Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

TI has just started to roll out cortexA8 based chips iirc, and in a years time we are probably looking at A9. and im not sure if its intel thats the biggest issue when it comes to low watt x86. via launched what appeared to be a impressive design recently....

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

How does Intel Atom stack up?

"The chips have a thermal design power (TDP) specification in 0.6-2.5 watt range and scale to 1.8GHz speeds depending on customer need."

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archi...d=tech_atom+pr

I read that the Asus eee 900 will use a 1 ghz. version to be released in May this year.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

No, I just doubt the n800 will be supported anymore.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

If you refer to this post in december (and that's just one, BTW), I don't remeber you replying.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

But-- my post wasn't specific to N800.

And keep in mind that N800 is compatible enough with the N810 that support for the latter means de facto support for the former.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

So are you ruling out the possibility of an N810-only upgrade (perhaps due to licensing rather than technical issues) at some point? Or does that de facto merely represent acknowledgement of the obvious glee with which N800 users would pirate any such upgrade?

P) Arrrrrgh, Mateys!

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Nope. Nope.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

A quick Google search shows that a 500MHz ARM11 consumes about 0.1W on the average. "TDP" specification refers to the maximum amount of power dissipated by the device. In other words, your Atom CPU will consume no less than 0.6..2.5W (depending on the computational load).

Also notice that OMAP2 chips are produced using 90nm technology while Atom will probably start at 65nm and then go to 45nm. If TI goes up the technology ladder, its OMAP CPUs will consume even less power.

So, how does Atom stack up? It does not.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

ARM should come up with a new term, PID pocketable internet devices :)

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Oh, they stack up... haven't you seen the pictures? Those MID's are huge and thick, great for stacking.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

On the topic of Intel's MIDs, I can't help but think they are aiming a bit too high in the specs front. Their target for minimum memory and processor speed is very, very high which will not have a good impact on price point. Isn't a benefit of the Internet that the hardware accessing it can be really simple?

Many props to Intel for trying, (and I hope they have success for the sake of Ubuntu Mobile) but I for one think they are aiming a bit too low, creating systems more like small laptops (with conveniently mass produced processors) as opposed to handheld / pocketable computers.

As for the N800, the fact that Nokia released an N810 and seems to be pushing out a successor along that same product line is the reason why I for one feel safe getting an N800. It has very similar (nearly identical) internals, and it seems they will be keeping that up along the N8** series for now. I, for one, doubt Nokia would release completely different hardware within such a short space from the release of a new N8something tablet.
The N800 series seems to be doing the trick, so hopefully the next one up will be quite a revelation (ginormous multitouch screen with seamless attachment, fully working 3D hardware and Clutter-powered interface, please!), instead of a mere evolution.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Well, I do not think that shrinking physical dimensions will be that much of a problem. The power consumption will be a real problem though. Ultimately, a Mercedes Benz can't compete in mileage with a bicycle, no matter how fast it goes.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Either some forget, or still don't trust Nokia after the 770-to-N800 leap-- but the drive toward increased hardware abstraction is real. Each OS release just solidifies that.

Next you will see a maemo OS support 3 devices simultaneously. Let that sink in. ;)

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

oh crap...

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Same here, I agree that the N800 will still be supported. Remember, you could even flash the N810 image with a little hacking ;)

Nokia may discontinue (already been done?) the N800 to persuade people to buy the N810 instead but the N800 and N810 are too similar to make firmware updates N810 only.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Crap???

We're talkin' PLATFORM here, babee!!! :D

Not to mention the upcoming N8mmmmppphhh--

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Nah, N800s are still being sold everywhere, just not as much in stores. Making firware updates N810-only would be dumb, as the two devices are nearly the same :/.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

so, cheese or rat poison...

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

The main thing that I hope Nokia adds support for SOON is printing. For many features it works for Nokia to say 'that can be downloaded as an open source addition" but not for printing. Why? Because even though it is easy to install printing (cups) support on the NIT, none of the apps support it in their file menu. Nokia needs to rapidly add printing support before there are too many third party apps that don't support it in their file menu.

Any comments Rat?

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Bleh, printing is kinda pointless in these devices, and the size requirements for something like CUPS (or even somethin smaller) are a little excessive for the amount of storage and RAM we have available. Besides, who the hell uses paper documents anymore? I haven't printed anything for at least 6 months. :p

Really, of you need to print, sending it to a networked machine is damn easy.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I use CUPS to print from my N800 ALL THE TIME - photos, pdfs, code... But I have to do it from xterm in most cases. Your use cases are probably a sub-set of what is typical for many people. For example, it appears that you have a 'networked machine' in addition to your N8x0 (isn't yours networked?) that is your primary device. The N800 IS my primary device, as it is for many people. The 'I don't use it so no-one else needs it' argument doesn't work.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I could really use printing support; but a more practical option is to permit export as pdf. It's trivial to print pdfs automatically upon saving them in a "print box" directory. and they're more generally useful. A paper-less way of working does imply some replacement method of publishing documents for exchange, and pdf is the most prevalent method. If we could export pdfs natively, the printing and spooling aspects could be left aside for user installation.

