I'd have him make another Cube with Dual Processors and the ability to cluster between Cubes. That way I could add more grunt just by attaching another Node.
If apple is not your "thang"... then post on a non apple-centric forum.
Wow, with the response to this post... you guys clearly don't know when I am joking... do you?
I think everyone has the right to post here... even if they don't like apple.
It is always good to get different points of view.
Oh, and to the person who told me to get a life... I have one... how about you?
Anyway OS X can be made to run on x86 hardware... but apple will never do it. If apple were to go under... and release OS X into the open source community... just think what we could do with it. By the time we are done it would be ported to at least 8 other platforms.
Now if apple would only release OS X.3 under the GPL...
Wow, with the response to this post... you guys clearly don't know when I am joking... do you?
I didn't either. Smilies exist for a reason. Use them.
Back on topic: Since we don't appear to be limited to currently shipping technologies (or even physically possible technologies, per the Star Trek references!), here goes.
I want a tablet. Not anything like the MS crap, but a real, thought-through design: 300ppi OLED screen printed on heavy-gauge Mylar for durability, backed by an entirely solid-state machine with every part soldered down firmly (including a generous allotment of RAM). The board would be suspended in a carbon fiber cage (as the PowerBooks are) and shockmounted. The back and sides of the case would be designed to act as a crumple zone in case the machine was dropped, to minimize hard shock to the machine itself, and all edges would be trimmed in rubber. The case could be easily replaced in the event that it got broken, as could the screen if it somehow got dented or torn (the material I'm thinking of is a type of polyester film used for drumheads - most varieties are tested to withstand pressures of 1000-1800psi, so it's not easy to accomplish the former, nor especially easy to do the latter). Since everything is solid-state, the machine would be thin and like, and it would last long on battery power. It would have onboard Bluetooth and 802.11*, a USB port for peripherals, and FireWire and Ethernet jacks for high speed communication (including syncing to another Mac), a headphone jack and a power jack. A bluetooth stylus - nice and plump in the ergonomic style, not one of those chopstick designs - would be included, and replacements would be inexpensive. The back would include a picture frame stand that could be released to perch the tablet upright for use with a keyboard and mouse when convenient. There would be sizes from about paperback dimensions up through a 16:10 about the size of legal paper for more high-end work.
Software wise, the tablet would run the same OS X available anywhere else, so the following updates would be in place in OS X:
No-apologies HWR, widely and transparently supported (this is IMO why Apple is shipping InkWell with no obvious use yet - it has to be refined and broadly supported by applications before Apple can build hardware around it);
Frameworks updated to enable the sort of dynamism NewtonScript supported, but built on (and within) existing OS X technologies (this shouldn't be all that hard in Cocoa at least);
Full support for gestures, a la Newton;
Adaptive energy-saving mode for wireless networking, that profiles applications for network use (so that it can shut off if none of the applications currently running use the network) and is otherwise smart about when to be on and when to be off;
Support for pressure sensitivity and pen angle (sorry Wacom!);
Resolution independent UI.
Besides revealing exactly how far away I think a workable tablet is , this would rock my world. A light, durable, powerful and network-savvy companion that I could sync at high speed with other Macs, and with which I could work in whatever manner I pleased (on the couch with a pen, on the desk with a keyboard, on the couch with a keyboard and the screen sitting upright on the coffee table, etc.).
I want that super device with all of its accesories that Apple patented about a year ago.
The devise that was a music player, cell phone, video pod, and it could easily plug up to any keyboard for direct data input or a computer for the transfer of data.
Amorph's idea might be simplified to that of a universal reader.
It's the size of a medium sized paperback book; you can write notes in the margin of the pages; you can write notes on a blank page; you can dump the notes onto your home boxen; you can cheaply buy books and newspapers using the iTMS model.
Say two or four flexible OLED display pages inside a semi hard cover with a thin book spine for the guts and technology.
You would navigate forward and back by turning the flexible display pages like a book; a page turn would bring up two more pages. You would have a couple of flaps for fast page turning and going to a specific chapter.
Given a simple user experience and an elegant design, this would sell.
It would radically change publishing, newspapers and libraries.
What I would very, very much like is a fully-featured microcontroller development environment.
