Slashdot Mirror

Datel 360 controller w/ pic

Well, and to be fair, they've been selling these things since 2002, when Apple was still making (just) computers
http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Fujitsu-Fujitsu-IPAD-100-10

for the same reason you can't buy a Cadillac subcompact

Oh? Is that so?

From the marketing department: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/winxp/ WinXPStarterFS.mspx

In an effort to provide an affordable and simple introduction to personal computing, and as a result of ongoing collaborations with governments on PC access programs and increasing digital inclusion, Microsoft Corp. has developed Windows XP Starter Edition, an operating system designed for first-time PC users in developing technology markets.

This really seems like monopoly protection. Microsoft charges non-profits a charity version of XP for $139 http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-software--license_cate gory__search__charity-14844_retail

If Microsoft were serious about providing affordable computing, they would offer this program to budget constrained schools world wide. They would offer the same license to the non-profits.

Enjoy,

Actually, a monster video card (http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Sonic_Blue_Diamond_Mo nster_3D) probably wouldn't be a very good choice for oblivion.

As usual Sony pushes their own memory standard on people. Not that I mind much. Memory stick is a SMALL, light weight media. Unlike other Palm devices that require HIDEOUS software for memory bank switching, this CLIE already comes STANDARD with a Sony memory manager making it both SEAMLESS and easy to add GOBS OF MEMORY.

I had the same problem, i wanted the narrower keyboard so it would leave more room for making those deft mouse moves in Quake. I was looking for a good one for a long time but found it totally by accident. I was at Circuit City looking for something else entirely, when I happened to stroll through the console games area. There it was on the shelf, a tiny keyboard made by logitech for the Playstation 2. It has a standard usb cable and works perfectly on my pc. It even has the WIN key, which has a picture of the Logitech logo instead of the windows emblem, but it works the same in Windows. Here's the website: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details /CA/EN,CRID=2282,CONTENTID=6636 or do a google search on "logitech playstation keyboard". It's the first search result. The website or the box doesn't say anything about it working with a pc, but I can assure you it works 100% like any other keyboard on a pc. I've been using mine for about a year without a single problem. Plus it's cheap, ~$20, a lot cheaper than most of the previous suggestions. See: http://www.dealtime.com/xPC-Logitech_LOGITECH_9671 99_0100_USB_KEYBOARD_FOR_PS2 Give it a try, it's a real gem.

If there has been one constant in gaming, it is that analysts (especially Forrester analysts) constantly get it wrong. They don't always get it wrong the way people expect them to get it wrong, but they never get it right.

Let's pick this apart, shall we?

Although gaming is a huge industry, the report warned that turning a profit will become increasingly difficult... For players such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo the fact that the market is reaching saturation point coupled with the increasing costs of producing both games and consoles means profit margins may not be a big as they would like.

The report then goes on to claim that the market is reaching saturation point because almost half of everyone in the western world plays games. Honestly, for anyone making any product, that's a pretty good problem to have.

Likewise, consoles are the same price as always adjusted for inflation. The Genesis launched at 390, the Nes at 350, the Playstation at 370. Same Same.

Games are getting more expensive to produce, but only because people want better and better games, and capacity is making that possible. But it isn't required. The best game on the Xbox 360 is a downloadable vector-graphics game called Geometry Wars, and it is probably the most successful game of the 360 launch, despite being small enough to be made in a month with a team of three. Likewise, there is a lot of room for consolidation on teams... the proliferation of sub-quality clones was (and remains) a problem for many years, but consolidating those teams down to fewer bigger projects should produce better games overall, while letting smaller houses focus on the smaller, more experimental games.

Anyone who thinks there isn't any room for profit in gaming needs to expand their revenue streams a bit. Any team can keep their costs in line while still providing an amazing experience to the player and being rewarded with sales.

The report also warned that mobile phones and portable media players could supersede portable games consoles such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

Analysts who believe the PSP and the DS will be replaced by mobile phones any time soon have obviously never used both the PSP and their mobile phone to play games. It is possible to play games on your phone, and it is even possible that someone will release a successful phone / game hybrid. But besides a shared battery there isn't a lot of point to a single, dedicated device. Heck, Phone PDA combos and phone MP3 combos have been in the works for years, and they're still terrible in a way that would be unacceptable in the console realm. Consoles require lots of dedicated single-use processing devices that don't make any sense for phones, and phones have all sorts of broadcast equipment that don't help out consoles at all. They're both small candy-bar shaped electronic devices, but there the similarities end.

