1451 lines
50 KiB
Plaintext
1451 lines
50 KiB
Plaintext
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Wearable-HOWTO.
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Lionel, trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Ju<4A>ry <trollhunter@lin<69>
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uxfr.org>
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v0.0.9 November 2000
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Nomadism is one of the major trends of our society, now most of the
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people can work with a laptop computer, but few did the next step: to
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live, or if you prefer to wear one computer that is a wearable.
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______________________________________________________________________
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Table of Contents
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1. Foreword
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2. What is a Wearable anyway ?
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3. Advocacy
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3.1 Why ?
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3.2 The Wearable concept is not a revolution, it is just an evolution.
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3.3 The Wearable may give its user an edge.
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3.4 The Wearable concept: a stealth menace.
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3.5 Wearable computing: an emerging industry.
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4. What CPU ?
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4.1 PDA based Wearables
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4.2 PC/104 and laptop based Wearables.
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4.2.1 What is PC/104 ?
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4.2.2 What about PC/104-plus ?
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4.3 Transmeta's processor the Crusoe.
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4.4 Misc
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5. Power supply
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6. OS.
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7. The Sulawesi project.
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7.1 Background
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7.2 The Sulawesi Architecture
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7.2.1 The input stage
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7.2.2 The core stage
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7.2.3 The output stage
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7.3 Sentence translations
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7.4 Summary
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8.
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CLI only
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8.1 What is CLI?
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8.2 Why does one talk about CLI here?
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8.3 What can be done in text-mode?
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8.4 Bunch of utilities
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8.4.1 Shell and script-language
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8.4.2 Must I learn sed and AWK?
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8.4.3 Redundancies in utilities?
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8.5 Aliases or scripts?
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9. Input
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9.1 Variations around the keyboard
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9.1.1 Mini keyboards
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9.1.2 One hand keyboard.
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10. Audio Output
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11. Visual Output
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11.1 Head Down displays.
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11.1.1 Wristwatch type
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11.1.1.1 Commercial Solutions.
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11.1.1.2 The Wristwatchcomputer.
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11.1.2 PDA type
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11.2 Head UP displays
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11.2.1 Obstrusives displays
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11.2.1.1 Hacks with LEDs
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11.2.1.2 Sony GLASSTRON
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11.2.1.3 The M1
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11.2.1.4 The VRD ( Virtual Retinal Display )
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11.2.2 Nonobstrusives displays
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12. Comms
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13. How can I have my Wearable ?
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13.1 Commercial Solutions.
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13.2 Do it yourself.
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14. PalmPilot and its clone ( IBM, HandSpring, TRG ): a new breed of wearables.
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14.1 The palm family.
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14.2 PDAs runing Linux.
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15. How to carry my wearable ?
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16. Applications with Wearables.
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16.1 In the army now.
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16.2 At the hospital
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16.3 With the firefighters
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16.4 Wearable for the disabled.
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17. A borg's life.
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18. Nanotechnology: one step beyond.
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19. Sources of Information.
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19.1 Non commercial
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19.2 Commercial.
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19.3 Reading.
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20. To do List.
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21. Revision History.
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22. Thanks and Credits.
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23. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks
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______________________________________________________________________
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1.
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Foreword
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I am not a guru in wearable computing, simply after some years using
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HP95LX and HP200LX palmtop computers more like wearables than like a
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PDA ( thanks to DOS 5, the HP200LX even allowed me to do a semester CS
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project using turbo pascal while commuting in the subway ), and
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living with a palm IIIx and a laptop running Linux, to me the next
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step is having a wearable running Linux, thus I have spent more than a
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year reading various informations on wearable and taking a little part
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in the wear-hard mailing list. As more an more people will be
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interested in the wearable concept I have decided to start this HOWTO
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in order to help them ( At the time of this writing I am building my
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own wearable using my laptop ( Toshiba 430CDT ) with a twiddler
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keyboard, emacspeak, and camcorders batteries. )
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Some people may, at least, be surprised to find the "In the army now"
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section so I would like to explain my position: I am trying to write
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this HOWTO both as a journalist and a scientist would do: this implies
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as a journalist to look for information from every source available,
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and as a scientist to be neutral: and as the US Army is willing to
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purchase more than 30.000 units one can hardly overlook this user
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group. This document is intended to be the starting point of a long
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term work. If you have any information ( that can be checked ) that
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you think is of interest, do not hesitate contact me.
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2. What is a Wearable anyway ?
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Well, as it name implies a wearable is a computer you are supposed to
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wear, actually very few wearables fill this definition. On a more
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practical point of view one can define a wearable as a computer you
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can use on the run relying only on its power supply ( see the power
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supply section for more information ). So with such a definition PDAs,
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palmcomputers, customized laptops are wearables too. As Wearable
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computing is a new field, there is no standard definition for a
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Wearable computer, but you may find Professor Steve Mann's definition
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very . To me medical devices such as pacemakers too are Wearable
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computers and they don't fit in Professor Steve Mann's definition
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<http://wearcomp.org/wearcompdef.html> ( actually Professor Steve Mann
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is one of the Pionneers in Wearable computing ) On the Wearcomp
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website there is also a FAQ <http://wearcomp.org/wearcompfaq.html>
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trying to define what a Wearable is.
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I am not a specialist in wearables, simply I have a very strong
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interest in nomadic computing and I studying a lot its implementations
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both from a technical point of view and from the way nomadic computing
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is going to change our every day life and the way we interacts as we
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are getting more and more connected.
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This text is included in the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
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http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO <http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO> .
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The latest version of this document is available in HTML format at
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http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/Wearable-HOWTO.html
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<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/wearable/Wearable-HOWTO.html> or at
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http://www.thewearables.com/mirrors/Wearable-HOWTO/Wearable-HOWTO.html
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, you can retrieve the postcript format at
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http://www.thewearables.com/mirrors/Wearable-HOWTO/Wearable-
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HOWTO.ps.gz
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If you wish to mirror it or to translate it, please contact me.
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Lionel, Trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Ju<4A>ry <trollhunter@linuxfr.org> or
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at <boucli27@altavista.net>
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3.
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Advocacy
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Some people may want to know why you want to build a wearable or you
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may have to sell your idea to the people who are responsible for the
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purchase. Here are some ideas you may use.
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3.1.
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Why ?
