[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: a USB board
heuser.marcus@freenet.de wrote:
> Tristan Mumford schrieb:
>>
>> Can't say I've looked at the T5, lifedrive or TX too hard to be honest.
>
> Don't bother. Large but slow storage on the LifeDrive, less features
> (no microphone, IIRC no vibration alarm) and altogether greater
> "cheapness" in all aspects (bigger, cheaper case) of the T5 and TX.
I didn't realise with the mic and vibration. I kind of need the vibration. I
usually don;t hear alarms when I have a PDA(/phone/whatever) in my pocket.
> No USB-cradle and (in some aspects) worse displays.
Argh! But I need my cradles etc. My m500 has both USB and serial cradles and
cables. The serial cable makes for a great debugging terminal interface.
> And the battery life (5h on the T3) isn't much better, too.
Yeah. I was wondering if power-to-go modules are still floating around on
eBay. I'm getting a 3rd party cheapie external battery pack/charger for if
I get into trouble with battery life for now.
>
> Better buy a 1 GB SD-card for the T3 (bigger ones don't work) and
> be content ;-)
Hey, that's enough for me. I've been stuck with a 16mb card for ages. My
partner never looks kindly on my attempts to 'acquire' her 1GB and 512MB
cards.
>
>> My initial goal was to get a T2 because it's compatible with my m500's
>> peripherals. But we ended up getting a T2 and a T3 for a total of
>> AU$250, which isn't bad at all.
>> I'm taking the T3, My partner is having the T2.
>
> Ha ha!
Well, she got other stuff for xmas, like a portable dvd player. Seems fair
to me.
>
>> Mine will get a lot more of a flogging. Serious use and emulators (some
>> overlap). There is no way I could turn down a 400MHz palm.
>
> Actually its mostly overkill - but definitely nice to have.
> However, for GPS navigation its the right amount of horsepower :o)
Looking at getting a GPS module in the future. We often find ourselves
needing to go into unfamiliar territory on a tight timeline, so it'd be
very useful.
>
> I tried a program to slow the CPU down when using standard apps
> (to achieve longer battery life), but it resulted in a complete crash.
>
> Now I really don't bother anymore - the machine should save time,
> after all ;-)
I thought the ARM based palms killed their CPU when not in use like the
Dragonball units. So I'm surprised there's such a power drain difference.
Of course I may be totally wrong.
>
>> I have noticed a fair lack of Apple emulators. Why is that?
>
> What do you mean by lack? Where do you expect/wish one?
I'd like one with more extended featureset for linux for a start. Apple2
does the real basics well enough, but support for the 'standard'
peripherals and better 80 column support would be nice. Along with whatever
bug it is causing keypresses to be passed on to console to be fixed.
And I guess a more mature one for palm. I've looked at what's available and
they all seem to be sitting in very early stages. I guess that depending on
circumstance, freeware/gpl software can take a loooong time.
>
>> The (apple) architecture was far more open than its competitors
>
> Which can also be a bad thing. Frozen specs are great to work
> with. Just look at the hardware the Apple emulators support and
> compare this - for example - with the Commodore emulator VICE.
That's a point. And plugins etc can be suggested, but coming up with a
decent universal API which is usable can be a challenge.
>
> I say this not to be rude or disrespectful, I like AppleWin for
> example, but there definitely is room for improvement.
>
> One could argue that some peripherals are just not worth emulating,
> because they are too exotic but the spirit of the Apple II is that you
> can plug nearly every shit for some reason in it and *use* it (like
> I/O, mass storage, sound, speech, video etc.)
Just the basics are enough to me :)
>
> What I would like for example is a perfect emulation of the Apple
> graphics tablet (I would even buy a PC tablet for this) and better
> (and adjustable) composite video emulation.
>
> And other people surely have other wishes - because *their* Apples
> had these options at the time.
>
> Compare this with C64 users who usually only had a floppy, some
> joysticks, a TV-set and maybe a printer. Complete emulation
> possible today ;-)
>
>
>> etc. etc. and it had/has a large following.
>
> "has"? What is "large", then? Several hundred? Thousands (world wide)?
> How many do actively program/publish something?
I can't quantify it. But I know whenever I need help there's always someone
willing to help. That says that there is an active user base to me!
>
>> And I remember that recent thread in here on single cycle CPU emulation
>> using an ARM based architecture. Combine that with the simplicity of the
>> standard apple peripherals and you have an emulator that can spend most
>> of its time with the host CPU off. Even more with a ROM image patched
>> with breakpints for idling.
>
> AFAIK the older PalmApple is 68k-based.
> This is your chance for fame! Be the first! Write an ARM-Apple-emu!
Well, I want to get back into palm app development. Sounds like a good
advanced project.
Sorry if this is a bit fragmented. It was written in installments over the
period of a day.
--
-----> http://members.dodo.com.au/~izabellion1/tristan/index.html <-----
===== It's not pretty, it's not great, but it is mine. =====