Hey all,
I've been pretty quiet for awhile, but I've been busy. Still haven't
built my ideal wearable. I've got plenty of SBCs laying around here to
play with (the MZ104 is the current favorite), but the display is
holding me back. I just can't settle on a M1 display - I need higher
res! ;)
Anyhow, I was doing some research at work, and came across the
Tuxscreen - a StrongARM based "smartphone", that Philips produced for
awhile before discontinuing them. It runs Lucent's "inferno" OS, but
Linux can and has been ported to it. To me, it looks like a perfect
little box to hack into a wearable, and it's *cheap*: $99 US.
Here are the specs:
Intel SA1100 StrongARM CPU clocked to 133/206 Mhz
* 16 MB EDO/DRAM -> 8 MB onboard + one 8 MB 72 pin SODIMM
* 4 MB BootableFlash on two Am29LV160DB-120EC chips
* Sharp LM8V31 DSTN 640X480x8 (256 color) Color TouchScreen (7")
* 2 3.3v PCMCIA slots
* 1 serial port, tested at 115.2k
* POTS (phone) connections
* 512k serial DataFlash, on one AT45DB041A-RC
* LucentDSP UnderRFShield (aka "Wheaties", mounted on a module called
the "Mongoose")
* Philips UCB1200 ("advanced modem/audio analog front end" - aka
jazzy audio chip)
* Infrared Keyboard
* receive InfraredPort for the keyboard (Reading codes using code
from the lirc project)
* PowerSupply
The power supply appears to output 5v @ .6A and 3.3v @ 1.25 A, which
isn't too shabby. Also of interest is that stuff compiled for Linux on
iPaq will run on this without any modifications (as they're both
StrongARM based). There are some nice screenshots of various apps
running at http://www.tuxscreen.net .
Might not be the easiest thing to hack into a wearable (no PS/2 ports or
video, aside from the LCD), but the price is right, and the potential is
there. The PCMCIA slots give you some expandability options (support
for 3.3v out of the box, but there's a 5v hack on the tuxscreen wiki).
I'm thinking one slot for storage (CF, Microdrive, something else?), and
a PCMCIA -> USB adapter in the other, for networking, video, and other
input/output.
They apparently have several hundred units remaining. I may be
purchasing a couple. There's also a fairly active development group on
the #tuxscreen IRC channel (irc.openprojects.net)
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