
    • Why not just get one of these [thinkgeek.com]?

      It's got everything you want, in a PC the size of a CD player.
  • Add a battery, DVD drive, keyboard. Is it still a lot smaller than a notebook? It seems to me like someone just took an old notebook apart... Not all that revolutionary when you look at it form this perspective, is it?

    • Re:Just a stripped-down notebook (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Exactly! I mean look how pointless and unproductive interchangeable parts were in the 1700s.. oh wait, wasn't that one of the causes for the industrial revolution?

      :-)

      -ac
    • Assuming it has a touch screen and an OS that takes advantage of that touch screen, then what you have here is much better than an ordinary laptop.

      Frankly, laptops are uncomfortable to use in your lap. A tablet's form factor would work much better for doing things like browsing the web while you're watching TV.

      As an artist, I use a sketch pad with an array of pencils and markers. With a sufficiently designed tablet, I could run Photoshop on it and use that as my sketchpad. Since all the work I do is digital, being able to save the step of scanning my sketches is a big time saver. Not to mention that with Photoshop, I could start with a real photo (PCMCIA camera?) and draw on top of that. Plus, I would need a lot fewer art supplies, and those aren't cheap. Heck, if I really wanted to get fancy (and I do...) I could get an 802.11 card and have it automatically upload my sketches to my website. Since I post my artwork on forums alot, this would be a time saver too.

      The execs where I work have expressed interest in replacing their laptops with tablets. One of them actually said "I wish my PDA was about 8.5 by 11 inches." On a plane and in meetings, its far more convenient to use in that form factor.

      If you oversimplify anything, it can sound dull. The revolution comes from how it's used, not how it's designed. If one teeny weeny little change to a system makes people use it in a whole new way, then that's all it needs to be interesting. You know that little wheel on your mouse? Those didn't always used to be there. Now that it's there, I can't stand mice that don't have that wheel.
      • seems to me like someone just took an old notebook apart

      Yup, it's a crippled notebook or a fancy removable HDD. Considering how much this will cost, and that it needs full docking stations at both ends to make it usable at home/office (and anywhere else you go), you'd probably be as well buying two complete desktop system (at a much lower price for the same spec) and adding a removable HDD. The advantage of the super-removable-HDD is that it carries its own OS and apps, but there's nothing stopping you doing that with a normal removable HDD with two similar desktop systems, or running VmWare and mounting your portable OS/apps as a virtual machine for that matter.

      Perhaps we're getting the wrong idea though. They're talking about using it as more of a super-but-crippled-PDA for hotel checkins and such. Say what? So, it's like a PDA, only there's no way to use it on the move, which really means that it's like a super-smart credit card, only stupidly expensive and much bigger and less convenient?

      Sound to me like a cool toy without any real application. I kind of want one, but I don't really know why. ;-)

  • Choices (Score:2, Interesting)

    by smashin234 ( 555465 )

    Finally, a mainstream computer both small and fast enough to fit in a car.

    I am looking forward to watching movies and listening to the music I want to in the car, and it is removable and can have (Maybe) a cdrom so I can watch even more movies!

    • I'd love to have a computer small emough to have in my car as a stereo. Or to fit in my pocket as a wearable computer. I think thewre was an article a while back about glasses with a minature screen in them that some guy custom built? (I lost the link :-\) That would be perfect.

      Or, using the same techniques used by the galsses, why not make a HUD for my car, with speed, and proximity warnings, and a GPS linked map... forget taking my work home, this is the right combination of size/power to do all kinds of cool new things!

      And, for those calling it "obsolete" by the time it comes out, dont' you think that if they want to wait a few years to market it and such that they want some extra R&D time to improve it?

  • I'm not sure about the name...

    ...I think there could be a lawsuit coming from whatever Japanese company owns "Poke'mon." Isn't there a pokemon out there by that name?
  • I'm really thinking about switching to OSX.

    It would be cool to see IBM make one of these powered by that chip that they make what's it called? PowerPC?

    • For OSX, you'd need more than just a PPC motherboard, as it uses other Apple proprietary components (ROM, etc.). But, you could still run Darwin [apple.com], which is the Mach kernel and BSD workings that the "OSX Layer" runs on top of.

      In fact, there is an x86 version of it availible for download at Apple's Open Source [apple.com] website (requires a free reg. to download). It's not Aqua but you still get a decent BSD system.

