>From :http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19991008S0011 The Traveler is based on a custom Geode chip from National Semiconductor Corp. The Geode NSC1028 RISC processor is a 16-bit system-on-chip design with integrated keyboard and printer ports, LCD display controller and speech synthesis circuitry. The PDA features a 13-line x 25 character LCD touch screen. The Traveler uses a proprietary operating system developed by VTech. The company used the same processor and OS in two e-mail-only devices it had introduced in September: the E-Mail Post Box, priced at $99; and the portable E-Mail Express, priced at $79. Jim Beard wrote: > I found some of the specs off of the vtech URL for the companion model. It > says > the processor is a NSC1028, that it has 448k of storage space and 32k of > RAM. > It runs off of 2 C batteries, and has an expansion storage card slot (it > doesn't > really say what the cards are like tho, other then refering to them as > 'cartridges'). > It has a parallel printer port and weighs 2.4lbs. The dimensions are > 12.4 x 8.2 x 3.8 inches. > > The PostBox model has the same processor and slightly more memory (512k) and > the > same amound of ram as the companion. It runs on AA batteries though and is > a > smaller, lighter design, with a slightly larger screen (5 lines of display > where the > companion had only 4). It weighs in at only 7.2oz and has 6.3 x 3.5 x .86 > inches > as it's dimensions. I don't think it has the expansion storage option or > the > printer port. > > ~~~ > Jim Beard > counterclaim > Chief Engineer > 1551 Oak St. Suite D > Eugene, OR 97401 > Voice # 541.484.9235 > Fax # 541.484.9193 > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > Ralph Zeller > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 10:40 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [EUG-LUG:1877] Re: portable terminals, long battery life, ideal > hackish remote. > > Larry, > > I've seen these at Radio Shack and even at Target. They used to sell for > $99, and you had to sign up for a year with their ISP, and use yahoo for > mail. On the original models, I was told, you could enter the dial-up > phone number yourself; now the software must be hacked (and the license > violated?) in order to dial into another computer. > > Neither of the two models look very durable to me, but at least there's > no hard-drive to crash. The keyboard on the larger model looks a lot > nicer to type on than anything else in the price-range, though. > > I think the larger model has a printer port on it. The keys on the > smaller model look too small to be useful for much typing. > > I found a link at http://www.vtechconnectusa.com/index.php3 > > There's another similar device that's used in elementary schools called > an "alpha-smart" or something like that. There are several models but > basically it's a keyboard with memory and a small display built-in. > Since it's used in schools, it must be rugged? I haven't seen one, but > it might be similar to the vtech. > > Doesn't it take some processor power to do ssh? Can a 286 handle it? > > Ralph > > At 01:39 AM 7/27/2001 -0700, larry a price <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >I've been looking into portable text terminals lately, and I think i've > >found a real deal. The other day I foundthis thing called the > >{ } > >{ } $29.95 <<<<< USD > >{ email PostBox(tm)Express } That may mean $49.00 > >{ } -$30 rebate > >{ } if you sign up > > ------------------------------- for a years service > >manufacture by VTECH @$9.99/month > > > >featuring YaHoo!(also tm) Mail. > > > >I'm pretty sure it's a 286 system on chip (2400baud modem, 512k memory) > >but it can connect to the network and the speed is highly doable for an > >aftermarket radio link ;-) > > > >The ad and the box were surprisingly unforthcoming about technical specs, > >yet i suspect a somewhat chopped and folded version of our favorite > >operating system might lie underneath it' s little 40*80 grey screen. It's > >about the size and thickness of a paperback thriller and it has a little > >little keyboard with a little bit of button cruft, and a Phone Jack! > > > >It would acceptable for thumb typing or deliberate touch typing. And the > >blurb says it stores up to 500 messages (1_buffer * 500) where 1_buffer is > >the size in bytes of what they call a message. It looks like it would make > >a half decent reote terminal and it has a store and forward type of model > >where it squirts messages up and down and is read and edited offline. > > > >Who wants to have a go at hacking it? I bet we can do this thing up to to > >at least run short scripts or at minimum cross-compile with gcc and get a > >decent portable editor and ssh-terminal. I see it as meeting our own needs > >for portable longlife rugged terminals. And you dould probably get decent > >comms in the field if you hooked it up to a spread spectrum radio box > >;-) > > > >Dependencies are the following libraries gcrypt,OpenSSH,glibc, and > >jabber on the servers to handle presence etc. > > > >Make no bones about it this a challenging hack, at present we don't know > >exactly what hardware lies underneath that tiny little keyboard but if it > >can run linux we can do it!! Grab 'em now before they get yanked off the > >market :P They're way too cheap to last. And they're marketing 'em to > >bored and jaded who want to get their email on the go, recase with a > >decent keyboard and they're ideal remote controls. (think couch and > >multimedia and editing global config files for your house) > > > >Yum, if you have one and are at mikes next week, we can get started on the > >reverse engineering... > > > >Larry Price | "We have seen the truth. > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] | And the truth makes no sense." -chesterton > >_______________________________________________________________ > > -- ============================================================================= Garl R. Grigsby Senior Customer Applications Engineering - Analysis Team ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Structural Dynamics Research Corporation Phone: (800)242-7372 TAO Americas Support Center FAX: (541)342-8277 1750 Willow Creek Circle Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Eugene, OR 97402 Internet: http://www.sdrc.com ============================================================================= -FEA makes a good engineer great, and a poor engineer dangerous- =============================================================================
