Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!mintaka!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!slxsys!ibmpcug!mantis!mathew From: mathew@mantis.UUCP (mathew) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops Subject: Re: RISC-Notebook Message-ID: Date: 26 Nov 90 16:45:35 GMT References: Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK. Lines: 35 phr@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Paul Rubin) writes: > In article <1402@forty2.physik.unizh.ch> claudio@forty2.physik.unizh.ch (Clau > > ... > Input to the machine requires a stylus that is pressed against > the LCD screen on its front surface... > > In this group we have heard from people complaining about laptops without > enough lines on the screen, without an internal floppy, without a > math coprocessor slot, etc. Is Active Book trying to top all of > these by shipping a machine without a *keyboard*????!!! The impression I get from talking to people from ABC is that there will be a plug-in qwerty keyboard, and maybe even a microwriter keyboard; but I'm not sure whether the first machine will be bundled with a keyboard or not. The idea is that you plug it into a desk-based machine for information transfer. I'm told that the software includes something similar to KeyCaps on the Mac, so you can bring up a keyboard on the screen and peck at keys with the stylus. There's a fairly basic problem: keyboards are large. If you want a qwerty keyboard, your machine is not going to be smaller than an A4 pad. Look at the Psion laptops. If those are too big and if you don't mind spending 2 hours learning to use a microwriter keyboard, buy an AgendA and do your text entry on something which will fit in a pocket. (Screen's a bit small, but what do you expect?) mathew. -- Mantis Consultants, Unit 56, St. John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge. CB4 4WS. "CP/M is to metric as cockroaches are to a Timex watch" - booter@catnip