Then I could build neat Mac exclusive peripherals without a pesty PC in the loop anywhere. \
I know that there are packages out in the open developer community (well done all of you) but I want a mainstream Apple application. System would be capable of working with various microcontrollers such as TI's MSP430 for ultra-low powered applications or ATMEL'S chips and others for power applications. Users could employ assembly programming if necessary or others such as C++, compiled basic and a favourite of mine, FORTH.
Having said all that, perhaps Apple have such a capability in-house, surely all the iPod development is done on Macs!
By the way, one enterprising Mac user has made a start, courtesy of Parallax Inc's Basic Stamp, well done:
I'd like Apple to do a serious contribution to the Open Source community. What I have in mind is Cocoa, Quartz and QuickTime. Before they open them up they have to have made ports to Windows and Linux.
ok my turn now... i think the ipod can become very functional and an essential wireless part of the mac family... the ipod would look mroe like a pda, but not quite.. it would have remote controls for keynote, and you could sync anything you wanted to.. basically you would have a form of keynote on the ipod, and you could give presentaiotns with the ipod, from the ipod, or use some other bluetootth device with it... i think you get the idea. the ipod would become a pda, but one that would make people wonder how they ever went thourgh life without one.
Apple makes a PDA that uses the Palm OS, makes two models (consumer and prosumer) called the Newton and the Eris (as in the Greek myth ). The Newton will be consumer edition, because everyone is going to want the affordable one and the Eris is going to be the prosumer model because of Eris' gold apple. Gold makes it sound better.
Wow, with the response to this post... you guys clearly don't know when I am joking... do you?
Oh, and to the person who told me to get a life... I have one... how about you?
I told you to get a life. What I meant by this was for you to stop acting like a jerk and to let the man have his say.
I have a great life. I am at work on Saturday tracking down bugs in my code for an alpha release. Though this sounds bad, I actually do have quite a nice life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Since your post was meant to be sarcastic, you should have used the emoticons ( or ) to make it clear that you weren't just bashing on somebody who owns a PC and has a legitimate complaint about Apple kit. Though you might think that you are being clear in what you are saying, please consider the fact that everyone else on this forum isn't privy to your mannerisms when you write. All we see is text and we take that at face value. Unless you make it clear that you are being sarcastic, then we'll probably assume that you are being straightforward and respond accordingly. This stuff is basic net communication 101.
Man, the net hasn't been the same since AOL gave its users web access
Newton was the right screen size, but the ridiculous Newton OS and NewtonScript (soups - echh!) made it almost impossible to program for. Palm OS, Windows CE/Pocket PC, all have ridiculous limitations. They're almost real computers, but not quite.
The tablet should run the same software the big computers run. Don't segment the (already small) market, or make consumers look for special versions of software.
No little keyboards. The buttons get dirt in them and stop working. The fewer buttons, the better - best would be no buttons at all. (Anyone read Heinlein's "Orphans in the Sky"?)
Performance is not critical. A 70MHz G3 should do the job. Maybe the OS could have some options to remove shading and "dumb down" the GUI prettiness to save power.
Batteries should be user-swappable so I can change batteries. I just got an Audiovox Thera, and it's completely solid-state, but the battery life is horrible - it's dead in less than 4 hours.
Amorph may have helped define the tablet in a way I hadn't before and in a way that redefines a product line just like Apple did with the Newton and original PowerBooks.
Rugged, slower, but capable of running OSX is important. I bet, like cubist wrote, that the OS could have Quartz Extreme disabled and maybe there could be a "Quartz Minimalistic" preference that actually turns all of the extra's off....that isn't a bad idea for laptops as well. It would be a minimal GUI that is very Mac-like, but with Unix sensibilities and optimized for powersavings.
One OS, but Many Manifestations!
I also like how Amorph envisioned a whole line of tablets, 'a la Wacom pads or laptops. I think variety of sizes and clear upgrade paths are some of the reasons the Newton did not get the market share.
Newton was the right screen size, but the ridiculous Newton OS and NewtonScript (soups - echh!) made it almost impossible to program for. Palm OS, Windows CE/Pocket PC, all have ridiculous limitations. They're almost real computers, but not quite.
The tablet should run the same software the big computers run. Don't segment the (already small) market, or make consumers look for special versions of software.
No little keyboards. The buttons get dirt in them and stop working. The fewer buttons, the better - best would be no buttons at all. (Anyone read Heinlein's "Orphans in the Sky"?)
