

Tired of Apple's rules? Build your own touchscreen handheld - jasongullickson
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=330

======
blhack
Guys, come _on_. The bit about being a replacement for the iPhone was a joke.
It's a toy. It's meant for nerding around with. It's not a production device.
You probably shouldn't be depending on it to actually _work_ more than 10% of
the time.

It's a model airplane. It flies, it's kindof neat, but it's pretty much
totally pointless beyond being tons of fun.

~~~
DaniFong
"Don't be discouraged if what you produce initially is something other people
dismiss as a toy. In fact, that's a good sign. That's probably why everyone
else has been overlooking the idea. The first microcomputers were dismissed as
toys. And the first planes, and the first cars. At this point, when someone
comes to us with something that users like but that we could envision forum
trolls dismissing as a toy, it makes us especially likely to invest."

\-- pg

~~~
Semiapies
Ah, mindless, out-of-context quotes. What next, the Ghandi line about
laughing/winning/etc.?

This is a kit for microcontroller enthusiasts. It is not _meant_ as some sort
of alternative to anything Apple or Android or Palm or Nokia, except jokingly
and in the minds of people not actually reading that page closely.

~~~
NickPollard
Until someone does something really interesting with it, sparks an idea, and
then starts developing it as a retail product.

~~~
Semiapies
Seriously, RTFA. Look at the specs.

This isn't some basic version of a cutting-edge technology, it's just an 8-bit
microcontroller with some geegaws. If someone wants to make yet another low-
end handheld game and make some money selling it in discount stores, more
power to them...but you aren't going to compete with many far more advanced
platforms in the same arena.

If you want to pretend otherwise, by all means drop some pithy, defiant quotes
and condemn my lack of vision...and we'll still both know nobody's going to
build an iPhone-killer out of this.

~~~
DaniFong
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.

~~~
Semiapies
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.

~~~
DaniFong
I'm sorry this miscommunication has caused you so much consternation; I will
readily agree it's no iPhone competitor at this time. It may even be a toy.
But don't dismiss it. That's all.

------
jaysonelliot
They lost me at "resistive touch screen."

Does anyone have a good source for a similar device with a larger screen and
capacitive touch?

~~~
jasongullickson
That's the beauty of open-source hardware :)

------
msarnoff
It's a great demonstration of what can be done with an 8-bit RISC
microcontroller.

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>

~~~
limmeau
There is also EEPROM for code storage, as used in NanoVM [1].

1\. <http://www.harbaum.org/till/nanovm/index.shtml>

------
nas
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.

~~~
chopsueyar
Sounds like a Nintendo DS.

------
amock
It might not be as interesting as building your own, but the Palm Pre gives
you root access and Palm is very supportive of third party app stores. So if
all your after is a more open touchscreen device you aren't forced to build
your own.

------
iampims
Worked so well for the Joojoo ;)

------
comex
It's somewhat mind-boggling just how little {RAM, storage, CPU speed} this
thing has, while still able to do useful things.

------
othermaciej
It would be fun to try to port WebKit to something like this, but at those
specs, not gonna happen.

------
efields
No. I'm not tired of Apple's rules.

------
tedunangst
2.5K of RAM? Sign me up for 2000!

~~~
zppx
I guess you never dealt with microcontrollers, right?

The company is about popular DIY electronics kits, I think it's a marvelous
project if you consider that, but nothing close of an iPhone, if that's what
people want they should play with an ARM board.

------
stcredzero
WiFi?

~~~
tjarratt
No. Did you even read the specs? It says exactly what this comes with.

~~~
stcredzero
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 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>

~~~
msbarnett
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.

~~~
stcredzero
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.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158531>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158462>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158331>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158521>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2158644>

~~~
msbarnett
I'll take door #3: You're over-reacting in a wildly hyperbolic manner to the
fact that the single most obvious meaning of a post consisting entirely of
"WiFi?" in response to an article about a gadget is an inquiry as to whether
it offers such a feature.

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.

~~~
stcredzero
My friend, "door #3" in the context of the post above is "the notion of
multiple interpretations too intellectually advanced for you." This is an
example of door #2, which is "poor reading comprehension."

 _And please, take the trollish aspersions to some other site._

This is incredible, since you are the only one in this whole exchange who
every cast an aspersion, and _you opened with it!_

------
pedanticfreak
Nexus S? Nexus One? Nokia N900? OpenMoko FreeRunner? OpenPandora?

There are more than a few more powerful alternatives to an iPhone that are
open source and ready to hack. Most of them can even make phone calls.

~~~
hexley
And yet this 8 bit microcontroller seems to have more fluid, smooth scrolling
than all of them...

