Ron K. Jeffries on the Palm Foleo
This weekend I selected FoleoFan as a name for my new blog, and purchased FoleoFan.com as my domain.
I was not aware that Alan Grassia almost simultaeously started his FoleoFanatics blog.
This isn’t going to work. For all the right reasons, I want a distinctive name. Maybe I’ll shift the scope and focus a bit as well.
Advice welcome!
r j e f f r i e s
[a h t]
g m a i l
[d a h t]
c o m
Palm is being coy about identifying the processor in the Foleo. The Atmel AP7000 family of microcontrollers is a rational candidate.
What do we know about the CPU in Foleo? Not much. But it’s enough to make a decent guess.
– low power consumption
– low system cost
– no video codec drivers, yet
– runs with Linux
The Atmel AVR32 AP7000 meets Foleo design constraints. It’s a pretty cool device.
A few details from Embedded-System.net:
[tease]
Key features:
* Multi-layer, high-speed bus architecture, parallel multiple operations.
* Vectored multiplier co-processor.
* Memory Management Unit.
* DMA controller designed for high-speed data transfer between peripherals and memories.
* Two peripheral bus bridges, allow different clock frequencies to be set for high- and low-speed peripherals.
* Optimized clock usage to increase throughput and reduce power consumption.
* Fully-supported Linux 2.6 kernel, for Embedded Linux application
* 32 KB on-chip SRAM, 16 KB instruction and 16 KB data caches,
Peripherals:
* 16-bit stereo audio DAC.
* 2048×2048 pixel TFT/STN LCD controllers.
* 480 Mbps USB 2.0 with on-chip transceivers (PHY).
* Two 10/100 Ethernet MACs.
* Serial interfaces: RS232, USART, I2S, AC97, TWI/I2C, SPI, PS/2 and several SSC Synchronous Serial Modules).
Development:
AP7000 family uses a single development environment for straightforward debugging. The AVR32 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is specifically designed for high-level programming languages like C, C++ and Java. Compilers with C and C++ support include GNU GCC and IAR Systems’ Embedded Workbench. The compilers are able to utilize the AVR32 architecture’s SIMD- and DSP instructions from within the C/C++ programming environment. Both compilers support access to in-line assembly for tight-loop / inner-loop algorithmic optimizations.
There you have it. The Atmel AVR700 is a reasonable choice for the Foleo.
We can eliminate a few other obvious CPU possibilities, because of the lack of video codecs Palm has revealed. That eliminates the ARM and Intel family of products, including the cheap Via processor that the ASUS small laptop is using.
Comments welcome!
Josh Goldman writes VIA NanoBook UMD: Big PDA or Tiny Laptop?
For more detail, see the Via nanobook site.
Mark Hachman writes Intel, ASUS Announce $199 “Eee PC.”
It’s now obvious that there can not possibly be a market for a small, lightweight instant-on laptop-ish computer. Right.
Fernado Cassia writes about How to make Palm’s Foleo a winner, in ten easy steps.
Funny stuff.
Someone at Palm Inc. writes:
I found your Foleo discussion through a Technorati search. I’m glad you’re seeing the potential in our product idea — we certainly don’t think the platform will be limited to what was shown at the D conference, but instead we hope that a number of creative solutions will come out of our developer community, both those who came from the Palm OS world and those attracted from the Linux world.
As for portability — I use a laptop, but it takes a lot more effort to put it to sleep, unhook all the cords, detach the Kensington lock, and grab the power adapter when I run to a meeting. I can grab my Foleo in a few seconds and have something that works well for note taking, sending off an email of action items, or looking up information on the web (or goofing off with Solitaire or Newsgator Online if it’s a particularly boring meeting).
Like he says.
A friend writes: “I agree with you and Tim Bajarin — I think the Foleo is cool, but if you already carry a laptop do you really need one?”
Yes. I now carry my ThinkPad many places where all I really want is email, instant messaging and a browser. I want it to turn on and off instantly (no laptop does). It should be light, have good battery performance, and offer a useable screen and keyboard.
Having Foleo leverage the mobile broadband connection my Treo offers will save on the order of $60 a month. That saving alone pays back the cost of a Foleo in under a year.
In the future I plan to use two computers plus a mobile phone. My main PC will be a killer laptop, with a Core Duo 2, hardware virtualization, 2 to 4 G of memory, and a 300 MB hard drive.
Yes, a laptop by definition is portable. However, I plan to carry my Foleo for the sheer joy of instant on, plus doing everything I wish to do at the bookstore, restaraunt or while drinking a Starbucks.
