Wandering around a university campus these days, you see more and more of the teeny-tiny laptop computers known as “netbooks”. For somewhere around 5 or 6 hundred dollars, you get a computer with specs approximately equivalent to notebook computer from 2005 or so, with a 9 or 10 inch screen, that weighs about a kilogram and is smaller than an A4 page. Provided you can put up with the small keyboard, they’re great for web surfing (they’ve got wireless networking built-in), a bit of word processing, and so on.
The gestation of the netbook design is quite fascinating, too. As The Age explains, they evolved out of a project to give computers to third-world children, rather than a company’s R&D or marketing team. However, as soon as the ne Laptop Per Child project started churning out the resulting XO laptop, adults started queueing up for copies. The Taiwanese laptop maker Asus took a punt and released a commercial version called the Eee PC, which quickly sold out around the world. And, lo and behold, souped-up versions started appearing from just about every laptop manufacturer. The latest versions have evolved considerably from the original XO, with larger colour screens, hard disks rather than solid-state storage, and many run Windows rather than Linux (mine had the Windows install wiped as soon as I confirmed the system was running properly). But the key principles of the original – a small, cheap, rugged computer just big and fast enough – remain.
It’s fascinating the circuitous route things have taken, with a project originally designed to provide computers for third-world kids has probably had its greatest impact on places like first-world university campuses. And it’s a classic example that people’s are difficult to predict in advance. The parts for a netbook have existed for years, but no commercial manufacturer believed that people really wanted a tiny, minimalistic, and cheap laptop. And the success of the netbook is one of the reasons why I’m suspicious of the idea we’ll always want bigger and faster IT infrastructure at a high price.
“And the success of the netbook is one of the reasons why I’m suspicious of the idea we’ll always want bigger and faster IT infrastructure at a high price.”
I dont follow the logic there. I agree that it is hard to pick the particular killer apps and new consumer gadgets that will be popular, but big infrastructure like net throughput is a different matter.
The preference for faster speeds and more bandwidth is a pretty constant and long term trend, and I think that the proliferation of cheap, ‘view the internet’ machines around the world fits in with that picture.
Netbooks are very slow computers by contemporary standards. But they are very light and very cheap, and they’re selling by the bucketload.
It’s also worth noting that the netbook phenonomen is very much tied up with the ‘cloud computing’ concept, which by its nature puts even more pressure on the internet infrastructure.
There is a downside to more powerful computers other than their price, they tend to be bigger, heavier, etc. Whereas the only downside to upgrading our broadband infrastructure is the price.
That depends on what you compare them against. They’ll be slower compared to a “full sized” laptop, but faster and much more functional compared to a PDA.
And they’re designed for portability, not as a desktop replacement. The success of the ‘netbook’ recently has no bearing on the demand for more bandwidth from fixed locations. This product fills a niche that was very poorly served previously. It doesn’t mark a complete revolution in the way we use IT infrastructure. I bet that most people using netbooks would also rely on having access to desktops with high bandwidth internet access (through Uni, work or home).
Why the pathological hatred of the NBN FttP proposal, Rob?
Just trying to poke holes in the notion in the bizarre assumption by a lot of techies around here that if you build it they will automatically come.
The fact is that there are any number of examples of cases where technologically superior but expensive solutions have died in the arse.
And I still haven’t seen anybody produce an example of an application that requires bandwidth beyond what properly-enginered FTTN would have provided.
Maybe the most profitable part of the whole exercise will be innovations arising out of the new opportunities presented that we can’t even imagine yet.
The NBN isn’t about broadband internet access. The Government’s committment to open access means it will be about a new paradigm of communication and service delivery affecting the whole economy. Was ADSL a clear outcome when the copper phone network was being installed?
I agree that it will be costly, most likely run over time and over budget. But, I don’t think that means it won’t be worth it 100 times over before it’s replaced.
Andos,
And so we need to do it right now because…
“I bet that most people using netbooks would also rely on having access to desktops with high bandwidth internet access (through Uni, work or home).”
A netbook at home would be fine for downloading and watching movies, video chat, email, photos, websurfing. That’s got most bases covered for most users, who could do away with their expensive laptop or clunky desktop. I’m sure it could even be used for the word processing and spreadsheet dabbling that some people might take home from work, though you wouldn’t want to spend hours on it.