"While gamers will increasingly use their new consoles for non-gaming activities, this functionality will not be enough to convince non-gamers that buying a console is the answer to their digital convergence dreams," he said.

Let me straighten this out for analysts: consoles play games and there is nothing wrong with that. Consoles sometimes play DVD's also, and that's cool too (though their interfaces are pretty bad). But in the same way that DVD players play DVDs, and televisions display television, consoles play videogames. That's what they do. They don't need to be digital Swiss Army Knives to justify their existence. In fact, pretty much every digital Swiss Army Knife console to come along has been terrible. They don't need to be PVR's. They just need to play the games that people desire to play, and that is it. Anything else is cream, and historically nothing else has been helpful. The

Bingo. I think you hit the nail squarely on the head: Aperture is a process/workflow management tool, which works equally well for RAW as it does for JPEG. It's gotten a lot of attention because it will handle RAW files -- which is something not a lot of other programs do -- but that doesn't take away from it's JPEG capabilities. And it certainly doesn't say anything about the workflow-management in general.

I could definitely see that if you take a lot of pictures and want more management and sorting capabilities than iPhoto gives you (which is to say, very few), and you think you might one day do anything with RAW files, then Aperture could be worth the money.

What kind of camera a person has doesn't figure into it, nor really does Apple's decision to market the program primarily because of the RAW capabilities. Everyone should evaluate it based on its own technical and usability merits, in relation to their own needs.

Sadly, I can't justify it's pricetag at the current time, though I'd like to. To me the price isn't $500, but effectively $1800, because to run Aperture I'd need a complete hardware upgrade, and its specs dictate at least a 1.8Ghz G5 (est street price $1300). And unlike software, you can't download a new CPU off BitTorrent.

1024x768 is fine on a 12.1" screen. Granted the 14" should be 1400x1050 or 1280x1024. I like 1920xwhatever on my monitor at work but on a laptop that would be crazy. I have a T42 thinkpad and 1400x1050 is small enough. I won't get a 15" that is 1600x1200 either. I guess it's all in your desired application. When I need a high resolution I go to the office or my office at home and hook up to a big flat panel (It's kick ass btw). The sad thing is I got it when it first came out for $1299. Still a good deal compared to my Apple Cinema Display though...

Yeah, Extremetech is after all a big tech publishers attempt at a tech enthusiast site. If you are in the $250-$300 range then you should spend $33 extra bucks and go with this evga 7800GT. It is worth the extra chunk of change. Not only will it be much faster than the cards that Extremetech recommends, but it also uses less power than the 6800GT, and therefor puts off less heat. That is a no brainer in my book.

It actually reads ACP, not AGP.

Ars technia's suggestions are for a Buget System, and not for a gaming system, even though many of the components are the same. But certain problems exist with both articles.

1) Price of Ram. Toms says go with Corsair for $23. Lowest price anywhere is $30, ARS says go with generic... which might be fine for a non-overclocked office machine, but definatly bad for gaming machines.

2) Although ARS technical Dealtime highlights lowest prices ( and its not nessesarly the best price ) It does NOT allow you to SORT by the lowest prices so you can avoid a fly-by-nigth operation.

3) How to tell a fly by night operataion: Call them on their 800 line, ask for Quantity 2, and then ask if their shipping address and billing address are the same. I once ordered a HD from some dirtbag in La Brea. He sent a demo unit( fingerprints on it, open box etc..etc...and it didnt work, I returned it the next day, and he said "Man, Im having problems with my warehouse in Jersey..." After 3 weeks, and 10 phone calls, I got a refund, but only after I said I would drive there, and file with the DA, giving the DAs name and telephone number.

and check out these dirtbags:
http://arstechnica.dealtime.com/xPC-256MB_DDR2_PC2 _3200_400MHZ_DELL_OPTIPLEX_GX280_DIMENSION_SERIES
AGP Brand RAM?
Just so you can stump a newbie?

Should I just say "yea, unless you want to run OS X", or leave it to someone else to feed your troll ;)

I actually want to take your off-hand witticism seriously, but first I want to make a point which I'm pretty sure you probably understand : If you can't run OS X on the hardware you're talking about, it's useless to someone who wants to run OS X. It doesn't matter how cheap or fast it is, it doesn't run OS X, so it's not relevant to the discussion, unless the discussion is "why you should stop using OS X and use something else". I don't mean to sound harsh or be annoying when I say that, but think about it for a minute- there's something really lame about your post, at least in the context of this thread. The lame thing is that your post is completely off-topic. It adds nothing useful to the discussion as written. Include the words "forget about OS X" and suddenly your post is less lame, somehow, though still slightly off-topic.

Really, if you want to run Linux, and not have the option of OS X, I agree with you completely... although, that's a pretty expensive chip and graphic card, so depending on what other components you put in your system, it's not likely to be less than $2500 anyway, and as such not *much* less expensive... please don't tell me your spending over $1500 on a CPU and graphics card and less than $1000 on everything ( mobo, memory, HD, DVD-R, power supply, case, sound card, keyboard, mouse, etc ) else in the system combined... or if you do, please tell me you didn't skimp on the power supply and motherboard, at least...

again, I don't disagree ( given the whole implicit "don't want to run OS X" thing ) but the 'more likely lower price' thing isn't a sure bet. On the other hand, it is somewhat nice to be able to pick-and-choose your own components, but doing so is rarely about price...

Heck, why build your own. Stuff like this $1999 pre-built system look pretty tempting. Of course, you still have to add in a DVD-RW and a few other goodies, and toss out the Radeon X800 they throw in, but it comes with a gig of RAM, so what the heck. Of course, still no OS X. You know, it's a real shame that M$ had to crush NeXTStep Intel with those anticompetitive OEM licensing agreements, or we might not have this problem.

I also applaud your choice of AMD over Intel, but Tom's found the Intel Pentium 840 Extreme Edition to be a bit better with regard to actual multi-application performance. If you're looking to run a single app, like a game, though, the AMD is clearly the better choice. It's what I'd go with, except for a couple of details. I'm not looking to spend a couple thousand dollars on a high-end machine to run either Linux or Windows. I'm looking to run Linux on my old PII, and looking to avoid Windows as much as possible. If I want to get real work done, most of my tasks aren't too CPU intensive, so my several-years-old flat-panel iMac gets the job done quite nicely. Some day after my kid gets out of college, I'll pick up a machine 20x as powerful as any of these for a couple hundred bucks and slip it into my wallet... and be glad I didn't blow my cash on hardware I didn't need. But I don't want to deal with a sea of viruses and worms, and I don't want to have the system my wife and 3-year-old son use be a custom build job, so I'm not using Windows and I'm not using Linux on that machine. I'm using OS X, and your suggestion is, in that context a useless troll, as well-meaning and humorous as it might otherwise be.

This was my solution to the problem back when I was playing FFXI on the PS2. Now that I no longer play FFXI (I'm a CoH man, myself), the 'controller' gets little/no use and stands as a reminder to myself (along with the damnable PS2/HDD) that not everything Square does is a good thing...

Yes, a grand is a lot of money for a video card. Especially for an end user. But there are already games that will take advantage of this. (For example, Doom III's ULTRA setting requires a video card with 512M of ram).

This card is also useful for those who want a card with the memory of a high-end Quadro (workstation graphics card), but don't want to spend $1700-2200.

Are businesses REALLY interested in innovation or just being copycats?

You mean, like Apple? I wuv my Shuffle, but the Magic Star (before my daughter bent the USB connector one time too many) was just as good.

They're going after the iPod Shuffle market, with nary a thought to even partially concealing their inspiration.

Right, at least Apple changed the appearance of the Magic Star "Gray Whale".

IBM eserver xSeries 445 8870 (88701RX) can take 64 GB of ram, that enough for ya? I got a wild idea, why don't the "editors" of Slashdot do a 5 second google search before posting pointless Ask Slashdot questions like this and save us all a lot of time. Hell, it might even improve the quality of the site!

Dated technology?

It uses the same 'new' hard drives that everyone else does.

When it was first released, it was the FIRST to use the 1.8" Toshiba drives. Then the mini was the FIRST to use the 1" Hitachi microdrives. I wouldn't call the iPod dated. Bleeding edge is more like it.

And there are two features that other players haven't figured out yet: Music management and software quality.

For example, Apple's biggest erstwhile competitor, Creative, has it's PlayCenter software reviewed here. While the user is happy, there are three things that iTunes does that make the iPod a superior experience:

Smart playlist creation: The need to select artists, albums, songs, etc, is greatly reduced by the ability to create a playlist via database rules:
Album is and
Album is and
Genre is and
Genre is NOT and
Artist is and
Artist is and
Song playcount is greater than and
Song has not been played in and
Song rating is greater than
Playlist creation is trivial; you can create multiple playlists with only a few selections, instead of dragging and dropping.

