21–30 of 37 posts
This may not be the device you are looking for but the idea is not totally crazy. Powerful ARM devices can be had for a few hundred dollars. IMHO, the real trick is to implement the communications. With VoIP instead of voice, instant messaging instead of SMS, the day when you can use WiFi rather than mobile wireless may be coming.
The biggest downside is that AVRs can only execute code from flash ROM. You can't just throw apps on an SD card and run them; the list of apps (which seem to be instances of C++ classes) is hardcoded, and adding a new app requires reprogramming the whole chip.
An intelligent bootloader that could burn executable files from the SD card into ROM would be awesome. Yes, you're only limited to about 10,000 writes, but coupled with Contiki-style multitasking, this could be quite cool.
The other idea (which not many people have tried) is to make some kind of "virtual machine" that interprets bytecode from RAM. There is a Forth implementation (amforth) but not much aside from that. Things get really tight when all you have is 2K for data and bytecode. I'm sure a couple demoscene coders just scrambled off to get working on that after reading this. :p
Rossum has also done some extremely impressive stuff with ARM chips as well, including the RBox, a game console that's literally the size of a coin: http://rossum.posterous.com/building-the-rbox
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Come on. $69 for a handheld touchscreen computer that you can program however you want? You'd have to be incredibly jaded to not reflect about how amazing this is. You'd have to be deliberately ignorant to not be able to imagine things you could do with this. iPhone killer no; but that's not the point.
No, you come on. You're the guy who was calling someone a troll for pointing out exactly what you just admitted - that it's a really neat hobbyist kit, not an iPhone competitor.
WiFi?
No. Did you even read the specs? It says exactly what this comes with.
Yes, I read the specs. Thanks for jumping to incorrect conclusions and contributing noise when you could've contributed information.
I'm looking for a way to quickly manufacture an ad-hoc urban mobile network. Cheap processors on mobile texting devices over WiFi mesh is one way of doing this. (While providing good encryption to keep information out of the hands of the authorities.)
Congrats, you've just become an anecdote! http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158202
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No. Did you even read the specs? It says exactly what this comes with.
Arrgh. Another example of "let's interpret the comment in as idiotic a way as possible when there are other easily imagined options." I know it doesn't come with WiFi. I read the whole page. I knew it when I asked the question but it is possible with a lot of other hobbyist platforms like Gumstix to buy WiFi shields and extension boards. This is an answer more likely to be known by enthusiasts of the platform. Yes, I…
As it stands your basic grievance seems to be that people aren't capable of intuiting what that one word question meant in your mind.
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Arrgh. Another example of "let's interpret the comment in as idiotic a way as possible when there are other easily imagined options." I know it doesn't come with WiFi. I read the whole page. I knew it when I asked the question but it is possible with a lot of other hobbyist platforms like Gumstix to buy WiFi shields and extension boards. This is an answer more likely to be known by enthusiasts of the platform. Yes, I…
Maybe instead of complaining that people take the "most idiotic interpretation possible" from your comment, you should write more than one word in order to give your question some meaning and context. As it stands your basic grievance seems to be that people aren't capable of intuiting what that one word question meant in your mind.
My grievance as stated is that people who do not have enough information to go on jump to the worst conclusion. So which is it, am I lying, did you not understand my previous comment, or is the notion of multiple interpretations too intellectually advanced for you, or is it something else? Note that I ask, and do not jump to conclusions.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158531
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158462
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158331
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Maybe instead of complaining that people take the "most idiotic interpretation possible" from your comment, you should write more than one word in order to give your question some meaning and context. As it stands your basic grievance seems to be that people aren't capable of intuiting what that one word question meant in your mind.
Then you are intimating I am a liar or you have poor reading comprehension. My grievance as stated is that people who do not have enough information to go on jump to the worst conclusion . So which is it, am I lying, did you not understand my previous comment, or is the notion of multiple interpretations too intellectually advanced for you, or is it something else? Note that I ask, and do not jump to conclusions. htt…
If you find that people are mis-interpreting your posts on a regular basis, consider looking in a mirror. And please, take the trollish aspersions to some other site.