
LG demonstrates wireless Linux Web pad at CeBIT (2001) - bane
http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/LG-demonstrates-wireless-Linux-Web-pad-at-CeBIT/
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akandiah
This article was published on 2001-03-23. However, it's interesting to see
that they called it the "Digital iPAD". Wonder why it never took off? Why
didn't they ever trademark the name?

I notice that Gizmodo's already published a story based on this article:
[http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/09/check-out-lgs-ipad-
from-20...](http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/09/check-out-lgs-ipad-from-2001/)

~~~
daurnimator
Even better in next paragraph: "LG's new Digital iPad comes with..."

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zizee
Can someone edit the title to include "(2001)"?

Cute find, but the significance is not clear unless you note the articles
published date. It took a little while to realise why LG was spruiking a
tablet called an iPad.

~~~
chanux
well.. not mentioning that had a nice effect on me.

I was like WTF and then the _truth_ kicked in.

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DiabloD3
Wow, what a blast from the past. 64mb of memory, 206mhz Intel StrongARM,
"Internet appliance" was still a term, and 802.11b was still new.

~~~
msh
That strong arm CPU was way underpowered for web surfing ...

~~~
guylhem
Your references please ?

I was using a similar SA1100 on the Zaurus 5000d (developer release, purchased
at the Linux Expo 2001 in NYC) then the 5500 and finally on the Simpad SL4
where it drove a 800x600 screen (Both the Sharp Zaurus and the Siemens Simpad
where using Qtopia, QT embedded)

Opera and Konqueror were both running fine. There was even a demo of a voice-
controller Opera browser from IBM - also running fine.

OTOH, the RAM was the real problem. 32 Mb on the 5000d was really not enough.
I managed to find a company doing BGA reflow to solder 128 Mb on my simpad
SL4, which worked great after some minor kernel tweaks to enable it.

So the SA1100 _was_ fine for web surfing, 64Mb was acceptable even if 128 was
better.

~~~
msh
I had a PDA with a similar strong arm CPU, it was dog slow for complex pages
with opera. Of cause I can't rule out the os as the culprit.

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Nux
So isn't this like "prior art" relevant to the recent Samsung vs Apple
"patent" trials?

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IsTom
I think their patent wars are currently about phones, not tablets.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Their patent wars cover everything. The recent court decision was about phones
though.

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bane
I also noticed this

 _A spokesman for LG at CeBIT said that the product may come with other
connectivity solutions, however, including possibly a "PDA style slot" for
mobile phones._

which reminded me of

[http://www.pcworld.com/article/228977/asus_padfone_combines_...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/228977/asus_padfone_combines_smartphone_with_tablet_dock.html)

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nkassis
That's very interesting. I wonder if Apple and LG ever got an agreement on the
name.

Was LG's tablet ever released to the public?

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v0cab
What a crappy website. I've tried 15 times to submit a reply to a comment on
that article and each time I get 'Your comment does not pass our spam filter.
Please try again.' with no indication of what part of the comment is lacking.

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planckscnst
The website retired some time ago. It's possible that the comments just don't
work anymore.

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tvon
It's not entirely clear to me why this matters at all.

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dude12
Cuz Apple "didnt build that"

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ktizo
Looks like a lot like this -
[http://www.google.com/patents?id=6BsWAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&...](http://www.google.com/patents?id=6BsWAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false)