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Because, you want to experiment by yourself, because you think that
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Human Computer Interaction is not a matter of designing the n-th
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windowmanager, because you feel that enhanced reality is the cutting
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edge of your evolution.
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3.2.
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The Wearable concept is not a revolution, it is just an evolution.
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Some people are afraid of revolutionary or so called products, thus
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the good news is that the wearable may look like a revolutionary
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concept but it is actually just an evolution of the computing
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hardware. Let me explain that : At first there was the Mainframe,
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then came the desktop computer enabling people to work in their
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office, latter the PC enabled these people to work at home too, as
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time passed the portable PC enabled people to work in a Hotel room, or
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everywhere they could find a power plug ( yes an Osborne or an IBM's
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convertible were definitively not laptop computers ), at the same time
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some pocket computers appeared on the market : Sharp PC1500, Canon
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X07, Casio PB100 then the first one weighted less and less, the second
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one disappeared but the LCD screen was, with other things their legacy
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allowing the laptop to emerge, as the laptop went mainstream, its size
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went smaller allowing people to work in the train, at the library ...,
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then palmtop PC's such as the HP95LX and PDA's appeared, ( at this
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time the most successful is the PalmPilot family and its clones )
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allowing people to work on the move, so the wearable is just the next
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step in this move towards miniaturization. ( If you want to learn
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more about Laptops and Linux you should read the Laptop-HOWTO, the
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latest version can be found at Werner's Heuser Homepage
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<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> )
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3.3.
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The Wearable may give its user an edge.
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In today's competitive world it is very important to get an edge over
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the other company, thus for example in a plane repair company the
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engineers who are using wearables do not waste time in asking for
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blueprints but instead have the blueprint and the technical data at
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will while performing their job, thus they will be able to repair the
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planes faster. You may choose an example in your job.
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3.4.
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The Wearable concept: a stealth menace.
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When they made their first appearance on the market, some products or
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technologies were, to say the least, less than perfect. This is a
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stealth menace, if you read Clayton Christensen's book "The
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innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail"
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or Andy's Grove "Only the paranoid survives" you will see that some
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corporations that relies on a product and that have a king of the hill
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may fall down because they overlooked a new product/technology that
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was clumsy at its beginning and was at first in a market niche, then
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the contender took over the market.
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3.5.
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Wearable computing: an emerging industry.
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The people who decide to fund your project are not always very found
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about technical details, thus you will have to use other arguments,
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otherwise your pet project will be sent to /dev/null. If one reads
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again chapter 2 of AP Sloan's book: "My years with General Motors" it
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is obvious that the Wearable industry is going into the same changes
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as did the automobile industry in the US at the turn of the century :
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it turned from a Hobby with some small manufacturers to a mass market
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Industry. It took nearly 30 years to the automobile industry to
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change, but the wearable industry should have done this changes in
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less than 5 years, so if they don't invest on this product others will
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do.
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4.
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What CPU ?
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4.1.
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PDA based Wearables
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Usually they use non Intel CPU ( except the HP95/100/200LX ) See the
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PalmPilot : a new breed of wearables section.
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4.2.
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PC/104 and laptop based Wearables.
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Theses devices are using usually an Intel or Intel compatible CPU.
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Some model even feature a Cyrix Media GX CPU.
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4.2.1.
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What is PC/104 ?
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PC/104 is an industrial standard, for PC based systems that can be
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stacked together in order to create an embedded system. The footprint
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of theses boards is 4"x4" so as you can see it is a good base in order
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to start a wearable project.
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4.2.2.
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What about PC/104-plus ?
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It is a PCI addition to the PC/104 standard. you can read the PC-104
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FAQ <http://www.controlled.com/pc104faq>
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4.3. Transmeta's processor the Crusoe.
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It seems that Transmeta hasn't build the fastest chip on the market
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but has indeed focused on power saving making its processor and ideal
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choice for a wearable project, moreover it seems that motherboards
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will be available very soon as Phoenix Bios released their Bios for
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this chip.
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4.4.
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Misc
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Last year there were some alpha based Multia sold for around $100, but
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it seemed AFAIK that nobody ever managed to build a wearable around
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one of theses devices.
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5.
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Power supply
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There is plenty of choice as long as you use batteries. But be careful
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__NEVER__ use liquid acid filled batteries it is a Health Hazard for
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this application.
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Now the four main sources for information on batteries and batteries
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are:
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<20> The Sanyo batteries
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<http://www.sanyobatteries.net/NEWprodsIND.html>
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<20> The camcorders batteries; you may browse
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<20> Canon <http://www.usa.canon.com/camcambin/camcorders/8mm/>
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<20> Hitachi <http://www.hitachi.com/products/consumer/audiovisual/>
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<20> JVC batteries <http://www.jvc-
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victor.co.jp/english/vacc/chart/power.html>
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<20> Panasonic <http://www.panasonic.com/host/consumer.html>
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<20> Sony batteries <http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/rmeg/batteries/>
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and other manufacturer's websites
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<20> The hoby models manufacturers such as
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<20> Graupner <http://www2.graupner.com/>
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<20> Robbe <http://www.robbe.de/en/index.html>
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<20> Tamya <http://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/rcitem/kit/kitb1.htm>
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<20> Radioshack <http://www.radioshack.com/>
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6.
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OS.
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For the people whose Wearable is based on a PDA, there is little
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choice : most of the time they have to do with the PDA's manufacturer
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OS, AFAIK Linux on Psion series 5 is not mainstream. a commercial
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solution called WindStone primary targeted to palmpilots with a
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project to port it to ARM based computers it is made by OSK
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<http://www.oski.co.kr/>, so and see. For Mips based PDA
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<http://www.freebsd.org/~imp/pdamips.html> type; some of them seem to
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be able to run NetBSD <http://www.netbsd.org> ( it is a member of the
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*BSD family of unices running on a lot of platforms ).
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For those using a PC derivative, the choice seems to be between
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Microsoft products or Linux, Well, Microsoft products are not exactly
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the best choice and DEBIAN/GNU Linux is the winner ( I don't think
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that for general purposes one has to use a posix .4 compliant kernel
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).
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There is another contender QNX <http://www.qnx.com>, but is more
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industrial oriented, so for hobby or research it is not the best
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choice.
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7.
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The Sulawesi project.
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Sulawesi: An intelligent user interface system for ubquitous
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computing.
