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Re: wearable prototype laid out

From: Francois Gurin <>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 20:57:38 -0500

> FG> I'm not all too familiar with the zaurus 5500, but if i were going
> FG> to keep the zaurus assembled, I would move the serial display to a
> FG> small usb serial converter.
> 
> You know, you work on something for so long, and sometimes you totally
> miss an obvious thing like this.  It's a good idea.  I may end up
> going this route, but there's at least one reason why you wouldn't
> want to do this.
> 
> If you plan on stripping the Zaurus down, including losing the LCD and
> chiclet keyboard, then if you want a console, it's best if you use the
> built-in serial port as a serial console.  The USB subsystem gets
> started so late in the boot process, that if something stops you from
> booting before you get to it, you'll never know.  The serial console
> gets started almost right away.
> 
> This isn't a problem if you're leaving the unit assembled, of course,
> because you'll still have the screen as your console.

Fully agreed.  Having not owned a 5500, I was only thinking of easy access
to the dock for charging and stand-alone use.  On the other side, I wouldn't
imagine needing to boot very often once all the development was done.  

Speaking of rebooting, what are you going to do for power?  I know the 5500
has pretty poor battery life, my co-workers says he gets about 5 hours using
it just to play music.  the usb draw shouldn't add too much, but even with
the loss of the lcd and backlight, i would be surprised to get more than
6 hours out of just the motherboard and the things it powers.

Actually, i just saw this external AA battery pack for the cl-700, so 
I suppose an external power source (perhaps shared between all the devices)
would go a long way.

http://conics.net/shp/pda/zaurus-sl-c700/batt-pack/

> Oooh!  Very interesting.  Thanks for the link!  It would be wonderful
> if I could cobble Bluetooth into these bone conduction headsets, but
> again, the power issue.

i've seen bluetooth headsets claiming 8 hours of talk time (the plantronics
m3000).  I've never tried it, but you could probably connect your conducting
headphones to the headset's earphones pretty easily and instantly have a set of 8 hour bone conduction headphones.

This link has a roundup on manufacturer listed times.  Looking around for 
specific reviews would turn up how accurate they are.  i was going to buy
the jabra because it was cheap and ended up with the sony ericsson hbh-35
as i got it for about the same price ($90 with taxes).  the 5 hour talk 
time is probably pretty close to the mark, i use it for about 4 hours in
the morning, then let it recharge an hour or two, and use it for another 4 
hours in the evening, then recharge it overnight. 

http://mpr.mobiles.co.uk/bluetooth-accessories.html

> The Zip-LinQ retractable cable that the Frogpad came with is
> super-cool and useful.  I want a bunch of these.

Those may be my next purchase.  I'm getting tired of carrying around
bundles of cables all the time.

> And it'd be really, really interesting if Tekgear or someone offered
> an M1 with a serial adapter, using the BOB-3 tied right into the
> RS-170 driver board.

there is the microptical serial hmd, but it's not exactly priced to compete
with an m1.

--francois

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