You only need a powerful computer at home if you play games or take your computationally intensive work home with you, or if you spend a lot of time editing/touching up your videos and photos. And for the gaming, more people are using consoles these days.
For someone with a FTTH connection and a netbook, you would just need a big, but cheap external drive, and then you could use the cheap netbook to download all the video and image content you could, and store it on the external drive, possibly linked up to the TV or an external monitor for easier movie watching and viewing.
Can’t quite see that netbooks = mythbusting of need for high speed internet capacity. As cloud computing will undoubtedly boom, it will, logically increase the need for such. Netbook mobility offers a good alternative to PDAs; put it together with a NAS server and a grunty internet connection plus a beefy RAM, chuck the muscled up hard drive and nirvana awaits. Note however high speed internet capacity. And believe me, wireless does not cut it. Except for the fluffers.
Hmmm. People seem to be missing the point of my last paragraph.
My point is not specifically about netbooks, it’s about cheap and adequate vs. dear and the bees knees.
People are not missing your point, Robert, as they have tried over and over again to prove to you on this and a previous thread that that ‘cheap and adequate’ is only cheap, and will have to be made ‘adequate’ in a few years time, so why not do it properly now.
Only the anti-government spending on anything
nuttersbrigade are with you on this one, which might tell you something.You really seem impervious to logic on this topic, and it’s getting mighty
tiresome.
I see your point robert, but i drew the distinction between the consumer gadget in the home, and the infrastructure that supports these gadgets – this distinction is what i think dilutes the point you are making
By analogy:
I can see the obvious utility of there being ‘cheap and adequate’ cars. But that doesn’t mean i think we should all be driving around on ‘cheap and adequate’ dirt roads, or that the success of cheap and adequate cars should make you suspicious of a project for ashphalting and upgrading roads.
Bernice,
It will increase the need for fast backbones – if (for example) everyone in the world used a netbook for video conferencing (or even watching a single HDTV stream) you would have torrents of data being moved between countries, cities and large amounts between suburbs. The amount of data on the last mile (or 600m) to each house, though, would not need 100mbps – an ADSL2+ connection would be more than adequate.
As Robert indicated, then, cheap and adequate would be much more sensible than expensive and the bee’s knees.
Steve,
OTOH, we do not need freeways and tunnels to each and every house. Having them run between major suburbs is enough, with slower local roads more than able to get our cars (or bikes or buses) to our front doors.
What’s wrong with my knees?
Pick in someone your own size.
And it comes down to your definition of adequate. What is barely adequate now is likely to be inadequate in 5 years time.
All the technical experts have stated clearly what is required to make it adequate in the future.
So what is the problem, apart from my knees?
Given that such a large proportion of our economic development will be dependant on ‘adequate’, there is no alternative from a rational point of view.
But I’m only a bee. bzzzzzzz
I’m interested in one of these because a lot of the time I’m reading and blogging, and it’s just a waste for me to be sitting at a powerful Mac computer to do these things. The most processing power I’d ever use would be to resize the odd JPG. Not having used one, I’d be concerned that the display might be fiddly and frustrating and the keyboard ditto. Any Netbook users with normal size fingers care to give their impressions?
Helen, I have done a bit of tyre kicking and will probably go for this little baby.
The screen / keyboard are adequate and linux is fine.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ACER-Aspire-ONE-1-6GHz-8-9-GLOSSY-1gRAM-8G-CAM-59-CASH_W0QQitemZ170321627753QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_comp_laptop?hash=item170321627753&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1308
@Helen:
I like my netbook for travelling, for client meetings and for multi-tasking while watching TV companionably with others. I find that out-of-the-box it’s ergonomically un-ideal, but a few externals makes it work just fine.
“an ADSL2+ connection would be more than adequate.”
…unless you live > 2km from the exchange.
“The amount of data on the last mile (or 600m) to each house, though, would not need 100mbps”
provided you are watching video-on-demand at a particular (low) resolution and quality.
If you wanted to download high quality video to burn to disk and watch on your high definition TV, then you might be waiting a while before it downloads on ADSL2+.
I get 18mbps on a good day on ADSL2+, and it takes 5-6 mins to download a CDs worth of data (700MB)
If I wanted to download a blu-ray video that took up a full 50GB disc, then it would take me 6-7 hours, provided i maintained full speed. And I live close to the exchange.
Helen I have never had any problem with using a 3/4 size keyboard.