      Makes me wonder if the entirety of OS X will someday be ported to x86? (Not likely)

  • iPod killer? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by bentini ( 161979 )
    This thing sure has the potential to be an iPod killer. Not only do you get to have all your music, you get to have all your workspace and all your files with you, wherever you go. I just plug it into another computer and that computer instantly acts as a dumb terminal into my own computer. That sounds like a really great idea!
    What does this do, you may ask, other than act as a penis-size indicator without a screen? Well, if I want, I can run it as a personal server that's small. If I want the portability of a laptop without the size, I can have one docking station for it at home and one at the office, and play mp3's on it in the car during my drive between. (If it's a pc, then somebody can make a panel you put on it that will give you an lcd to select files and an audio output). If it's reasonbly priced if/when it comes out, I'll definitely get one if only for the fun use factor!
    • If it's reasonbly priced if/when it comes out, I'll definitely get one if only for the fun use factor!

      Reasonably priced, HA! Things like this never become reasonably priced until like 10 years after its initial release. Just look at Flat panel Plasma TVs. They are still well over $5000. I'm thinking this will come out at around the same price. Would you be willing to pay 5K for a 800mhz, 10 gig computer that you will have to shell out even more money to plug it into an LCD, etc.

      Don't get me wrong, I like this idea. But it's still in its concept stage and at this point, its only something that geeks will go gaga over for a while.
    • To be an 'iPod killer' it would have to be released for public consumption in the next year or so. IBM doesn't appear to have any plans to actually market this baby, so it's not going to be killing anything, any time soon. Moreover, if the 10GigaBit HDD thing is correct, the drive is a fifth the size of the iPod's.

      That said, I think this is a fabulous idea. Pluggable, portable. You don't have to worry about cracking the screen, 'cause you don't bring the screen along. When they release this (if?) in a couple years, LCDs'll be cheap. You buy one for home, and one for the car, and one for work, and you tote this thing around with books and notes and appointments. More portable than a laptop, and more flexible than a PDA.

      People have been saying recently that the place for Linux is in embedded and portable systems, 'cause that's the wave of the future. Little PC things like this are exactly what they were talking about!

    • Maybe.. But they need to add a Firewire or USB2 port, a small HD, a DAC, and a nice interface.. For a drive, IBM's microdrive might work, but it's slower and smaller than the Toshiba Firewire drive in the iPod..

      The point is that the iPod looks pretty secure for the time being..

  • unattributed metanews - grr (Score:3, Informative)

    by mysticbob ( 21980 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:58PM (#2961885)
    so apparently we all read arstechnica too. this was on there long before it showed up on slashdot. i don't blame the /. editors for this, but i'd hope that the people posting news would take a bit more ethical responsibility and report the source. see the original arstechnica article [arstechnica.com] for more details.

  • Just What the Doctor Ordered (Score:5, Funny)

    by Slothrup ( 73029 ) <curt@hagenl o c h e r .org> on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @12:58PM (#2961887)
    "We've taken the PC down to where you can take it home and finish your work," said Kenneth Ocheltree, manager for next generation mobile at IBM Research.

    ...because pagers and cell phones haven't completely succeeded in making our jobs be 24/7.

    • At this time, the parent post is modded as "funny".

      I really don't think this is funny at all. Some of us *ARE* way too plugged in all the time. It is unhealthy, imo. I remember somewhere, don't have time to find the link, as I would have to dig for a long time...saying that the more we advance, the less time we will have for ourselves. I don't like the sound of that. I want my children to have me there for them, as well as a little time to myself where I can disconnect from the daily grind and do what ever. If I was given one of these, it would NOT leave the office.

      ok, just a little insight on this rainy, ugly day.
      • All of us in IT are slaves indentured to our corporate masters. We are given life by them and can have it taken away in an economy like this.

        for a more employee-centric perspective, see the movie "Matewan". If you can find a video store that has it - it's probably considered a terrorism-inciting piece of artwork now.

      • Where are *your* priorities? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Tenebrious1 ( 530949 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @02:38PM (#2962487) Homepage
        Bah, that's a load of BS. Where are your priorties? If you want to spend more time with your kids, then do so, don't sit there and complain about being too busy.

        I get paid way less than I should because I turn my pager off on weekends. I don't put in any overtime unless it's critical. Yeah, I'm not living the high life, and not going to have much when it comes to retirement funds, but the important thing to me is that I enjoy my time with my son, NOW. Once he's grown, I'll probably have to work much harder and longer to make up for lost time, but that's just money. You can't make up lost time with your kids.

        I don't have a GHz computer at home, I don't drive a Benz, I don't own a big house, I can't buy the latest gadets. But I do take my son out hiking and camping on weekends. That's where my priorites are. Think about yours...

