Tim -

Thanks for pointing out Itsy. What a great concept! Too bad DEC is not announcing marketing plans. I'd expect them to be expensive at first (as with most things made in small runs).

It sounds like what the Newton MP2100 could have been if Apple had just released the hardware memory maps & other specs to let people get a simple OS on it with a standard C compiler (like the Pilot has). :-(

Since Itsy runs Linux, I would assume Squeak for Linux should run on Itsy with only a few minor modifications -- maybe even just loading in the WinCE changes for running on a monochrome screen with a stylus. Linux looks like overkill for it -- but at least it is an open standard. What might be really interesting is a native Squeak port like for the Mitsubishi chip.

Itsy will have the same problems Squeak on the Newton would have regarding battery life. The Arm processor gets battery long life by going to sleep frequently. For example, from the website slide show for Itsy, running continuously, Itsy gets about one hour of battery life. A totally event driven Squeak would be a real plus for conserving battery life. I don't know how they expect to do text-to-speech or voice recognition and have decent battery life. Of course, once those methanol fuel cells for cell phones come into production in a couple years (hopefully -- mentioned in a recent Popular Science issue), battery life concerns for PDAs might practically be a thing of the past.

Tim Olson wrote:

Hey, folks, wonder if someone can get Squeak running on this: http://www.research.digital.com/wrl/itsy/ Looks like its goals of open hardware/software for handheld systems might mesh nicely with Squeak directions.

-Paul Fernhout Kurtz-Fernhout Software ========================================================= Developers of custom software and educational simulations Creators of the StoryHarp(TM) Audioventure Authoring System Creators of PlantStudio(TM) Botanical Illustration Software http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com