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Re: Wearable Netwinder

I just got here...so far the posts I have received had wierd combinations
of To: and CC:...somebody kick me if I am not posting correctly.

>Alex Holden <> writes:
>> The main problem is that the Winder runs quite hot (the case is so cramped
>> that it has a poor air flow inside it, even with forced air cooling), so
>> you need to somehow maintain a good air flow to it.
>
>I thought these ARM chips were supposed to be low power low heat!

It is.  Runs at 2.0V and consumes just under a Watt.

>Sounds like all the pentium problems I hoped to avoid. Someone else
>said taking it out of it's case wouldn't be helpful as it was designed 
>to create and effective airflow.

The case is *quite* full, leaving little air.
The HD is the main source of heat and taking the NW out of it's case is a
bad idea (or at least dangerous) because the RAM is mounted on the reverse
of the board and the mezzanine board inside is held by it's connector pins
and the metal backplate. Without a case something would break for sure.

>This sounds like a wearable issue. Solutions?

My current solution is to leave free-flowing airspace around the NW.
My first version of the Wearable NetWinder (WNW) was in a shoulderbag,
swathed in foam on all sides except the back (where the fans and
connectors are) and the narrow side where the ventilation holes are.
In this setup, the internal temp hovers around 62 deg.
My current setup has one side of the NW covered in velcro and thus
attached to the inside of an aluminum box with an inch of clearance on the
top and sides.  This drops the temp by 10 deg.
The reason is that the case itself dissipates some heat.

>How about a pipe from a hole in the bottom of the bag, to the fan
>hole? Sort of like the cold air intake for your sports car?

Doable, but watch out for contaminants like water and dust...also a long
pipe would decrease your airflow.

There are plans to have some software written (for freaks like me ;) which
will power down some parts of the NW and thus save power.
No guarantees though. I do not speak for Corel Computer.

>-- 
>Binary Bar - Australia's first free access internet bar/cafe/gallery.
>243 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia. 3pm - 1am
>http://www.binary.net.au/

--
Eric LaForest      Nascent Linux Borg     -www.ncf.carleton.ca/~di458-
#define Hacker !(Cracker)  //FYI: http://sagan.earthspace.net/~esr/
Breaking into computers does not make one a hacker, for the same reasons
that hotwiring cars does not make one a mechanic... paraphr. from ESR

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