Home ›

A Review of the Always Innovating Touchbook

Issue 190

From Issue #190
February 2010

Feb 01, 2010  By Daniel Bartholomew
 in
Take an ARM Processor (the OMAP3530) add a touchscreen and Linux and a quart of uniqueness, and what do you get? A Touchbook from Always Innovating, that's what.
Conclusion

In the final analysis, I like the hardware much more than I like the software, and I like the Touchbook's potential more than I like its current state. If you just want a Netbook that works, stay away for now. If, however, you like tinkering and don't mind a bumpy road, there's a lot to like.

Resources

Always Innovating: alwaysinnovating.com

BeagleBoard: www.beagleboard.org

Re-install Instructions: www.alwaysinnovating.com/wiki/index.php/Reinstall_OS

Big Buck Bunny: www.bigbuckbunny.org

Daniel Bartholomew lives with his wife and children in North Carolina. His on-line home is at daniel-bartholomew.com.

______________________

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Too bad I can't have one

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 08:24.

I'd love to buy one of these, but I can't see spending money now just to wait 6 months for the device to *maybe* be shipped, while never hearing from the company. This is pretty much what people have been reporting in the forums, and now apparently they aren't even making them:

https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/store/home.php

Why would you suspend production when an order backlog exists?

Just for hacking.

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 11:37.

It sounds fun to tear apart and fool with but not good for much else. I'll stick to an iPad - usable for non-geek-wanking stiff but still plenty hackable.

Really interesting product

Angel Lightbringer's picture
Submitted by Angel Lightbringer on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 20:56.

I've read about the beagle board before, and I am very pleased to see some people actually had an excellent use for it.

I am looking forward to buy one of those in the future -- the touchbook -- maybe when Always Innovating clears the order backlog and finds a way to keep it low.

Webcast
More Resources
How to Build an Optimal Hadoop Cluster to Store and Maintain Unlimited Amounts of Data Using Microservers

Realizing the promise of Apache® Hadoop® requires the effective deployment of compute, memory, storage and networking to achieve optimal results. With its flexibility and multitude of options, it is easy to over or under provision the server infrastructure, resulting in poor performance and high TCO. Join us for an in depth, technical discussion with industry experts from leading Hadoop and server companies who will provide insights into the key considerations for designing and deploying an optimal Hadoop cluster.

Learn More

Sponsored by AMD

White Paper
More Resources
Private PaaS for the Agile Enterprise

If you already use virtualized infrastructure, you are well on your way to leveraging the power of the cloud. Virtualization offers the promise of limitless resources, but how do you manage that scalability when your DevOps team doesn’t scale? In today’s hypercompetitive markets, fast results can make a difference between leading the pack vs. obsolescence. Organizations need more benefits from cloud computing than just raw resources. They need agility, flexibility, convenience, ROI, and control.

Stackato private Platform-as-a-Service technology from ActiveState extends your private cloud infrastructure by creating a private PaaS to provide on-demand availability, flexibility, control, and ultimately, faster time-to-market for your enterprise.

Learn More

Sponsored by ActiveState