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Re: Wearable Netwinder

On 4 Oct 1998, David Maslen wrote:
> 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!
> 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 StrongARM itself is a very low power processor. Unfortunately 64 megs
of SDRAM, a hard drive, two desktop ethernet chips, a PCI bridge, a couple
of audio chips (or is it just one?), three graphics chips, and various
other things add up to something which consumes 13W.
It should be possible to cut this down quite a bit by putting the various
peripherals in standby mode, but the only real solution is a system which
is actually designed for low power (which the NetWinder isn't- it's
mainly intended as a network server and desktop machine).

> This sounds like a wearable issue. Solutions? 
> 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?

The fan blows outwards (I think- I haven't actually got my NetWinder yet),
so you would want some larger shielded vents from the bottom and a chimney
going out the top of the bag. I'll be playing around with all that when it
arrives. My main objective is to have a setup which is both weatherproof
and looks like an ordinary backpack if I put the interface away (for
security reasons- walking through the centre of Manchester looking like a 
cyborg would be just _asking_ to be mugged).

--------------- Linux- the choice of a GNU generation. --------------
: Alex Holden (M1CJD)- Caver, Programmer, Land Rover nut, Radio Ham :
-------------------- http://www.linuxhacker.org/ --------------------

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