The next batch of boards are in and have been for over a week, but we are still tweaking with Aura, which will ship on the boards.

More news soon...

R&B :)

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http://bbrv.blogspot.com

Nice :)

Can't wait for the final products!


Johan.

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Johan Dams, Genesi USA Inc.
Director, Software Engineering

Yep, I have a blog... PurpleAlienPlanet

Are you going to be in time with your netbook? Even suzuki is releasing one (and i only know them from cars and motors): http://www.suzuki.sg/productinfodetails ... 31O538R530 . With so many netbooks around the market may become saturated soon?

Remember we're marketing a Smartbook (ARM) and not a Netbook (Atom). There's a little difference in the market segment.

There are a few Smartbooks coming out at the same time but the market is small enough that anyone can compete right now; in fact, most of the players about to release products are just as small (if not smaller) than Genesi.

Probably the most innovative competitor is the AlwaysInnovating Touch Book - an 8.9" model with a removable screen. However, while it has the same screen resolution, we have a larger screen size (10.1"), I think our keyboard is much better, we definitely have a thinner and lighter design (definitely not "top heavy" since our motherboard is under the keys just like every other laptop - you pay a price for innovation) which does not trade off clamshell use for the touch panel. Ours is also going to be cheaper :D

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Matt Sealey

not meaning to hijack the thread, but the motheboard-behind-screen allows the AI guys to turn the keyboard into a 'docking-station'-type of add-on, the major benefit of which may be the second, larger battery (IIRC). please note i'm not citisizing Genesi's design here, just saying that AI may indeed have an innovative design on their hands.

on that note, when can i expect you guys to announce a smartpowerbook? ; )

No problem, that is a valid observation. The other thing is though is that having the battery in the screen and a battery in the keyboard makes it all the more heavy!

Also would you really travel around with a tablet and no docking station? I don't think it really works in real life. You may as well drop it on a desk and wire it up so it charges when it's down, have a nice stand and a nice USB keyboard (full size). It would be cheaper to have that than a $100 keyboard+battery module.
When a desktop-capable PowerPC processor appears that fits the market. The only one right now is the MPC8610, and it's a little too expensive to compete except with really high end Atom systems.

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Matt Sealey

I looked at the AlwaysInnovating Touch Book and now i understand why you say it is "top heavy".

PS i am looking forward for more details on your EfikaMX Open Client tomorow.

well, what do you know. i just stumbled across this today:

http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/08/touch ... ity-issues

:)

I am pleased to say the build quality of the Efika MX Open Client and the Efika MX Smartbook are really quite superb. We will have some more details about the Open Client tomorrow (Monday).

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Matt Sealey

apropos..
is Aura's codedbase still maintained in a ppc-compliant state?

Yes and there are still PPC projects on the cards..

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Matt Sealey

you just put a huge smile on my mug.

Don't let that stop you buying an ARM system to tide you over :)

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Matt Sealey

Me too!
Then, you shouldn't have said that! ;-) It was you how started this site for POWER developers...

Power as in empowerment :)

You won't see PPC hardware from us for a while yet. You can be waiting for a very very long time and missing out on a lot inbetween. Even then it won't run MorphOS until it's ported; it took 2 years for MorphOS for EFIKA to be released.

Are you really going to be that patient?

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Matt Sealey