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|||
|
|
|||
|
7.1. Background
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A few years ago, wearable computers were dedicated systems constructed
|
|||
|
by and for a single person. The machine was customised to suit the
|
|||
|
owners personal preferences using alternative input/output devices to
|
|||
|
achieve different interaction techniques, and until now most of the
|
|||
|
interfaces used on these machines have been an amalgamation of
|
|||
|
existing desktop user interface systems and novel input/output
|
|||
|
devices.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The ideal human-computer interface for use in a mobile/ubiquitous
|
|||
|
environment would be one which listens for its user, understands what
|
|||
|
the user has asked it to do using speech recognition, gestures,
|
|||
|
machine vision and other channels of information, carried out the
|
|||
|
users request automatically, and presented the results back to the
|
|||
|
user when it is most appropriate and in a suitable format. For
|
|||
|
example; a machine which could monitor the users respiratory levels,
|
|||
|
heart rate and movement, the user could ask ``when I fall asleep could
|
|||
|
you turn off those <user pointing> lights''. This type of interaction
|
|||
|
with a mobile device or an ubiquitous environment, using spoken
|
|||
|
sentences and gestures, fall under the category of multi-modal and
|
|||
|
intelligent user interfaces; and Sulawesi is a framework which
|
|||
|
provides a basic multimodal development system.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
7.2. The Sulawesi Architecture
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Sulawesi system that has been designed comprises of three distinct
|
|||
|
parts,
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> An input stage, which gathers raw data from the various sensors.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> A core stage, which contains a natural language processing module
|
|||
|
and service agents.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> An output stage, which decides how to render the results from the
|
|||
|
service agents.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Programming API's allow third partys to create new input, service
|
|||
|
and output modules and integrate them with Sulawesi.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
7.2.1. The input stage
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The system gathers real world information through a well defined API.
|
|||
|
The current implementation includes a keyboard input, a network input,
|
|||
|
a speech recognition input, a video camera input, a G.P.S. input and
|
|||
|
infra-red input. The inputs do not do any pre-processing of the data,
|
|||
|
they only provide the raw data to the core of the system for
|
|||
|
interpretation by the services within.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
7.2.2. The core stage
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The core of the system contains a basic natural language processor
|
|||
|
which performs sentence translations. This converts a sentence into a
|
|||
|
command stream from which two pieces of information are extracted,
|
|||
|
which service to invoke and how the output should be rendered. A
|
|||
|
service manager is responsible for the instantiation and monitoring of
|
|||
|
the services, it also checkpoints commands to try and provide some
|
|||
|
kind of resiliance against system failures. The services produce,
|
|||
|
where possible, a modal neutral output which can be send to the output
|
|||
|
stage for processing.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
7.2.3. The output stage
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The output stage takes a modal neutral result from a service and makes
|
|||
|
a decision on how to render the information. The decision is made
|
|||
|
based on two criteria, what the user has asked for, and how the system
|
|||
|
percieves the users current context/environment.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
If the user has asked to be shown a piece of information, this implies
|
|||
|
a visual rendition. If the system detects that the user is moving at
|
|||
|
speed (through the input sensors) an assumption can be made that the
|
|||
|
user attention might be distracted if a screen with the results in is
|
|||
|
displayed in front of them. (imagine what would happen if the user was
|
|||
|
driving!).. In this case the system will override the users request
|
|||
|
and would redirect the results to a more suitable renderer, such as
|
|||
|
speech.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
7.3. Sentence translations
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When humans recognise speech they do not understand every word in a
|
|||
|
sentence, sometimes words are misheard or a distraction prevents the
|
|||
|
whole sentence from being heard. A human can infer what has been said
|
|||
|
from the other words around the ones missed in a sentence, this is not
|
|||
|
always sucessfull but in most cases it is satisfactory for the
|
|||
|
understanding of a conversation. This type of sentence decoding has
|
|||
|
been called semi-natural language processing and has been implemented
|
|||
|
using a few basic rules, the example below explains how the system
|
|||
|
converts human understandable sentences into commands that the system
|
|||
|
understands :
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> could you show me what the time is
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> I would like you to tell me the time
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It can be argued that in practice these sentences result in similar
|
|||
|
information being relayed to a user. The request is for the
|
|||
|
machines interpretation of the time to be sent to an appropriate
|
|||
|
output channel, the result is the user receiving the knowledge of
|
|||
|
what the time is. Closer inspection reveals that almost all the
|
|||
|
data in the sentences can be thrown away and the request can still
|
|||
|
be inferred from the resulting information.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> show time
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> tell time
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In the example above there has been a reduction to 1/4 and 2/9 of
|
|||
|
the number of words (data) in the sentences, while it can be argued
|
|||
|
that close to 100% of the information content is still intact.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The system implemented allows sentences to be processed and
|
|||
|
interpreted. The semi-natural language processing is achieved through
|
|||
|
a self generated lookup table of services and a language
|
|||
|
transformation table.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The service names have to be unique (due to the restrictions on the
|
|||
|
file system) and this provides a simple mechanism to match a service
|
|||
|
such as ``time'' within a sentence. It is impractical and almost
|
|||
|
impossible to hard code all predefined language transformations, and
|
|||
|
such a system would not be easily adaptable to diverse situations. The
|
|||
|
use of lookup tables provides a small and efficient way in which a
|
|||
|
user can customise the system to their own personal preferences
|
|||
|
without having to re-program or re-compile the sentence understanding
|
|||
|
code. The system knows what the words 'show' and 'tell' mean in the
|
|||
|
sentences by referring to the lookup table to determine which output
|
|||
|
renderer the results should be sent to.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Example of a lookup file.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|tell|speak|
|
|||
|
|read|speak|
|
|||
|
|show|text|
|
|||
|
|display|text|
|
|||
|
|EOF|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The top entry in this lookup table specifies that the first time the
|
|||
|
word "say" is encountered in a sentence the results of the service
|
|||
|
should be sent to the "speak" output renderer.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The use of lookup tables inherently restricts the use of sentences, in
|
|||
|
order to create a sentence which is to be understood the following
|
|||
|
rule must be adhered to.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<render type> <service name> <service arguments>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
7.4. Summary
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The above system enables a sentence like ``I would like you to turn
|
|||
|
the lights on when it gets dark''. The system interprets the sentence
|
|||
|
as a request to invoke the `light' service and to render the output
|
|||
|
using some kind of light controller device to turn on or off the
|
|||
|
lights. There are two points which need to be emphasised here, the
|
|||
|
first is on the machine inferring a meaning from a relatively natural
|
|||
|
sentence rather than the user having to adapt to the machine and
|
|||
|
remember complex commands or manipulate a user interface. The second
|
|||
|
is on the machine being asked to perform a certain task when certain
|
|||
|
conditions are met in the real world, ``when it gets dark'' requests
|
|||
|
that when the computers interpretation of the current lighting
|
|||
|
conditions cross a certain threshold, it should respond and send a
|
|||
|
message to the light controller output.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Sulawesi system provides the flexability to achieve this type of
|
|||
|
interaction but it does not provide the underlying mechanisms for
|
|||
|
controlling lighting circuits, that's the part you have to code up
|
|||
|
;)..
