While users debate the merits and trade-offs of notebooks versus small notebooks and PDAs (personal digital assistants), information and systems integrator CPSI (Fairfax, VA) is finishing its first computer that represents the ultimate in portability: You wear it. CPSI's body-worn computer fits a 486-based 50-MHz computer complete with a 540-MB hard drive, dual PCMCIA slots, 16 MB of RAM, mouse, and voice recognition in a package that weighs about 3 pounds and is the size of a canteen. The company says the computer, which will cost about $10,000, will run continuously for 6 to 8 hours on lithium ion batteries.
CPSI selected Kopin's (Taunton, MA) state-of-the-art monochrome head-mounted display with VGA resolution that weighs only 6 ounces. CPSI does not plan to deliver end-us
er products, however. Instead, the company will work with VARs and manufacturers to develop and distribute products in targeted vertical markets worldwide.
With CPSI's computer, repair technicians will be able to access documentation as they work in difficult environments. Other applications could include emergency medical diagnosis and treatment.
Flexible C++
Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it
is
theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.
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The Ultimate Portable Computer?
