I have the software synth mods running on a board that is 4x6x2 inches. These are mostly pictures but there is some info about it here: http://home.earthlink.net/~wearable/galleria/fashion/ The same CPU was used in another design: http://home.earthlink.net/~wearable/galleria/purse/ I don't know why, but the page describing the board seems to be gone from the advantech site. But this is a newsletter describing it. The board itself cost less than $400. They have a new board that runs the Via Eden processor. The 667Mhz version is selling for $331. It supports 512MB SDRAM and audio onboard. It is in the same form factor as my prototypes, 4x6 inches, and it also has PC/104, so it can work with a dual PCMCIA module. With a 667Mhz CPU and onboard audio, this can be a mobile unit that replaces a PC. The PCMCIA will allow for modems or wireless lan. Ethernet is already onboard. The new Eden based board also has S3 Savage4 video and can use up to 32MB of the system memory for framebuffer. I will be making another prototype that uses the Via Eden board (it's called PCM-9372 http://www.advantech.com.tw/epc/newsletter/v75-09-12_02/pcm-9372.htm I also have plans for an X-Scale prototype using a board that is 3x5 inches. I noticed that the Flite software synthesizer works on StrongArm already, it sure would be cool to have speakup working on X-Scale (400Mhz low power processor used in iPAQ). Another interesting thing: I have seen embedded boards that can actually run two sound cards at the same time. One is onboard and one is a MiniPCI add-on card (tiny!). It would neat to have speakup console on one sound card and emacspeak on the other. A modified heaset could make one go in each ear. Or maybe that would be to confusing, perhaps some special scripts or keymapping would be needed. Or maybe I just have too many ideas ... -- Doug