Performance is not critical. A 70MHz G3 should do the job. Maybe the OS could have some options to remove shading and "dumb down" the GUI prettiness to save power.
Batteries should be user-swappable so I can change batteries. I just got an Audiovox Thera, and it's completely solid-state, but the battery life is horrible - it's dead in less than 4 hours.
Connectivity should be firewire.
70Mhz? I think you meant 700Mhz. But considering how light the G3f is, they could probably make it 800Mhz. And Quartz Extreme. No excuses. Put in a QE video card with enough RAM or people will wine terribly.
Rugged, slower, but capable of running OSX is important. I bet, like cubist wrote, that the OS could have Quartz Extreme disabled and maybe there could be a "Quartz Minimalistic" preference that actually turns all of the extra's off....
No need. For one thing, QE is only enabled if the requisite hardware is present, and QE-powered effects like the rotating cube of Fast User Switching fall back to simpler effects already.
For another, QE only needs a 16MB AGP RADEON. That's ancient tech that Apple should have no trouble at all providing.
"One OS, Many Manifestations" just means "One OS, many support and compatibility and consumer confusion issues." The tablet has to be able to run the same OS X that runs in the PowerMac, and the same OS X that you can buy off a store shelf. Fortunately, OS X doesn't require much in terms of modern technology: A two year old baseline iBook can run Jaguar well enough, and Jaguar isn't even halfway toward fulfilling the promise of OS X.
First off I would like an improved battery life on my 1.25GHz PB - say, 10 hours!
Or even better, a totally wireless iPod. In fact, in future all Mac's should be totally wireless with better/easier connectivity with other Mac's - especially iTunes libraries
A 50" LCD screen would be good - wireless of course!
For now I'd be content with a two button bluetooth mouse though - especially if it had a scroll wheel...
I'd ask for a free version of every piece of Apple hardware/software to be released from now on.
Of course I'd only ask for that because I want to help Apple test the products
I have to agree with every new piece of hardware Apple makes plus I would love to see the powerbook go to Black like the IBook case.Much stronger than the thin aluminum cases they are in now.A friend who has one dented his in a extremely good padded notebook case!!!!That tells me its too fragile and with the IBook shell it has proven to be very durable.
why can't i have one of these from apple? what's the big f#kkin deal?! i'd much rather give my hard earned dollars to apple than some after market company. so before this thread turns into another 1 or 2 button mouse debate, i just want it as option and the ol' one-button can still come standard... thank you.
Comments
Originally posted by hmurchison
I'd have him make another Cube with Dual Processors and the ability to cluster between Cubes. That way I could add more grunt just by attaching another Node.
BINGO!!!
Originally posted by \\/\\/ickes
If apple is not your "thang"... then post on a non apple-centric forum.
Wow, with the response to this post... you guys clearly don't know when I am joking... do you?
I think everyone has the right to post here... even if they don't like apple.
It is always good to get different points of view.
Oh, and to the person who told me to get a life... I have one... how about you?
Anyway OS X can be made to run on x86 hardware... but apple will never do it. If apple were to go under... and release OS X into the open source community... just think what we could do with it. By the time we are done it would be ported to at least 8 other platforms.
Now if apple would only release OS X.3 under the GPL...
Originally posted by \\/\\/ickes
Wow, with the response to this post... you guys clearly don't know when I am joking... do you?
I didn't either. Smilies exist for a reason. Use them.
Back on topic: Since we don't appear to be limited to currently shipping technologies (or even physically possible technologies, per the Star Trek references!), here goes.
I want a tablet. Not anything like the MS crap, but a real, thought-through design: 300ppi OLED screen printed on heavy-gauge Mylar for durability, backed by an entirely solid-state machine with every part soldered down firmly (including a generous allotment of RAM). The board would be suspended in a carbon fiber cage (as the PowerBooks are) and shockmounted. The back and sides of the case would be designed to act as a crumple zone in case the machine was dropped, to minimize hard shock to the machine itself, and all edges would be trimmed in rubber. The case could be easily replaced in the event that it got broken, as could the screen if it somehow got dented or torn (the material I'm thinking of is a type of polyester film used for drumheads - most varieties are tested to withstand pressures of 1000-1800psi, so it's not easy to accomplish the former, nor especially easy to do the latter). Since everything is solid-state, the machine would be thin and like, and it would last long on battery power. It would have onboard Bluetooth and 802.11*, a USB port for peripherals, and FireWire and Ethernet jacks for high speed communication (including syncing to another Mac), a headphone jack and a power jack. A bluetooth stylus - nice and plump in the ergonomic style, not one of those chopstick designs - would be included, and replacements would be inexpensive. The back would include a picture frame stand that could be released to perch the tablet upright for use with a keyboard and mouse when convenient. There would be sizes from about paperback dimensions up through a 16:10 about the size of legal paper for more high-end work.
