Apr 19

Sharp’s NetWalker PC-T1 is the very definition of a MID, coming in May

Posted in: arm, handheld, Linux, MID, Sharp, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, ubuntu

You’ll recall, wise and knowledgeable as you are, that we weren’t exactly bowled over by Sharp’s keyboard-equipped PC-Z1 portable when we got to play with it at IFA last year. Coming back for another bite at the cherry, the Japanese company has just announced the NetWalker PC-T1, which does away with the disappointing keyboard but retains the crazy pixel density (1024 x 600 resolution on a 5-inch display) and Freescale i.MX515 CPU of its predecessor. Also on offer are Bluetooth and 802.11b/g wireless options, Ubuntu 9.04 as the OS, and USB and MicroSD ports for a nice bit of expandability. An Anglo-Japanese dictionary comes pre-installed plus you’ll get access to Sharp’s e-bookstore, which has over 25,000 titles on offer. Of course, all that good stuff is tempered by a mediocre 6-hour battery life and a ¥47,000 ($510) price tag. Look for this MID archetype to hit stores in Japan next month.

Gallery: Sharp NetWalker PC-T1

Sharp’s NetWalker PC-T1 is the very definition of a MID, coming in May originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 12

Dell Finds Success with Ubuntu?

Posted in: Laptops, Linux, Software, Today's Chili, ubuntu

This article was written on April 16, 2008 by CyberNet.

dell xps m1330 ubuntu It’s coming up on one year since Dell started selling computers that are preinstalled with Ubuntu Linux. Towards the end of last year some stats started rolling in saying that Dell had only sold 40,000 Ubuntu machines, which equates to about 220 units per day. That’s not too shabby considering the only form of advertising for the Dell Ubuntu machines is by word of mouth.

An estimated 1 in 500 machines that they sell are running Ubuntu, and it’s left some people wondering whether that would be good enough for Dell. Well, I think it is. In December 2007 they upgraded the version of Ubuntu that they ship with their machines so that it includes DVD-playback out-of-the-box. And then earlier this year they added the high-end XPS M1330 laptop to the Ubuntu lineup.

Really the only bad thing that I’ve heard about Dell offering the Ubuntu laptops is the pricing. Naturally you would expect them to be cheaper because it comes with an open source operating system, but that’s not always the case. When comparing stock configurations of the XPS M1330 you can save about $50 by choosing the Ubuntu-powered version versus the Windows one, but the price difference really starts to shine through in more advanced configurations. The Windows version has four different pre-configured models available, and most of them offer significant savings (up to $600 off) over customizing the stock model to a similar set of hardware. Those kind of savings are not available in the Ubuntu configurations.

I’m sure Dell could give the Ubuntu sales even more of a bump if they looked into methods of marketing it, but it seems as though Linux doesn’t fare well with the general consumer as we saw with Wal-Mart and the gPC. It’s got to be confusing for people who purchase the computers thinking that they can install all of their favorite Windows applications, but find out the hard way that it doesn’t work like that. Hopefully with Dell’s help Ubuntu can become a little more mainstream.

[via ComputerWorld]

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Apr 05

Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code

Posted in: Android, AndroidOs, apple ipad, AppleIpad, AppleIphone, droid, ipad, iPhone, Linux, Mac, os x, OsX, Software, Today's Chili, ubuntu, Windows, windows 7, Windows7

We love the idea of Android apps running on iPhone and vice versa, and that’s exactly what Adobe’s selling with its multiplatform development solution AIR — but though we’ve seen a demo here and there, conversations we’ve had with the company led us to believe that AIR was not yet up to the task. However, Adobe dev Christian Cantrell has the proof — he created a game of Reversi that runs on five platforms without having to change a single line of code. In a video after the break, he demonstrates iReverse running on OS X, Windows 7, Ubuntu Linux, the iPhone, a Droid and the new iPad, explaining how it took only a series of seriously tiny platform-specific wrappers to make his program function on each. Since each platform has its own hardware strengths, this kind of convergence isn’t always a good thing — but if it provides extra incentive for developers to get cracking on hot new apps, we’re all for it.