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Online documentation and downloads can be found here:-
|
|||
|
http://wearables.essex.ac.uk/sulawesi/
|
|||
|
<http://wearables.essex.ac.uk/sulawesi/>
|
|||
|
8. CLI only
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.1. What is CLI ?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
CLI is a shorthand to the Comand Line Interface. When you are
|
|||
|
installing Linux on your computer without X, you will work in CLI-
|
|||
|
mode! Perhaps you will shout "oh... that's horrible", but your
|
|||
|
computer will shout "yeah... I have more %CPU and %mem to work and to
|
|||
|
play!".
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.2. Why does one talk about CLI here?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Some wearables may have problems with graphics chipsets, disk and
|
|||
|
memory space and battery-life. If you work in text-mode, you will
|
|||
|
save battery-life and disk usage as well as lot of memory and CPU
|
|||
|
Cycles. And if you don't have to install graphic interfaces, you will
|
|||
|
save a little disk-space too. Consequently, you gain some space for
|
|||
|
your data. But you may feel that in text-mode, nothing can be done.
|
|||
|
As you will see the same things can be done in text-mode and graphic
|
|||
|
environment. Only things are thought differently.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.3. What can be done in text-mode?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We have to think with what we have few programs who can communicate
|
|||
|
between them by input/output canals. This type of environment implies
|
|||
|
that we must use all our fingers to work, we can even get rid of the
|
|||
|
mouse. As in X, you have editors (Vi, Emacs, Jed...), games ( BTW
|
|||
|
wearables are the game by themselves ), viewers/browsers ( ?less,
|
|||
|
?more, lynx, links ...), file managers ( mc...) and more. Also, some
|
|||
|
people may believe that CLI is cool but it's difficult to learn all
|
|||
|
configurations and options of all commands. The learning curve is
|
|||
|
acutally steeper, but when you have learnt that, you will work faster
|
|||
|
and the faster the work is done the better it is with a wearable .
|
|||
|
We'll see examples which accelerate our personal work.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.4. Bunch of utilities
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.4.1. Shell and script-language
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bases of UNIX are its powerful shells. With shells you can do more
|
|||
|
than the poor batch-language of Microsoft. UNIX gives a lot of
|
|||
|
powerful shells (tcsh, ksh, bash...), but I always work with sh. I
|
|||
|
know it is old and less featured than its big brothers but it is on
|
|||
|
every Unices. In sh, there are often used functions/commands (echo,
|
|||
|
test). Why do I say that? You can notice that GNU gives a program echo
|
|||
|
and test and I say: "if we can eliminate these programs, we can free
|
|||
|
disk-space... ok, not too much but about 20k.". And some versions of
|
|||
|
sh are very economical. The language of shell (script) is like a
|
|||
|
small programming language: you can used loops (for, while), user
|
|||
|
interactions (read), I/O (< >)... To learn scripting, you just have to
|
|||
|
type: man sh (or tcsh.... but more complex...). Stupid example of a
|
|||
|
little script: for i in * .[^.]*; do echo $i; done (simple ls).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.4.2. Must I learn sed and AWK ?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In the Unix's world, we hear a lot about AWK and sed. These programs
|
|||
|
are generic and can be used for a lot of things. GNU gives a bunch of
|
|||
|
utilities that can replace sed and AWK (dd, cut, seq, ...). Why dd
|
|||
|
will you ask ?
|
|||
|
dd have a little function that is fine: conversion low/up case. An
|
|||
|
example:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
There are names in this directory that are in uppercase but you want
|
|||
|
to change them to lowercase. With AWK, you must type: for i in *; do
|
|||
|
mv "$i" "`echo $i | awk '{print tolower($0)}'`"; done; with sed you
|
|||
|
must enumerate all letters; with dd, it's very easy, I think: for i in
|
|||
|
*; do mv "$i" "`echo $i | dd conv=lcase`"; done
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
cut is a program to print columns of a text. Also, if you must print
|
|||
|
different columns of a line, you can use cut. cut performs better
|
|||
|
than AWK in this case if you want the job to be done fastly and
|
|||
|
efficiently because cut is dedicated to this work. For the same task,
|
|||
|
you may use the shell's internal commands too (you can, if you assign
|
|||
|
a value to the IFS variable). Here is an example in AWK, cut and sh.
