In a previous journal post , we highlighted that AMD look like they are being taken-up by ultra mobile PC manufacturers. The Pepperpad Plus was the first device that we had heard of that might use an AMD processor. We’ve also heard the news that Samsung may start using AMD processors. Now is probably a good time to take a closer look at the AMD processor range that relates to UMPC’s Read the full story

[update: 06.06.06 – CTitanic has done some good work and tested out some possible fixes. Check out the results over at his blog.]

My love of the VIA C7 processor and chipset took a downturn over the last 48hours. I was prepared to wait for the USB/C3 sleep state fix but now another problem has cropped up.

When we tested the Easybook P7, we found, surprisingly, that watching DVB-T (digital TV over terrestrial) using a USB stick resulted in a high load on the processor. It was my understanding that the chipset (VN800) should be able to decode MPEG-2 in hardware and the processor should be dozing off while all the DVB-T activity was going on.

Looking back at CTitanic’s test results on media players and CPU utilisation, it appears that he saw the same thing with DVD content (MPEG-2.) and that’s even with the PowerDVD and WinDVD software which is supposed to be VIA-aware and be able to use the chipset.

Over the last 48hours I’ve been researching the VIA chip-sets and the MPEG-2 decoding capabilities and its becoming clear to me now that there’s no software under windows that actually supports MPEG-2 hardware decoding apart from WinDVD and PowerDVD and we’ve already seen that neither of these solutions works for the VIA-based UMPC’s.

If you move to Linux though, its a different matter. There are a number of efforts to get Unichrome drivers working and the Epios Linux distribution is highly optimised for the VIA chips. I’ve even spoken to the developer and he seems to be getting quite a bit of support from VIA.

So why would VIA create a chipset that can’t be fully utilised under Windows? Is it because the largest percentage of their sales is for embedded devices running Linux? I suggest that they need to put a bit more effort into getting C7/VN800 drivers and/or code out to software developers ASAP otherwise the VIA-based UMPC’s are going to continue to look half-finished. We haven’t even started to test the encryption capabilities (AES, SHA, RSA acceleration) of the chipset which are hugely superior to Intel-based processors. If the same issue occurs with encryption, I’m buying a Q1!

For the time being though, lets keep an eye on EPIOS which seems to be the most advanced operating system for VIA-based PC’s today. If we could convince them to include all the touch screen drivers and if the C3 sleep-state issue doesn’t occur, I think you’d be looking at EPIOS as the most advanced operating system for VIA-based UMPC’s.

If you’re interested in trying out hardware encryption on the VIA-based UMPC’s, check out VIA’s free security software which runs under windows and should support the VN800. Particularly useful is the encrypted drive package ‘Strongbox’ which is downloadable here. Please feed back if you try this out.

Steve / Chippy.

John Tokash has spent so many hours on his Eo that it’s starting to look unhealthy!

He’s just posted a great set of tips for Origami-based (Tablet Kiosk, Paceblade, Smart-Caddie, itslabel and Samsung) UMPC’s on his blog.

The Remote-Desktop tip is a good one. I had trouble instaling a few bits of software directly onto the 1024×600 screen but if i’d have used 1024×768 via remote desktop, it might have been succesful in my tests on the Easybook P7.

Re-locating the taskbar is a great one too. Don’t waste pixels on the vertical plane!

The Carrypad umpc case tip rounds off a damn good post. ‘Chuffing good’ as they say in London.

Steve / Chippy

Someone mentioned running a web server on a ultra mobile PC the other day. This morning I mentioned the same to Kevin Tofel of JKOnTheRun and then this afternoon, Linuxdevices.com ran a story about mobile phones becoming web servers.

Running a server on a portable device (be it a smartphone, a ultra mobile PC or whatever) seems a bit strange to me becuase I can’t think of many apps where you would need to run a server component. The problem is, you really don’t want to be running services on consumer devices that are moving and exposed to constantly changing environment and connectivity levels. You would normally use the data collector as the client so that it could collect and store all data and then send bulk updates in regular intervals to a more reliable store, not the other way round. The only application I can think of is robotics or some other live remote control. The war scenario comes to mind but then you wouldn’t be relying on a 2G Nokia to take out Sadam would you?.

