Bazza wrote:Hi Rhakios...
> You said their "personal computer" comes at up to three
> times the price. Which one?
My Philips Quad Core machine cost almost 600 UKP and even
at 2 to 1 USD to UKP is only 1200 USD. It`s about 1 year old.
It has the same spec as an Apple computer? Simply counting processor power doesn't count.
> And which of their PCs are crippled?
All. Apple themselves apply EFI, (are there others?), instead
of old BIOS interrupts to obtain the best from their hardware
and by definiton that is a hardware lock-in, which they
themselves "admit" to.
I will be surprised if MS and Linux use EFI at all as standard
for their consumer OSs. If they do then I will stand corrected.
Existing BIOS systems are closed, you might recall that a recent attempt at completely open hardware was criticised on precisely this point. OpenBIOS and Open Firmware are the only free-er alternatives and I doubt either are present on any computers you or I own.
> No "Mac-head" has yet had the chance to purchase an iPad,
> so it can't be that you're referring to.
It is SO crippled that it doesn`t even have "standard" I/O of
a USB port NOR an SD card slot. It does have an Apple special
of a port that Apple may probably sell plug in adaptors to get
that facility probably at EXTRA APPLE INFLATED COST!
Suppose I wanted to code for it as a mobile piece of test gear
for my job, how do I do it without any ports?
For example how do I get DC voltage into it?
Therefore it is about as much use as a fart in a spacesuit.
I won't be buying one either, for the reasons I have already mentioned above. The device
is too limited with regards to interfaces, though I think the many of the design features are spot-on.
> Over the years I've read about all the devices mentioned
> here and none of them look up to what I want (i.e. something
> which would be like the iPad but extendible and free-er).
I looked at the first three and these DID have at least one USER
I/O, (USB), port!
Therefore by definition NOT crippled hardware wise.
To me that should be of primary importance...
The first device claims to be Ubuntu compatible, but seems to be available only with Windows embedded, it's a US company with no particular indication it's available in the UK. Not a consumer device: fail!
Second device is actually available in the UK (hooray!), not exactly cheap at £449.99. Comes with Windows XP (though they say they will "help" people install Android, I'm not encouraged), 800x480 dpi resolution screen (boo!), so that's no better than my N810, which was considerably cheaper: fail!
Third device, well there's actually a selection there, some of which might be interesting, but no indication of UK availability on the manufacturers website: fail!
But I`m not you, so what is important to me is obviously not
of great importance to you...
What's important to me is to have a usable device that I can actually buy. As I mentioned in a previous post in this thread, I hope that the iPad will prompt others to make a similar device with usability the main feature, that one can actually buy in this country.