At the recent CeBIT electronics show in Germany, Samsung unveiled the Yopy, a PDA
running on mobile Linux. This is a move in the right direction for
PDA evolution. Linux, along with other UNIX variants are the most
scalable operating systems on the market, in that as you move down
on the platform chain (e.g mainframe, desktop, PDA), you don't
sacrifice any of the functionality or compatibility you get on
larger systems. In addition, a unified platform between the desktop
and the handheld is important for developers, and neither WinCE or
PalmOS does this.
Presently, PDA users have been limited to three choices for a PDA: Palm,
WinCE, and EPOC. The Palm series of PDA's, being the most
successful, has proven to be a useful tool in wards. Existing
software include patient trackers, medical calculators, and a host
of reference texts. With their decreasing costs, more and more
health care workers are finding that these 'peripheral' brains can
make work more efficient. From a technical standpoint, however, the
Palm is built on a limited architecture. Currently, the Palm is
designed around the DragonBall chip (introduced in 1985), a part of
Motorola's 68000 processor family. The latest incarnations run at
speeds of 33 and 20Mhz, with the latest Palm IIIc strangely
sporting the 20Mhz version. Motorola retails these chips for $11
and $10 for bulk orders. This rather slow speed, in combination
with the current memory limitation of 12 megs of RAM, means that as
demand for audio, video, and wireless capabilities increase,
developers will have a hard time implementing such features, if
possible at all. (Keep in mind that the actual PalmOS has a
theoretical limit of 4GB of memory, so future devices are bound to
have more memory. The question is when, and how much?) In addition,
Palm has refused to directly support peripherals such as compact
flash, which is an accepted standard in digital cameras
(professional and consumer) and in WinCE devices, leaving third
parties like TRG to find proprietary solutions.
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Linux Yopy | |
In
comparison, the Samsung Yopy device boasts a 200 MHz strong-arm
SA1100, a Compact Flash type 2 slot, handwriting recognition and an
audio in/out jack. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. With a
high capacity CF card and the built-in microphone, users can
easily dictate voice notes without
having to worry about length or quality degradation. You may have
also been hearing about wireless features in handhelds, as seen in
devices like the Palm VII. The Yopy will have support for the
Bluetooth wireless access protocol, which is being touted by
industry leaders like Nokia and Ericcson. Initially, it will be
available via a CF card, but later models will incorporate it into
the device. Java will also be supported, although not initially.
The Yopy is expected to retail for $400-600, depending on the
memory size(16 or 32).
In terms of
development, Samsung is required to give away the mobile Linux
source code under the GPL, a comprehensive license that embodies
the open source movement. It is too large to be covered in several
sentences, but key points include requiring individuals to freely
distribute programs with their source code, and giving individuals
the right to modify software in any way they wish, provided they
make such changes available to all without cost. By doing this,
developers can get a better understanding of how the Yopy
functions, and maybe even make improvements to the OS where
necessary. In short, the system shipping
with the Yopy can be easily modified as much as one would like in
order to suit their demands and preferences. Currently, this is not
possible for Palm or WinCE devices. The Yopy developers are also
giving away a software development kit to anyone interested in
writing applications for the PDA, via Internet download. Samsung is
hoping that users will take advantage of this through download off
the Internet.
What does
this all mean? If the Yopy turns out to
be a success, users can look forward to speedier
application development from companies and individuals. After all,
it's the applications that drive a platform to success. But it's
not just speed, there should be an improvement in quality (e.g
stability, robustness, features). With the open source model of
software development, any number of developers can update and
improve popular software at a rapid pace, often implementing
changes within days . In addition, practically anyone can write
programs without paying costly developer fees, giving individuals
the tools to to write software for niche areas in medicine at no
loss.
If the
handheld community can harness the potential in this mode of
development, and apply it to PDA software, good things can happen.
However, keep in mind that many open source or free software
projects start with much idealism and support, yet after some time,
a significant number fail to achieve their goals. The lack of
formal deadlines, loss of enthusiasm, and lack of technical skills
are often cited as reasons why these projects are abandoned. But,
because the code is freely available, it will be possible for other
developers to salvage old code and perhaps integrate it into their
own work. In a proprietary development model, such access would be
denied, limiting any future use of the code and slowing handheld
software development (reinventing the wheel).
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Linux PDA | |
You might
think, well, why not just do this with Palm or WinCE ? Well, if you
are not given full access to how a WinCE or Palm device functions
(via the source code), it is more difficult to write programs in
areas that the OS has limitations in. Attempts have been made to
write open source software for the Palm, but so far, only moderate
success has been achieved when compared to Linux. Linux will give
users the freedom to modify their PDA's however they like,
and to distribute their software freely without breaking license
agreements. Applications in Linux often share common features,
making programs with interchangeable modules possible. This all
boils down to having a PDA that shares the same platform as the
Desktop. For one thing, it should be a lot easier to create client
interfaces that can access legacy databases. It should
also be easier to adopt industry standards when they are finalized
since developers often use UNIX variants as a base
platform.
At the time of writing, Samsung is aiming for a late May release, although this
may be pushed back to August. Stay tuned.
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