|
|||
|
We want only to display a list with login : identity fields:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> in AWK:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
awk -F: '{ print $1" : "$5}' /etc/passwd
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> with cut:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
while read line; do echo "`echo $line | cut -d: -f 1` : `echo $line | cut -d: -f 5`"; done < /etc/passwd
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> only with sh:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
IFS=':'; while read a b c d e f; do echo "$a : $e"; done < /etc/passwd; IFS=' '
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Generally, you haven't to learn AWK. I think that you can always do
|
|||
|
things without AWK. (OK, sometimes, AWK is easier.)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
About sed, the drawback is that you must work with temporary files. If
|
|||
|
you want to save disk-space and to edit files in command-line, you can
|
|||
|
use ex, the script version of vi. Also, sed can be used but not
|
|||
|
necessarily.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.4.3. Redundancies in utilities?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
If disk-space is very important, you can delete certain programs which
|
|||
|
perform task that can be done by others programs. For example: if you
|
|||
|
have to use dd, you don't need cat, if you have vi, you don't need ed
|
|||
|
(help me to find other examples...).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
8.5. Aliases or scripts?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Scripts are more powerful than aliases. But scripts eat disk-space and
|
|||
|
are loaded each time they are used. Aliases eat memory-space and if
|
|||
|
you are in CLI, you have all the memory for you! Aliases are faster
|
|||
|
than scripts because they are loaded from memory and not from disk.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Generally, shells offer you another alternative for aliases/scripts:
|
|||
|
functions. Functions have power of scripts with the convenience to eat
|
|||
|
only memory-space. To learn aliases and functions, you can look at the
|
|||
|
manpages.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
9.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Input
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
9.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Variations around the keyboard
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
9.1.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Mini keyboards
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Usually theses devices are on the wearer's forearm or wrist.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The WristPC <http://www.pfuca.com/products/hhkb/hhcindex.html>
|
|||
|
Keyboard and the Arm mount micro keyboard
|
|||
|
<http://www.ivpgi.com/1accessory.htm> from the Phoenix Group Inc. are
|
|||
|
typical from this concept.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
9.1.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
One hand keyboard.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
IMHO it is the best concept because it doesn't require you to look at
|
|||
|
the keyboard while typing is the less intrusive when you have to deal
|
|||
|
with other people, and in order to be accepted by other a Wearable
|
|||
|
wearer's must have the lowest visual signature.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The archetype of this concept are the Twiddler and Twiddler2
|
|||
|
<http://www.handykey.com> and all of their clones.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
At first using a twiddler may seem to be a little bit confusing. The
|
|||
|
very first thing to do is to read the manual ( don't forget to plug
|
|||
|
the keyboard or the PS/2 adaptator or your twiddler won't work because
|
|||
|
it will get no power supply. ) The reference card may, at first, seem
|
|||
|
confusing because when you are working with your twiddler you are
|
|||
|
behind the buttons and the reference card show you the buttons from
|
|||
|
the front side not from the rear so you will have to switch right and
|
|||
|
left. When you have passed theses steps you will quickly learn how to
|
|||
|
use it and IMHO it feels very comfortable to use. The way the
|
|||
|
integrated mouse operates is very natural too.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
10.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Audio Output
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When your system doesn't output too much data, or in order to signal
|
|||
|
some special events an audio output can do the job. Most laptops come
|
|||
|
with a Sound Blaster compatible sound card and a lot of PC-104 cards
|
|||
|
are sold with such a sound card on board or you should buy a sound
|
|||
|
module. The next step is to redirect your text output to a
|
|||
|
text_to_speak program.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As a lot of input is done using emacs, it seems to be a good idea to
|
|||
|
use Emacsspeak
|
|||
|
<http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/emacspeak/emacspeak.html>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Visual Output
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Head Down displays.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.1.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Wristwatch type
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.1.1.1. Commercial Solutions.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Some manufacturers ( eg Seiko, Citizen, Casio ) manufactured
|
|||
|
Wristwatches that could be linked to a computer, ( I remember that in
|
|||
|
1982 Seiko showed a prototype of a wirstwatch TV ( monochrome LCD )).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Casio <http://www.casio.com> has a broad set of wristwatches, some of
|
|||
|
them could be descibed as Wearables that can display time among other
|
|||
|
things, of interest are the
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The PC Unite that can exchange data with a computer using an infra
|
|||
|
red link.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The ATC1200-1V Forester features an electronic compass. plus
|
|||
|
thermometer and barometer. I used to own one of these it is a great
|
|||
|
piece of hardware
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The Technowear products have different features including voice
|
|||
|
recording, IR remote control, Databank...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The GPS <http://205.158.10.200/gps/top.html>watch is one of the
|
|||
|
most intruiging watch I have ever seen
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.1.1.2. The Wristwatchcomputer.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In 1998 S. Mann displayed a Wristwatch
|
|||
|
<http://www.wearcam.org/wristwatchcomputer/>videoconferencing
|
|||
|
computer, it runs GNU/Linux and uses an XF86 Server, there is a
|
|||
|
pinhole video camera on the watch itself. This device is to say the
|
|||
|
least impressive, some of the software, is downlable
|
|||
|
<http://www.wearcam.org/orbits/orbits_v1.08.tar.gz> and GPLed.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is also possible to use a 4 lines LCD display connected to the
|
|||
|
serial port of your laptop ( numerous paper or online electronics
|
|||
|
magazine offer schematics ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.1.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PDA type
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PDA's seem to be a cheap and efficient way of sending and displaying
|
|||
|
data for a wearable, actually any PDA with a VT100 emulation program
|
|||
|
and a serial link can be used effectively as a terminal ( I have
|
|||
|
successfully used my HP200LX running kermit
|
|||
|
<http://www.columbia.edu/kermit>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
as a terminal for my desktop, giving me an emergency access to it if
|
|||
|
the display failed )
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Head UP displays
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The distinction between obstrusives an non obstrusives ones is not
|
|||
|
from the wearer point of view but from the other people, that is is
|
|||
|
the display forbid to see the wearer's eyes
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Obstrusives displays
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.1.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Hacks with LEDs
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Some people managed to use blinking LEDs in order to retrieve
|
|||
|
information from their device. This is one of the simplest display one
|
|||
|
can imagine : a LED or a row of LED blinking.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.1.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Sony GLASSTRON
