Nokia makes a tablet computer which is intended to be a portable
"internet" device. It's not a phone - it has no cellular circuitry,
instead getting its IP connection either via WiFi or a Bluetooth
tether to a mobile phone. It's not intended to be a PDA, having no
"organizer" applications in the default software load. Its goal is
to help bring the web, email, instant messaging, etc. with you,
perhaps taking the place of a laptop.
The kicker? It runs Linux. Not just embedded Linux, but a complete
(modified) Debian system, with X11 for display (on the impressively
high-res 800x480 screen), BusyBox for a shell, and apt for package
management. Its development platform is open source (http://
maemo.org) and has a good community behind it. This means that it's
exceptionally easy to take its capability beyond Nokia's original
intentions for the device.
Nokia's original model of this device was the N770. Though that
model has been succeeded by the N800 (faster CPU, more RAM), the N770
is still a great little device and remains well supported by the
development community. Retail on a N800 today is $400. But if you
want a cheap portable Linux device, you can pick up a new-in-box N770
today for $129 at http://www.woot.com. (For those who don't know how
Woot! works, it has one featured product every 24 hours, and that
product is only available until it sells out or 24 hours passes.)
I have no affiliation nor interest in Woot!, but that's a fantastic
price for a capable portable Linux machine, so I'm posting this
because I figured there'd be some interested folks on this list.
More info on the N770 can be found on Wikipedia (or through Google
where there are dozens of sites dedicated to the device and its OS):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N770
--
Joshua Penix http://www.binarytribe.com
Binary Tribe Linux Integration Services & Network Consulting
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