Software wise, the tablet would run the same OS X available anywhere else, so the following updates would be in place in OS X:
- No-apologies HWR, widely and transparently supported (this is IMO why Apple is shipping InkWell with no obvious use yet - it has to be refined and broadly supported by applications before Apple can build hardware around it);
- Frameworks updated to enable the sort of dynamism NewtonScript supported, but built on (and within) existing OS X technologies (this shouldn't be all that hard in Cocoa at least);
- Full support for gestures, a la Newton;
- Adaptive energy-saving mode for wireless networking, that profiles applications for network use (so that it can shut off if none of the applications currently running use the network) and is otherwise smart about when to be on and when to be off;
- Support for pressure sensitivity and pen angle (sorry Wacom!);
- Resolution independent UI.
Besides revealing exactly how far away I think a workable tablet isThe devise that was a music player, cell phone, video pod, and it could easily plug up to any keyboard for direct data input or a computer for the transfer of data.
It's the size of a medium sized paperback book; you can write notes in the margin of the pages; you can write notes on a blank page; you can dump the notes onto your home boxen; you can cheaply buy books and newspapers using the iTMS model.
Say two or four flexible OLED display pages inside a semi hard cover with a thin book spine for the guts and technology.
You would navigate forward and back by turning the flexible display pages like a book; a page turn would bring up two more pages. You would have a couple of flaps for fast page turning and going to a specific chapter.
Given a simple user experience and an elegant design, this would sell.
It would radically change publishing, newspapers and libraries.
Then I could build neat Mac exclusive peripherals without a pesty PC in the loop anywhere.
I know that there are packages out in the open developer community (well done all of you) but I want a mainstream Apple application. System would be capable of working with various microcontrollers such as TI's MSP430 for ultra-low powered applications or ATMEL'S chips and others for power applications. Users could employ assembly programming if necessary or others such as C++, compiled basic and a favourite of mine, FORTH.
Having said all that, perhaps Apple have such a capability in-house, surely all the iPod development is done on Macs!
By the way, one enterprising Mac user has made a start, courtesy of Parallax Inc's Basic Stamp, well done:
www.muratnkonar.com/MacBS2/[/URL]
[URL=http://www.muratnkonar.com/MacBS2/]http://
A reference design for the hardware required could be based on USB comms and JTAG at the micro end.
Perhaps we could start a hardware related thread on the features we'd like to see implemented would be fun.
Thanks for this thread (and for all the fish).
Originally posted by Barto
You DO realise that the iPod already does that (at least the 3G ones do)? Hold down (<<) (>>) and the middle button on startup. Then go to "5 IN 1".
Barto
AHAHAHAH! I'm going to enjoy this, then?
Did you ever see the video that someone (I think on here) posted a while back of a ficticious Apple tablet that he created in Maya and called iNexus?
I thought that it was a phenomenal "commercial" and a great product idea.
I still have the video so I could upload or send it to someone to post if people want to see it.
If you did see it, what do you think of his tablet design?
-Dr. Bimane
Apple makes a PDA that uses the Palm OS, makes two models (consumer and prosumer) called the Newton and the Eris (as in the Greek myth
Originally posted by \\/\\/ickes
Wow, with the response to this post... you guys clearly don't know when I am joking... do you?
Oh, and to the person who told me to get a life... I have one... how about you?
I told you to get a life. What I meant by this was for you to stop acting like a jerk and to let the man have his say.
I have a great life. I am at work on Saturday tracking down bugs in my code for an alpha release. Though this sounds bad, I actually do have quite a nice life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Since your post was meant to be sarcastic, you should have used the emoticons (
Man, the net hasn't been the same since AOL gave its users web access
Newton was the right screen size, but the ridiculous Newton OS and NewtonScript (soups - echh!) made it almost impossible to program for. Palm OS, Windows CE/Pocket PC, all have ridiculous limitations. They're almost real computers, but not quite.