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Sony sells a device called the Glasstron; in Paris, France the FNAC
|
|||
|
Montparnasse sells the PVD-V30 glasstron 55 at 13999F ( this is about
|
|||
|
US $2333 ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.1.3. The M1
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Tekgear <http://www.tekgear.ca/displays/m1.html> manufactures the M1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.1.4.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The VRD ( Virtual Retinal Display )
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
With this device a manufactured by Microvison <http://www.mvis.com> a
|
|||
|
LASER LED draws the image on the wearer's retina, the US Navy tested
|
|||
|
it in the summer 1999, at Hawaii ( see in the army now ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
11.2.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Nonobstrusives displays
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Microptical <http://www.microopticalcorp.com>corporation
|
|||
|
manufactures two displays the Integrated Eyeglass display and the
|
|||
|
ClipOn display.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
12.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Comms
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
AFAIK Most of the time it is with a radio link, should it be with a
|
|||
|
radio transceiver or via a cell phone.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It seems that IBM's Personal Area Network
|
|||
|
<http://www.research.ibm.com/research/pan.html> or the Bluetooth
|
|||
|
<http://www.bluetooth.com.> technology will enable building LANs of
|
|||
|
Wearables very easyly. ( actualy IBM is also a member of the Bluetooth
|
|||
|
SIG ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
13.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
How can I have my Wearable ?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
13.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Commercial Solutions.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Some companies sells Wearables ready to use out of the Box, hereafter
|
|||
|
is a list of them.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Genesys Technology <http://www.genesistech2000.com/product.html>
|
|||
|
manufactures a Wearable that uses a HMD display.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> handsfreemobile <http://www.handsfreemobile.com> sells the Mid
|
|||
|
Riff Brain, it is mostly an LCD touchpad based solution and the
|
|||
|
unit is in a pouch fixed on the waistband.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Teltronics <http://www.teltronics.com/is/hardware.html > sells the
|
|||
|
Mentis. It is a modular wearable.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Via <http://www.flexipc.com/ > sells the VIA II PC a Wearable that
|
|||
|
is worn on the waistband.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Xybernaut <http://www.xybernaut.com/F00005.htm > sells the Mobile
|
|||
|
Assistant IV ( MA IV ) available with RedHat Linux 6.1, Suse Linux
|
|||
|
,Windows 9x and Windows NT4
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
13.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Do it yourself.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As wearable computing is in its very early beginning you should make
|
|||
|
various experiments and share them with your peers. Doing this with
|
|||
|
an open and versatile OS such as Linux should give you a lot of fun (
|
|||
|
after all, desktop computer is just a plain vanilla computer), because
|
|||
|
you play with both the OS and the hardware. If you are unsure of the
|
|||
|
technical decisions you are going to make, you can start with a proven
|
|||
|
design. On the net you can find the specifications of some wearable
|
|||
|
systems thus you will not have to reinvent the wheel and you will
|
|||
|
avoid some pitfalls. ( the designs are sorted by alphabetical order ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The Lizzi <http://wearables.www.media.mit.edu/projects/wearables>
|
|||
|
; it is the MIT's wearable design.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> In the UK you can find the Vase Lab Wearable
|
|||
|
<http://wearables.essex.ac.uk/spec/wear-spec.html> it is from Neil
|
|||
|
Newman at the University of Essex.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> In Canada, the Wearcomp <http://www.wearcomp.org/wearhow/> is a
|
|||
|
proven design, by Prof. Steve Mann at the University of Toronto.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
14.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PalmPilot and its clone ( IBM, HandSpring, TRG ): a new breed of
|
|||
|
wearables.
|
|||
|
14.1. The palm family.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The PalmPilot family and its clone is a hit among PDAs, but less known
|
|||
|
is the fact that it is more than a PDA it is one of the first off the
|
|||
|
shelves wearable. You can connect it to your cell phone, When on the
|
|||
|
move you may need an input device more convenient than Graffiti: a
|
|||
|
keyboard for example, one device exists that allow you to plug a PS/2
|
|||
|
keyboard in your palm: Happy Hacking cradle Specially for the Palm.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PFU <http://www.pfuca.com/products/hhkb/hhcindex.html> Happy Hacking
|
|||
|
sells a PS/2 adapter for the Palm, thus one should be able to hook any
|
|||
|
PS/2 keyboard on this device. It is battery ( 2 AA ) powered.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It seems that someone has managed to get a twiddler keyboard working
|
|||
|
with the PalmPilot. If you want to do land navigation it exists an
|
|||
|
electronic compass you can plug into your palm it is called Palm
|
|||
|
Navigator and it is manufactured by Precision Navigation
|
|||
|
<http://www.precisionnav.com> They even sell a weather station.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
If you have more money to spend or want more precision you can
|
|||
|
purchase a GPS receiver called Earthmate; it is manufactured by
|
|||
|
Precision Navigation <http://www.delorme.com> Some of you may want a
|
|||
|
software only solution: this can be done. If you have some highly
|
|||
|
specialized needs like commuting without having the subway map and
|
|||
|
want a readily made solution you can use a program like Route Expert,
|
|||
|
I use it on a daily basis, it works great with Paris's subway and I
|
|||
|
will test it with Berlin's subway at the end of the year ( of course
|
|||
|
it exists other programs but this one is the one I am using ). I guess
|
|||
|
everyone can find the North using the sun and a wirtswatch, a
|
|||
|
PalmPilot can do it with more precision using readymade programs such
|
|||
|
as T.J's Sun-Compass ( once again there exists other programs but this
|
|||
|
one is the one I am using ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The most important with the PalmPilot for the Linux community is the
|
|||
|
fact that there exists two ports of Linux for it ( DragonBall is a
|
|||
|
member of the 68000 family after all ). One is GPLed
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
You can find more information at : uClinux <http://www.uclinux.org>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
the second one is commercial, it is based in Korea. WindStone
|
|||
|
<http://www.oski.co.kr> it is based on uClinux and it is coming with
|
|||
|
its own GUI and widgets.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Thus with the next generation of Palms, the CPU speed will be twice
|
|||
|
today's speed, and with Linux on board we will be able to run a lot of
|
|||
|
software that are hardware independent and have been written for
|
|||
|
today's x86 Linux based wearables.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
14.2. PDAs runing Linux.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Samsung displayed a PDA named theYopi
|
|||
|
<http://www.sem.samsung.co.kr/eng/product/digital/pda/> runing Linux.
|
|||
|
It is an ARMLinux based PDA, 32 MB RAM, featuring a voice recorder,
|
|||
|
mp3 player,IrDa port, compact flash slot, a 4" color TFT and
|
|||
|
HandWritting Recognition, plus Serial and USB interface. Word has
|
|||
|
spread that it should be sold this summer but unti then wait and see.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It exists a Mips based PDA info Center
|
|||
|
<http://www.freebsd.org/~imp/pdamips.html> This site focuses both on
|
|||
|
NetBSD and LinuxCE on MIPS based PDAs.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
You can find some information on the LinuxCE
|
|||
|
<http://www.linuxce.org> port; and you may wish to read the LinuxCE
|
|||
|
FAQ <http://linuxce.2gn.com/faq> With theses PDAs one should be able
|
|||
|
to consider building a nice PDA based Wearable.