        • Ditto. I figure that at some point my children will realize I'm not cool and they will not want to spend any time with me at all. Until then I'm going to be with them as much as I can.
        • from the previous poster...

          "I get paid way less than I should because I turn my pager off on weekends. I don't put in any overtime unless it's critical. Yeah, I'm not living the high life, and not going to have much when it comes to retirement funds..."

          And why is this fair? This is what I am saying. Why should you be plugged in 24/7 to get a good salary? Basically you are saying that you are forced to sacrifice salary because you want to spend time with your child. I commend you in this, and I wish more people would. However, is it fair that you can't have it both ways? Why not get that good salary AND spend time with your kid? Are corporations blind to this? Seems to me to be that way. And yes, I know that life isn't fair...but this isn't something to be taken lightly. He's taking an admitted pay cut because he wishes to spend time with his family. IMO, shame on your company, and others like it.
          • "And why is this fair? This is what I am saying. Why should you be plugged in 24/7 to get a good salary? Basically you are saying that you are forced to sacrifice salary because you want to spend time with your child."

            Well, suppose you were the person who was working like a dog. How would you feel if someone working plain old 9-5 got the same pay? I think that would be perceived as unfair.

            "Why not get that good salary AND spend time with your kid? Are corporations blind to this?"

            Um, corporations don't exist for the purpose of providing their employees with a generous salary for a light work load. Their purpose is to turn a profit. The corporations are not blind - they are quite clearly looking at those things which affect the bottom line.
      • Cakes cannot be had and eaten. I sympathise, but if you sit down to write your 'big list' of important things - and the top three are "spend time with the kids", "spend time with the missus", "have a lot of sex", then make sure you do them!

        If that means you have to ditch the career into a lower gear then cool - it WASN'T FIRST ON THE LIST!!!

        Some peoples list will be "earn shitloads of cash", "shag dozens of women", "play better football" - They too should go for it and make sure they get what they want.

        The fact that a wee computer exists doesn't make the slightest difference to this. I carry my laptop everywhere, I'll boot up and check my messages when visiting my parents, I love my job, my first three are different from yours, tech rocks.

        I've left jobs because I realised they didn't fit with my top three. If yours doesn't then leave the job. That's not meant confrontationally - but quite seriously nontheless.

        Lifes too short to dick about in the wrong job - they take too much time and effort at the best of times. Job inertia is a powerful thing.. fight it.
    • How can they promote this as a feature? Telnet (and now ssh of course) works just fine for finishing work at home.
    • A computer this small means you can take it to work and finish that game of NetHack you were doing so well on at home.

  • Can I use it to make toast on my lunch break? Where do they put the heat from that 800MHz. ???

  • if it doesn't sell well as a computer... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Gavitron_zero ( 544106 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @01:02PM (#2961912)
    ...get AMD to put a proc in the thing, then market it as "MetaHeatingPad".
  • It appears to be the CPU, memory, and HD packaged together in a 3x5x1 package, with a docking connector. No display, no FDD, no cards. Your desktop becomes a box w. a power supply, video card, sound card, FDD, and a big whole in the front. Rack in the module to do anything useful. Laptop is smaller and has a bay for the module. PDA is basically a screen with batteries and a port on it, and the module becomes the main body. Sounds neat - I want one.
  • So it's an Ipod with more disk, faster chip, no firewire, bigger, no lcd or interface.

    But it is a general purpose computer.

    And it's two years away ...

    *yawn*
  • Hook this up to one of those shoes that generate power as you walk from MIT. Attach it to a glasses HUD with voice recognition and you have a wearable computer.

    This is gonna be cool...
    • Won't it scramble the drive when they shoot your shoes with SuperXRays at the airport?

      While I'm burning Karma, I think I went to school with this Ocheltree cat. If it is the guy, he's pretty smart, but he don't have any Elvis in him.
  • I have a 5'x3' "module" I can plug into other devices, too, and it didn't take a $5 billion/year research budget to come up with, either.

    (Had to be said...)

  • And why exactly... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Aexia ( 517457 )
    ``We've taken the PC down to where you can take it home and finish your work,'' said Kenneth Ocheltree, manager for next generation mobile at IBM Research.

    is this a Good Thing(tm)?

  • Bizarre article, interesting device (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PhotoGuy ( 189467 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @01:14PM (#2961986) Homepage
    I think this is an excellent idea. I move back and forth between work daily, and it always seems wasteful to carry a laptop, when all I really need is my data/os/environment moved, and not all the peripherals, screen, keyboard. I'm not using them in the car.

