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RE: Re: mathematica on a palmtop?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg39127] RE: [mg39092] Re: mathematica on a palmtop?
• From: "Wolf, Hartmut" <Hartmut.Wolf at t-systems.com>
• Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 01:06:41 -0500 (EST)
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tim May [mailto:tcmay at got.net]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
>Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 9:36 AM
>To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
>Subject: [mg39127] [mg39092] Re: mathematica on a palmtop?
>
>
>In article <b15q34$f0q$1 at smc.vnet.net>, Daniel Reeves
><dreeves at umich.edu> wrote:
>
>> If I could have mathematica on a palmtop I would be a truly 
>fulfilled 
>> human being.  <drifts into fantasy...>
>>   [setting: a cocktail party]
>>   Girl: ...so in the limit you'd find that...
>>   Me: well let's plot that [whips out palmtop with mathematica]
>>   Girl: [swoons]
>> 
>> It's clearly possible in principle since modern palmtops are more
>> powerful than desktop machines that ran mathematica just fine several
>> years ago.
>
>
>Yes, the CPU power is almost there, but the screen size and resolution
>simply is not. Mathematica running on my Mac 7100av in the 
>mid-90s still had
>the full effect of a 1024 x 768 color display on a 17-inch monitor.
>Trying to do useful work on my Visor Prism or even an iPaq would be
>horrible...useful only for the type of situation you fantasize about.
>
>Meaning, not worth the effort.
>
>I currently have Mathematica 4.1.5 on my 5-lb TiBook. Not 
>small enough to "whip
>out at a party to impress a chick" (yuk yuk), but perfectly fine for
>any mobile use (such as at the library, or at remote sites, or in hotel
>rooms) I can plausibly imagine.
>
>Wasting time and money on a PDA port would be foolish for Wolfram.
>
>--Tim May
>

Leaving out the more honourable dictionaries right from the beginning, and
starting with "Essential American Idioms" via "Forbidden American English" I
finally dug up in "The Pocket Dictionary of American Slang":

  *swoony.* _n._ An attractive boy. _adj._ 
     Attractive. _Teenage use, c1940.
     More often in movies and stories
     about teenagers than used by
     teenagers._

This clearly assigns that all to pure fiction, ... or rather to a
specification for next generation PDAs. As the energy density of a
mini-flashlight sized micro-beamer would be too high to hold it in my hands,
perhaps an interface to a pair of high resolution VR display spectacles
might do, one glass for each.

--
Hartmut