Small PCs

[Doug]

I have the software synth mods running on a board that
is 4x6x2 inches. These are mostly pictures but there
is some info about it here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~wearable/galleria/fashion/

The same CPU was used in another design:
http://home.earthlink.net/~wearable/galleria/purse/

I don't know why, but the page describing the board
seems to be gone from the advantech site. But this
is a newsletter describing it. The board itself
cost less than $400.

They have a new board that runs the Via Eden
processor. The 667Mhz version is selling for $331.
It supports 512MB SDRAM and audio onboard. It is
in the same form factor as my prototypes, 4x6
inches, and it also has PC/104, so it can work
with a dual PCMCIA module.

With a 667Mhz CPU and onboard audio, this can be
a mobile unit that replaces a PC. The PCMCIA will
allow for modems or wireless lan. Ethernet is
already onboard. The new Eden based board also
has S3 Savage4 video and can use up to 32MB of
the system memory for framebuffer.

I will be making another prototype that uses
the Via Eden board (it's called PCM-9372

http://www.advantech.com.tw/epc/newsletter/v75-09-12_02/pcm-9372.htm

I also have plans for an X-Scale prototype
using a board that is 3x5 inches. I noticed
that the Flite software synthesizer works on
StrongArm already, it sure would be cool to
have speakup working on X-Scale (400Mhz low
power processor used in iPAQ).

Another interesting thing: I have seen embedded
boards that can actually run two sound cards at
the same time. One is onboard and one is a
MiniPCI add-on card (tiny!). It would neat to
have speakup console on one sound card and
emacspeak on the other. A modified heaset
could make one go in each ear. Or maybe that
would be to confusing, perhaps some special
scripts or keymapping would be needed. Or
maybe I just have too many ideas ...

   -- Doug