    I realize this was for Yahoo Finance, and not exactly aimed at the SlashDot crowd, but seriously:
    that runs at 800 megahertz, or 800 million cycles per second.
    Sheeesh. Like explaining that 800 megahertz is 800 million cycles per second is going to clue folks in with such valuable information. "Gawrsh, that's a lot of cycles per second." :-)

    And IBM's statements seem weird:
    Ocheltree said IBM doesn't have specific plans to sell the prototype, which could be ready for market in few years.
    Ready for the market in a few years??? In a few years, this thing should be *way* obsolete, with tiny pocket computers more powerful than our desktops of today. This thing would be useful and interesting today, not a year from now.
    IBM is talking to computer makers and customers about how it could be used, he said.
    ``We're trying to understand how people would use it and interact with it,'' Ocheltree said.
    I thought IBM had top notch people in usability, market research, laptop design, and so on. It seems strange to hear them say "we have this cool technology, but we're not sure how people would use it." I can think of a dozen ways it could be turned into a useful product. I guess it's good that they're asking the industry, but it sounds like these guys are a bit directionless, and will end up deliverying too little, way too late.

    Too bad, I'd likely buy one of these if it were available today.

    -me
    • The best thing would be a non-forgetting memory card with ca. 60GB of static RAM (which doesn't lose its data when power is cut off).

      The computers would host this card (think of flat screens with slots in the side) plus the CPU and the peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, modem, whatever). So the bit-storage would be basically separate from the host unit and replaceable while the machine is running.

      There would be no need for hard disks anymore. If you'd want new data for a program (create a new document, save it, whatever), all you'd do is malloc() it, no need for files or anything. The static memory would store it all. No file systems, just memory managers (associating "filenames" and "folders" with handles of allocated memory blocks)

      The task states would be stored on the memory card, too, so if you'd just remove the card from the computer, all programs would be left as they were, if you'd insert it into other computer, the memory would be automatically appear in the address space of the CPU and all programs would continue where they were left off. (the host would provide the power to drive the bits on the storage :-)

      Hope I'll see this happen...
  • I want better specs before I get excited... can we necessarily assume this is a conventional 686 PC that fits in your hand?
    And IBM says it won't be marketable for a few years... by which time these specs are tiny. So, my impression is less that this device will be a replacement for one's laptop, but rather a tiny alternative to smaller devices which normally use specialized hardware and software (e.g., handheld anything).
    Not necessarily a replacement for ARM-based PDAs, but perhaps as a powerful and easily programmed tool for sophisticated field-testing, etc.

    Naturally, though, I'd just use it as my "take anywhere" file-sharer. ;-)
    der_m
  • This seems to be the Evil Empire answer to a Terapin Mine [mineterapin.com] sorta kinda. All usual griping, sniping, and trolling aside, does anyone have any more substance? I couldn't find anything at IBM or IBM Research. I think it is a very sound idea. Dealing with the exact same environment for desktop, mobile and handheld settings certainly seems an obvious solution to issues with synchronization and functionality as you move from setting to setting. Microsoft is already creeping in this direction with PPC2002 the platform.
  • I wonder how IBM plans to overcome interface issues that would occur with a device this small. I suppose someday we'll be able to speak or think commands to have them occur.

    Also, at what point does small become TOO small? I mean... who wants to look at a postage stamp size screen all day? I actually think that unless they can come up with a new way to display information (like projected onto your glass lens, or cornea.) they shouldn't get any smaller than the current Palm PDAs. Just work on making the PDAs more powerful and more robust.

    IMHO

  • news.com [news.com] has a story [com.com] about this as well. There's says a little more about why it's different than a laptop. It's meant to convert from a laptop to a handheld to a desktop at will.
  • ...and when I opened up the box, there had been significant shrinkage.
    • Not to worry:

      "This package contains the full measure advertised."

      "It may appear to be less than full because the package contents are measured by weight, not by volume."

      "Some settling of the contents is to be expected during handling."

      Thank you.

      t_t_b

  • Ergo Brick (Score:2, Informative)

    by wcspxyx ( 120207 )
    Isn't this just a re-hashing of the Ergo Brick? It was a 486/Pentium that was just a brick with ports. Sold with the idea that you could afford a second monitor, kbd and mouse at home, and you would just lug this thing back and forth. Was used in some secure environments because you could pop the whole machine in a safe at the end of the day.

