Agenda to challenge Palm with "pure Linux PDA"

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Mar. 10, 2001

Agenda Computing plans to be the first company in the world to launch a "pure Linux PDA", through an April 3, 2001 launch of its VR3 PDA at Comdex Chicago. The VR3 belongs to a new class of PDAs that will compete with Palm's immensely popular products by offering higher performance processors and more sophisticated operating systems (including Embedded Linux and Windows CE). During the past year, several other companies have announced plans to introduce Linux-based PDAs, including a recent announcement from consumer giant Sharp Electronics. Similarly, G.Mate (Korea) is set due to begin shipping the Yopy PDA shortly.

Another important trend in the Linux-PDA space is the growing number of platform-agnostic PDA Linux distributions. The most notable of these are Century Software's Microwindows environment, Trolltech's QT Palmtop Environment, Transvirtual Technologies' Pocket Linux, and the open source projects of handhelds.org and the Familiar Project.

All these efforts are aimed at establishing PDA-Linux as a popular community phenomenon, supported by thousands of application developers worldwide, in hopes of creating a viable "open source" alternative to the proprietary -- though hugely successful -- PalmOS. Accordingly, Agenda has constructed a dedicated developer website to serve as a portal where the VR3's software source code is available for free public download, and where developers can readily interact with each other and with Agenda.

The VR3 is a full-function PDA with a 160 x 240 pixel (2.25" x 3.25" viewable area) backlit LCD. It is based on a 66MHz 32-bit NEC VR4181 "system-on-chip" processor, and has 8 MB of system RAM and up to 8 MB of built-in flash storage. The built-in flash memory prevents data loss due to a discharged battery condition. The device has a standard RS232 serial port plus a special high-speed serial port, along with an IrDA interface. Its operating system is Linux-VR. A LinuxDevices.com "device profile" discussing the VR3 is available here.

The VR3 is being introduced at a suggested list price of $249, and comes in a selection of cool-sounding colors, including "H₂O" (transparent), "Shark" (slate blue), and "Matrix" (black).

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