Buying Handhelds Without an OS? 11
cr0sh asks: "I have a question that I am hoping someone can answer - today I was looking into cheap handhelds - I first looked at Palm, then at Handspring, then at something called LinuxDA, which seems to be a company offering not only an embedded Linux for handhelds, but also a device with it pre-loaded as one of their products. Looking at each of these companies offerings, I began to notice how they all seemed to be identical, hardware-wise (case, processor, button-layout, memory size, etc), so my question is - is there some company in Asia making the hardware, which each of these companies now source from, with the difference being the software on the platform? Handspring was kinda "spun-off" (not in the traditional sense) of Palm, but what is LinuxDA? The hardware they have looks the same, and their software can run on Palm devices. They surely didn't design and built their own hardware, and besides, each of these companies having such similar designs would cause them to lob trademark infringement lawsuits around - but they aren't - that only leaves the option of one of them acting as the source for the hardware, or an outside supplier. Basically, I want to know where I could get the bare hardware..."
Actually... (Score:1)
New Wave? (Score:3, Funny)
Ask the FCC (Score:5, Informative)
Often if several companies sell the same thing with different branding they
will share the same fcc id number
Base systems (Score:4, Informative)
Anybody can buy development platforms, but as they tend to include things not needed for production units (debugging circuits, attempts to demonstrate every feature possible, etc.), are often hand-built, and are priced for corporate budgets, well the price advantage is not there. Still they can be fun to play with.
So far, (Score:4, Informative)
www.gethightech.com
It's also a PDA service center (for repairs, memory upgrades, etc.) One more thing, they buy used PDAs from people. Gethightech also sells PDA accessories like cases, stylus, keyboards, cradles, etc.) at a resonably inexpensive price.
HTH,
KeelSpawn
No mysterious source. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, for most Palm devices, the processors are the same - Palm OS runs on Dragonballs, at least until Palm OS 5.0 comes out. And you know, memory's memory. LCD screens are made by several manufacturers, I'd assume, as are buttons and such, but since the devices run the same (lightweight) OS, they're bound to be pretty similar inside.
The hard part is fitting it all together into the form factor, and adding whatever extra functionality your version offers. Those things are crammed _very_ tight.
But no, there's no mysterious reference design for this stuff; it's like saying all x86 manufacturer's motherboards can run the same code, and therefore they must all be supplied from the same source.
A basic PDA circuit diagram is pretty straightforward. RAM, ROM, CPU, LCD interface, LCD, button interface, buttons. If it weren't for the size, cost, and other design constraints, a second-year EE student could design a bare-bones system.
Typical Taiwanese MFG Company (Score:2)