The idea is that your music is in a database and not in a filesystem, even though on the back end there exists a filesystem to hold the music. How is that for 'dated technology'?

Then there is the 'transfer' process. On the iPod it will always transfer, until there is no more room. It has two synch modes; automatic and manual. Manual allows you to, if you so desire, drag and drop playlists and songs. Automatic synchs your playlists until your iPod is full. There is no mode during which a 'transfer' cannot occur unless the iPod is full.

Then there is the battery life. The user expects 12 hours, and Creative gave him 9 hours. Perhaps it was defective? But on my experiences with my two iPods, and my friends, we expected 10 hours and got 12 hours. How is that for exceeding user expectation?

The iPod IS the superior product, at least for the brief period of now, but that doesn't mean Creative or Sony can't catch up.

They just can't ignore the software.

There are at least 565 different digital media players out there, why is it people only know about the iPod? I'm sure dozens of those have replaceable batteries (most of the flash ones use AA/AAA), and hundreds are 'good'.

What will they think of next?

As other posters have mentioned, software raid is fine for RAID 0, 1, 0+1. As you get to RAID 3,RAID 5, and RAID 6, however, your processing requirements go up quite a bit.

A SATA RAID 5 card with hardware XOR engine and a DIMM slot for cache might be a cost-effective option for you. (Goes for ~$180 on Pricewatch, or ~$240 on Dealtime)

Oh, and I would have goine with HGST, Western Digital, or Seagate for your drives... but I suppose hardware failure is what RAID 5 is for :)

Ok the official specs say no ogg, but maybe that is a misprint. But here they say it has ogg.
Was Ogg support the cause for the long delay?

As I said, Apple isn't making poor business decisions, it's just unfortunate for the consumer that they leave out features. I also said the the iPod was overpriced *as compared to the rest of the market*... The average price of a player is much lower than that of the iPod. It's not a personal feeling that $300 (for the smallest model) is quite high, there are only a few other players that expensive. Most of the 20GB models from Creative, Archos, DI, Rio, Dell, Phillips, etc. are closer to $200. Just look at a relatively accurate list from Reseller Ratings, that's how it is.

Or perhaps you don't understand just what Open Source is?

No, I don't expect my little djrpg project programmed in vbdos 1.0 and given away for free to be held to the same standard as the 500 dollar USD Microsoft Visual Studio.

What a hypocrite I am! How dare I give away my work for free and expect my philanthropy to be held to a different standard than commercial software!

How dare those assholes who develop mozilla and the monsters here on slashdot feel that way!

In other words, both of you need to grow up and join us in the real world. Open Source Software is presented with nearly no strings attached, free and open in every sense of the word(except with GPL'd OSS, which forbids you from taking the code and closing it again). If you don't see why it should be held to a different standard than commercial software, you're both as clueless as the ivory tower acedemics who have been gloating about how linux is ready for the desktop for the past five years, every single year.

In case you didn't catch my drift, it's held to a different standard because it was given to you as a gift. Stop checking the horses teeth, already!

After trying lots of keyboards, and thinking the old IBM Model M keyboard (The rarer non-clicking kind, not the typical clicky kind, although the hardcore Model M junkies think the non-clicky version sucks, but I disagree) was the best, I finally came across the KeyTronic Lifetime keyboard.

With non-mechanical switching, and varying key resistance. Most keyboards use a standard 55 grams of force required to register every key, Ergo Technology has 5 different levels of force. From 35 grams to 80 grams, depending on the position of the key (Keys that you'd hit with your pinky only require 35 grams, while keys like Num Lock require a full 80 grams of force to press). No tactile feedback (I hate clicky keyboards.) and no trick buttons except for the Windows button.

I remember when CPUs would top a grand for the latest and greatest, but now you can get that for a third of that.


Hmmm?

• Nomad mp3 player
• Many to choose from . .
• Here are some more . . .
• Yet another . . .

• Nomad mp3 player
• Many to choose from . .
• Here are some more . . .
• Yet another . . .

Correction.

Asus WL-330.

Asus gave me one of these back at CES in February. They have a G version now. You can buy it for $60.