There can be a slight adjustment period of a minute or so. No different to teh adjustment required to play an electric organ when one is accustomed to a piano with “proper” sized keys.
On the smaller keyboard I type more wpm, probably because my fingers don’t have to reach so far between keys.
Steve,
Which is why FTTN makes some sense. The additional $25bn (or, probably, much more) or so just brings it the additional 600m to my house – provided you are in the 90% that will (may) get FTTP. For those that are in the 8% where FTTN could be provided, but FTTP will not be – bad luck. Satellite, anyone?
It’s sometimes not even “cheap and adequate” vs “been knees”, unless there are some very small mob members in my area. I got a new superwizzy desktop machine with Vista and it is faster than my 5 year old laptop. Not much faster, but faster (well, unless I’m copying files, when it’s just as slow).
So for me the choice is 30W for an adequate laptop or 300W for a more capable but no faster desktop. Unlike the laptop the desktop will run virtual machines which I need for work, otherwise it’d be long gone.
Our share house runs almost entirely on laptops, most of them of the old, slow variety. For $500 you can get a decent ex-corporate laptop or a cheap shitty netbook. We did look a year or two ago and were not impressed.
Robert,
Back on the main point – the other thing to consider if all you want to do is browse the web, write emails and listen to podcasts if what I have done – a Nokia N95 with a bluetooth keyboard.
The phone came “free” with a $49 plan, the keyboard was about $150 and, with the bluetooth stereo headset and skype installed on the N95 it has everything I need while I am out and about. Wi-Fi, 3.5G and a good podcasting app. Perfect. It also pays really nicely with GMail and MS Exchange.
Sure the screen is smaller than a netbook, but it does everything I need of it.
Moz: slot a 7200 rpm drive in a netbook and suddenly it works a lot faster
I bought one of the first eee pc from Asus. I love it to bits. Does everything I need it to, easy on the battery, and with an ipod attached I can watch as much telly as I want. Got it with the linux os ( costs more for crappy windoze for some stupid reason, but really, why would you want windoze?) Also cheap enough for me to play around with the innards without getting too anxious about breaking it.
Small and light but curiously solid too, the size of a book on the outside, the whole world on the inside..
Excuse us, we want to be alone now.
Robert, it’s not the disk that’s the problem, it’s the keyboard and build quality. The IBM X-series laptops are a world away from netbooks and not a huge amount bigger. Battery life is shorter, they cost more new but they’re a much better product. It helps that I have an ebook reader for reading static stuff (like rss feeds, newspapers and books) so I really only want the laptop/netbook for live web access and travel.
I’m about a millimetre away from going solid state right now, having to buy a new hard disk every couple of years is starting to get me down.
Andrew @14: why ADSL2? If you’re going to stick with old tech you can fit a lot more 56k modems into the existing infrastructure than you can ADSL ones. That would be quite adequate for old-style internet use and would relieve the stress on the backbone as well, saving even more money. Like Bunnings, not quite as good but a lot cheaper!
If you’re going to pick a limit you need to be able to justify that limit, both in the “why impose a limit” and “why that particular limit” senses. All you’ve done is said that what we had a few years ago is fine by you so no-one else will ever need more. That’s a familiar line and I’m sure even you can think a few relevant quotes.
In the FTTH thread there were a pile of suggestions as to what could be done with the extra bandwidth. Check it out.
I wonder how many people there are who sit in front of the TV with other people with their laptops and IM/IRC to each other instead of talking
“mine had the Windows install wiped as soon as I confirmed the system was running properly”
LOL, mine too. Eeebuntu is great!
“You really seem impervious to logic on this topic, and it’s getting mighty tiresome.”
There’s very little “logic” on either side of this debate, just a bunch of opinions, wishing and guessing and frankly, the people I find tiresome are those who think they’ve got it all sussed and anyone who disagrees with them is some kind of luddite/shill.
d, who’s grumpier than normal today
Oh, and this is the most promising ‘netbook’ I’ve yet seen.
And decent remote collaboration systems requires way more bandwidth than FTTN can deliver and much much better display technology, (but that’s a different complaint), but as display density and size increase so does the the bandwidth required to paint the screen, and we need very large, very dense screens for collaboration technology to really be effective outside of its current niche. More generally, interface response time limits for users are 0.1 sec for the perception of direct manipulation of data, 1 sec for the perception of freely manipulating the command space and 10secs is the limit of users’ attention on a task when the interface is non-responsive.
d (still grumpy)
The story of how netbooks came to have Windows on them is interesting. As others pointed out, there was a huge untapped market out there that Asus stumbled upon by accident with a linux based product.
