Calling All Techno-Geeks!
My in-laws visit every year. Last year, they left our house straight for an Alaskan cruise. My father in-law decided he needed something to store digital pictures. They have no laptop. He went in search of something of which I have never heard, a "digital wallet". Heck, I didn't even know what he was talking about.
On a related note (trust me, it kinda is), my computer, running Windoze (fuck)ME, has never supported Plug and Play USB hardware. Turns out, has brother pointed out, that doesn't really matter, since one need only plug the hardware into the USB port and access the unit through the Windows Explorer, which treats it as an external hard drive.
That led me to speculate that the drivers ME is using may be fairly basic.
I thought about this digital wallet recently. Dad-in-law really didn't need a wallet, per se, since external hard drives are cheap and available. What he needed was a USB hardware interface that had a display, a cache of USB driver software, and a hub. Picture a Palm device with a USB port or two.
One would plug a hub with multiple devices into this interface and use the interface to transfer data between units. That's all. The display would be necessary to choose the proper transfering data, and one really only need a stylus-faced display with a couple buttons to get functionality up to laptop par. Dump all the digipics into the hard drive, move some MP3s onto the $50 player, share some songs with co-workers who also have the players (at last count 25 fellow coglings at the workplace bought these cheapos from Cathy).
In my work, I have to carry everything. During breaks I type journal entries on a Palm IIIxe with a folding Palm Keyboard, listening to tunes on the radio or in the 128M of Cheapo Player memory. I have no room in either my bag or my life for a burdensome laptop. I have a Motorola phone that I could use to better advantage once I splurge for the USB jack and transfer the games through my home system rather than gobble airtime with data transfers.
So, what say ye in the hardware sphere? Would a palmtop USB Transference Enabler be feasible? Could one start by hacking a HotSync cradle and doing a bit of coding, or would an extra power supply be needed?
I am geniunely curious.
On a related note (trust me, it kinda is), my computer, running Windoze (fuck)ME, has never supported Plug and Play USB hardware. Turns out, has brother pointed out, that doesn't really matter, since one need only plug the hardware into the USB port and access the unit through the Windows Explorer, which treats it as an external hard drive.
That led me to speculate that the drivers ME is using may be fairly basic.
I thought about this digital wallet recently. Dad-in-law really didn't need a wallet, per se, since external hard drives are cheap and available. What he needed was a USB hardware interface that had a display, a cache of USB driver software, and a hub. Picture a Palm device with a USB port or two.
One would plug a hub with multiple devices into this interface and use the interface to transfer data between units. That's all. The display would be necessary to choose the proper transfering data, and one really only need a stylus-faced display with a couple buttons to get functionality up to laptop par. Dump all the digipics into the hard drive, move some MP3s onto the $50 player, share some songs with co-workers who also have the players (at last count 25 fellow coglings at the workplace bought these cheapos from Cathy).
In my work, I have to carry everything. During breaks I type journal entries on a Palm IIIxe with a folding Palm Keyboard, listening to tunes on the radio or in the 128M of Cheapo Player memory. I have no room in either my bag or my life for a burdensome laptop. I have a Motorola phone that I could use to better advantage once I splurge for the USB jack and transfer the games through my home system rather than gobble airtime with data transfers.
So, what say ye in the hardware sphere? Would a palmtop USB Transference Enabler be feasible? Could one start by hacking a HotSync cradle and doing a bit of coding, or would an extra power supply be needed?
I am geniunely curious.