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Computer Or Docking Station?
vbrtrmn writes: "A company called Mobility, has recently introduced a cross between a docking station and a desktop PC. It's called the EasiDock 5000.
It looks like a normal Desktop PC, though the EasiDock plugs into a laptop's PCMCIA card slot, using it as a highbandwidth bus (1,250Mbps).
The EasiDock comes with: 5 drive bays, 3 PCI slots, 2 IDE controllers, a 2-port USB hub; get the PDF datasheet.
Unfortunatly, it currently only supports Windows 98/98SE and Windows NT 4.0, though they boast, 'Coming soon... Win 2000 & Millennium, Apple, Linux.'"
Why "unfortunately"? I happen to use Windows 98 SE and NT 4.0 on some of our lab machines. You do? Interesting. I'd like to set up one of those OS's on a lab machine, just to try it out. But I'd have to do it secretively, because you know how PHB's are, only trust one vendor. They never believe us techies when we tell them there are other OSes that are potential alternatives to Linux.
There is/was a company many years ago that built PCI expansion bus cabinets. You plug a card into one of your unused PCI slots, run a cable to the expansion bus and voila - get about a dozen new slots. The cabinet looked like a PC or optionally in a much larger box for self contained SCSI devices etc. I can't remember the name of the company but I do remember that this was, at the time a side business to their much more lucrative VME bus expansion business. The VME connecting adapters alone were a few thousand bucks each.
Actually the reason we don't have Linux support for the product on notebooks is because of a limitation in the kernel. The current code will not enumerate a Type 1 bridge behind a Type 2 bridge. I have not had the time to find out if the problem is in the PCI or the CardBus section of the kernel. We had/have similar problems with Windows 2000.
If the appropriate people want to discuss getting is working I would be more than happy to supply information.
I have connected a unit up to a desktop running Linux and have been able to get a number of cards working in the expansion chassis. Based on that I think that the Linux support is definatly possible.
Hartley Sweeten
Senior Development Engineer
Mobility Electronics
Newsflash, Mobility now owns MAGMA... http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001003/az_mobilit.html
I am sure there is a huge market for Linux laptop users, anyone at my campus is running Linux on thier laptop (unless they have an IBook). And I work in technical support. I get people calling up about Windows 2000 and thier laptops all the time.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
OK, If these are the guys I saw at Comdex '99 this is *NOT* a PC like some people seem to think.
They built what they call a split bridge PCI bus. It's a PCI bridge chipset that can have the two ends seperated by up to 25 ft of cable.
So what this particular product is, is a PCI bus on a PC card. It adds a few PCI slots, an IDE chain and a couple of other things (USB, PS2) on the end of a wire.
Personally I thought the technology was a lot cooler than than what they planned for it, but hey who am I to say.
-Rob
Most laptops don't have decent graphics cards or 3D accelerators. With this you could add a nVida or 3dfx card, just as you would with a desktop. My notebook is my only computer, so a solution like this is the only way I can play most modern games.
And what's wrong with networking your laptop to your Desktop? All the drives and services like printing can be shared through ethernet...
This device sounds like that lollypop watch invention on "The Simpsons".
Ñ'
That's interesting, but it has a $599 sticker. For $600 I can pick up a very nice system at least in the 500-600 MHz range. Unless you've got a $4000 laptop, this is going to be a tad useless. Most affordable laptops could be matched or outperformed by a $600 computer.
Now, if the price drops to *$199*...
jeb.
It's a PC, but hey, if you can spin it, why not? That's marketing.
At least it's inexpensive, which means they might sell a few. Now the fun question is: If I have this docking station and a PC, how do I copy it onto my PC? Simple, just go get a regular docking station for your main PC and quit fooling around.
--
Chief Frog Inspector
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
MAGMA makes this for Powerbooks-- a pcmcia card that extends to sort of a PCI backplane -- it's patented, too! (gulp)
This is basically a PCI to PCI bridge. PCI has a lot more than 1.2 Mbps. a typical 66mhz, 64bit pci bus has up to 528Mbps. Note that Mbps != MBps. bits and bytes.
