What is Digg?104 Comments
- sfabkk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Great mini pc, micro server etc, low signature, price is great.
- lyzz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Reminds me of ebay... $99 for the device $35 to ship it.
http://www.norhtec.com/products/mcjr/mcjr-ship.html - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14"I'm not trolling"
yes righto ***** but i'll bite anyway,
where are they giving linux credit for making hardware cheaper? it's the PACKAGE that ends up cheaper because there is no $100 windows embedded tax on the thing.
"Microsoft gives out very similar lisences (Free or even close to free) to charities and non profit organizations."
and what the ***** does that have to do with this commercial product?? MS gives out no such similar licenses at all, your full of it. - austindkelly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8where can i buy one?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8More photos and info.
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6828123924.html - Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@jbarnett:
From TFA, "Additionally, the system is optionally available with pre-installed flash and microdrives, a mini-PCI slot, and an 802.11b/g WiFi module."
So it seems that it doesn't come with a hard drive. Which means that for $99, you would need to add your own hard drive or flash drive. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8What are the applications for this?
This is in no way a criticism! Genuinely interested to hear what people would use them for - B111, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Linux doesn't get the credit for designing the hardware, I don't think anyone is saying that. The fact is that given the open nature of linux, it has been adapted to work on many , many platforms, from uber-leet gaming rigs, to small, embedded systems.
A full system, hardware + software, would not be possible using microsoft's software. - pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8In the early 90's we had less than this and somehow managed to get an awful lot done.
- MikeCerm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Love the form-factor, but this is hardly useful as a PC. 200 MHz isn't enough to browse the web these days.
For $200-300 you can get a normal tower from Compaq or Dell, with a 2 Ghz Sempron, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB hard drive, CD-RW/DVD-ROM driver. Such a computer would be more than twice as useful as the little Linux box.
If you're going to get this thing to use as a router, why not just get a $50 WRT54GL? - dc2447, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If you want a low power, small footprint *fully* functional Linux server then get one of these (Linkstation 2)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-Linkstation-HD-H250LAN-1-Network-Storage/dp/B0007R6CF8/sr=8-1/qid=1159452847/ref=pd_ka_1/026-6270134-8360452?ie=UTF8&s=electronics
and stick Debian on it. That's exactly what I did. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Timmarhy and Justice are both somewhat wrong and I'll add in some information about the charities.
First, Justice, the benefit of all this is you could save a bunch of money, and install any OS you want, if you want Windows then go ahead and purchase a license, or an OEM license and just install it. Many other people on the otherhand won't need it. Plus the specs on this device doesn't meet the minimum requirements of most unhacked modern Windows OS's. On the otherhand, Timmarhy is also wrong because many companies and computer repair stores pay only $35-$50 per license, not $100; its over exaggeration.
Microsoft does give free licences to charities or non-profits as Justice described, in case you're interested in getting some of these machines for your non-profit organization. If you're a 501(c)3 non profit and brought a bunch of old computers or laptops that came with Windows on it, complete with the holographic sticker that has licenses, such as old Dell boxes, they'll give you free Windows licenses of Office 2003 and Windows 2000 for them. Just give Microsoft a call and they'll forward you to the right people.
The alternative is the open license charity if you have a bunch of custom made computers. You simply need to purchase one legitimate copy of Windows and or Office for all the computers in your non-profit organization. More information here:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/open/opencharity.mspx
So yes, if you're a nonprofit, seeking to save money by purchasing these machines, you could save a bunch of money with one copy of Windows. However these machines are kind of slow too. Well I hope that was useful. - trypnotic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5LittlePC's fanless PC is $1500. I'd rather have a cluster of 15 of these little guys!
- asspants, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4FTA:
The TU-40 is based on an unspecified 200MHz processor said to be x86-compatible -- possibly an SiS550
From SiS550 spec sheet:
SiS550 family provides powerful slice layer decoding DVD accelerator to improve the DVD playback performance
Last time I checked, most DVD is mpeg2 layer...
So, when you said:
"That would be nice, but we are not quite there yet. There is no way that CPU can playback MPEG2 files or most other video formats. Maybe if you have a USB or Mini-PCI hardware decoder."
I think you're wrong. - weprin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6car-puter
- shuffle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5With expansion possibilities the possibilities are endless. Stick it in your car for a sweet mp3 player (with wifi if you want!), a firewall device, network enabled storage unit (i.e. running samba), with asterisk as an open source voip adapter. Hobby/test web server. Thin client box!
Use your imagination... - diggitydank, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Add another ethernet port and you have a great firewall.
- cius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I'm intensely interested in mini systems like this. I don't expect it to play my HD content or throw down benches anywhere near my main rig, but I can't resist the opportunity to push a platform like this to its absolute limits. After all, given the right software and the right application, systems like this can perform like a dream. :-)
- raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think that the lack of a hard drive for this PC calls for an alternative approach. I'd suggest using a virtual drive (like GDrive or GSpace via Gmail) via some Internet connection (wifi, for example), or (as with the MadTux LivePC) a USB card, for this type of PC if you want to store files or apps. The Internet will become increasingly cheaper as time goes by, so a PC that uses an online, web-based drive rather than a local hard drive case will have more going for it.
And I am *especially* glad that someone finally broke the US$100 barrier that holds many people (especially in the Third World and digitally-disadvantaged areas) back from buying a PC. Hopefully, more will show up for less before the decade runs out. - B111, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5hmm, not quite, actually not even close, considering the mini has a core duo processor.
- unitedkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I like it that companies aim to build systems under $99, it means that it's cheaper for us British to buy these systems. :)
Anyone have a link to somewhere which sells these systems? - kremvax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3For the most part, I think a current windows (xp, etc) would run like is sick pig on one of these boxes. Windows is targeted for a machine with more ram and a faster cpu.
