Maybe OT: Siemens Webpad - what is this?

[KuroNeko]

Noticed this : http://www.pocketpcmag.com/May02/SIMpad.asp

It caught my eye because these things are now littering some stores here at $500.

It may be useful for a friend, but I'm unsure to what it exactly is i.e. what functionality it supports.

Has this the same funtionality as any PPC? In other words, will any PPC ARM software run on it, like games, e-book readers etc?

This Home-RF thingie, I don't see any PC cards for this, so how does one create a home network? Is this another name for 11Mbit WiFi?


Neko

[Pony99CA]

Noticed this : http://www.pocketpcmag.com/May02/SIMpad.asp

It caught my eye because these things are now littering some stores here at $500.

It may be useful for a friend, but I'm unsure to what it exactly is i.e. what functionality it supports.

Has this the same funtionality as any PPC? In other words, will any PPC ARM software run on it, like games, e-book readers etc?

It sounds like it's running the Handheld PC operating system, which is almost Windows CE 3.0 (if not exactly). It is not running the Pocket PC OS.


This Home-RF thingie, I don't see any PC cards for this, so how does one create a home network? Is this another name for 11Mbit WiFi?

HomeRF was another wireless LAN standard competing with WiFi. It is officially dead now, as this C|Net article (http://news.com.com/2100-1039-979611.html?tag=cd_mh) shows.

I don't think you need to worry about this, though. The article said they supported a lot of wireless options, which may well include WiFi. The SIMpad has a PC Card slot, so you can probably put a WiFi card in there.

For other questions on this system, you might ask David Shier, the author of the article you linked to. He's a contributor on Pocket PC Thoughts, even, and his handle is daS in case you want to Private Message him.

Steve

[KuroNeko]

Thanks for the info! I'll drop him a line.

The Handheld OS is this HPC? I noticed on the ubook e-book reader site they have a version for this, but I didn't know what it was (total noob in this area, still lots to learn)

Neko