Continue reading Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code

Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 09

Full Circle Magazine Issue #6

Posted in: Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, ubuntu

This article was written on October 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

Full Circle Magazine Issue 6 Cover The independent Full Circle Magazine has just released issue 6 today, and as expected it includes some great tips on the recently released Ubuntu 7.10. More importantly they show you how you can upgrade Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) to Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon).

I’ve converted this issue of Full Circle Magazine into a JPEG image for those of you who don’t want to download the PDF, and here’s a quick overview of what issue #6 has in it:

There are also plans for a Full Circle Podcast which should be coming up soon. The next issue of the magazine will be out on November 30th.

And I want to remind everyone that we’ve also been posting several Ubuntu reviews and tutorials in the last few weeks:

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Mar 09

Ubuntu hits HTC’s Touch Pro2, is any Windows Mobile handset safe? (video)

Posted in: hack, HTC, Today's Chili, ubuntu, Windows Mobile, WindowsMobile
Ubuntu hits HTC's Touch Pro 2, is any Windows Mobile handset safe?

If there’s one thing we’re pretty sure Windows Phone 7 Series will be worse at than its Windows Mobile precursor it’s in the running of various and sundry other operating systems. We’ve seen Android running on seemingly every WinMo handset ever created and more recently Ubuntu has been receiving the mobile treatment. Last month it was on an Xperia X1, now an HTC Touch Pro2 is getting a taste. A modder who goes by the handle sebbo90 is the one responsible for this, running basically the same technique as used earlier on the X1. It looks quite easy: just download a 200MB zip, extract it to your phone, then run an exe within. A few moments later you’ll be in open source heaven, and, from what we can tell looking at the video below, it works remarkably well. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have to hit up eBay to find a used handset and get hacking.

Continue reading Ubuntu hits HTC’s Touch Pro2, is any Windows Mobile handset safe? (video)

Ubuntu hits HTC’s Touch Pro2, is any Windows Mobile handset safe? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 03

Kogan announces $200 HD tablet, with networked TVs, Agora handset, and leprechauns to follow

Posted in: Android, blu-ray, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, ubuntu, YouTube
Ah, Ruslan Kogan — we can’t help but want to see this starry-eyed dreamer succeed, even if we still haven’t got our Android handset. According to Australia’s APC, the man’s gunning for the iPad market with an as yet unnamed tablet of his own. The goal? A full HD, ARM 600MHz-powered capacitive touchscreen device with 512MB RAM, 2GB storage, and an SDHC card for under $200 (presumably that’s Australian dollars, meaning about $180 US). Apparently the above prototype runs Windows, Android and Ubuntu, although Windows won’t be an option if — and we do mean if — this thing ever solidifies, due to production costs. As for that display, it’s tipped to be 800 x 480, the sting of which is taken out by the unit’s 1080p HDMI output. You say you’re not in the market for a slate? Kogan’s also said to be working on networked TVs (“probably by the end of the year”) and a Blu-ray player with WiFi and YouTube widgets. As for the aforementioned Agora handset? “[S]oon,” he says. “I can’t give a time frame on that, though. It’ll be as soon as we’re allowed to.” This is one mysterious man indeed. We can’t help but wonder when he’s going to get serious and tackle something big, like perpetual motion.

Update: We just realized that this is none other than SmartQ 7 MID first handled, oh, back in May!

Continue reading Kogan announces $200 HD tablet, with networked TVs, Agora handset, and leprechauns to follow

Kogan announces $200 HD tablet, with networked TVs, Agora handset, and leprechauns to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 17

Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 gets ported onto Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1

Posted in: Android, Google, hack, Linux, mod, open source, opensource, operating system, OperatingSystem, os, Software, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili, ubuntu, xperia

Not even a fortnight after we saw Android 2.0.1 slapped onto Sony Ericsson’s all-but-forgotten Xperia X1, along comes a port that makes the other look like child’s play. A dedicated coder over at XDA Developers has managed to stuff Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 onto an X1, and while the functionality is limited (as you’d expect), the amount of fun to be had is restrained only by your imagination (and available vacation time). Go on and peek that source link to join the discussion — but be warned, you’ll be sucking down over a gigabyte worth of data before the first installation process.

