486 PC In 5 Cubic Inches?

[Dilbert] writes "I saw this first on ArsTechnica. The machine is a 486SX, fully SVGA compatible, 16 meg of ram, 2 16550A serial ports, hda = 16 meg flash, hdb = 340 meg IBM microdrive. Oh yeah, also built-in 10T ethernet, a floppy header, and parallel port. Granted, most of the ports are brought off the main unit via a 68-pin scsi-style cable to a little port board, but the meat of the machine is still tiny. The manufacturer is Tiqit Computers." Don't lose it in your couch ;)

Comments

Embedded PC

[ch-chuck]

A quick flip thru a mag like Circuit Cellar reveals several embedded pc's like this one or, hey, this one is sporting a Penguin logo - what's sweet (and expensive) about the unit here is is the 340Mb microdrive.

(-1, Redundant)

[Spameroni]

Repeat story....we've already seen it, i believe the story was last titled something about matchbox size computers.

Re:(-1, Redundant)

[ibirman]

Here is the link to the original story: http://slashdot.org/articles/00/05/30/0314255.shtm l

Novelty aside...

[mr.ska]

Are they NUTS?!?!

Yes, for a mere US$1,495.00 you too can own a slow, limited computer that you're likely to sit on, lose in your briefcase, or have your dog eat. Spiffy.

I do have to admit that it's a great design, with lots of potential. PDA's will never be the same - nor will beepers, cell phones, etc. Just put a small projector or LCD screen on the thing, and you've got yourself a backpack (or belt-clip) computer. WONDERFUL. I LOVE it.

But COME ON... for US$1,495.00?!? I'd rather pay an extra $200 and get the OTHER really small computer.

Re:Novelty aside...

[freebe]

Dear God. How come everybody makes a product you jump up and down because it's not targeted at you?

Do you even know how many thousands of embedded devices there are running on 486 chips? Do you know the power consumption of a 486 compared to a Pentium? How 'bout heat? Now tell me where size really matters - when you've got a big desk with space for a computer, or in an embedded device with 5 cubic inches to spare in the design?

This isn't about a backpack computer. It's not about a belt clip computer. I already have one of those. This is an embedded device! Get it through your skull!

</troll feeding>

Re:486??

[BJH]

It's not an Intel 486 - they seem to be using the AMD Elan, a very neat piece of hardware that integrates just about everything onto the CPU. (I believe it's also used on the Morphy One.

Here's a great picture

[Anonymous Coward]

this page has a picture of the unit with ports attached. It also notes that the price is $1,495.00!

http://www.tiqit.com/icons/plugged2.jpg is the great picture. The same as above, but enlarged about 2x.

Re:Small systems for cable/dsl

[GigsVT]

Is there anything fairly small, but very cheap? I keep seeing talk of 1U rack mount cases, but those are pretty pricey, themselves.

Yep, heres what you do. Get on eBay and look for laptops that have broken LCD screens, 486 and pentium class. It doesn't matter if the battery is crap either, since you won't be using it. Hook up an external monitor for installation of the OS.

You can stack 4 laptops in about the space one desktop style case would take up, and it is a lot cheaper than buying one of these embedded computers, even once you add in the cost of the PCMCIA ethernet cards.

A 4 port KVM switch completes the package, so you only need one KB, monitor and mouse to access all 5, without taking a bunch of plugs out each time.

The 4 port KVM switch is about 200, each laptop maybe 100, another 150-200 for ethernet cards. Depending on what you have laying around, it might be another 100 or so for power supplies.


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