MS’ reaction was swift and characteristic – they were quick to see the danger that non-nerds would use linux and like what they see. So they offered an OEM version of XP (which OS they were otherwise about to discontinue) at a giveaway price, with the proviso that PCs running this version of XP have no more than 1GB of RAM, so as not to cannibalise their desktop OS sales. So that’s why all those netbooks have only 1GB – I reckon as a matter of principle if you own a netbook and are using XP on it then you should upgrade that RAM.
.
On HDDs, I reckon the greater ruggedness and longer battery life of an SSD makes them a good fit with netbooks, where the smaller capacity is not so much of an issue.
@Chris:
[pout] It’s not quite like that![/pout]For various reasons I’m often watching shows with my husband that I’ve actually already seen, or he’s catching up on news that I’ve already read about on blogs. Rather than go into another room to do my computer stuff I stay in the telly area with my netbook and blogsurf and email while still being able to respond to him saying “I never saw that coming” / “that was crass” etc. I assure you that on drama programs I haven’t seen before I put the netbook down.
Darryl,
The keyboard on that is crap.
.
moz,
You cannot stick a lot more 56k modems on than you can ADSL lines – each has a one per line limit. If you want to use argument by absurdity, at least make your absurdity correct.
As for the substantive part of the argument – personally I do not believe the taxpayer should be stumping up for a system that is about four times faster than the alternative for more than four times the price (if we are to include likely over-runs and accellerated depreciation figures) and take on the vast bulk of the commercial risk when there is no demonstrated need for this to be funded by our taxation. It really is that simple.
I bought one recently as well. No idea what sort, but its blue, light, cost less than $400 and as Robert notes, its great for net/webmail and a (bit of) word processing when you’re away from home.
Frankly, my laptop had become out family desktop – and anyway, laptops were never really as portable as people liked to make out.
But really, as Ive argued previously over at BmL, this has only become necessary because wi-fi has killed public internet access stone dead – as opposed to private internet access in public places.
“The keyboard on that is crap.”
That’s why I said “most promising”, instead of ‘best’. The future of ‘netbook’ type devices is more like the iPhone than the eee (or whatever it’s called).
d
Those diddy little laptops are ideal for fast networking. Especially when you can store all your data on the network. You need ftth so that the wireless networks can be fast enough to make them useful outside the home. If you put fibre to the node with wireless for the last bit you will take up all the bandwidth leaving none for portable machines plus have to build an extra power station or two to power the wireless.
I am really tired of this talk of sufficing solutions. T
Huggy
“they were quick to see the danger that non-nerds would use linux and like what they see.”
There is exactly zero present danger that non-nerds are going anywhere near Linux in meaningful numbers, let alone that they would like it.
d
Andrew @35: show me the ADSL modem that works with line splitting/pair gain and you’ll surprise me. Sure, 2x56k is less than even ADSL1 at its range limit, but it has a lot more range. And it does actually work.
Sorry.
Darryl: have you used Ubuntu lately?
It’s actually pretty painless these days.
“Darryl: have you used Ubuntu lately?”
No, and I’m not likely to, unless I setup an internet proxy for my household, but I suspect the power consumption (or the cost of new hardware) will keep me away from that. That and a general lack of discretionary time, Linux being free if and only if my time is free. :^)
If you prefer, read my comment as a criticism of the hoi poloi of computer users, rather than a slam of Linux.
That being said if you can point me to something up-to-date about the work Linux developers have done with research-driven design in user experience and interaction architecture, I’d be very keen to read it. My perception is that’s an area the Linux community is unable to tackle in a significant way.
d
Actually, my new notebook (whatever it is, I spose I could look) came with Linux. So far I like it – very quick compared to Windoze.
Darryl, not my field.
But what I can tell you is that the Ubuntu desktop is very clean, functional, and has a low hassle factor.
These days, all the bells and whistles that seem to have accumulated on the Vista desktop have a steeper learning curve than Ubuntu, if you ask me.
tigtog @ 34 – was just teasing a bit
My wife and I do the same. Though I’m sure some people think it odd when we chat to each other in IRC or twitter even though we’re in the same house.
