Operation Manual
32
Mobile Computing with Linux
Mobile computing is mostly associated with laptops, PDAs and cellular phones (and
the data exchange between them). Mobile hardware components, such as external hard
disks, ash drives, or digital cameras, can be connected to laptops or desktop systems.
A number of software components are involved in mobile computing scenarios and
some applications are tailor-made for mobile use.
32.1 Laptops
The hardware of laptops differs from that of a normal desktop system. This is because
criteria like exchangeability, space requirements and power consumption must be taken
into account. The manufacturers of mobile hardware have developed standard interfaces
like PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association), Mini PCI
and Mini PCIe that can be used to extend the hardware of laptops. The standards cover
memory cards, network interface cards, ISDN (and modem cards) and external hard
disks.
TIP: openSUSE and Tablet PCs
openSUSE also supports Tablet PCs. Tablet PCs come with a touchpad/digitizer
that allows you to use a digital pen or even ngertips to edit data right on the
screen instead of using mouse and keyboard. They are installed and congured
much like any other system. For a detailed introduction to the installation and
conguration of Tablet PCs, refer to Chapter 36, Using Tablet PCs (page 599).
Mobile Computing with Linux 541