Ohhh goody, PDA software price wars!

Hi,

I agree that a large screen would be very nice. In my day job I sell
industrial automation equipment. Computer Dynamics has large 7 inch or 10
inch industrial computers that run Windows CE. They are cool, but the
current draw is much too high for use in a glider. I think we'll have to
wait a while yet. Also, they generally run on 24V so a power converter would
be required. That is not a huge obstacle though.

Paul Remde

"Kilo Charlie" wrote in message
news:id4_b.24001$o52.18383@fed1read02...
In my ideal world I'd like to see a single large flat panel screen smack
in
the middle of my panel with the various companies vying for who can write
the best program to use for displaying the various things you guys have
brought up. It holds all sorts of possibilites and with multiple windows
open would even mean that you could run programs from different
manufacturers on that same screen.

This nonsense of having to buy a latest and greatest hardware gizmo to go
with the software is crazy. One big screen would be much easier to
read....maybe I'm just getting too old to see the damn little things!
Maybe
they could even agree on a single box (hard drive?) to drive the thing as
well bringing it down to just the software competition.

Anyone know if the technology is currently good enough to make this work
i.e. flat screens wrt current drain, ease of use in high sun environments,
etc? I have no expertise in this whatsoever. Just dreamin'.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

Well I would hope that sometime soon these screens would be available. The
real question is whether or not the manufacturers that currently sell the
units (CAI, Ilec, etc) would support this type of system. There would have
to be some agreement upon the hardware part of it wouldn't there? I guess
that it did happen with VHS and DVD's but not without a few outliers such as
Sony's beta. With so little money in this industry we should just be
thankful that we have nice toys to choose from currently but the small
displays have become a limiting factor. Also I'm tainted after having seen
one of the new Garmin (1000?) setups in a Gulfstream I went through a few
weeks ago.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

"Kilo Charlie" wrote in message
news:id4_b.24001$o52.18383@fed1read02...
In my ideal world I'd like to see a single large flat panel screen smack
in
the middle of my panel with the various companies vying for who can write
the best program to use for displaying the various things you guys have
brought up. It holds all sorts of possibilites and with multiple windows
open would even mean that you could run programs from different
manufacturers on that same screen.

This nonsense of having to buy a latest and greatest hardware gizmo to go
with the software is crazy. One big screen would be much easier to
read....maybe I'm just getting too old to see the damn little things!
Maybe
they could even agree on a single box (hard drive?) to drive the thing as
well bringing it down to just the software competition.

Anyone know if the technology is currently good enough to make this work
i.e. flat screens wrt current drain, ease of use in high sun environments,
etc? I have no expertise in this whatsoever. Just dreamin'.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix


KC, I just put together the following spec for a $1,626 12V computer. Is
this what you were imagining?

Espresso Mini Book PC (150mm x 106mm x 32mm 6" x 4" x 1.25")
VIA 1GHz Processor
PC100 SDRAM 256MB
Solid-State Flash Drive 512MB Compact Flash Disk
Espresso Docking Station with CD-ROM / Floppy Drive
DOS Format / No Operating System (Linux Ready)
One Year Part and Labor Warranty


10.4" TFT LCD Display with VGA input and Touchscreen

System Includes:
1 Carrying Case, 1 Microphine-in / Line-out / S-Video Out / VGA Port, 1 PS/2
Keyboard Port / Mouse Port / 124-pin Expansion Port, 1 Y Cable ( S-Video and
Composite), 2 USB Ports, AC/DC Power Supply, Built-in 16-Bit Stereo, Full
Duplex 3D Sound, Installation Instruction and User Manual, Intel 810
Built-In Full Motion 4MB Video, Touch Pad with Left/Right and Scroll Button

Bill Daniels

Sounds good to me Bill although I suppose the problems with visibility in a
high sun environment would still be an issue. Also in my ideal world I
would like to have a remote just like that used on the SN-10 in order to
avoid having to stretch a bouncing finger up to the panel to make
adjustments. I'm not sure why other companies haven't used this type of
remote since it makes it easy to scroll through the pages and make changes
with barely any movement on the part of my hand/wrist. The old B-100 remote
was even better because it was possible to depress the scroll buttons to
confirm a change (like the left and right mouse buttons).

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix