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Domain: cobaltqube.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to cobaltqube.org.

Comments · 9

  1. Car analogies rarely work, however... by TheLittleJetson · · Score: 3, Interesting · on Mac mini to PC Hack
    I think of Apple as more closely matched to BMW. It's a brand whose primary goal is to build a reliable piece of hardware that is enjoyable to use. It's easy to form an opinion about it, but until you get behind the wheel/screen, you just won't get it Much like BMW, Apple has recently put a lot of effort into aesthetics, and therefore the brand has been making its way into the "luxury" market, while keeping its core goals (quality, enjoyable use) intact.

    BMW's aren't the fastest cars on the road, but they're still plenty fast. Anyone with some mechanical skill can turbocharge a Dodge Neon or something and end up with more bang-for-the-buck, but it's just not the same.

    ...now that that analogy is wearing thin, let me address a couple points...

    I'd be surprised if we don't see a PC variant with better specs within a few months. -- Me too! Apple always has a bunch of companies rushing to implement a knock-off of it's current design. (I'm not saying that Apple never takes other peoples ideas, I'm simply saying that when they announce something big/cool, other companies copy it in droves. There are too many examples to list, but here's a few: System7, iPod, Titanium PowerBook, etc.)

    Other than the SFF community who are they targeting? Are most Mac/PC users going to give up significant amounts of horsepower to save a couple inches of space? -- I don't think the Mac mini is meant to be the fastest, most upgradable machine they have. In fact, I would speculate that most people buying a Mac mini are buying it as a second computer. I think it has 2 target markets, one of which is more important than the others:
    • The important one: non-mac users who are flirting with the idea of switching. Maybe they use Macs at work or school, and a PC at home. Perhaps they have an iPod and iTunes, and enjoy the experience, and want iPhoto, iMovie, iEtc. I think this is the critical target group, because this is like training wheels for the switch to Mac. If they like the Mac experience, they may end up switching, or if they don't divorce the PC, at least they could become a long term Apple customer, possibly buying more Apple products in the future. For this group, processor speed isn't all that important. This computer is just to organize their photos, music, and "digital life". Since the price of entry is so low, it's hard for these folks to say no at this point.
    • The other group: those who want a net-appliance. Anyone who may have bought a Cobalt Qube is probably eyeing the Mac mini right now. A set-top box, a home router/server, etc. It's good for little projects like that. Again, processor speed isn't as important as it would be in other applications.


    ...they are going to produce their own set top box or game console... -- Apple has a nasty habbit of coming up with ideas a few years before the market is ripe for it. The video game console is no different: at one point they planned to release the Pippin, which was somewhere between an XBOX and WebTV as far as featureset.... I don't think this ever made it into production.
  2. Cobalt Qube by Krafty+Koder · · Score: 1 · on Apple Design Award Cube Spills Its Guts
    Interesting , historical , aside:

    Vivek Mehra and Mark Orr , two of the co-founders of Cobalt Networks were ex-Apple , and the cube thing re-appeared with the Cobalt Qube in the late 90s:

    Cobalt Qube and Cobalt history

  3. Re:I want free Sun hardware by kunudo · · Score: 1 · on Sun Says Hardware Will Be Free

    I'd settle for this... Seriously, it's hot... Not powerful though, but I guess I can take some more stuff too...

  4. Links would be nice. by kinema · · Score: 4, Informative · on Sun Opens Cobalt Code

    The Cobalt software can be found at: open.CobaltQube.org and the ROM can be found at SourceForge.

  5. Cobalt Users Group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative · on Sun Opens Cobalt Code

    http://open.cobaltqube.org/

    Featuring Blue Quartz

  6. Qube 3 Sourcecode by mcbridematt · · Score: 2, Informative · on The End of Sun's Cobalt Servers

    The Qube 3 sourcecode was released to the Cobalt Users Group of Japan at open.cobaltqube.org (down at the moment) :(

    What a sad ending. I am still drooling over this sexy Cobalt Qube 2 advertisment

  7. Sun has released all code under BSD license by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative · on The End of Sun's Cobalt Servers

    Sun has been very generous and released ALL the code from the Qube 3 and now the RaQ 550 under BSD license. See open.cobaltqube.org for more info.

  8. Re:Missing IO/Features by dagnabit · · Score: 1 · on Move Over Mini-ITX, Here Comes The gigaQube

    Actually Cobalt stopped using MIPS on their own long before the Sun acquisition. Starting with RaQ 3, the AMD K6 CPUs were used. The XTR and 550 actually had genu-wine Intel CPUs.

    FYI, the Qube 3 UI was released under a BSD license by Sun over the summer, and can be found at open.cobaltqube.org.

  9. Re:While Sunss marketing improved they still rock by dagnabit · · Score: 2, Informative · on Merrill Lynch Rips Sun

    2. Sun owns Cobalt that make great Linux boxes.

    As a former Cobalt/Sun employee, this is gratifying to hear. But you should know that Sun has completely killed off the Cobalt product line except for the RaQ 550. And that's slated for EOL by the end of this year.

    The good news is that the Cobalt-specific code that made up the Qube (UI, etc.) has been released under a BSD license. More info and downloads at http://open.cobaltqube.org/. Hopefully the RaQ stuff will be opened at some point as well...

    Sun's Linux products are "general purpose" Linux servers now, not appliances. Oh yeah, and some new desktop thingie... :)