By design Linux has a lot more inherent configuration flexibility , and can be very nicely configured to run on slower boxes with less ram overhead.
And the cost... If they had to bundle a windows license with this box, it would almost double the cost. Linux, free as in beer.
So ... a $100 linux box is real. $100 windows box... still hasn't been done. - unitedkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The shipping prices for the MicroClient Jr. (not the system this digg is based on, but pretty much 99% the same) take the piss; the USA and Mexico for $35, the UK for $40, and the rest of general Europe ranging from $40 to $50. For me, $160 for a silent PC like this would cost me just over £85, which is just £10 too much for my liking.
- stevex0r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This has a great form factor but it's 200mhz which isn't that hot. I could see this thing making a kick ass linux router if it had a second nic which would be great for monowall, smoothwall, ipcop.
- rabidgoldfish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Can you bolt that 733 PIII to the back of a monitor?
- lyzz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3You may want to try http://www.copyall.com/contact.asp . For the ebox-2300 which looks very similar http://www.copyall.com/ebox2300.htm .
- chasma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3interesting this unit has vesa footprint - bolt right on the back of those unused 15' lcds as a flash card photoframe + occsional browser
- kyrre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3That would be nice, but we are not quite there yet. There is no way that CPU can playback MPEG2 files or most other video formats. Maybe if you have a USB or Mini-PCI hardware decoder.
- unitedkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's just the same case, it has a different PSU and hardware inside it.
- joelito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And then see how much you'll have to pay in your electric bill with your oldie PC compared to this little thing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm actually using a PC similar to what you're describing, but I can also see the use of something like this. - rockefeller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+215'.....feet. 15 feet LCD screen, as in "massive."
Nobody else caught onto that? - Langford, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It could potentially be used for audio playback. It may be practical to put this system in a car. It could be a good started system for a young relative. It could be a good email/solitaire system for an older relative.
- axxiom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is one of those devices that you want to have just to have that you think you will put to use but probably won't. It's certainly got catch appeal.
I've got clients that want to switch from software based spam, anti-virus, and anti-piracy solutions to hardware based solutions. I think this device might work as a Smoothwall unit with a little tweaking. An enterprise hardware based firewall(only I have to know the truth that's all software anyway) for under $200 would be quite good. - gothsquirrel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3They could use them as Telent terminal servers here at work or spend a $1000 on a new ibm to do the same thing, which is what they did (shakes head and frowns).
- camiller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Thats probably an antena connector for wi-fi.
- Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4It would be nice if this could function as a mythtv frontend.
- spectre_25gt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If only it had an extra ethernet port. This thing would make a sweet little router.
- colklink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That's the same thing I thought, but after pondering on it longer I think 200mhz and 128 MB of ram would probably only lead me to driving my car off a cliff in frustration.
- unitedkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It seems that some of the people commenting above are missing the point, this is a cheap small silent system built for use with Linux. Sure, you could buy a 'better' Pentium 3 system with more ram for the same price, but general P3 systems don't come in a case the size of your palm and use no fans. And as for the people complaining there's no drive inside the system, it has a flash drive to use as standard, and has three USB slots you could use for an external drive as well.
- Goblinkiller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Kickass music player, low-traffic webserver, fileserver, printerserver etc. I really like the idea of small cheap but real computers with which I can make my very own serverservice, music player etc. My fantasy then becomes the limit practically...
- noGoodNamesLeft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2TS-1000?
The TS - 1000 (U.S. version of the Sinclair ZX81) came with *2* kilobytes of memory as standard.
It had a black-and-white display, and no hi-res graphics, just a 32 x 22 character display which used "checkerboard" characters to support a low-res 64 x 44 pseudo-graphical display. (And that was back when "high resolution" was 256 x 192 upwards.)
It used an ordinary cassette player to load/save programs (and you had to supply that yourself).
By today's standards, it's indescribably *slooooooow*.
It was bloody great value at the time, and the first computer I used (or more specifically, the ZX81 was), but.... it's not that great a comparison.
And U.S. prices have more than doubled since then; consider what $200 will buy you today. Tech is *dirt cheap* nowadays. - MateFrio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not that it helps much but here is the company website: http://www.ewayco.com/
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3just whats i was thinking - x11 terminals.
- phill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Timex Sinclair 1000 was only $99. And that was 20 years ago.
- UrsaMare, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was thinking it would be cool for a kitchen PC. Use Linux Terminal Server to make it a thin client, get an under counter display, and one of those sealed silicone keyboards (CompUSA even has a cheap no-name version), and it would be great for looking up recipes. Could even hook a Cue Cat in and scan food packages so the recipe database can suggest dishes with what you have on hand.
- lyzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Try streaming media off of a 12mbps connection sometime. It's not a good deal. You do realize that it's only 1.5 megabytes per second right? I am actually running an IpCop firewall using usb 1.1 nics, and let me say that it's dog slow on file transfers. For the internet connection it might be alright, but using it to transfer data from a dmz to a lan has serious speed issues. Bottom line, don't use usb 1.1 attached nics on a firewall box.
- ldog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Doesn't say if it's capable of PXE/etherboot booting through its onboard NIC.
If it is, these would make perfect little thin clients for a Linux Terminal Server setup. - motang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow that looks great, I am going to be getting one of this.
- trypnotic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@captjc
I was talking about the $99 E-Way boxes. You can get 15 of those for the price of the LittlePC. - MoreBeer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm (honestly) going to buy one to drive the LCD display mounted above the urinal in my basement. It says it has a VESA mount so I can bolt it right to the back of the LCD. I haven't looked to see if it is PoE (Power over Ethernet) capable yet... then it would be flawless, only an RJ45 run needed!
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