Now if you were to take ultra mobile PC technology (which itself is derived from existing low-power embedded PC technology) and use it in a fixed server environment, then I can see advantages. The eo, easybook and Q1 run at around 10watts with wifi on and screen off. If you were to take all the webservers in the world and replace them with UMPC’s (you can run clusters for the big server requirements) can you imagine how much energy would be saved? Then you replace the desktops and home PC’s (offering two UMPCs for each home PC to stop people moaning about their precious unused clockrates) and you’re talking hundreds and hundreds of millions of watts of power.

…or I guess, we could all turn a light bulb off. It might be a bit simpler come to think of it!

But going back to servers on mobile devices, its just sounds like a fun research project with no real application. Am I wrong?

Steve / Chippy.

Since we started tracking ultra mobile PC sites in our link list we’ve built up a collection of 34 sites that are related to UMPC’s.

Check out the list at the links page. There’s some really high quality sites in the list. If i’ve missed you out, like a forgotten Christmas card, let me know and i’ll get you on the list faster than an Eo can run out of battery power.

In the last week we’ve seen quite a few new sites which is a great sign. I’m only tracking English language websites but if anyone wants any Japanese sites I can give you a few links as I seem to have been linked in a big way from Japan today. I guess thats something like being ninjadotted?

Steve / Chippy

There’s a lot of news today about the Asus R2H ultra mobile PC being listed at WinHEC with a Core Duo CPU.

ASUS Germany have contacted me to say “NEIN” The story is not true.

It makes sense. The CoreDuo is 1) a higher power part and 2) very very expensive.

As far as I know, the Asus is due out with GPS (option I think), fingerprint reader, single sign-on software, camera and lower price which will make it a great UMPC.

There is a new version of the Celeron though thats based on the Yonah 65nm architecture (used in Core Due and Solo parts.) I wonder….

Steve / Chippy.

According to a report (German/Deutsch) the Samsung Q1 is nearly sold out in Germany after 24 hours. The ultra mobile PC went on Sale in the ‘Saturn’ high-street electronics outlet on the 1st June and “including reservations, the device is nearly sold out” [translation]

Again, like the reports of ‘sold out’ Tablet Kiosks, the actual number is unknown. It could be 5000, it could be just 2.

Samsung have already said that they want to sell 300,000 Q1’s worldwide in the first year and regard Germany as a very important market. The target is to sell 40,000 extra ‘notebooks’ in Germany this year.

It sounds like a slice of Samsung PR to me but at least they’re in a fighting mood! If you’re feeling bullish then Samsung, why dont you give us some real stats? How many have you really sold?

Steve / Chippy.

On Tuesday next week (6th June) the Computex trade show opens in Taipei.

There’s a few things to watch out for at the show that could be relevant to UMPC’s including devices based on the new Intel ultra-low voltage processors with Yonah (65nm) core. (Celeron-M and Core Solo 1.06Ghz CPU’s.) The VIA VX700 integrated north/southbridge chipset which is perfect for UMPC’s should get a showing too.

Expect to see new UMPC’s announced in Taipei too. Not only becuase its an important trade show and there will be over 1200 exhibitors there, but because of what was written at the Enquirer last week:

[Daniel Robinson] cites VIA as predicting designs half the thickness of the ill-fated Samsung Q1 at Computex in Taipei next month.

There’s a strong ultra mobile PC flavour at the Via technology Forum too with the Ultra mobility track. Speakers at the forum will include Otto Berks, GM Mobile Plaforms division at Microsoft, Rob Enderle from the Enderle group advisory company, Phil Hester CTO at AMD and Dennis Luo project manager for UMPC’s at Microsoft.

All-in-all it could be a significant week for UMPC’s. We’ll be following closely.

Steve /Chippy.