I especially want email that’s always in sync with my IMAP account. ChatterEmail on my Treo 700p does that, but the screen is tiny and the keyboard only works for one sentence messages. As you may know, Palm recently bought the KILLER Treo mail client ChatterEmail. How convenient.
My on the move computing needs are simple:
Email. I read and write email. Web mail clients — Google Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft and LaszloMail all work great.
Instant messaging. I like Pidgen (was called GAIM), a free, open source IM client.
Browsing. Firefox or Opera are fine. I read Atom/RSS feeds with Google Reader, in my browser.
Photo viewing. There are plenty to select from in Linux land.
Keep it light and simple. These are not power hungry applications. As we ride the curve of ever lower silicon prices, the Foleo will either get cheaper with the same capabilities, or remain the same price and become more powerful. Most likely both will happen, with different model numbers.
This is not a new idea. The Nolkia 880 is a different collection of points carved from the same general design space. Nokia focuses on multimedia, especially video and audio playback, It has a fabulous screen, is smaller and lighter than the Foleo. But it’s not an email or text machine like the Foleo aims to be.
My friend continues:
[tease]
Foleo is aimed for the shrinking number of desktop users that need a truly portable keyboard device.
One of my favorite machines from the past was a Toshiba T1000 — instant on, DOS 2.11 in ROM, 80C88, MS Works and ASR/VT52 emulator with portable 2400 baud modem so I could dial into CompuServe. At about 6 pounds I carried it everywhere as a companion to my desktop Macintosh II (long before the first PowerBooks…)
But, just to show you that some ideas are a bit too early see the this link… all this original was missing was the Bluetooth link to a phone…
It’s sort of bizarre that Hawkins went backward in his thinking, but maybe it’s time again. I look forward to checking yours out when it comes in.
Tim Bajarin writes about the new Palm Foleo instant on email companion. I want one.
Palm got it right with Foleo:
Instant on, instant off.
WiFi built in + Blutooth to connect to phone.
Easy one-button access to email
Lightweight
Full size keyboard and screen
Good battery life
Moderate cost ($499)
People seem to miss a great benefit: with a Foleo, you no longer need two mobile phone data connections — one for your laptop, the other on your smart phone. That alone reduces your connectivity cost by $60 per month or more, depending on your wireless carrier.
[tease]
It [Foleo] weighs about 2.4 pounds but feels much lighter, and even with its small battery it can deliver five full hours (even while using Wi-Fi the entire time). The large screen supports 1024-by-600 or 1024-by-768 VGA resolution. Navigation is done through a TrackPoint nub in the keyboard and it has a roller wheel below the keyboard to provide fast and easy scrolling.
[tease]
But, whether planned or not, Hawkins may have actually hit on a more powerful mobile-computing idea. Since this is a small, lightweight Linux computer, it could eventually become a new stand-alone portable-computing platform that the Linux or open-source crowd embraces.
Imagine what could happen if the open-source movement decides to start building software applications for this platform. I think it is plausible that Foleo will become the darling of this movement and help get Linux into the mainstream mobile marketplace, perhaps even challenging the dominance of the Windows portable computers.
I know that might be a stretch, but this device is the exact type of mobile e-mail machine I have personally wanted for over a decade. Because it can handle a full Web-browsing experience, it provides a serious alternative to taking a full laptop with me every time I hit the road. Jeff said Foleo is the most exciting device he’s worked on, and I think he might be right.
Tim, I am with you. I’ll buy a Foleo soon after they ship.
[original post appeared in Cloudy Thinking]
The Foleo announced by Palm today has generated negative buzz. Naysayers include TechDirt, Wired, and Business 2.0.
They are all totally missing the point. Foleo is a BRILLIANT idea.
I want one. I greatly lust after instant on and ease of use.
The dumbest critique of Foleo: Palm should make the Treo keyboard and display bigger. Hello? By definition a mobile phone is constrained to a certain size and shape, and by definition it EXCLUDES the size of a full keyboard and screen.
Instant on, big screen, big keyboard and uses my Treo for wide area connectivity. I am in LOVE!
Screw the critics, they are wrong again.
[Original post from Cloudy Thinking]
Foleo Fan is a blog about the Palm Foleo. All Foleo, all the time, by Ron K. Jeffries, who also writes Cloudy Thinking.
Foleo Fan is NOT affiliated with Palm Inc.
Legal Mumbo Jumbo.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
