UMPC in N770 format
 

Hello,

What do you think about Raon Vega (http://www.dynamism.com/vega/main.shtml) ? It's a small UMPC in the 770 format. It comes preloaded with Windows, but I suspect loading Linux on it wouldn't be too hard, especially when AMD gives out drivers for the AMD Geode processor that is used by the Vega,

Since it comes with lots of memory, HDD capacity, powered USB ports, out-VGA capability, and price tag is quite high, it clearly targets at notebook market instead of being just a Internet Tablet. But the form factor (minus the weight) clearly makes this an ultraportable, and a competitor to the 870.

So, what are your opinions on this ?

It looks like a nice device, but I think it is absurd that wifi and/or BT are not included. You have drastically reduced the usefullness of the device by not adding the 20$ wifi adapater. Now whenever I want to browse the web, I have to carry the wifi adapter and put a wart on the side of the device. I think given a cheap wifi/bt chip I would replace a laptop for $900. But without... It is a stripped down 770 that becaomes useless for a laptop or an mobile internet accessor.

BTW the processor support in Linux is not usually the issue. I bet you could get it to boot. The tough part is finding out if the GFX processor is support well enough.
Thanks
Brian

Plus, regardless of the fact that you could install Linux on it, you'd still have pre-paid the Microsoft Tax, which is not an option for me.

When I referred to drivers, I meant chipset/video drivers; I think Geode is a system-on-a-chip solution, much like the processor the 770 is using. AMD provides Linux drivers for Geode.
The wifi dongle is included in the package, but I agree Vega looks awkward with the dongle plugged in. Maybe a future version will have BT/wifi inside. What really would do it for me is to have GSM/GPRS/3G support included, so it could be also used as phone with a BT headset.

The powered USB 2.0 host port is really nice to have. I think if the manufacturer would release a Linux version for 600$ (without MS tax) I wouldn't think twice before getting one.

This product has been mentioned before. No integrated wireless in a handheld computer is a ridiculous design oversight. Can't even compare it to the 770.

Seems a fair bit bigger than the 770 ... I think the OQO is a closer match and not all that much more than the Vega now that they dropped the price.

Also, they went a bit button-happy on it. Maybe that is a function of how unsuitable the XP desktop interface is for embedded systems.

but what do you think about PepperPad 3 ? http://www.pepper.com/ ?

I'll buy one when they're on eBay.

Hi.

I bought the N770 because of the form factor. I could have bought a laptop computer for the same price, but no other device at 0.7", 8 oz, and less than $350 browses the web like the N770.

If the N770's browser was as handicapped as the PowerPC browsers, I never would have bought it.

My personal view is that I would not install Linux over Windows on the Raeon or any other UMPC. My reasoning is that although I bought the N770 partly because of its Debian-like OS, I didn't do so because I think Linux is superior to Windows (I don't), but I did so because the alternative OS's for portables were so badly supported (for example, PocketPC.)

If my N770 ran Windows, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

That said, after owning the N770, I wouldn't settle for anything without a slider keyboard, and the Raeon fails that. Out of all the available devices out there now, I think the newly re-priced OQO is the most desirable out of all of them.

In the age of the $400.00 laptop computer, the larger, bulkier and heavier UMPCs just seem irrelevant and overpriced.

If the 770 ran Windows, it wouldn't run. WinCE 4.1, maybe, but no full-blown XP.

Also, if the 770 ran Windows, it would have cost at least $100 more than it costs now.

And, if the 770 ran Windows, we wouldn't call it "running". "Crawling", yes...

Hey karel,

Yes, you're right. I was being too colloquial. The example of a Nokia 770 running Windows is probably not germaine to the topic!

sincerely,

ed

770 sized XP machine
 

I have a Vega review unit for another week. Send questions to my Gmail and I will answer them in the review.

Picture here

Also, if the 770 ran Windows, it would have cost at least $100 more than it costs now.

And, if the 770 ran Windows, we wouldn't call it "running". "Crawling", yes...[/QUOTE]

Windows "anything" requires a lot more resources, hence a lot more cost. You would not be able to get any windows based device to equal the 770 without at least an 800 meg processor. An example of this is the following: I run dual boot Linux on one hard drive and Windows on the other. This is not an old box, I'm running 2 gig of RAM and SATA drives on an AMD 64. The only thing I use windows for is gaming, everything else is done in Linux. I can run Word 2k using cross-over office on Linux and it opens word in less than half the time that windows requires to open it. Gaming is the only thing that makes me boot windows and that only comprises about 25% of my computer use/

With 64 MB of RAM, I can run Windows 2000 on a 233MHz CPU, load up Opera, and surf to my heart's content, limited by a measly 800x480 display. IRC, video playback, email, MP3s? No problem. It was a Toshiba Libretto, for the record.

What I did need, of course, was a ton of disk space, but that's just how Windows on x86 rolls. I'm not sure how trim XP Embedded can get, but you have to keep in mind that the 770 hardly takes advantage of features that both Linux and Windows have to offer.

Multiple users? Nope. You can gain root access, sure, but can two people have completely separate profiles on the 770 with password protection?

The 770's loading up a *very* tightly optimized UI. In Windows, that's like replacing the Start Menu (explorer.exe) with something like LiteStep. It's also not loading up a firewall service, file sharing, file system indexing, and so on. You're buying a device that has all of these bits trimmed out, and in many cases, replaced entirely. Someone basically did that work for you.

Can I do the same with Windows 2000? Certainly. XP Embedded? Probably. Is it worth my time to cram a 770-like experience onto an aging subminiature x86 laptop? Not really. Hack value aside, $350 and a trip to CompUSA was just far less aggravating, and it gave me a more pocketable device.

People do tend to hideously overestimate what the Windows OS requires, as they associate it with the bloated Windows UI and Microsoft's take on the ideal User Experience. Once you strip that away, you can get something that's very usable on PCs from 1997. The lack of openness behind that is a different story, of course, but you can't win them all. :)

Whoops! Forgot to come back and post the URL for my review!
http://ultramobilegeek.blogspot.com/...-for-size.html