[Thanks, Jules]

Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 gets ported onto Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 21

Editorial: 10 outdated elements of desktop operating systems

Posted in: Apple, Linux, mac os x, MacOsX, Microsoft, operating system, OperatingSystem, os, Today's Chili, ubuntu, windows 7, Windows7

We’ve come so very far in the way computer operating systems treat us, and in the way we treat those computer operating systems. They multitask, they animate, they reach into the internet and pull down our favorite parts, they rarely crash and they’re always on. It’s a far cry from a decade ago, but I think we could go so much further. The advent of the cheap, ubiquitous touchscreen, always-available internet and continually cheaper and more powerful hardware has revolutionized the phone industry, and I think it can also help the desktops and laptops we know and love do more for us. But a laptop isn’t a phone: we’re supposed to get a lot done on it, under some unrealistic deadlines, and some random company with big ideas can’t come along and reinvent the desktop OS in one fell swoop — that simply isn’t practical when we have things to do.

So what’s an OS to do? I think there are serious opportunities for evolution available to the Microsofts, Apples and Ubuntus of the world, but they involve embracing new technologies in new ways. And stealing a ton of ideas from phones. A finger on a screen is not a mouse on a pad, an internet browser is not the end-all be-all of the internet, and playing Crysis in a quad HD resolution at 60 fps is not the ultimate expression of gaming for 95% of the population. Join me as I explore a few bits of legacy cruft that need to be addressed before the desktop OS can become as important to this decade as it was to the last one.

Continue reading Editorial: 10 outdated elements of desktop operating systems

Editorial: 10 outdated elements of desktop operating systems originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

Marvell shows off an ODM smartbook thinner than strict decency permits (hands-on with video!)

Posted in: arm, hands-on, Linux, Today's Chili, ubuntu

Marvell has a new smartbook design on display here with its Armada 510 processor under the hood, and it’s one of the skinniest we’ve seen yet. What’s more surprising, however, is that the device is actually built pretty well, and we even enjoyed the classic-style keyboard spread across its 12.1-inch expanse. The unit was built by an unnamed ODM who is currently shopping it around to manufacturers (or perhaps someone’s bitten already, who knows), and we’re getting a ballpark $200 pricepoint and a promise of about 4 hours of battery life with regular use. Apparently the big trend with these low-power ARM processor-based laptops is to trim down on battery size and therefore cost, and so we’ll have to see where the market settles on preferred batter life: 4 hours might be too few, but at $200 it’s surely tempting. The machine runs full Ubuntu plenty well, including 720p movies, and we were even digging the screen brightness and color — basically, if Marvell’s partners can get this on the market in short order, it might have a significant leg up on the rest of the smartbook competition, at least in terms of sheer quality and sex appeal.

Update: We grabbed a quick video — check it out after the break!

Gallery: Marvell shows off an ODM smartbook thinner than strict decency permits

Continue reading Marvell shows off an ODM smartbook thinner than strict decency permits (hands-on with video!)

Marvell shows off an ODM smartbook thinner than strict decency permits (hands-on with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 31

SmartQ V5 MID available now to a world that’s just stopped caring

Posted in: Android, chinese, MID, PMP, Today's Chili, ubuntu

When we first laid eyes on the SmartQ V5, we were pretty underwhelmed… yet another resistive touchscreen MID? We’re beginning to long for those halcyon days of late 2009 when an Android handheld was a thing of awe and wonder. Just a refresher: this guy features a 4.3-inch display, 600MHz ARM11 processor (which the brave among us can overclock to 800MHz), 256MB RAM, HDMI out, and more. Of some interest to the jaded gadget-head, this guy ships with Android, Ubuntu, and Windows CE 6.0 pre-installed — not a bad feature, if that’s your thing. If you poke around the Internets you should be able to find this bad boy for near $180.

SmartQ V5 MID available now to a world that’s just stopped caring originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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