The tablet should run the same software the big computers run. Don't segment the (already small) market, or make consumers look for special versions of software.
No little keyboards. The buttons get dirt in them and stop working. The fewer buttons, the better - best would be no buttons at all. (Anyone read Heinlein's "Orphans in the Sky"?)
Performance is not critical. A 70MHz G3 should do the job. Maybe the OS could have some options to remove shading and "dumb down" the GUI prettiness to save power.
Batteries should be user-swappable so I can change batteries. I just got an Audiovox Thera, and it's completely solid-state, but the battery life is horrible - it's dead in less than 4 hours.
Connectivity should be firewire.
Rugged, slower, but capable of running OSX is important. I bet, like cubist wrote, that the OS could have Quartz Extreme disabled and maybe there could be a "Quartz Minimalistic" preference that actually turns all of the extra's off....that isn't a bad idea for laptops as well. It would be a minimal GUI that is very Mac-like, but with Unix sensibilities and optimized for powersavings.
One OS, but Many Manifestations!
I also like how Amorph envisioned a whole line of tablets, 'a la Wacom pads or laptops. I think variety of sizes and clear upgrade paths are some of the reasons the Newton did not get the market share.
So horay, Amorph.!
Originally posted by cubist
I want Amorph's tablet!
Newton was the right screen size, but the ridiculous Newton OS and NewtonScript (soups - echh!) made it almost impossible to program for. Palm OS, Windows CE/Pocket PC, all have ridiculous limitations. They're almost real computers, but not quite.
The tablet should run the same software the big computers run. Don't segment the (already small) market, or make consumers look for special versions of software.
No little keyboards. The buttons get dirt in them and stop working. The fewer buttons, the better - best would be no buttons at all. (Anyone read Heinlein's "Orphans in the Sky"?)
Performance is not critical. A 70MHz G3 should do the job. Maybe the OS could have some options to remove shading and "dumb down" the GUI prettiness to save power.
Batteries should be user-swappable so I can change batteries. I just got an Audiovox Thera, and it's completely solid-state, but the battery life is horrible - it's dead in less than 4 hours.
Connectivity should be firewire.
70Mhz?
Originally posted by MacGregor
Rugged, slower, but capable of running OSX is important. I bet, like cubist wrote, that the OS could have Quartz Extreme disabled and maybe there could be a "Quartz Minimalistic" preference that actually turns all of the extra's off....
No need. For one thing, QE is only enabled if the requisite hardware is present, and QE-powered effects like the rotating cube of Fast User Switching fall back to simpler effects already.
For another, QE only needs a 16MB AGP RADEON. That's ancient tech that Apple should have no trouble at all providing.
"One OS, Many Manifestations" just means "One OS, many support and compatibility and consumer confusion issues." The tablet has to be able to run the same OS X that runs in the PowerMac, and the same OS X that you can buy off a store shelf. Fortunately, OS X doesn't require much in terms of modern technology: A two year old baseline iBook can run Jaguar well enough, and Jaguar isn't even halfway toward fulfilling the promise of OS X.
Or even better, a totally wireless iPod. In fact, in future all Mac's should be totally wireless with better/easier connectivity with other Mac's - especially iTunes libraries
A 50" LCD screen would be good - wireless of course!
For now I'd be content with a two button bluetooth mouse though - especially if it had a scroll wheel...
Originally posted by rageous
I'd ask for a free version of every piece of Apple hardware/software to be released from now on.
Of course I'd only ask for that because I want to help Apple test the products
I have to agree with every new piece of hardware Apple makes plus I would love to see the powerbook go to Black like the IBook case.Much stronger than the thin aluminum cases they are in now.A friend who has one dented his in a extremely good padded notebook case!!!!That tells me its too fragile and with the IBook shell it has proven to be very durable.
2-button, scroll wheel, bluetooth mouse
why can't i have one of these from apple? what's the big f#kkin deal?! i'd much rather give my hard earned dollars to apple than some after market company. so before this thread turns into another 1 or 2 button mouse debate, i just want it as option and the ol' one-button can still come standard... thank you.