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Paperweight or Computer? You Decide!
Swaza1 writes: "While looking for something else I came across this embedded system at Web Techniques, which looks a lot like a paperweight I have on my desk. Good golly ... Intrinsyc included 10BaseT, serial, and USB ports on it and it comes in Windows CE or LINUX flavors. When can I get a system in the shape of Snoopy-sleeping-on-his-doghouse desk lamp for my kid?"
According to IBM's microdrive information it only comes in 170MB, 240MB and 1GB sizes. Where's the 6GB drive?
see http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/micro /prodinfo.htm
Um, the G4 Cube also resembles the Cobalt Qube. Apple isn't going to be suing anybody.
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$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Looking at the price, and the hardware, I think this is just a box with a Compaq iPAQ inside (folded in half, probably).
-Paul Komarek
All kidding aside, it looks like a very sweet device. Curious though why it only offers Windows CE and Linux, and not the full blown version of Windows. Maybe it's slow enough that loading something other than CE might turn it into a real paperweight (or might tax the processor enough to ignite any papers left under it).
David E. Weekly
David E. Weekly
Code / Think / Teach / Learn
h4x0r for
Too bad whoever produces those ads couldn't be bothered to worry about the audio portion. Even knowing it's supposed to be "BlackRocket", I still hear it as "flatrock", and wind up thinking of cows instead of computers.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Or, to put it in different terms, the Linux being preloaded onto these cubes is free as in beer, and not free as in speech.
I think yoiu got that backwards
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
Well, your keyboard isn't that small. Who cares if the main tower/cpu/whatever becomes microscopic?
So, unless you're doing something funky and inadvisable to your motherboard on a regular basis with your gigantic digits....
Apple's mistake is that they didn't make an ugly little titanium box instead of that sexy 8" lucite cube with the rounded edges.
Wadda you think? Razor sharp edges, a blue corodized finish and the plugs on the bottom and the Cube can sell now?
If you want to sell it in Vegas, dimple it and make it look like a die? (Hell sell pair of 'em!)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
We must have different definitions of neglible. The $25 will have to be marked up by the time it gets into your hands so then it's $50, sounds like 10% of the retail cost to me. They also have to worry about the costs of complying with Microsoft's ever-more-stringent license requirements, including the risk of having to submit to the corporate equivalend of a strip-search on a moment's notice. These costs also have to be passed along to you.
They probably hope to make a slightly larger margin on that one maybe?
They'd be a lot better off passing the savings along to the customer and building up some goodwill/volume. In no time, their user community will be doing the Linux support for them, not to mention advertising.
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Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
As long as you can connect everything you need to it, then it doesn't really matter how small it gets. Anyhow, considering tha this is meant to be a server, the only two connectors you need is power and ethernet. Admin can be done remotely, in fact if there was some sort of network aware firmware in the thing, you could probably even reinstall remotely.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Given this is meant to be a server product, I am surprised by the lack of IEEE 1394 or SCSI ports for high-speed external storage solutions. Sure USB B is included, but this technology still depends on the processor for its work, while the other two mentioned technologies don't. Maybe they are waiting for the IEEE 1394b solutions to hit the market.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
No, if you take the computer out of your car, your car doesn't work, and you have some electronics in a pile.
Abuse of the word 'embedded'.
$500 is a wee bit pricey for something with no real power.
Embedded systems does not mean 'small'.... you could think of it as a computer inside something that is not a computer. This is not an embedded system; this is a small PC in a tiny box.
An embedded system is the computer in your car, the computer in the alarm panel, the circuits that run the elevator, the controller in your Boomslang 2000 mouse, and the guts of your digital thermostat.
One look at that title and I thought he was talking about my old 386... print server or paperweight? You decide...
Now I'm just waiting till they build a computer in the hot new "doorstop" form-factor... ;)
Somehow, for a design decision like that, finding out a problem with LART seems curiously appropriate :-)
t ml for those who don't know what I'm talking about...
http://tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/LART.h
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
That USB is a `B' type connector. In other words you can plug it into your host computer as a peripheral. You can not plug USB devices into it. It is not a simple wiring difference.
That will rule out all those nifty USB peripherals that you might want to plug into this device. So long to cameras, printers, audio devices, keyboards, controllers....
I suppose it could be useful for initial programming, but I suspect the only reason it is there is that it is on the SA1110 chipset (which is aimed at handhelds). I also recall that the USB implementation on the SA1110 has (or had) some sort of congenital problem. I believe you would find more in the LART archives. (Which is also available now, but at something like twice this price and no cool aluminium box, but a fully open sourced hardware design.)
(Ok, against all slashdot culture, I have done my own research and looked up the aforementioned USB problem. It is the SA1100 which could only be used as a slave, and it had to be the only device on the bus for it to work as documented in the errata. I don't know if the SA1110 has this problem or not. Intel app note here.)