|
|||
|
15.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
How to carry my wearable ?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Depending on your wearable's family ( eg Palm, palmtop computer,
|
|||
|
laptop based, PC/104 ) there seem to be 3 convenient ways of carrying
|
|||
|
it around. You can carry it on tour wrist, or in a backpack or you
|
|||
|
can hang it on your waistband.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
16.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Applications with Wearables.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As a rule of thumb the first people who are going to use extensively
|
|||
|
the wearables are the people whose work is a matter of life and death.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
16.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In the army now.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is very important in an army to have an edge other the enemy, that
|
|||
|
is what we have always seen in history, and moreover the army is known
|
|||
|
to spend vast amount of money in order to get this edge.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Some years ago the infantryman was ordered to carry different pieces
|
|||
|
of ordnance that came from different sources and were not part of a
|
|||
|
whole thing, and to try to do his best with theses ( looks like
|
|||
|
Frankenstein to me ). With theses new projects the infantryman is the
|
|||
|
centerpiece of a coherent, complementary weapons and equipment system.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Australian Army.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In Australia there is a program called Land 125 Soldier Combat
|
|||
|
System ( formerly "Wundurra" ( the aboriginal word for Warrior ) ),
|
|||
|
there is some information on DTSO
|
|||
|
<http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/>'s website; and according to the
|
|||
|
ATSE <http://www.atse.org.au/>this project should be on phase 2 on
|
|||
|
year 2000/2001.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
According to DTSO the soldiers should have intra-section radios,
|
|||
|
night vision and sighting capability and head up display.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> French Forces.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In France there is a project called FELIN ( Fantassin <20> Equipement
|
|||
|
et Liaison Integr<67>es ( Foot soldier with integrated equipment and
|
|||
|
links ) )
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
in order to enhance the efficiency of the soldier a set of devices
|
|||
|
had been developed with very careful limitations : historically the
|
|||
|
foot soldier has been a beast of burden, thus the FELIN project
|
|||
|
wishes to limit its load at 25kg. The soldier has got a radio link,
|
|||
|
a computer and a camera on his weapon ( allowing him to open fire
|
|||
|
from cover ). The display is done with a monocular HMD.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> UK Forces.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The FIST ( Future Integrated Soldier Technology ) project: Early
|
|||
|
tests were conducted on Salisbury Plain to determine if the soldier
|
|||
|
could access information either 'Head Up' ( in a helmet display ),
|
|||
|
'Head Down' ( on a wrist mounted display ), via a palmtop computer
|
|||
|
or if necessary a map
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
lessons learned ( in L'armement issue 67 September 1999 )
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> There is no scope for enhancing soldier performance through the
|
|||
|
provision of tactical information unless the soldier can access
|
|||
|
information 'on the move'
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The preference, both by day and night was the helmet display.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The FIST Digitization Trials will be conducted on Salisbury Plain
|
|||
|
in June and November 2000. The June trial addresses information
|
|||
|
flow, the November trial will address the benefits of enhanced
|
|||
|
information to determine if there is a consequent increase in the
|
|||
|
'Tempo of Operation'.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> US Forces
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The land warrior program
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is a system made of 5 subsystems cooperating together.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> A Pentium Computer/Radio Subsystem (C/RS) made by Motorola
|
|||
|
featuring an integrated GPS receiver
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The Protective Clothing and Individual Equipment Subsystem (PCIE)
|
|||
|
made by Gentex
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The Weapon Subsystem (WS) made by Raytheon
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The Software Subsystem made by Raytheon
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The Integrated Helmet Assembly Subsystem (IHAS) made by Honeywell
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The location of each squad member will be available through the
|
|||
|
IHAS, as well as digitized maps and tactical information. Every
|
|||
|
soldier will have an integrated GPS as well as video recording
|
|||
|
capabilities. Of course the soldier will have night vision
|
|||
|
capability as well as deported sighting. Tests should take place
|
|||
|
during year 2000. More info on the Land Warrior program at
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
http://www.sbccom.army.mil/programs/lw/index.htm
|
|||
|
<http://www.sbccom.army.mil/programs/lw/index.htm >
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
( There is even a FAQ and pictures ). AFAIK this is going to be
|
|||
|
the biggest test for the wearable concept because the Army is
|
|||
|
planning to purchase 34000 units plus spares.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The navy.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
During the summer 1999 news poured that the US Navy tested the
|
|||
|
Virtual Retinal Display at Hawaii. The explanation is that there
|
|||
|
doesn't seem to be enough space in the fighting ships because of
|
|||
|
the numerous CRT, so it is conceivable for the crew to wear VRDs
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Needless to say, that some very low profile and highly specialized
|
|||
|
units should have adopted the wearable concept but as far as we
|
|||
|
cannot have evidence we can only speculate on that.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
16.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
At the hospital
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Microvison <http://www.mvis.com>'s VRD has been delivered
|
|||
|
<http://www.mvis.com/2-medi.htm> to the Wallace Kettering Neuroscience
|
|||
|
Institute, Dayton Ohio, for neurosurgery applications. This is not a
|
|||
|
full featured wearable solution but it is a big step toward the
|
|||
|
adoption of wearables in health care activity. ( on the website you
|
|||
|
can view a simulated image <http://www.mvis.com/dr_pov4jpg.htm> ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
16.3.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
With the firefighters
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Firefighters are using thermal cameras in order to see through the
|
|||
|
smoke, in the next years theses devices should be miniaturized and
|
|||
|
with a wearable firefighters should have both hands free and will have
|
|||
|
real time access to data such as the map of the building and numerous
|
|||
|
helpful informations.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
16.4.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Wearable for the disabled.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
One can easily think that a wearable computer can be very helpfull for
|
|||
|
the disabled people, for example for blind people a wearable with a
|
|||
|
GPS receiver, some maps of the surroundings and even more, interacting
|
|||
|
with its surroundings by means of active beacons can be a very good
|
|||
|
substitute for a dog, the elements exists for a long time.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This should be easily done : the linux comunity has good text to
|
|||
|
speech applications, voice recognition is quite ready for this
|
|||
|
application , the IrDA or Modem radio drivers are OK, the same applies
|
|||
|
to the GPS programs, we have to develop an electronic blind walking
|
|||
|
stick in order to detect the obstacles at a much reater range and
|
|||
|
last, but not the least to convince the autorities.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
17.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A borg's life.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This section deals with Human-Human interaction. As the wearable is
|
|||
|
quite new for the layman one has to expect some strange reactions from
|
|||
|
the other people. When I go out and read my PalmPilot's screen while
|
|||
|
walking or in the subway people have one of the following reactions :
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> No reaction: because they are in their own world or because they
|
|||
|
don't care.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Curiosity: they come to me and ask me questions like "what it is",
|
|||
|
"what are you doing with it" and "how much does it cost ?"