More functionality at lower cost looks like a win to me.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Think he's referring to a machine networked to the N800; are you printing to a USB printer directly connected to the tablet? If not, you're sending it to a networked machine, too. Only difference is where you run the spooler.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Platform... that sounds so awesome. I really can't wait till there are loads of Maemo devices around. Can you really imagine the community that was built around such as small thing as the 770 becoming so large as to encompass so many devices and... I hope to see different manufactures use the platform *goosebumps, said it again* that the house of Nokia has built ;)

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I print to networked printers; they have no host PC.
The idea of using pdf as an intermediate print format is fine. But it doesn't solve the problem I mentioned: many applications do not have export to pdf as an option.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Which is also highly atypical and outside of the use case Nokia has positioned the device for. ;)

Printing support is a bit heavy to bundle, which is part of the reason why we don't have printing functionality in applications (the others being the product's intended purpose, and time), but Print to PDF seems like an excellent compromise to me. Gets rid of the need for a heavy implementation of CUPS or something similar and gives users a fairly straightforward method to get stuff to a printer.

On a related note, how heavy (feasible?) would a Bluetooth printing implementation be?

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

That's a networked machine, then; and many (most?) networked printers actually run a spooler, so you only need a client on the N800.

Yes; I'm suggesting that should be added rather than the print option, as it still works without the weight of a spooler, and adds more utility. But I agree something should be added.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I would agree with this idea.

Lots of printers can have the file obexed to them but even for the K750 I had before my W810, it came bundled with a little java application from HP that could print out your photos, calender and contacts. It had the choice to save them as EMF (I think) on the memory card which the printer would recognize if you inserted the memory into it. Or it would do straight bluetooth print. If a K750 with MIDP (forget full java) could do it, surely our N8*0 can too?

I think Pictbridge support would be nice too.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Personally, what I'm looking forward to most with Diablo (or however the April-ish point release to support the WIMAX N8xx will be called) is a newer build of the Gecko engine for the web browser. The current build is a fairly old pre-release snapshot of Gecko 1.9, and with Firefox 3 getting closer to release (now at Beta 4), Mozilla has made substantial speed and memory usage improvements to Gecko since. There have been some improvements in the cairo graphics library (which Gecko 1.9 heavily relies on for rendering) as well.

While Gecko is a lot more capable than the old Opera engine, we did lose quite a bit of browsing performance in the move to ITOS2008 (in particular, trying to scroll complex pages before they're fully loaded can be really painful). With a closer-to-release Gecko build, we might get that back. Firefox 3 Beta 4 is a lot speedier than older Betas, at least. This post on memory usage improvements is a nice read as well.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

It sure seems like bundling is about the worst thing that can happen to an application. Before MicroB was bundled, we had nice updates every few weeks. Now we only get them once every few months, and tablet-browser has to comply with Nokia's seemingly unending and absolutely braindead ******ed UI specifications. Worse, the interface is not only forced to be ******ed by Nokia, but the interface as we have it now is locked down for a while, so the major overhauls within the aforementioned ******-spec (and, thus, improvements) can't happen but once a year or so.

I dunno why people are always clamoring for more Nokia-supported software. They're really only good at making things more painful for their users and developers in the name of corporate software specs. <_<

But, yeah, I, too, am ready for some MicroB updates.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

That's a very good point!

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

i read in another thread that someone was printing directly to a bluetooth hp printer by using the 'send to bluetooth' function on the tablets.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I mentioned that very slightly :p "lots of printers can have the file obexed to them"

But it's not a good solution:
1. Most, 3rd party apps do not have a send to.
2. This relies on the printer recognising the content. Try it with a doc file for example.

Come think of it, will 4.1 have lockable desktop applets & snapping turned off?
And will 4.0 apps be compatible? I think so because of the .1

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I was doing that with images, to my HPC6180 (a very nice multifunction printer if anyone is in the market). Have not been able to get any other sort of file to work.

But maybe not easy enough.

What would be cool is the ability to send a file from the N8xx to a networked printer (via a computer on the same network) wrapped in a print job object. You'd send it to a watched spool directory and BLAM! --out it goes to the printer. Technically possible, but would likely require software installation on both the tablet and the computer involved...

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Eh, print to PDF accomplishes exactly this fairly easily.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Really? My only experience with print to PDF is solely on a single workstation. But if that's the solution, then it should be "bugged"! Unfortunately bugzilla is still crashing on me...

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Well, the point being that printing to PDF is a easy way to interface with just about any decent printing system without a whole lot of extra effort on either side.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

So, it's all but certain that the N810 WiMAX Edition will be announced next week, PhoneBoy has Twittered about upgrading his N8x0s to a new internal build of Diablo, and someone's going through maemo bugzilla, commenting on what is, and isn't, fixed in a new Diablo build. Given all that, anyone care to guess when Diablo will become available to us, the unwashed masses? Also, what are your thoughts on a simultaneous release for all three N8x0 devices this time? I don't expect Nokia want a repeat of the N810-firmware-on-N800-tablets affair from last fall, but maybe that's just me.

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

Either way, I want it now!

Re: What do we know about Diablo (Maemo 4.1) ?
 

I'd guess there'll be a new firmware release for N8x0 the same time the N810WE is available, hopefully 1st April (i.e. next Tuesday).

It's worth bearing in mind that this is the last major release the maemo team committed to releasing for the N800. There are three ways of reading that:

1) It'll possibly be the last for the N810 too, since they're effectively the same h/w.
2) The N800 will get dropped, but the N810 won't. The Hacker Editions are bound to be easier to produce, though.
3) The N800 will get upgrades as long as the N810 does, probably into Elephanta at least.