For a while, I had been contemplating about experimenting with touch screens and building a low horsepower, inexpensive prototype computer that could be used without the conventional hardware keyboard and mouse interface. The idea was to have a kitchen-computer, though I could be used almost anywhere in the house, that could be used to access calendar, weather, news, multimedia, and may be emails and Internet using the touchscreen interface. I had also been flirting with the idea for some time about setting up a touchscreen computer in my car with appropriate software for multi-media, navigation, as well as controlling the a/c, the stereo system, and power windows and door locks. Another thought involved my uncles distribution business. A portable hand-held PC housing a software that could be used to collect and keep track customer orders would be very useful to him.
I started looking on eBay and found a wide array of old hand held Tablet PCs as well as old touch screen monitors. Tablet PCs that I found were more expensive than the monitors. I also found the website of a Thailand based computer manufacturer selling very inexpensive computer parts. However, the total costs of monitors and parts would add up to be around $200 per computer which was well over what I had budgeted for. I kept looking for better deals, until one day, when I got lucky.
I am not an impulsive buyer, at least not for the most part. But when I saw the eBay auction for Fujitsu Stylistic 3400, I knew I had to buy it. Couple day's later, I saw many 3500 for much cheaper. I got me three of those as well. Of course, I had a budget set for this and fortunately I did not have to go over it. I had made plans for three computers, now I had one more to spare. All Tablet PCs I bought had a dead batteries. Besides that, in order to complete them, I would need addition hardware for each of the project ideas. The kitchen computer would need a WLAN adapter. The customer order tracker would need a Wireless Data card, although a WLAN adapter would suffice for now. The car computer would need the most hardware: GPS for navigation; Wireless Data card for live traffic and weather updates; and a custom interface that would form the bridge between the Tablet PC and the car's a/c, power windows, and possibly other controls.
Choosing the OS should have been a simple enough task. However, while I did not object spending money on the hardware, I am little more than reluctant to spend money on software, specially OS. Mac OSX was not an option and Windows was out of question, however, I do have an unopened copy of MS Windows 2000 and COA for Windows 98 and two Windows 2000 that came with the Tablet PCs. Both Windows 2000 and Windows 98 were now legacy and looking for other software and tools that would be needed for the project would mean wasting a lot of time.
Linux was the natural choice for the OS. But which distribution? There are hundreds of distributions available to choose from, each with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. I needed a lean OS with graphical interface that would run on 400 and 500 MHz and 128 MB RAM. On top of that, the touch screens had to function as both mouse and keyboard when necessary. After binging for some time, I found two articles that had documented the steps for installing Ubuntu and Xubuntu on 3400 and 3500 respectively. While not lean enough for the plans that I had, it was definitely a very promising good starting point. Other distributions that meet the hardware requirements include DamnSmallLinux (DSL), PuppyLinux, and TinyCoreLinux. At the same time, I am actively seeking other distributions candidates for the Tablets.
As far as the other software is concerned, the kitchen computer would make use of software that are already existing. The software for order tracking computer would require some research, but I am open to the idea of writing the program from scratch. The car computer would possibly contain a mix of existing programs and new programs that I would have to write. Especially for the custom interface for controlling the a/c, the stereo system, and the power windows.
Of course, I had to prioritize the projects. They all require different time and effort requirements. The kitchen computer, since it would mostly make used of existing applications, seemed like a possible first project. That would make the customer order tracker the obvious second and car computer would have to be queued behind that.
In the future articles, I'll describe my experience on the OS selection, installation, and preparation process, and the status of the projects.
