david@daisy.UUCP (David Schachter) (03/03/89)
Just got this off the news-wire: Sharp, the folks who make the Wizard portable computer/diary/organizer/etc. for folks with lots of money and yuppie affectations, has just announced a new plug-in ROM cartridge. This cartridge, along with an interface cable which goes to a serial port talking SLIP, allows the Sharp Wizard to run the X Window System, with a (rather slow) X server running on the Wizard. The card has 512K of ROM and 256K of RAM. (The screen is small enough so 256K is enough for backing store and downloaded fonts.) No Ethernet interface is planned at this time, as the bulk and power drain are unacceptable. The X card also provides a spare I/O port. Currently unused, Sharp says this port may be used in the future for a "micro-mouse", whatever that is. The card runs X11R3, based on the MIT sample server. Perhaps more important than the Wizard announcement is the DataWatch non-announcement by Seiko. The company was expected to announce an X- compatible version of the wristwatch sometime during Uniforum, which closed in San Francisco's Moscone Center today. Perhaps at the summer Usenix? The preceding is serious. It is not a joke. Well, it is, actually. -- Salmon Rushdie