Clay Fandre said: > Kozmik Krash wrote: > > what is freepad anyways? a linux-based laptop? > > No. It's much more than that... Actually, I'd argue that it's much _less_ than a laptop. Less bulky (was it 2.6 lbs?), less hardware (no keyboard, just a touchscreen), and, I suspect, less capability. It's essentially a wireless network/phone appliance. It's neat, but I'm not interested in getting one until I find out how you talk to it - the site hints that it can be hooked up to a LAN, which implies that you don't have to rent airtime from their proprietary service, but no details are given about what sort of hardware you have to add to your LAN to communicate with it. (Which is hardly a surprise, given that there are no details about much of anything else either. The site looks like it's describing a concept which is in the early stages of development, yet it also claims a release date of "medio 2000".) Even with the details, I don't know that it'll have much to offer the geekier side of the world other than a low price. Functionally, I'd rather have a laptop with a wireless NIC and a cordless phone. Small and lightweight is nice, but when you're dealing with a dedicated wireless network device (i.e., something that will only be used with a relatively small and well-defined area), it's not of major importance. -- "Two words: Windows survives." - Craig Mundie, Microsoft senior strategist "So does syphillis. Good thing we have penicillin." - Matthew Alton Geek Code 3.1: GCS d- s+: a- C++ UL++$ P+>+++ L+++>++++ E- W--(++) N+ o+ !K w---$ O M- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t 5++ X+ R++ tv b+ DI++++ D G e* h+ r++ y+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: tclug-list-unsubscribe at mn-linux.org For additional commands, e-mail: tclug-list-help at mn-linux.org