Origami as a PDA

[[email protected]]

Sometimes I find myself wishing my PDA was a tad bit bigger. With
Microsoft's 'Origami' being unveiled recently it presents a possibility
to fill that need. Obviously size and battery power is a factor in many
gliders but it would fit in my rather roomy cockpit. Question for the
computer types out there......... would this work

[[email protected]]

It looks like 'Origami' is Microsoft's operating system for the Ultra
Mobile PC concept, with actual platforms still to be announced. The 7"
display sounds like the right size but the 1kg target weight may be a
bit high for something mounted on a gooseneck. Perhaps less without a
battery? Let's see what the HW vendors come up with ...

[Bill Daniels]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> It looks like 'Origami' is Microsoft's operating system for the Ultra
> Mobile PC concept, with actual platforms still to be announced. The 7"
> display sounds like the right size but the 1kg target weight may be a
> bit high for something mounted on a gooseneck. Perhaps less without a
> battery? Let's see what the HW vendors come up with ...
>

I'm watching this too. I hope portrait mode is supported.

[[email protected]]

Given the screen size, a gooseneck shouldn't be neccessary, even for an
AK like me. Combined with a trackball controller, it would be quite a
system, worth carrying a bit more battery.

Ray Warshaw
1LK

[Mike Borgelt]

On 14 Mar 2006 21:28:00 -0800, wrote:

>Given the screen size, a gooseneck shouldn't be neccessary, even for an
>AK like me. Combined with a trackball controller, it would be quite a
>system, worth carrying a bit more battery.
>
>Ray Warshaw
>1LK


Maybe one of these www.rocketmouse.com mounted on the stick or flap
handle?

Mike Borgelt

[Mottley]

Mike Borgelt wrote:
> On 14 Mar 2006 21:28:00 -0800, wrote:
>
> >Given the screen size, a gooseneck shouldn't be neccessary, even for an
> >AK like me. Combined with a trackball controller, it would be quite a
> >system, worth carrying a bit more battery.
> >
> >Ray Warshaw
> >1LK
>
>
> Maybe one of these www.rocketmouse.com mounted on the stick or flap
> handle?
>
> Mike Borgelt

It operates with a Touchscreen same as the PDA

[TowPilot185]

Sometimes I find myself wishing my PDA was a tad bit bigger. With
Microsoft's 'Origami' being unveiled recently it presents a possibility
to fill that need. Obviously size and battery power is a factor in many
gliders but it would fit in my rather roomy cockpit. Question for the
computer types out there......... would this work

The issue will be waiting for software. The 'Origami' uses Windows XP tablet. Therefore the populare Windows Pocket PC(Windows Mobile) applications will not work without software modifcations(well you could use the PocketPC emulator but you then give up the screen real estate you where gaining). Existing desktop applications will run but are probably not optimized for the smaller screen. It is just a catch up game with us software developers when new devices are added. I'm just now updating my PocketPC apps to be 'screen aware' on the Mobile 5.0 devices all I need is another platform to modify my GUI(graphical user interface) for.

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

I'm curious about it. Does it use a hard drive, or memory only. I wouldn't
want a hard drive in a glider.

Paul Remde

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Sometimes I find myself wishing my PDA was a tad bit bigger. With
> Microsoft's 'Origami' being unveiled recently it presents a possibility
> to fill that need. Obviously size and battery power is a factor in many
> gliders but it would fit in my rather roomy cockpit. Question for the
> computer types out there......... would this work
>

[Kilo Charlie]

I'd still like to see an easy to read in the sunshine flat panel display
similar to the Garmin 1000. Then the various vendors could produce the
black boxes that would sit behind the panel and drive the really cool
software that would make those displays come to life.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

[Neil Allison]

wrote:
> Sometimes I find myself wishing my PDA was a tad bit bigger. With
> Microsoft's 'Origami' being unveiled recently it presents a possibility
> to fill that need. Obviously size and battery power is a factor in many
> gliders but it would fit in my rather roomy cockpit. Question for the
> computer types out there......... would this work
>
As an engineer I'd say "why yes, it'll work". It would be cool to
implement. I can see it would be cool to only need one device to run
in-flight and flight analysis applications, but then given the amount of
stuff we lug around to support our flying, the extra room for a PDA and
a laptop is not too much of an issue.

As a "Product Development Specialist" I'm interested to know what info
you'll want on your bigger display and what (additional?) functions
you'd like to see? What are the market requirements & how much is it
worth? What is the "killer app" that means we'll improve the
performance or safety of our flying and possibly make squillions from
it? Best to keep that to yourself perhaps ;)

I ask this because I'm still new to gliding (~50hrs) and choose to log
flights for interest sake only using a Palm PDA & GPS mouse (because
that's what I had before I started gliding). I don't use it for Tasks
or navigation but it would be nice to be able to select a radio nav-aid
and have radial and distance displayed for when I'm talking to ATC.
I'll be using a Volkslogger when I need an IGC approved FR. And I'll
still need to take: charts, food & drink, Flarm,...

