apart from the rest of the pack. “First of all,” he says, “is the processing power. We’ve got a much faster processor than everybody else.” Second, he points to the iPaq screen, which he suggests is at least as good, if not better, than others on the market. “You can look at the screen in bright daylight and still see it,” he insists. “You could find your keys in the dark using the screen like a flashlight,” Greeley adds by way of example. The iPaq screen also has both a variable brightness control as well as an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts to the environment. The unit also gets a maximum of 12-14 hours on its Compaq Evo N115 battery, but one of the key features as far as Greeley is concerned is the fact that the operating system (Microsoft Pocket PC standard or Linux, available from the Compaq web site) is stored in flash memory as opposed to being burned into ROM. This gives the user increased ability to load Linux on the iPaq by loading into flash instead of burning a new ROM. Says Greeley, “That proved to be an important thing for us and it’s actually made our whole program possible.”
Only recently started, it is probably impossible to gauge how much Linux developer interest will flow toward the Itsy/iPaq project. Greeley himself notes that, with regard to the Linux port to the iPaq, “we don’t have all the bells and whistles yet,” meaning there is no browser and the wireless Ethernet is enroute, but has not yet arrived. The Linux Itsy does feature the X Window System, however, and Greeley expects progress to come quickly. “We’ve started