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Disdain : they may think I want to draw attention.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Hostility/Fear : "this guy is nut: avoid him".
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Steve Mann Gave an interview in the New Scientist magazine and as
|
|||
|
he was one of the first to test the waters, so he has a long
|
|||
|
experience in this field. The second problem is that the
|
|||
|
wearable's hardware is quite expensive and some predators will spot
|
|||
|
a new device that can be easily stolen and sold at a good price, or
|
|||
|
just in order to have one of them. As a conclusion you have to be
|
|||
|
very cautious.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
18. Nanotechnology: one step beyond.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
At the time of this writting, we are in a transition era: the
|
|||
|
nanotechnology is an emerging science that is going to change a lot of
|
|||
|
things in the computing field.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
For more information on nanotechnology, the http://www.nanodot.org
|
|||
|
website is a good place to start.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
19.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Sources of Information.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
19.1.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Non commercial
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A good starting point to gather information is to subscribe to the
|
|||
|
wear-hard@haven.org mailing list, you have to send a message with the
|
|||
|
word subscribe in the subject to wear-hard-request@haven.org.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The archive of this mailing list is mirrored at Wearable Central
|
|||
|
<http://wearables.blu.org> This site was founded to be an archive
|
|||
|
center for the mailing list and the newsgroup. It is maintened by R.
|
|||
|
Paul McCarty.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
You can also read one of the very good FAQs such as the wearcompfaq
|
|||
|
<http://wearcomp.org/wearcompfaq.html> or you may go to the wearable
|
|||
|
webring <http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=wearit;list> (
|
|||
|
at the time of this writting the webring lists 35 sites ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
19.2.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Commercial.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
You can find information on the web sites of the company cited in the
|
|||
|
various sections of this document and as stated earlier in this
|
|||
|
document : The companies quoted here are just for your information
|
|||
|
only, I do not endorse any of their product, this just in order to
|
|||
|
help you.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
19.3. Reading.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Some science fiction books can be a good introduction to Wearable
|
|||
|
computing. Among other books one can think of ( alphabetical listing
|
|||
|
):
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson ( a lot of nanotechnology too ).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Virtual Light by Willian Gibson
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
20.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
To do List.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This section is about things that have to be done for the next
|
|||
|
releases if you wish to contribute it is a good place to look at.
|
|||
|
<20> Organic Leds are very interesting, I should cover theses too.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> To expand the input/visual output sections.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> To expand and reorder the advocacy section.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> To have an "in the car" section.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The concept of an UW wearable seems viable lets think about it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> List and describe all projects.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> List and describe all products.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> To get some sleep ;-).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
21.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Revision History.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> v 0.0.9 November 2000, 3rd release
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Fixed: What is a Wearable anyway section: Typo in URLs
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Expanded: What CPU section.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Expanded: Power supply section.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Rewritten: OS section.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Rewritten: Sulawesi section rewritten by The sulawesi project
|
|||
|
founder Neill Newman. <njnewm@essex.ac.uk>
|
|||
|
<mailto:njnewm@essex.ac.uk>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Added: CLI only section written by Manu Coutris. <coutris@ie2.u-
|
|||
|
psud.fr> <mailto:coutris@ie2.u-psud.fr>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Added: One step beyond section.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> v 0.0.7 March 2000, second release.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> v 0.0.5 December 1999, first release.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> v 0.0.1 November 1999, first draft.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
22.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Thanks and Credits.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> I would like to thank among other people:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Werner Heuser <wehe@snafu.de> <mailto:wehe@snafu.de> for the work
|
|||
|
he has done maintaining his Laptop-HOWTO
|
|||
|
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The people of the Wearable mailing list which proved to be very
|
|||
|
informative and open minded.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> My friend Manu Coutris for his never ending patience and kindness.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> "Old Crocodile" Virgile for his wyse and smart advices.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The people of the Wearable community whose discussion and web sites
|
|||
|
strengthen my confidence in the wearable concept.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> Professor Steve Mann for his patience and for beeing one of the
|
|||
|
pionners in the Wearable Computing field. I also wish to thank him
|
|||
|
for the wearcompdef, wearcompfaq and wristwatch wearable links.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The The Sulawesi project.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
section is written by Neill Newman <njnewm@essex.ac.uk>
|
|||
|
<mailto:njnewm@essex.ac.uk>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
<20> The CLI only.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
section is written by Manu Coutris <coutris@ie2.u-psud.fr>
|
|||
|
<mailto:coutris@ie2.u-psud.fr>
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
23.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Copyright <20> 1999-2000 by Lionel, trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Ju<4A>ry.
|
|||
|
This document may be distributed under the terms set forth in the GNU
|
|||
|
Free Documentation Licence http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt
|
|||
|
<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt> .
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
|
|||
|
but without any warranty. The information in this document is correct
|
|||
|
to the best of my knowledge, but there's a always a chance I've made
|
|||
|
some mistakes, so don't follow everything too blindly, especially if
|
|||
|
it seems wrong. Nothing here should have a detrimental effect on your
|
|||
|
computer, but just in case I take no responsibility for any damages
|
|||
|
ocurred from the use of the information contained herein.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In this document you will encounter some commercial products and
|
|||
|
brands. Theses products are cited for information purpose, it is not
|
|||
|
an endorsement from the author. The trademarks belong to their
|
|||
|
respective owners.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
|
|||
|
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
|
|||
|
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
|
|||
|
Invariant Sections being : "Foreword", "What is a Wearable anyway ?",
|
|||
|
"Advocacy", "What CPU ?", "Power supply", "Os.", "The Sulawesi
|
|||
|
project.", "CLI only.", "Input", "Audio Output", "Visual Output",
|
|||
|
"Comms.", "How can I have my Wearable ?", "PalmPilot and its clone (
|
|||
|
IBM, HandSpring, TRG ): a new breed of wearables.", "How to carry my
|
|||
|
wearable ?", "Applications with Wearables.", "A borg's life.",
|
|||
|
"Nanotechnology: one step beyond.", "Sources of Information.", "To do
|
|||
|
List.", "Revision History.", "Thanks and Credits.",
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
, with the Front-Cover Texts being "title" and "abstract" , and with
|
|||
|
no Back-Cover Texts .
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|