At 9"x5"x1" I dunno where a UMPC would fit around the cockpit of the
G103 and still be visible? I use a knee board to hold my PDA. Maybe if
I had a Stemme S10, space wouldn't be an issue?

Since I wasn't fortunate enough to be at Cebit last week I'll speculate:
- UMPCs have transflective displays which may be difficult to see in
bright sunlight unless they have some good enhancement films.

- flame wars will abound given a likely 18V or 20V external DC supply
(usually its an AC/DC adapter just like a Notebook PC).

- the Hard Drives may have "drop sensors" to safe-guard the drive heads.
I don't know how this "interruption" affects the OS: will this be an
issue in a lumpy wave rotor?

Here's one UMPC example:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/10/tabletkiosk-v-700-umpc/

Disclaimer: I'm on the hardware design team of a Windows Mobile 5 PDA.

Cheers
Neil

[Bill Daniels]

Neal, if you do it right I think the Origami project is on to something. So
far, tablets have been too big and too expensive to make sense. Give me
somethng close to what I want for under $1000 and I'll buy one.

A 7" screen may be just a bit too large. My measurements put the ideal size
closer to 5.5" to 6". It would help if the bezels were much smaller so the
overall size wasn't too much larger than the screen. Sunlight readability
is critical. A power hungry backlight trying to match the brightness of
sunlight is a loser. Why not use electronic paper or one of the newer high
brightness OLED screens.

Why the larger screen? Well, with a <4" screen, if you zoom a map out so
the maximin glide extent is within the screen boundary, details become an
unreadable jumble. If you zoom in so the details are readable, you can't
see the all the glide possibilities. The larger screen lets you see both
details and scope.

As for a hard drive, the data needed in a glider doesn't seem to require
huge hard drives. A GB or two of flash drive would be fine. I'd rather
have a removeable flash card for mass storage anyway.

What I REALLY want is full time high speed internet access in flight so I
can see the latest BLIPMAPS and satellite images.

Bill Daniels

"Neil Allison" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
>> Sometimes I find myself wishing my PDA was a tad bit bigger. With
>> Microsoft's 'Origami' being unveiled recently it presents a possibility
>> to fill that need. Obviously size and battery power is a factor in many
>> gliders but it would fit in my rather roomy cockpit. Question for the
>> computer types out there......... would this work
>>
> As an engineer I'd say "why yes, it'll work". It would be cool to
> implement. I can see it would be cool to only need one device to run
> in-flight and flight analysis applications, but then given the amount of
> stuff we lug around to support our flying, the extra room for a PDA and a
> laptop is not too much of an issue.
>
> As a "Product Development Specialist" I'm interested to know what info
> you'll want on your bigger display and what (additional?) functions you'd
> like to see? What are the market requirements & how much is it worth?
> What is the "killer app" that means we'll improve the performance or
> safety of our flying and possibly make squillions from it? Best to keep
> that to yourself perhaps ;)
>
> I ask this because I'm still new to gliding (~50hrs) and choose to log
> flights for interest sake only using a Palm PDA & GPS mouse (because
> that's what I had before I started gliding). I don't use it for Tasks or
> navigation but it would be nice to be able to select a radio nav-aid and
> have radial and distance displayed for when I'm talking to ATC. I'll be
> using a Volkslogger when I need an IGC approved FR. And I'll still need
> to take: charts, food & drink, Flarm,...
>
> At 9"x5"x1" I dunno where a UMPC would fit around the cockpit of the G103
> and still be visible? I use a knee board to hold my PDA. Maybe if I had
> a Stemme S10, space wouldn't be an issue?
>
> Since I wasn't fortunate enough to be at Cebit last week I'll speculate:
> - UMPCs have transflective displays which may be difficult to see in
> bright sunlight unless they have some good enhancement films.
>
> - flame wars will abound given a likely 18V or 20V external DC supply
> (usually its an AC/DC adapter just like a Notebook PC).
>
> - the Hard Drives may have "drop sensors" to safe-guard the drive heads. I
> don't know how this "interruption" affects the OS: will this be an issue
> in a lumpy wave rotor?
>
> Here's one UMPC example:
> http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/10/tabletkiosk-v-700-umpc/
>
> Disclaimer: I'm on the hardware design team of a Windows Mobile 5 PDA.
>
> Cheers
> Neil
>

[Andy]

"What I REALLY want is full time high speed internet access in flight
so I
can see the latest BLIPMAPS and satellite images."


Can't help with the blip maps but XM can provide you with Nexrad and
satellite images. Unlike the internet images you see your actual
position and intended course overlayed by the current weather. (Yes, I
got a 396 for Christmas).

Andy