At 02:32 PM 2/19/98 -0800, andi payn wrote: >Has anyone looked into non-Intel processors? Would it be possible to build >a tiny PREP machine around a 603ev and run linuxppc (or BeOS) on it? You'd >get lower power consumption and/or much more processing power than with any >x86 chip... although the price would obviously be higher, and it would >probably take much more hacking (because there is no standard mini-PREP >architecture). Well... I'm a high school student, presently 16, and although my new job as a network admin is quite well-paying... I have a lot of costs (being that I have a car to pay for, despite the rest of the kids in this town I'm going to be buying my own). For that reason, I am seeking the wearable computer that will cost as close to $500 as possible. I have looked into several processors. The F21 Forth processor looks like a nice, cheap, and fast processor.... and being a MISC chip it is easily programmed and supported (not to mention reaching a production of ~$2). The only problems are... a) On-board video connection - I've always been one who likes to be able to change a single part, rather than a whole system. I'm crazily into customization =) b) The 500 MIPS the MISC chip runs at is fast, yes, but 500 MIPS on a CISC processor is about 2000 MIPS on a MISC =P So I kept looking around.... and I found the NEC VR Series of processors. Great little chips, fast little bastards, 64-bit, RISC.. the list goes on. I like the chips, I like the company they come from... the only thing I fear is the price, as the price isn't on their site (at least nowhere that I could find). If anyone does have a pricing guide of these guys, I'd appreciate a little sharing of information =) (I can't be making long distance calls for prices where I'll probably be put on hold for an hour or so). As far as an OS... I'm one of those arrogant BSD'ers, and I'd much rather work my ass off porting FreeBSD than Linux. >Is there a reason the entire system has to be in one box? Instead of a box >with three PC102 cards and a hard drive, why not have the three cards and >the drive protected separately, sewn inside a jacket liner (along with the >batteries), and connected with cables? What I was thinking was, rather than being sewn into the clothing, making use of hunting or army mesh.... a nice mesh vest with loads of pockets would do nicely, always room for another peripheral. Perhaps one could consider the thermodynamics of this and design a nice coat that'll keep you warm without over-heating the system. >What's the maximum cable length you >can use? What kind of shielding is needed on the cables? I'm guessing one >of these two problems is the reason nobody's thinking this way. Why would length matter? Cable's definitely should not be losing significant amounts of energy, especially if the total distance is less than six feet (saying you're going from the top of a tall man's head down to his feet, an unlikely situation which I think would account for width). >Of course >there's another problem--you always have to wear the same jacket--but I was >thinking you could build a special liner, then tear open a few different >jackets and vests and just slide it into whichever one you want to wear >that day... or into a special waistpack on the days you don't want to wear >a jacket. Well, I think the mesh vest idea is nice.... because the vest is so thin, it could basically go under (or over, in the summer) anything. >I'm sure my song query idea could be expanded to something more useable. An >associative person-fact database and search engine to look up facts about >people would be nice... Hrmmm... I like that =) >Then there's cconstant voice recognition. First, put a combination >earphone/bone conduction mike in your ear. Then you also have an >omnidirectional mike that picks up all the ambient sounds around you and >listens for any keywords in your conversations. Or (again we're talking a >much more powerful processor) attempts (even with 50% accuracy it could be >useful) continuously transcribes everything being said, and caches the last >few minutes of audio so you can go back and listen. An omni-directional mic can be picked up rather cheap from surplus dealers, and since they don't require special drivers, it would make a logical source. As far as voice recognition software... I do believe there is a nice linux package that a lot of people are quite emphatic of. I'll have to find out the name of it.... >So what other ideas, easy or farfetched, do people have for using a wearable? Well hey, most standardized tests define an inadmissible calculator as being a laptop, graphing calculator with infrared or other transfer devices, and any one with a large enough screen to be visible to other students (I know this is the way it is for the SAT, at least). Well, it isn't a laptop, you can disconnect the wireless linking hardware (if you have any, which you can also do with IR by putting tape over it, making it acceptable), and a HMD isn't visible to other students. It isn't cheating,, it's making use of your resources ;-) - Joseph Gaffney -- http://www.thethinker.com/members/gaffney/ - http://www.ArchAgency.com/
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