Darryl – if you can get it pre-installed then in my opinion Ubuntu these days is about as easy to use as Vista. The main problem new people have is with doing the actually OS install and even that has got much better. These same people would also have difficulty with a windows install whilst trying to preserve their data!
One of the big reasons that netbooks though even low powered can do much of what ordinary users want is that for many years software developers have been looking at how they can maximise resource usage rather than minimise it. So we end up with a lot of useless memory and CPU sucking cruft that people don’t really need. A lot of Linux development also gets sucked down this route, but at least its relatively easy to remove so you can get a quite usable system on low powered systems.
Well, I’m currently dragging a new Dell netbook around Japan. It sits in my camera bag, slotted between the cameras and the back of the bag, and it’s taking the knocks and punishments being meted out to it marvellously. Each night, I transfer the day’s images from my digital cameras to the computer and write something up about the day’s adventure. As a storage device and notetaker, it works brillliantly. Not as hard to lug around as my full-size laptop, and its battery lasts much much longer.
But there’s one flaw…
Optus’ wireless broadband service just doesn’t stretch this far north from Brisbane, and I’m yet to figure out where or if I can piggyback on local wireless networks here…
@terangeree:
I could piggyback on all sorts of wireless networks when I’ve been travelling around Australia. Need to make sure you don’t use any sensitive passwords on an unsecured network, obvs, but for checking up on blogs shouldn’t be a problem. Don’t Maccas do the free WiFi over there?
I also used the modem function on my mobile phone in conjunction with the phone’s software that I preloaded before going on the trip. Don’t do that unless you’ve set up a mobile modem plan with your mobile phone service provider though, or you’ll be charged at the casual usage rate and rack up a huge bill.
The iPhone works for me I use it all the time at work mostly as an RPN calculator as well as some neat computation and scientific apps. Even surf LP using the company wifi. Camera is crap but good enough to send images of traces to my desktop. No way would I lug a laptop – small or not around the plant. I do note that one of the clients has about 20 of those little ones in some test rig. All lined up like child soldiers doing stuff. Neat.
Huggy
This story might be of interest: check out what the publicly owned FTTH company offers:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/22/time-warner-and-embarq-cant-compete-with-city-owned-isp-trying/
iPhone has a RPN calculator?
Finally, something to make me want one. I really miss the HP-25.
David Irving @ 50
You can choose from various models. There is a complete replica HP25 or at least something that looks like one. I use this: http://www.pcalc.com/iphone/
It cost about $5:00 has all the stuff you want including constants and conversions.
If you do science or math you absolutely need one, you can get apps with periodic tables and all sorts of special purpose calculators. It downloads stuff really fast on the 3g network (It will until the retards take up the spectrum with services that should be FTTH)
Huggy
Had a squiz – its an Acer Aspire One. Great little number! Truly portable, fast, and very sound. Linux is easy to use, very intuitive.
Frankly, its faster at net stuff than my Dell Laptop, with Windoze.
As recommended by the thief who broke into my house! it was the only thing they took. Not the laptop.
On to my second notebook, in other words.
“As recommended by the thief who broke into my house! it was the only thing they took. Not the laptop.”
And by me @19. The price is right at about 370 or 530 with windows xp. Very nifty.
Yep, I got it $370 with Linux. Who need windows when your only using it for word processing and email?
True, LeftyE. Though they have been clever enough to avoid crappy Vista for the alternative.
DI @50 “I really miss the HP-25.”
If you want a software option (PC or Mac hosted) try here: hpmuseum.org
There are also emulators for other HP calculators here: hpcalc.org and here: http://www.hpmuseum.org/simulate/simulate.htm (including a java applet for the ’25)
There’s also some commercial ones (not too expensive) at rlmtools.com – these are pretty impressive.
And if that’s too high-tech for you, do your calculations the grinding way with a Curta.
(Wiki article on the Curta here).
DI@50 also try here for a calculator that looks rather like an HP25 I had once.
http://www.creativecreek.com/iphone/mathu.html
Huggy
Liam, I prefer to do my calculation with a pile of pebbles…
Ah, the Curta. Yes, we had a couple of them in a glass case at the School of Military Survey. (I think the HP-25s ended up between them and the heighting barometers … )
Actually, I think there was a RPN calculator for the Palm Pilot, too.
