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$1395?! Why not just buy a laptop?

Consider the cost of the time spent configuring the laptop or PC to work as an office server and add that to the cost. Keep in mind that most people aren't Unix experts and even the ones that are will likely have to spend several hours reading HOWTOs and man pages before they can get everything working. The advantage of one of these devices is that you plug it in, turn it on and it just works. That means, you can go back to doing profitable work sooner.

I have no doubt that if you really need an office server, $1395 is not to high a price to pay if you don't have to sink any time into it.

That being said though, it looks to me like NetWinder will do the same job at less than half the price.

Yes, Virginia, Corel sold hardware! The Netwinder lives on. For the unitiated, this originally was a StrongArm platform and there's a later Transmeta version.

Originally, these were available in Office Server, web server and desktop machine versions, different loads on the same hardware. Eventually a dual chassis rackmount appeared. With a couple of NICs and IPChains, they'd NAT an office. (No, I don't want to debate running Samba, etc. on the firewall just leave it at it was an inexpensive powerful small business solution).

It's got a strong developer base still. Went through a Rebel phase. When Rebel tanked, the CEOs new company used the customer list he brought but didn't own to spam people saying their Netwinders weren't secure and offered to sell them a blackbox firewall to plug in in front of it that wasn't secure. Ah, the scruples of a VC inspired world.

Anyway, these are great boxes that can be had new for cheap (~US$400) and less on eBay for used. Small, functional, reliable. I've got one running behind me running me.

Check out the Netwinder line of small servers. I'm running a couple here with the Debian ARM port.

At Netwinder.net, netwinder computers are still for sale. They have the transmeta-based Desktop Officeserver 3100 for sale for 900 USD. Isn't this the same computer (or very similar) to the one referenced in the article?

Desktop setup for sure on a laptop. They just aren't made to run 24/7 due to heat and battery issues. If you want to use one as a server to save on electrical bills then something like a Netwinder is a lot better suited to being a server. I have an old ARM based 'Winder and it has been running my website since around July nonstop with no noticable impact on my electric bill. I might have rebooted it a half dozen times since then.

I'd think a Linux laptop should have ftp, telnet, maybe Apache for browsing local docs, but not much else. You want to be able to take it to work and network to your desktop but not necessarily with the office network. If you office is running Linux then it should be pretty secure anyways, but if it is running "Client for Microsoft Networks" then I wouldn't connect it because the first time the network crashes the IT department will point the finger at you and claim that your "unauthorized" machine is making the network crash out of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.

I can't wait to start porting programs to it, I already have a StrongARM based Netwinder which is running Debian Woody, got a SanDisk SDDR-009 Compact Flash Card writer, I'm totally set and ready for some serious Linux PDA hacking fun. And there is already a Debian Zaurus specific port in progress. There is going to be tons of software for these things before too long, as the Debian ARM port is quite mature and already has some 9000 packages!

Luckily the arm linux kernel has pretty good FPU emulation. You can either choose the industrial strength double precision model, or the somewhat experimental Acorn Fast FPU emulator. I personally use the double precision one on my Netwinder.

Anyways, it really doesn't affect the general performance too much. The integer math is very fast and most Zaurus apps are tuned to use the integer ops just like this Vorbis decoder. I know the Netwinder is plenty fast for web surfing, and it makes a great firewall/router/server box. It runs X very snappy at 1024x768 and the Zaurus only has to contend with 320x200 and not even full XFree86 but QTopia instead.

If you really need a FPU you should probably look into some kind of sub-notebook instead of a pocket pc, or just run your number crunching app remotely through the docking station :-)

I decided to sell my spare Netwinder to a fellow Linux developer and roll my profits over to the SL-5500. Its an awesome looking machine, and has a mini-keyboard to boot. I think it is a much better pocket pc than this SL-A300 which is more of a PDA IMHO.

Well, rebel took down only their main page so google's cache comes in handy here. Also, the only links of any importance on that page are to their Netwinder division, and to the Enterprise pages, both of which still work right now.

In case the links stop working, or Google gets moody, the following pages link to google's caches:

• www.netwinder.net
• www.netwinder.org
• www.rebel.com
• www.rebel.com/enterprise.html

I just have to ask: Why?

The powerPC is a nice chip, but I don't think the 'linuxPC' concept would wash, at least not as a powerPC based system. It's been hard enough to get popular commercial software ports to intel Linux, much less different architectures. Examples: Acrobat reader, Flash plugin, Arcserve client. 'All' it would take is a re-compile to run them on PowerPC, but good luck getting commercial vendors to do it.

Look at some of the existing attempts to package linux appliances on non-x86 CPUs: Remember the sidewinder and netwinder box that Corel used to make? Looks like their new products were switched to a transmeta (ie: x86) CPU. How about Cobalt? Gone are the MIPS based models, now they run x86 chips.

Why would the average customer at a discount retailer like Best Buy purchase the PowerPC based linux system (running at, say 2GHz), vs. the Intel/AMD/Transmeta x86 based system (running at, say 6GHz)? (speed ratings inflated assuming this doesn't happen for a few years)

The RISC vs. CISC point is almost moot nowadays, given that the more advanced Pentium and Athlon chips are essentially RISC chips that emulate the x86 CISC instruction set.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll hunker down in my anti-flame bunker.

Crusoe-powered Netwinders:

http://www.netwinder.net/3400/specifications.phtml (rackmount)

http://www.netwinder.net/3100/specifications.phtml (desktop)

Crusoe-powered Netwinders:

http://www.netwinder.net/3400/specifications.phtml (rackmount)

http://www.netwinder.net/3100/specifications.phtml (desktop)