I've used it as a bridge, AP, and adapter. I'm currently using it as an adapter for my Vonage VOIP box. I could just as easily be using it to make my printer networkable, or my Xbox, or anything with a USB or Ethernet port. It also has dual antennas. I think I would take two of these to one Airport. Plus Asus makes much better products than Apple does. They actual design them and manufacture them, and they always make sure you can upgrade. They put out more bios updates than anyone. If you don't believe me check their German ftp. ftp.asuscom.de I've been an Asus believe since the Socket 7 based P5A motherboard, and I'm happy to see them become one of the leaders in computer products. They outshine everyone, including Dull and Apple. Those two companies are a bore in comparison.

64 bit linux drivers have been out for the nforce 3 since last year. You can grab them here. Opteron 250's official AMD pricing is $851. Street pricing is near $1,000 only because availability is still low. As more vendors pick them up they will drop considerably.

These do look nice, but the killer feature on a keyboard for me would be a built in trackball somewhere near the middle of the main key area. The reason that I avoid using the mouse a lot is that the latency of getting my hands from over the main keys to the mouse and back is so high, having a trackball under a thumb would be ideal.

Not exactly in the arrow-key area, but it does have "IBM model-M" clickety-click buckling springs.. Available in PS/2 and serial.

Unicomp on the Ball.

Or perhaps you enjoy a keyboard with a clit?

This one has a trackball below the space bar. Or you could get a keyboard without numeric pad and place a trackball where the numeric pad would be. Perhaps buy a separate numeric keypad to go next to the trackball (or on your left, if you're lefthanded).

Or a keyboard with a touchpad?

Or steal a 1U keyboard/trackball drawer from your work's datacenter?

1. Laptops are to powerhungry
2. Not child safe (what if it falls) ( you need some gameboy like build device )
3. Expensive
4. Overpowered for this situation.

The best thing to do would to build a custom ebook reader. That wouldn't be to hard I think. Just take an el-cheapo (older model) PDA (its engine) and but a bigger LCD screen on and maybe a bit more vram.

For instance:
1. To save development costs on the hardware and OS and tools we will use the: Palm IIIc Handheld. Which has 256 colours and costs $79. Mind you this price is also including all the extra's like warrenty, batteries, small LCD and Synchronizing HotSync cradle and battery recharger (120 VAC, 60 HZ), Metal stylus, Palm Desktop organizer software, Handbook , Lithium ion rechargeable battery (internal) ,DB-25 adapter,Protective flip lid .
So without all of that we will pay Palm $60 for the hardware and OS.

2. Just slap on a slow (not watching video or playing games) and cheap LCD of 800x600 that costs about $60 (in mass quantities). Example here

3. Bluetooth module $5

4. Casing $10

A total price of $60 + $60 + $5 + $10 = $135 for hardware and OS. Now add some $$$ for development costs and accessories and profit and the price will be about $209,95.

Optional: Touchscreen, newer hardware, faster wireless networking etc.

Ever since the iPod became redundant it's been crying out for a linux or netBSD port... what else is there?

So how is that cheaper than CDs?

Well, not directly. I got an ad for a small, table-top air cleaner/ionizer that sounded decent. I didn't buy from the spammer, but looked for the specific brand online, and found several vendors selling it. I got one for fifty bucks, and it's just a cheezy plastic thing with a 80mm case fan and an ionizing filament in it. I ran it for about a month before the fan started rattling and I had to shut it off. I don't know what I'm going to do with it; but I sure learned my lesson.

That's the first and last time I ever bought spam.

On a side note, Consumer Reports says the far-and-away best ionizing air cleaner is the Friedrich C-90A. I've seen it as low as $410. It's pricier than the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze, but way, way better. I want one.

I always have my car keys with me wherever I go. My key fob is a Lexar Jumpdrive that holds 256MB of data, so carrying drivers is not a problem.

With that argument against the Zen out of the way, there really is no reason to pay over the odds for an iPod.

Sounds good.

So this is more then just a graceful "I'm not trying to be antagonistic" post ;-), I'd point out to people that really good 2.0 headphones are actually pretty easy to come by if you can get earbuds. As I write I'm listening to a Mozart clarinet concerto through my Sony MDR-W08 headphones, which are dirt-cheap as headphones come but nearly match the quality of my $100 studio-style headphones I bought for my synthesizor-based music composition. I don't know that you can get MDR-W08s right now (doubtful), but similarly good earbuds abound. Just make sure you get earbuds that fit into your ear; I accidentally got a pair once that seem designed for ears with holes about twice the size of the ones I own, and I'm a 6'4" guy (just shy of 2 meters for you metric folk).

