Testing the water for new ARM netbooks running RISC OS
trevj
==========
Hi. I've been reading about these and was excited to see RISC OS
running on the Beagleboard (basically the insides of a tiny computer
running a new ARM chip) at the recent RISC OS London show.
The first publicly available netbook based on this technology appears
to be the Touch Book, designed and sold by Always Innovating. As you
may know, this features a detachable keyboard, enabling users to also
use the screen in a standalone fashion as a touchscreen. The screen
size is 8.9" (225mm) with a resolution of 1024x600 pixels. Further
information is available at
http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/
I understand that alternative ARM netbooks will also be available in
due course. These are being produced by other companies. They are
neither currently available nor all based on the same Beagleboard
technology as the Touch Book.
If the outstanding recent work to achieve RISC OS compatibility with
the Beagleboard continues, it seems highly likely that RISC OS will
soon be seen running on the Touch Book. Anyone wanting to run such a
version of RISC OS on the Touch Book should be able to download the
latest version and install it themselves. However, it remains to be
seen just how simple this will be for the average user.
I'm therefore investigating whether I could sell (via an official
company) Touch Books with RISC OS pre-installed. A licensing agreement
with Castle Technology would be required, but the netbook would be
available to potentially run RISC OS straight from the box.
Cost
====
The basic cost of the Always Innovating netbook is 399 US dollars
(excl. P&P). A commercially available pre-installed RISC OS version
would cost more, due to the time/cost of unpackaging/repackaging/
installing/configuring/postage/fees for legal/banking/accountancy/
insurance cover (e.g. products liability and goods in transit).
However, depending on the number of customers and the licensing costs,
I reckon it could be possible for around 450 UK pounds (UKP).
(This is based on some recent estimations and calculations I've done,
having not yet got my hands on one to actually try it out. My
estimations use a very conservative prediction of selling just 24 in a
year, so I'd like to say it'll be cheaper than 450 UKP.)
Stop me and buy one
===================
My question is this: is this too expensive, considering that this was
similar to the cost of a BBC micro 25 years ago? (Today's 400 UKP
would be equivalent to around 180 UKP in 1984 - see
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator .)
Any thoughts/comments would be welcome. Please post on the newsgroups
as my usual (registered) email's down and I'd also like the discussion
to be open.
All the best
Trevor Johnson