Agenda VR3 Linux-based Handheld Computer

Linux Users' Group of Davis
Monday, March 19, 2001

Bill Kendrick <http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/bill/>

Specs:

  • Processor:
    66MHz 32bit NEC VR4181 MIPS

  • Memory:
    8MB RAM
    16MB Flash

  • Screen:
    160w x 240h 16 grey
    2" x 2.25"
    Backlight
    Software contrast control

  • Interface:
    X-Window (X11)
    FLTK (Fast Light Toolkit) GUI
    Xscribble for handwriting recognition
    Tapable keyboard app. (layouts in XML!)
    External keyboard (optional)
    Dual-color LED

  • Buttons:
    Power (upper left side)
    Reset (back)
    PgUp/PgDn (upper left side)
    Shift buttons (on left and right sides)
    Left/Right Arrows (front)

  • I/O:
    IrDA port
    Consumer IR port
    RS-232 (serial) port
    Peripheral port
    56kbps external modem (optional)
    USB cable (optional)
  • Network:
    Transfer files to/from desktop using rsync NFS mount desktop on Agenda
    NFS mount Agenda on desktop!
    Telnet to/from it
    ... and more (install SSH client, Apache webserver, IRC clients, etc!)

  • OS:
    Linux VR OS
    Kernel 2.4.0
    Updatable by "flashing"

  • Power:
    2 AAA batteries
    External power adapter can be built

  • Physical:
    4.5" tall x 3.0" wide x 0.8" thick
    Weighs 4oz (w/o batteries)

  • Audio:
    Mono out and mic in
    Comes with "earbud" (like for cell phones)
    Internal buzzer speaker

  • Price:
    US$180 for Developer's edition
    (available now)

    US$250 MSRP for Consumer edition
    (available April 3rd)

Shells and Programming Tools:

  • On the Agenda:
    Comes with SH, ASH and BASH shells
    TCSH and ZSH shells have been ported
    Python has been ported
    Kaffe and KVM (Java environments) are being ported
    TCL scripting language is being ported
    guiForth (Forth with FLTK support) is being created (based on pForth)

  • For Workstations:
    mipsel-linux-gcc (GCC for i386/Linux, which cross-compiles to Agenda MIPS/Linux-VR)

Resources:

Other Small Devices that (Can) Run Linux