It’s coming! The perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) hard-drive has been released by Toshiba for the first time. This 1.8 inch hard-drive takes us closer to the vision of huge capacity concentrated within a tiny space. As storage barriers are breached, not only laptops, but also handheld devices begin to challenge the desktop. This condensation of storage is particularly valuable for miniscule devices such as PDA‘s.

The disk stores 40GB in a single platter, and there are plans to release a 80GB version later this year

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Toshiba is currently shipping the 40GB MK4007GAL to OEM and channel partners. The company plans to apply PMR technology to its 0.85-inch HDD in 2006, increasing capacity to 6GB-8GB per platter.

With many modern machines, the large numbers of platters relies on physical space being available. This enables manufacturers to sell hard-drive that reach hundreds of gigabytes (soon terabytes) in capacity. Expect PDA’s to contain a much greater amount of space soon, which is a pre-requisite to using them as hard-drives on full-sized PC‘s. Portable devices such as the Palm LifeDrive should be able to increase ten-fold in terms of capacity. This will probably happen some time in the near future when they equate to the capacity of the iPod (up to 60GB), for instance.

Cited by: PalmAddict

Computers to be driven purely off the iPod/Handheld device

magine yourself the following scenario: To start up your computer you connect an iPod (or any other large-storage mobile device) to your (x86-based) work computer, which then launches the operating system (currently Knoppix Linux) from the iPod. It uses the processor and memory of the local machine rather than the iPod’s, which is merely used as a hard-drive. Then, once work is finished, you take your iPod home and repeat that exact same procudure, plugging in the iPod to a different computer. Not only can you resume your work, but your hard-drive (which contains everything that is personalised) gives you an identical environment, i.e. you have all your recent files, browser cookies, desktop settings, etc.

That vision is now real as IBM exploit the iPod for this purpose. The device could, in principle, be a Palm LifeDrive, which makes the exception among modern PDA‘s since it exploits very high data capacity. The large-sized hard-drive and high bandwidth (USB/FireWire) make it possible to use your machine merely as a host (computation, display, and peripherals), while your data (operating system, files and applications) always remain in your pocket. From an article just published in CNET:

The virtual computer user environment setup is called SoulPad, and consumers install it from a x86-based home or office PC. SoulPad uses a USB (universal serial bus) or FireWire connection to access the network cards for connecting to the Internet, the computer’s display, the keyboard, the main processor and the memory, but not the hard disk.

Also worth mentioning is the prospect for running your favourite operating system and programs to access your data on any computer. You could even use a workstation at your local library cluster. Plug in your mobile device and use the computer as if it was yours. This considerable step can give a major boost to devices such as the iPod and the LifeDrive. Perhaps Jeff Hawkins, Palm co-founder and R&D chief, had substance in his vision of the “Life Manager”. Could this be what Palm had in mind when switching to Linux?

On a less enthusiastic note, the entire idea of protable high-volume storage is not brand new. For quite some time it has been possible to install hard-drive housing units in one computer and slide in different hard-drives that suit different users of the same computer. This essentially meant that computers came without a hard-drive; hard-drives were provided by the users. However, with a handhelds like the LifeDrive, several major advantages spring to mind:

• Size, which is a major pro
• The ability to view and edit data on the go, unlike just carrying a ‘black box’
• Internet connectivity
• Infra-red communication

Cited by: PalmAddict

lames have recently been thrown due to confessions about bad experiences with New Yanoff. New Yanoff is the successor of Yanoff, which is the well-known newsgroups reader for the Palm platform.

Let us begin with compatibility issues. New Yanoff is not compatible with some recent models of the Palm such as the LifeDrive.

Secondly, the user interface of the trial version ($24 for the registered version) is filled with many nags. It is understandable given the purpose of this trial package. Nevertheless, nags were claimed to be excessive.

On to more major flaws, the user interface is relatively unprofessional, as indicated in a Yanoff 3.0 review. Below is one screenshot that has been borrowed from this review.

Example of bad UI design

Finally, the default signature for sent messages bears citations from the bible. It works this way by default and gives no warning and indication that this is happening. To some this will be no cause for concern, but religion, much like politics, is a sensitive issue to many. This is in fact the point which initiated the flames in nntp://comp.sys.palmtops. The developer strongly defended his choice to “spread the gospel” (exact quote), which is a very controversial step among most developers (imposition of the developer’s views).

As the discussion developed, New Yanoff turned out to be a relatively disappointing piece of software that is not sufficiently reliable. GPL Yanoff, which is of course free, can still be downloaded from its Sourceforge Web site.

Cited by: PalmAddict

here is a well-known issue with the Palm Tungsten E, which appears to have been resolved with the release of the Tungsten E2. A large number of users are have reported a continuous buzz, which makes the use of the handheld quite unpleasant, especially in low-noise environments. An on-going discussion in UseNet reveals more details.

Only yesterday, a group member stated:

The E2 doesn’t have a screen buzz, at least the two I’ve tried in different stores didn’t!

On the contrary, Colleen confessed that she was a victim of this fault:

My E2 has the buzzing noise, but only when I have my headphones in. I must admit, if I could hear it all the time, I would rip out my hair…

Yet another reader adds an opinion:

There have been a number of reports of the TE2 having screen noise also. Like with the TE, it is a rare occurrence. But when millions of units are sold ‘rare’ occurrence can mean a substantial number of units…

Lastly, let us add possible solutions to the mix:

I remember reading the buzzing sound had something to do with the processor speed so I tried out LightSpeed but it wasn’t stable enough to use on my TE. When I tried the two E2 units at two different stores I just figured that the increase in processor speed corrected the problem.

…when I changed the clock speed of the processor the buzzing went really low, almost to the point of being undetectable but the software I was using wasn’t stable…

There were more messages involved in this large on-going thread, which keeps developing at this very moment. The bottom line is that this buzz is endemic in the Tungsten E, but may affect the Tungsten E2 as well.

Cited by: PalmAddict

mericans can take advantage of a database/map of nearby Wi-Fi HotSpots. This Web site, WiFiMaps.com, is of course far from ethically acceptable. Perhaps it will force system administrator to finally change the default, out-of-the-box settings on their routers. It is amazing how penetrable Wi-Fi connections have become.

Related links: (external)

• WEPCrack
• How To Crack WEP
• Cracking WPA

The links above are posted as a word of caution. You must ensure that you are not exposed to such hacks, which probably affect old devices the most.

udovic Drolez has just reached out for nntp://comp.sys.palmtops.pilot and informed everyone that the Linux on Palm Tungsten E Project is now a success. Put in his own words:

Great news ! Some folks have managed to boot Linux on the Palm T|E.

A screenshot is available at http://palmtelinux.sourceforge.net/

This project might be confusing to some folks. Palm are committed to build upon the Linux kernel, whereas the project mentioned above is an exploitation of Palm hardware as to obtain a pure Linux device. It is rather encouraging to know that Palm handhelds are flexible enough to adapt to different environments.

Cited by: PalmAddict

Picture from InfoWorld

rofessionals have cowardly made discouraging statements recently. They will have you believe that Palm is lagging behind. They will attempt to persuade you that the future of Palm is uncertain.

Nevertheless, based on recent statistics, it appears obvious what grabs the attention of the prospective customer. Note that the figure do not refer to ownership of handhelds, but the acquisition of new ones. One must remember that operating systems other than Palm OS and Windows CE exist.

Cited by: PalmAddict