Last week, I purchased my latest gadget, an Asus Eee PC 900SD from Amazon/Tiger Direct at the amazing sale price of $219. Wow - now that's a lot of power for a low price! Think about it ... an IBM PC compatable laptop computer with half a gig of RAM, 8GB of fast SSD, a slot for SD cards, a beautiful display, 3 USB ports, Wifi, Ethernet, etc. for just $219 - slightly more than the cost of A GRAPHICS CALCULATOR! Software that can be put on the SSD include many different (and free!) CAS software engines that are superior to any calculator sold today. I can even install and run on it the highly-acclaimed Debug4x HP-50G Emulator that works quite well on WinXP machines (both real AND virtual).

Although it doesn't come with Bluetooth capability natively, it was easy to add it with Belkin's Mini Bluetooth Laptop Adapter, giving me the ability to work with both my Logitech Bluetooth Mouse (that I use with the HP-dv7 2040US) and my Jabra BT620s Stereo Headphones. It works perfectly with these (at the same time) and make for a great PORTABLE set of computing and entertainment tools.

Did someone mention entertainment? The 8GB SSD may not "sound" like much, and it isn't for large entertainment files like music and video collections - but here is where the SD port shines! I can plug in any assortment of SD cards with all of the multimedia data files on the cards - and enjoy them without ever having to copy them to the built-in SSD! Since as of the writing of this blog post, these SD cards are as large as 32GB capacity at under $80, that's a lot of data available on postage stamp sized media that can be plugged into the computer and watched and listened to "on the go" as they say.

The "on the go" expression leads me to another point - I have been waiting and searching, unsuccessfully until now, for a computer large enough to be able to comfortably type on but small enough to fit into my Classic-size Franklin Planner - a mini-briefcase that looks similar to this only mine is black. My search is over and the 8.9-inch Asus Eee PC fits PERFECTLY!

$219 is almost a throw-away price for such power that a mobile knowledge-worker needs - so much so that I may purchase another one for backup purposes. And why not?

As is my custom with every computer I purchase and use, they all have names, and this one is called "Eeek". :)

It should come as a surprise to no one who knows me that the CBS show Numb3rs is my all time favourite television series. Just like the ever-popular Star Trek series of shows, this program is a geek's delight - full of suspense, drama, and enough Mathematics and Computer Simulations to delight even the moribund of geeky viewers.

The story centers around brothers Don and Charlie Eppes and their careers as FBI Agent and Mathematics Professor. All episodes focus on solving crimes in and around the Los Angeles, California area and in using Mathematics to aid in catching the bad guys. It is a geniune pleasure to see intelligent people featured as such - too much of modern TV is centered around boorish characters who almost glory in the comedic nature of their idiocy. Joining Don and Charlie are a diverse mixture of regular characters who add spice to the stories - David, Colby, Lynn, Larry, Megan, Alan, et al. We are presently into season six of the series and some of the characters are no longer with the show, but the central characters remain, as well as the outstanding writing, direction, and production of the finest show on television.

Porting Progress: zForth -> ARM

I've made great progress in working to port my zForth system from the Intel Pentium world to that of the ARM world. The platforms that I use at present are the wonderful QEMU virtualization platform on my Linux workstation, and the T-Mobile G1 cell-phone. Eventually, my goal is to also get it working on my HP-50G calculator in time to present it to the HHC 2010 Conference.

ARM is a powerful and very "clean" processor and I love working with it. RISC machines in general have much to offer low-level systems programmers such as myself and this makes it a fun project to work on.

Porting to a new processor involves many phases which, like scafolding at a construction site, each step is built so that you can "stand on it" and work on the next phase. The first phase was (1) to complete an ARM assembler, after that, (2) to modify the metacompiler so that ARM code is produced, and then with ARM code being produced begins (3) the repeating cycle of run-test-edit on both an ARM simulation environment (QEMU and the Android Emulator) and on the actual ARM hardware (the G1). I've completed phases one and two, with both taking about 6 months of part-time work (roughly an hour a week) and am now in the run-test-edit cycle with threading working perfectly, and some I/O working, but not all. I still have many more weeks ahead of me, but I've "hit my stride" per say, and am enjoying the trip! :)

I ordered my Kindle from Amazon two days ago, received it yesterday, and I thought I would record my first impressions here. Amazon has always been a first-class company and I received a quality product. The first book I downloaded into it was (of course) "Web Geek's Guide to the Android-Enabled Phone", and am looking forward to learning how to effectively use the Kindle with the book that Jerri, Prasanna, and I wrote.

I downloaded some books on my favourite hobby - Mathematics, to see how the Kindle handles the esoteric symbols and formula that make up the language of Mathematics. (Conclusion: no problemo! :)

I've also been busy on the website using Amazon's tool for requesting books to be published for the Kindle by visiting the many book orders that I've made in the past and clicking their "Kindle Request" feature.

I firmly believe in the eminent demise of paper books as the generations that are totally devoted to paper books pass on. Everything about eBooks makes them better in my very opinionated opinion - they take up no space, they can be indexed and searched electronically, one can highlight and mark them up with notes, clip portions from and transfer them among other useful devices, and basically do anything that an ordinary book can do - ONLY BETTER! I fail to see the attachment that so many have to the old paper-based technology, but then again, I never was a Luddite - someone who resists change just to resist it. Besides, my new Kindle fits perfectly into the padded slot in my beloved Franklin Planner, so why not?

The Android Revolution is exploding! 12 Phones strong and growing in number - just like the PC revolution of the 1980's or the Linux revolution of the 1990's! This is good - very very good indeed.

Open source has always been a better choice for a number of reasons but the most important one, of course, is that it allows people - empowering individuals - to apply their own talents towards improving the system for everyone else.

Of course, mine is not an unbiased opinion, since I am a co-author of a book on the Android powered cell phone - but be that as it may, the system is growing in popularity and that is making me a very happy man. Viva 'la Android!

Fort Collins, Colorado

Here is the view from my hotel window. It's a beautiful and cool day in Fort Collins, and the HHC 2009 conference begins tomorrow at the Hewlett-Packard facilities. My mother and I made the trip okay and the only difficult part of the trip was from the Denver bus station to Fort Collins (about 53 miles) since the bus was packed with people. (Full occupancy.) The hotel (Cambria Suites) is great and the food that they served us for dinner last night and breakfast this morning was first-class indeed!

I look forward to a bit of shopping today, since I will need nicer clothes for the conference. Directly across from the hotel is a shopping mall and I should be able to find something to wear. I'm also going to eat lunch at the food court there - if they have one.

I'm in a mad rush right now to get everything that I'll need packed and ready for the trip. To borrow a Star-Trek expression, the Borg (Amtrak) are about to assimilate me and I know now that resistance is futile.

I have so much to do ... transfer my archives from the main workstation to my HP notebook computer ... make printed copies of everything to do with the trip ... pack the essentials (pills, tickets, electronics, and oh yeah - clean clothes too) ... mentally prepare to be away from my comfort zone for two weeks ... hand off any work to my partners ... and of course, try to get some sleep this evening and late night so I can be ready for the ordeal beginning at 4:00 AM tomorrow morning.