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NETBOOK PC : DREAM

Pixie Blox - iphone beowulf cluster
Posted in netbook | November 1, 2008 6pm

looks like a 10" 4:3 multi-touch screen, an oversized iphone. screen goes as close as possible to the edge of
the device, multi-touch.

You buy two of them, there are magnetic catches which let them fit together, screen to screen. you can connect them together on either ends or sides.

If you put two together, you can use one as a keyboard
and the other as a screen (see DoubleTrouble, another
idea for how that keyboard works, it's really cool.)
In a two blox configuration, this is DoubleTrouble.

You can also use three or four of them together, to get one
bigger screen. It's a twenty-inch screen with 2048x1536
and with four (integrated) graphics processors working together, you've got a gaming rig. You can to six or eight together, and processing scales with physical
display size.

The attachment to connect them is a hinge with an RJ-45
connector on each end. So each Blox has four ethernet ports, that can be used, external connectivity, for connectivity to other nodes in the array, or can be
configured as a hub/router for other systems to access
bandwidth. The RJ-45 plugs have to be relatively solid as they may hold the weight of another blox. In bigger arrays, you'll likely need a support stand.

The RJ-45 hinge/connectors support PoE, and data. so plugging them together makes a cluster, with cluster rendering capabilities, and a high speed interconnect.
If you plug one in, it can use PoE to charge the batteries of the rest of the cluster too.

Each unit is complete eee style pc, with an atom processor and integrated graphics, and an SSD, no keyboard. In array mode, one can configure them to do RAID across multiple blox, or mirroring. they can have fewer ports, since they will be used in an array (say, 1 USB per blox is ok, because you will always use them together.)

They have accellerometers, and can sense their physical arrangement to one another. So they automatically configure into a single large screen when connected like one.

When you travel, you can just take one or two with you, and when you reconnect, the "raid" re-syncs. so you have computer and graphical power that you can trade for portability.

You can use one as a remote control too, communicating with
an array of blox over wifi.

When you want to make bigger arrays, (say 2x3 units) the ports on the base model pixel will not be enough. There
would be a higher end model with RJ-45's on all sides to make core elements of larger arrays. These models, since they will never be used portably, can have hungrier components, like bigger hard and/or optical drives, and
USB hubs. They would have power available to supply all
the blox around them. They can act as docking stations for the other types of blox.

You could have blox with different connectivity, a WiMAX
blox, a 3G blox. Do not need to put them all in the same
one, because people can buy the ones they need. Reduce size and cost of individual blox that way. but every blox needs Wifi and ethernet.

All the secure storage stuff from DoubleTrouble applies. Blox exchange information to ensure that data is encyrpted on all of them, and sign on to one, unlocks data on all.

NETBOOK PC : DREAM

DoubleTrouble, TheBook, ToughTouchTux
Posted in netbook | November 1, 2008 4pm

DoubleTrouble has two multi-touch screens, with a tough hinge between them. The whole thing is water proof, very durable. Kind of a big, dual-screen iphone. Could come in different sizes for different tastes. I'd probably want a 10 or 12 inch screen model.

For normal netbook use. one screen has a keyboard displayed on it, and used as such, other screen acts as a display. Has the effect/benefit of the optimus maximus
( http://www.artlebedev.com/eve rything/optimus/ )
keyboard at far lower cost. key layouts change visually
according to language and task (no need for different versions for different countries.) gaming layouts possible.
"mousepad" integrated in keyboard, or just touch the other screen. Since it's one flat display, it's easier to water proof. And the display will have a backlight, so you get a backlit keyboard too.

The multi-touch makes sure that things like Ctrl-C, Alt-F1, etc... work. For games, can also make innovative controls, like dual "joysticks" (each thumb moving within a circle) to act like RC-Model control units. Many other possibilities.

BookMode: For reading documents full screen, rotate the whole laptop and you can use it like a normal book (printing on both "pages") You can also even out wear on the screens by alternating which one you use as a keyboard.

You can also use it in all the Iphone/Ipod Touch accellerometer and also like a Nintendo DS tricks.
For example, in book mode, one could tilt the device to turn the page. could also use a stylus. ideal for
drawing (built in drawing tablet)

Book mode is ideal for a lot of people who have to use transit (remain standing or seated with the device and not a lot of room) can be held like a book. Also ideal as a mobile terminal (like UPS/FEDEX) with a stylus to allow 'signing off' for receipt of delivery. much lower price point than the custom ruggedized terminals used now.

The docking station would be unlike anything anyone has done before. You put the laptop in Book mode on a stand to
hold it up nearly vertically. It is now a dual screen display station. The docking station has an external keyboard.

Storage should be encrypted, so that if someone steals it, none of the data is compromised: the touch screen could have a fingerprint reader, or one could use a stylus to 'sign in' literally, or if it had a camera, use it for a
retinal scan. If you cannot sign in properly, your PC remains locked. A thief would get the hardware, but not the data. Ideal for large organizations, which have a hard time with the constant data leakage from hundreds of laptops lost or stolen per year. Or for Mary not wanting Joe to rifle through her life just because he could reach her laptop.

Oh yeah, as per the Linux Plumbers conference, it would boot in 5 seconds into multi-user linux. I could create
an account for my son, and let him log in without giving him access to my taxes.

And the battery needs to last through one working day.

Ideally there is a replaceable coating or cover over the
displays so that the inevitable screen scratching from a stylus can be fixed by just replacing the cover.