Amiga as a Tablet

[Strangedisk]

Hello.  I've been thinking about the future of the Amiga and have an idea which I'm sure has been thought of before, nevertheless, I will share it.

How about, for the next Amiga after AmigaOne (AmigaTwo?) it is made into a Tablet formfactor.  Now hear me out!

Firstly, this message is prompted by the lively discussion about how Amiga supposedly made a mistake by not choosing the ix86 over the PowerPC.  I don't think they did, but the CPU is not really the issue.  Amiga's future is.  And in the final analysis, although I am a fan of Motorola (used to work for them) and have nothing but respect for their excellent engineering, and the PowerPC in particular, ultimately I don't care what CPU is in it.

The Amiga has an opportunity here that should not be lost.  I remember watching the Bernie video off of Aminet.  I saw him boot an Amiga (AmigaXL in this case) on a CD with only 3MB's written to it.  That included some demos, the OS, the UAE layer, and the Linux substructure.  THREE MEGS.  And a more native port would be smaller.  The Amiga can fit ANYWHERE, even as it is (even without DE, although I love DE, anyone else here take a good long look at it?).  I hear a lot of talk about how we need 3Ghz chips, and ultra-fast video cards, and that we need ... well basically we need to chase PC's around.  No, we don't.

Amiga should, as it always has, go its own route.

Look at the 500, the 600, and the 1200.  These were wonderful computers that fit into peoples lives.  The lights didn't flicker when you turned them on.  They didn't sound like a vaccuum cleaner.  They didn't take the entire desk, unless you expanded them to infinity.  Plus they were cheap.  I'm going to repeat that.  They were cheap.  That's important.  Not poor quality, by any stretch of the imagination.  But cheap.  Everyone could get one.

We have the advantage here.   Microsoft also wants this market, because Bill Gates is blessed with a KEEN SENSE OF THE OBVIOUS.  It's going this way, and not only do I want the Amiga there, I want her to be first, where she belongs.

Imagine a tablet (not a tablet pc, it aint a pc, it's a tablet) which runs AmigaOS.  You take it around, you throw it on the couch.  You stuff it in your bag.  It's not a laptop, it doesn't have to be "opened" and although it does "boot" in the technical sense, it happens so fast only programmers need to know about it.  Apps don't need to be "loaded" either (from human persepctive).  You just touch the icon, the app appears before you take your finger off the screen.  Browse the web with it, it's wireless of course.  You still need a desktop?  Prop it up on the desk.  And stick a USB keyboard into it.  There -- it's a desktop.  Stick the same HD into it that the iPod uses.  Add some flash RAM, the os should boot off of that.  Flash cartridges replace floppies.  And the batteries would last 10 hours not 2.

Meanwhile you just plop around on that screen.  Touch it, draw on it.  Write on it.  Touch a text box then write in it (doesn't have to be in the lines!)  This is the future.  Talk to it -- it will recognize your speech and dictate it.

Billy wants this market, but Billy has a problem.  You see, Billy wants to OWN this market, like he wants to own all markets in the software field.  But -- in order to do so, he must find some way of wedging his currently monopoly widget, Windows, onto the goddamn thing.  Windows XP no less.  Good luck, that thing is huge and slow and boring.  Windows CE won't cut it -- no apps, and it's still basically Windows (all of the boredom, none of the compatability!).  XP can't fit, either in the technical sense or in the "fit into ones life" sense.  Oh sure Billy will shove the behemoth on that, and it'll look like you're hauling around the thickest book in the Encyclopedia Britannica around with you.  Real chic.  We need an OS that is light and fast, and fun.  And we have one.  With AmigaOS 5, it will be hardware agnostic as well.

My point is that the Amiga to me has always been a much more "personal" computer than any PC.  This is the natural next step.  Anyway how can you get any more personal a computer than one named "Amiga"?  It means "friend!"  (it does not mean "girlfriend" by the way, that would be a little too personal for a computer :-P -- it's just a feature (or a drawback?) in Spanish that words are inflected by gender.  You can't say "friend" without indicating the gender of the friend, in this case female)

Also it's worth noting that people are not upgrading their PC's as much anymore.  Why?  Well, the economy is one, but another reson is that current PC's are enough, and even overkill for doing what most people want to do with their PC's.  And if it's overkill running Windows, it's EXTREME overkill running AmigaOS.  I ask the people at Amiga Inc (if they read this site) to give the Amiga a new body, a slim, modern one that shows off her best features while making her drawbacks (compatability with PC's) irrelevant.  Make her fast, slim, long-running, fun, and friendly.  Make her cheap, because everyone deserves one.  Make her compatible in the only way that really matters -- compatible with her users.  

Erik


 

[Strangedisk]

Well, I took a look at those and the only one that looks like the vision I had was the ViewSonicViewPad 1000.

At $1699.

Not there yet!

[Strangedisk]

I'll check out that one.  But -- the price is important.  And the reason it needs to be that high for the other ones that are mentioned  is because it needs to have a processor, memory, and harddrive space that can deal with a big, bloated OS.  It would be much cheaper with a PDA type processor, a few megs of flash (no harddrive at all possibly) and enough ram to work.  Basically what I have in mind is a big PDA (basically so that the screen is usable for real tasks, such as browsing the web, balancing your checkbook, watching videos over the net possibly (not sure if high end StrongARM's are capable of this yet or not), and IM and so on.  But without a PDA OS, rather with AmigaOS and Tao.  Rugged and cheap.  $500 at most.  It would sell like hotcakes.  But no keyboard to get in the way -- that complicated and an extra gadget to break.  Rather, if you want a keyboard, plug one into USB and use it.  Otherwise, write to it or talk to it or tap on "screen keys".

Erik

[Strangedisk]

Well why x86 particularly?  Rather, if it goes onto something like this, it needs to be StrongARM.  If and when Amiga is running under DE, if that's the direction they go, it will run on Intel just fine.  And everything else, which is the point.

Well, I like the little psion machine but it's not quite what I'm thinking of, although it's the closest I've seen so far.  It's too little for starters, since it's made more for data entry in warehouses and stuff like that.  It's got a 640x240 screen.  Imagine a 800x600 screen with about the same pixel-size, and the size of the machine adjusted accordingly.  I'm thinking a home machine, made for around-the-house websurfing, looking up recipes in the kitchen off of it (and not having to worry too much about a little water or flour on it)  Just a little larger.  The weight is fine, and I think would still be even if it were a little heavier (it was about 1.5lbs and even 2 or 2.5 would still work).  

I definitely don't want it to have a keyboard built into it, which would make it both bigger and much, much more delicate.  Keyboard should be a USB or PS/2 or whatever, external.  

The $1700 one suffered from several other problems other than just price.  I'm sure it was fairly delicate.  One drop and that's it.  Also, it was heavy.  Since it runs XP, you have to dick around with the OS.  In other words, it's got to boot, it takes time to shut down, load software, or whatever.  Someone will have to administer this machine.  It's a desktop or server OS, running in a different form factor.  So is AmigaOS (as a desktop OS) of course, but I am saying that changes to the OS should be made to make it work in a more "instant on, instant off" kind of way.  It's already easier to use than XP.

Battery life is another problem.  It lasts for about 2 hours!  That's useless.  I want 10 hours.  That's a lot easier to accomplish with a StrongARM than with an Intel Celeron, mobile edition or not.  

[Strangedisk]

Er... have you read any of the specs? These tablets run a special edition of XP on 800 MHz+ PIII chips. And just to be interesting they throw in minor technologies like handwriting recognition to make it useful. Oh... and if you're not sure what to do with your slow and boring tablet it's compatible with software that runs on 600 million other PCs.

You are wording it like you are disagreeing with me, but how so?  I said Windows XP was huge and slow and boring.  And you answer, "have you read any of the specs, it runs a special edition of XP on an 800 MHz" -- my point exactly.  I've read the specs, and they suck.  For your $1500-$2000 you get a machine where the batteries last for two hours, and the machine weighs 3-4 pounds.  There's already a name for machine like this, it's called a laptop.  If I wanted a laptop, I'd buy a laptop.

What I want, is a rugged, light, cheap system.  For the batteries to run for any length of time, it needs to run one something like a StrongARM or similiar.  Well, Windows can't do that.  And even if it were binary compatible with it, XP would suck at 200Mhz, special edition or no.  But AmigaOS wouldn't -- that's the point.  With a responsive enough OS, and a fast enough GUI, the only issues would be streaming video or similiar.  Even that might be no problem.  