My ACER Aspire One carked it after three months and it is irrepairable. So I’m now using a Dell.
tigtog @ 47:
Everytime I’ve checked, only secured networks were available. Not having a Nihongo keyboard and software throws me down another level, too. Left my mobile phone at home as Japanese system is pretty much incompatible with everyone else’s. My ryokan tonight, though, has free LAN access, so I’m using that.
RPN.
I have this (very young) graduate electrical engineering student from one of the Queensland uni’s working with me at the moment. He has huge mathematical skills but had never been introduced to RPN! All us old fart engineers are truly amazed at this oversight. (Along with the fact that the uni had never thought to introduce him to Fourier transforms – (like about as fucking basic as you can get)
As they have courses called “infomechatronics”(I don’t know what it means either) should we be surprised?
Huggy
terangeree @ 62:
Lots of hotels I’ve stayed in have their own secured wireless network that one can access, although some of them charge extortionate rates for systems that are poorly set up. Yet another thing to shop around for when travelling.
Then there are the newish mobile broadband keys, which are rather more secure and convenient than switching between Dodgy Bros. wireless networks when travelling. Probably still wouldn’t help you much in Japan though.
“My ACER Aspire One carked it after three months and it is irrepairable. So I’m now using a Dell.”
Good god! Did they give you your money back or a fresh one? (And it is so uncool that those Japanese are doing nothing for Anzac Day, terangeree. Thanks for the info and I look forward to more inside info from the trip.)
Tigtog, you mentioned the “Dodgy Bros”. That reminds me, Kev reckons Joe Hockey and Turnbuckle are a rehash of this famous sales team.
Want to buy a Floatation Tank?
@joe2:
Quite. How very odd that a nation whose involvement in WW1 had nothing whatsoever to do with the campaigns in the Dardanelles would not have any official recognition of another nation’s commemoration day regarding WW1.
@ Joe2
Photos being gradually uploaded to my Facebook page — half of them are there now.
I’m back in Brisbane now. The last day turned out very expensive as my DSLR carked it on a rainy day in Tokyo (it’s had the same fault before, and cost $500 and took a week to fix), so I landed up buying the cheapest new Canon DSLR available at a shop called BIC, which is like Harvey Normans, on steroids, multiplied by an exponential factor of seven. My Canon EOS Kiss X2 body, with memory card, cost the equivalent of $1050 Australian.
Unfortunately, the show I wanted to see in Tokyo was sold out by the time I got to the theatre yesterday (I went there on Monday, but they’re closed on Sundays and Mondays), so I’ll have to use my imagination to discover what a Broadway-style musical about a male black jazz musician in New Orleans in the early 20th century is like when the entire cast is female and all of the words and songs are in Japanese.
But next month’s show is Zorro (played by women, sung in Japanese), and return flights with a certain Qantas subsidiary airline are as cheap as chips, and I have two five-day weekends rostered to me next month…
Huggybunny @ 63 – I had an RPN calculator (HP42S) all through university, but when I was graduating about 15 years ago they were starting to specify exactly which calculator you were allowed to have for exams – a pretty basic cheap lowest common denominator scientific calculator which wasn’t RPN. Apparently this was done for fairness reasons but I’m not surprised that as a result recent graduates don’t know about RPN
I’m as horrified as you about the RPN ignorance, Huggy. Aside from anything else, implementing a RPN simulator is a wonderful way to come to grips with stacks. (They probably don’t know about stacks, either.)
Talk about pocket rockets: Looking around for a new phone, I came across a Stevie Wonder/ BabbleFish Special: the 5MP camera, xenon flash, dedicated GPU and dual 300HZ processors, are good enough to OCR images of book pages, then translate the text, then convert to speech, and read out in bluetooth stereo as the translated text is highlighted, all pretty much in real time. It’s got a 640×480 TV-out socket, and the embedded office suite software can be driven with a bluetooth keyboard. Has anyone seen of a integrated mini-KVM kit, say with a 7 inch LCD screen, Li rechargable, like on ipod interfacing ones? The mouse part would be a bit redundant , since phones themselves have perfectly acceptable cursor controls, and keybpoards have arrows. It’s all rather a big step from the log-tables and slide-rule of matric.
David Irving (no relation)@ 69
That’s the irony. I insist that all our embedded code is written in “C”. The lad is proficient in this. So he understands stacks.
Huggy