These people appear to have gone one further and gotten 1250 Mbps (bits) out of the 'pc' side of the bridge. The laptop side would be a bottle neck.
This concept is actually very useful. Gives laptop users the ability for mass storage, and perpherial use, using just one PC.
I am just wondering if the size could be cut down, the thing seems as big as a regular desktop case (mini-tower model).
And according to the datasheet the thing only has a 150W power supply. Sort of limiting. Motherboards don't really need more than that (never have), only reason really to get 300W is the amount of perpherials, and from the looks of things, this one supports up to that many. I wonder if there are going to be any power consumption problems?
One good thing is the expansion PCI slots, my new Toshiba 4043's sound card is crap compared to my Sound Blaster Live.
And I guess the BIOS of this thing would have to auto-detect hard drives on boot, unless the software to configure it programs the FLASH ROM/RAM or something.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
I think the key word is only. There's nothing wrong with it supporting Windows, but it's unfortunate that it doesn't support anything else.
For some odd reason, no one here owning a mac wants to migrate to Linux
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
FWIW, I know these guys (without going into the relationship) and their Numero Uno software dude is a serious Linux user. Fear not.
Also, since the setup is basically just a PCI bridge it's pretty much OS transparent.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
This not a PC. Not even sort of. Nor is it a new concept. Nor is it an especially cutting-edge version of anything. It's just a deluxe docking station with card slots. for people like you who buy consumer laptops like the Sonys only to figure out later that Sony doesn't make docking stations, just those dinky port replicators.
Rob, you really ought to peruse some product catalogs. You'd be amazed what they're making these days. Digital cameras! CD recorders! Floppy disks that store 120 megs! We live in miraculous times.
Hints for possible future stories:
Linux on a notebook is a GREAT troubleshooting tool for any network person. It also handles the dynamic nature of a notebook much better than Win9x. I run Linux on my Compaq Armada that I won at LinuxWorld (Thanks Mandrake!) as well as some Dell Latitudes. Some of the new Dell Inspirons have a screen that does 1600x1200. Windows users don't need that res on a notebook, but it would make a great X setup.
And as for 2K... 2K is GREAT on a notebook. Much more stable than 98 and NT. It handles sleep and standby very well so that I don't have to shut it down at all. I just put it in sleep mode and bring it back out when needed.
LOTS of people use win2k on laptops, because it works WELL.
More stable than the 9x line, (duh). Proper multitasking. (at least compared to 9x). It works GREAT.
Laptops are not so properietary these days, and manufacturers are quite forthcoming with technical details.
Are you really that upset by seeing a less than stellar story posted on slashdot? "Who cares?" is exactly right. If you don't like the story, so what? I am sorry that you didn't have the self control to stop reading it and move on to something more interesting. Worse, you waste even more time with an less interesting, yet irritating, post.
I have a few moderator points left, but I chose not to use them here so I could ask you a few things:
I guess that is it.
Never in my life would I have decided to say what I am about to say now.
Get a life.
Is slashdot all you do during the day. It is just a website after and does not warrant your constant attention. You speak as if you have some cause or some noteworthy goal in life for slashdot. Go feed the hungry and shelter the homeless...do something that is worth doing... but for god sakes figure out what is meaningful in life and what isn't. Slashdot is a great website, but that is all it is... a website.
And for god sake leave Taco alone... he is just another guy like you and myself. Just like everyone else in this world he is trying to get by in the best way he knows how.
Two words, Grow Up.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
All three of Britain's major political parties appear to have bought into the homosexual agenda.
Well, I can't speak for Britain, but here in the US, 60% of homosexuals are registered Republican.
So, if you want documentation of the "homosexual agenda", you need look no further than the Republican Party's 2000 platform
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