[Strangedisk]

@ne_one

An Athlon 550 consumes too much power.  A tablet that runs out of electricity every 2 hours is useless.  If you have to keep in constantly plugged in to use it, might as well be a desktop.  

As for software, people have specific needs for software and it differs between what they might have on their PC and what a tablet is good for.  Browsing the web, checking your e-mail, IMing with your friends are things that any computer can do.  I don't specifically see the the likelyhood of the need, for example, for using tablets to perform complex scientific computations on the spot, or whatever.  Games, internet, home office, and stuff like that is what might be useful for these things.  An Athlon 550 is fine -- but if it cuts into my "free from cords" time, forces the makers of the machine to make it heavier, or need a fan (louder), or more expensive, I'm not interested.  It's better if you can take it with you and use it on and off all day without worrying about having to charge it anywhwere but home.  Better still if you don't have to charge it every day, but every other day.  And a 10-12 hour battery life would do that for you.

It's true that these things will get more powerful.  But it's exactly now, while the industry is in its infancy, that a smaller/faster OS will make a difference, because the hardware just isn't there yet.  Smaller, faster software lets me make a smaller, longer-lifed, cheaper, more convienent tablet.

As for software, why not alternatives?  Are you saying it needs to run W2K (or whatever) + Office?  Why not Linux + StarOffice?  I realize that these are equally big as Office, but my point is that it is possible to use alternatives for common tasks.  They don't really have to be that big.  I use all four every day at work.  StarOffice and MS Office are, for everything I do, interchangable, as are IE and Mozilla.  My point is, why not work on more efficient software for the common things?  Basic things, like browsing and other internet stuff, and "officey" stuff (in the broadest sense of the word), including things like keeping recipes and CD collections organized, alarm clocks and calendars going, and so on, can be done without needing even as much as an Athlon 550.  And, after all, "cheap" must also include the software licenses, which is probably a big part of why these things are still $1500-$2000.  An OS that came with the common stuff that a tablet might be used for is that much more useful.  Tablets don't necessarily need to replace desktops for people who need more powerful solutions and don't need them to be portalble.  Yet another reason for these to be cheaper -- at these prices you would choose one of these as a replacement  for a desktop PC, unless you were rich.

Imagine the one extreme.  The Gameboy advance, at $69, is a complete computer, with memory, external storage, software, an interface, and so on.  It's quite specialized, and small, and good for only one thing.  (on a plus note they are quite rugged actually, I've dropped mine a few times, and there appears to be no problem)  Now imagine these tablet PC's, at the other extreme.  I'm claiming that there's middle ground here, middle ground that still lets you take advantage of most of the good points of both systems (cheap, powerful, flexible, rugged) ground that the AmigaOS fits into quite well.  A tablet at less than half the cost of these current tablet PC's, which is rugged because there's no moving parts, and useful because, for example, you could bundle it with some software to handle the common tasks, but cheap because it would need only 64MB of ram, and a 250Mhz cpu, or whatever.  It's price that's keeping these tablet's from taking off.  People don't need another PC, even one with a more flexible form factor.  

[Strangedisk]

I looked up the IBM z50 and it came closer to my "vision" than any other so far.  But, I do want a tablet, with a disconnectable keyboard.  Perhaps there should be two options!  This sytem is very close.  I remember I had an Amiga 3000 with what I thought at the time was a very extensive software collection and it only took 1/3 or so of my 50MB drive!  :-D I guess 32MB would be enough but 64MB is what I would look for.  If you put AmigaOS in the ROM along with DE and a bunch of basic software (web browser and so on) it would be easier to get away with 32MB, but I'd rather have 32 and nothing in ROM but the bootstrap.  The only differences I would see here are, even if it increased the cost $100 or so, are:

1. AmigaOS and DE instead of WinCE (of course) and software package
2. a little bigger
3. A tablet, no built in keyboard.  Keyboard would be separate.
4. connect via a mini-USB or similiar (unpowered)
5. touchscreen including writing recognition software, no "keyboard joystick" thingy.  Although, in addition to the optional separate keyboard, a separate game controller would be nice too!  But it wouldn't have to come with it at that cost.
6. 800x600 instead of 640x480
7. 80211.b

The IBM z50 sells for $275 but I would pay $450 for one in the above configuration.