    Point is, this really isn't a new idea. Not that it's a bad one, but it's definately not original.
  • I thought that IBM was going to be supporting Linux.
    • The prototype runs XP

      "Ocheltree said IBM doesn't have specific plans to sell the prototype, ... . IBM is talking to computer makers and customers about how it could be used, he said"

      Perhaps the real thing will run Linux ?
  • This [cnn.com] article on CNN has the same basic content, a few more details, but infinitely less painful to read than the cornball "humor" in the Yahoo article.
  • from the article:

    Code-named ``MetaPad'', the module is 5 inches (12.7 cm) long, 3 inches (7.6 cm) wide and about three-quarters of an inch (1.9 cm) thick. The module fits into a larger accessory piece that includes a small, flat screen on front and is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) long, 4 inches (10 cm) wide and 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick.

    Okay, well, the screen on my Handspring Visor is about 4" x 2.5" so in that light this device's seems to compare to a largish PDA at 6" x 4". I've seen Pocket PC's with color screens and more power than my little Visor, but they weren't running full-blown Windows 2000 and I doubt they had quite the specs this thing has.

    I don't think this really appeals to me, mostly because if I want to do any real work that would require desktop processing power, I want to do it on a screen large enough not to give me eyestrain. 6" x 4" doesn't cut it for me. I think I'll just stick with my handy-dandy notebook computer.

    When I hear "metapad" I think of a big 8.5" x 11" x 1" tablet with a big LCD screen taking up one entire side of it. You'd use a stylus like on a PDA, but it would have the processing power of a laptop, and a color display. Now that would be cool if it ever happens...

  • Plug In? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by barnaclebarnes ( 85340 )
    Why the hell would you want to plug it into a base station? Haven't they heard of Bluetooth? Simply walk up to a screen/mouse/keyboard station, pair the device and of you go. This is the medium term future of computing, one small device that holds all that you currently have on your local machine with the ability to pick it up and walk away with it, just like todays PDA's. Of course it will be full featured when linked with the right I/O devices unlike todays PDA's.

    Longer term it should all be networked but since the networks don't cover everywhere we need to be and are not fast enough yet this isn't fessible.
  • My company is selling control devices for a major brasilian telco which has as cpu a complete IBM-PC compatible computer built in a card no biger than 12cm x 12cm. It contains 1 Pentium MMX/K6, 2 72 pin simm memory connectors and a SiS chipset with buil-in graphics and sound.

    In one edge of the card it have an I/O pannel with SVGA, mouse, keyboard, serial and paralel connectors and in the other an ISA-like male connector that plugs in the unit from where it draws power and comunicates with the rest of the unit. in the card itself it also has standard IDE and floppy connectors.

    So, now I ask: What's the big deal with this IBM "invention" ?
  • So it's a slightly smaller than the Saintsong Espresso PC. Big deal. The Saintsong Espresso has been available for over a year. I really don't see what IBM is trying to prove here.

  • 800 MHz what?i (Score:3, Funny)

    by teridon ( 139550 ) on Wednesday February 06, 2002 @01:43PM (#2962178) Homepage
    and a microprocessor ... that runs at 800 megahertz

    oooooooh, I'm supposed to be impressed? What microprocessor? My cordless phone runs at 2 GHz. :-/

  • hey! (Score:2, Funny)

    by nomadic ( 141991 )
    Understand this is a module that can be plugged into other devices, such as a LCD screen

    A computer that can be attached to a monitor? I'll believe it when I see it!
  • This sounds rather dubious if it's sold to consumers. Remember the "brick" computers of a few years ago? These were compact and reasonably high performance boxes, more than pocket size but still not hard to take home with you. But you had to have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and CD & floppy drives at every place you were going to use it. They were far sturdier than laptops, and I think had considerably higher performance than a laptop in the same price range. But they were duds on the market. I doubt that shrinking it to pocket size will be sufficient to overcome the basic problem that to the average user it's just a laptop with critical parts missing...

    But I can see an embedded system designer salivating over this, IF the price is right and there is a good way to attach the required I/O. Give it USB, Firewire, and RS-232 ports so we can hook in I/O modules and bury this thing somewhere inside of a machine. For program development, we might have to reach inside and hook up the docking port, but once the software is released we just load up the internal HD and stick it in the machine.
  • I hope its running a lite version of XP. 1.25GB isn't too much space.

    this would make a sweet little MP3/DVD player though if you could attach IDE/USB devices.

    i just hope i don't have to take my work home with me every night.

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