My theory is that those little piezo-electric speakers are pretty good, but you need to get them close to the ear; once you do that, you've basically won the battle. The expensive headphones then concentrate on keeping other noises out. (This is not entirely true but seems a very good approximation.) You can get good sound from headphones with the speakers further out, but the highs and lows both seem to rapidly dissipate and it takes a lot more balancing work.

I'm not an "audiophile" per se, but I do appreciate the way these headphones don't suck the life out of music.

I could never get my laptop(dell latitude lt, P1 233 mmx, 64mb ram, 4Gb HD) to boot to knoppix. [...] i need support for a pcmcia cd-rom drive and my wireless card as well as my watch

your watch should be supported without problems, as an usb-scsi storage device. that's how my HP320 digital camera(128 MB) and nokia 5510(64 MB) work.

when you check this out, plesase tell us whether MandrakeMove works better than Knoppix

Here are other sites offering Small Form Factor listings:

SSF at HardwareCentral.

Shuttle PCs at PCs For Everyone.

And just in case you don't know, here this guy explains what a Small Form Factor PC is.

And this auction says it weighs 10 oz

here is my source for the dimensions.

I looked again on google and according to this site it is 10 oz. I guess the second is correct.

Do you know how useless that tidbit of information is? Televisons come in many different sizes, from the very small to the very large. What's the size in standard 19 inch units?

This one, these two, this one (and probably most of Creative's new portable adio).

I'm sure there's a lot more. AAC is an open format, it's based on MPEG4 and the licensing fees are nothing like WMA.

It works, eh? Well, the iPod does not meet my definition of "portability." So just what do I have to do to play it on a device like this or this? They allows me to play umpteen hours of digital audio in my existing auto cassette player, which is pretty much the only place I have much opportunity to listen to music. iPod indeed.

I personally prefer rollerballs to ballpoints, gels, or fountain pens. You can press hard enough to carbon copy, and they're convenient to carry (read: "safe"), smooth, and rich. Of the rollerballs I own (and I own some dozen-plus from different companies), I like the Rotring and Pelikan the most. The Pelikan is the superior ink/delivery mechanism, but you could club someone over the head with most Rotrings -- they're satisfyingly heavy, durable pens. The one pen I haven't tried yet are the Kyocera ceramic rollerballs.

Of course, your requirements for writing implements may lead you to a pencil. I usually use both; I find pencils more useful if I'm diagramming, or scribbling pseudo-code, or what-not. The two best mechanical pencils I've had have been Sanfords -- one a Phd, and the other a Logo4. The Logo4 lasted through my last two years of college (with heavy use in my CS degree), and in the intervening 8 years. Considering that the barrel of the Logo4 is plastic, that's pretty amazing. I have no doubt that a Rotring -- I've never owned a Rotring pencil -- would survive that long, but most of my plastic mechanicals lasted a year at most before something broke on them.

The company I work for, InoStor, has the ValuNAS line of products; and as they are a Tandberg Data company, can provide excellent integration of near-line and offline storage (tape).

The 2.25 terabyte ValuNAS is only around $16K. It gives you a 2.4 GHz P4 processor, gigabit connection, and multiple RAID levels, including multiple disk redundancy (RAIDn). It utilizes SATA technology to allow hotswap drives at a fraction of the cost of SCSI.

The iceNAS software is very easy to use, and supports SMB/CIFS (through Samba), NFS, Appletalk, and HTTPS.

When combined with a Tandberg autoloader, this can be a very efficient storage/backup server.

What I really need is are smaller portable harddrives with bigger capacities (200GB to start would be nice) that are network-aware. Just plug in an ethernet cable and mount it.

The Snap Appliance Server 1100 is pretty close. It's a little large, but not too bad. It's something that's much more useful to me than this "personal server". But the cost is outrageous. About 800USD for a 120GB networked drive? Considering I can get a 160GB USB drive in Japan for under 200USD now, the extra 600USD does not justify the cost of adding ethernet.

I guess I'll just have to wait, someone's bound to come out with something. For now I'm just thinking of picking up one of those brick-PCs and mounting my drives to that (especially as I need more) and just connecting that to the network wherever I am.

Try google, it always does the trick.

this site seems to have user reviews, althoug all the images seem to be broken for me

pc some more