Matthew Fulmer wrote:

On Tue, May 22, 2007 at 09:44:37AM -0500, Howard Stearns wrote:

I'm thinking not in terms of what it is, but rather how and in what context 
it would be used:

* To be used ubiquitously in any context, it needs to not only be small and 
have good battery life, but it needs to be cheap and "losable."  I think 
Alan gives an example of taking it to the beach or a raft in the pool. 
(This also implies replicated external storage.)


XO has all these features.

It does, but I think a Dynabook (or what we now are contemplating a Dynabook to be) would require a bit more processor and storage power (and a better design of the input methods - be it a QWERY keyboard, chord and/or touch-screen.) The Geode is a low-power processor, and that's great and what I think we want to head for. But I think a better balance could be made with another processor to address the needs of a broader user base - balancing software needs with power consumption.

I think also that memory is too low and storage should probably be in the 50GB range. I think also that some compromise in video/audio codec delivery should be made so that most of the multimedia recording/playback processing can be assisted by HW (motion compensation, bitblt, even H.264, etc.).

The Viewpoints "Steps Toward The Reinvention of Programming" (maybe I'll call the authors "The Gang of 5") does not go into detail on what their "metal" consists of. I'd like to find out more of what they are thinking. Maybe they'll start with a powerbook and use the XO in parallel. Maybe they have some ideas of building a new platform in parallel with the software development.

Along those lines, is there any contemporary non-Von Neuman processor architecture that would be better suited for Smalltalk? Perhaps to reduce power and to streamline OO architectures. I remember reading Dan and Alan mentioning the handy use of microcoding processors at Xerox to help their work. I also recall a processor that was built for OO but I can't find my notes. Anyone?

===
General XO specs:

CPU: AMD Geode 400 MHz x86
Memory: 128 Mb 133 MHz DRAM
BIOS: LinuxBIOS stored on 512k flash ROM
Storage: 512 Mb SLC NAND Flash memory
Video: 693 x 520 pixel color display capable of switching to a 1200 by 900 sunlight-readable monochrome mode
Network: internal 802.11 wi-fi with mesh networking capability
Keyboard: various depending on target language. They will include two 5-key cursor-control pads.
Mouse: a touchpad pointing device
Interfaces: 4 USB ports
Power: input jack for DC from 10 up to 25 volts. A human-powered generator, probably foot powered, will be bundled with the unit. The internal rechargable battery has 5 NiMH cells.
Sound: built-in stereo speakers and microphone