Uses for the Ben Nanonote
Hans Bezemer
thebeez at xs4all.nl
Tue Aug 10 13:27:39 EDT 2010
Hi!
I don't know if I'm duplicating too much down here, but after several weeks of
use, I think I know where a low cost device like the Nanonote could shine:
(1) Small media player
(2) Legacy game console
(3) Small webserver
(4) Console
(5) PDA++
Ad (1)
Required:
- Gmu (available)
- Mplayer (missing)
The software distribution could come with a shell script (or better) to
convert movies to the Nanonote display. It should be a no-brainer. Insert a
VCD, DVD, DivX, etc. and you'll end up with a displayable movie. Since it is
that small, several movies could fit on a mini-SD card. Contrary to some
others, I don't think the price of mini-SDs is a big problem.
Ad (2)
Required:
- Commodore 64 emulator (missing)
- Gameboy emulator (missing)
- MSX emulator (missing)
- ZX Spectum emulator (missing)
- MAME emulator (missing)
- ScummVM (available)
- Doom (available)
- Quake (available)
Nuff said. If we had it, we would cover almost the entire range of legacy
machines.
Ad (3)
- PHP (available)
- MySQL (available)
- Apache (available)
Why not make a LAMP like package, which would enable all these
functionalities. Has to come with a good manual.
Ad (4)
- RS232 interface (half missing/half available)
- Minicom (available)
OR:
- USB interface (??)
- xterm equivalent (??)
Nowadays Serial terminals like the VT220 and Wyses are disappearing quickly.
Still, a cheap, easy to set up console may be a hit. If your Linux machine
ever fails, you can use a console to control it. Problem is, pure RS232 ports
are disappearing just as quickly. If we can make a cheap device:
- That is easy to set up
- Hooks up to the USB port
- Requires a simple adaptation of /etc/inittab
- Provides enough information on screen for e.g. /var/log/messages
We might have a winner on our hands.
Ad (5) PDA++
- Abiword (missing)
- Gnumeric (missing)
- Todo list (missing)
- Jots (missing)
- Contacts (missing)
- PDF R/O (available)
- eReader (available?)
I've proven to myself that it IS possible to do some light weight office work
on the Nanonote. Editing existing documents may not get you any points, but
creation is very possible. Displaying existing documents is possible as well.
Conclusion
==========
It would be worth if we could at least switch between tasks. I haven't figured
out how to examine my 4tHmanual.pdf with Nupdf and switch to another console
to apply that knowledge. I don't know if that's possible (or feasable within
32 MB) but it woul help.
Hans Bezemer
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