...nor appetizing.
load "linux",8,1
You're right, it's not writing to its screen properly last I heard. However, Jamey also found a place where the wrong GPIO bit was being used, so that might be the breakthrough.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399. Add $40 for the CF sleeve plus $60 for Ethernet, and you've got one of these puppies PLUS a display and digitizer. For no additional cost. Could somebody explain to me again why this product is so wonderful?
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Black Rocket is a collection of products and services tossed together by Genuity (formerly BBN of ARPANET) to get a commercial site up in 10-14 days. The toy rocket is an expensive visual marketing tool created by these overpaid genuises.
I have worked with the Intrinsyc board. It's pretty cool, nicely built. Certainly, a real USB connector would be nice.
With that said, their support was VERY poor. The main contact had one response to all questions: "Why would you want to do that?"
Also, watch out for the flash. It is VERY easy to overwrite the boot block. If you do this then you will have a paperweight unless you build/buy a JTAG adapter and hack around a bit.
If you want cool hardware, get an iPAQ and throw Linux on it.
Does it actually include CE? Or, do you have to get it from MS (i.e. Platform builder)?
If you take the computer out of your car, does i cease to be "embedded"?
There a Slash based site for the Cube here.
Thanks!
./ , and my servers were once again spared an untimely demise.
And notice that I accidently hit the 'post anoymously' button... now, if that were a mission critical button, I would have screwed some mission critical server. Luckily, I was reading
Slashdot saves the day again. I owe you beer!
-= Stefan
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Sounds like I could make a killing by selling Ren and Stimpy-inspired "DO NOT PUSH" stickers to put on all the buttons on mission critical servers. I hate it when people push mission critical buttons.
Gum "mission critical, if you know what I mean" bo
Where's their source code? I didn't notice it on their site.
CE costs about 15-25 per license in bulk, so the difference is negligable. They probably hope to make a slightly larger margin on that one maybe?
I'm serious, would be cool to have a linux one with the outside being a stuffed penguin. Since it's the size of a paper weight, it wouldn't be too difficult to do the fitting.
Why is the Linux version the same price as the WinCE version? Is M$ giving CE away for free, or am I missing something?
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$yes "Don't you hate dialup connections?"| write USERNAME
Diamond Systems makes a PC/104 board that seems equally if not more powerful than this, with a smaller footprint.
Check it out at http://www.diamondsystems.com/prometheus.htm
Then, there's the `No, I don't want to be halt(8)ed. Get away from me!' feature.
If you wanna see one for real, pop over to booth 1505 at JavaOne next week in San Fransisco. Damian Mehers (Intrinsyc)
"How can you look someone in the face and tell them that you might have given them something that would eventually kill them?"
You mean like what a mother would say to her newborn child?
Looks pretty snazzy but it looks an awful lot like the G4 cube. How long do you think it will be before Apple comes along trying to stop them from using the design? IIRC they already did that to people copying the iMac design, so the same will probably hold true for this machine which is very unfortunate. Then again who knows, it's much smaller than a cube and doesn't use the opaque plastic so maybe they will ignore this? Let's hope so.
But the more you admonish people not to push them, the more tempted they'd be to push the "jolly, candy-like" mission critical buttons.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Did anyone else notice that in the Linux version of this, they include server software? Yeah, I'm sure that's one hella of a server, all 27 cubic inches of it.
Twitter.com/TrentonHyatt
So close to my dream device....
From their site... San Jose, Ca - MediaSolv announced today that it has designed a low cost PDA that will enable real time access and management of e-mail, calendar, contacts and other personal information. The PDA to be demonstrated at the CommunicAsia 2001 tradeshow in Singapore in June, will cost as little as $25. This PDA is essentially proof of concept for the company's Bluetooth enabled ETHERchip technology, a working prototype of which was demonstrated at a wireless show in New York early this year. ETHERchip is a complete system on chip (SoC), with embedded ARM processor, memory, control circuitry, system software and Bluetooth radio. The application on board provides personal information management (PIM) functionality with provision for deployment of other custom features. Usability is enhanced by the introduction of MediaSolv's sKeyTM technology, a predictive text scheme tailored for the Internet PIM environment. The design is also capable of accepting remote firmware updates whilst providing a channel for device controls, maintenance and related tasks. The Bluetooth radio onboard ETHERchip will connect to the Internet using any gateway within the personal area network (PAN). Bluetooth Internet gateways include those announced by several mobile phone and PC manufacturers as well as purpose built devices from companies such as Red-M, Ericsson and Invtentel. The ETHERchip solution is available on an OEM basis, with server side functionality made possible by MediaSolv's server suites, which provide access to messaging and groupware functionality via any WEB or WAP browser. "MediaSolv is a software company and we are not in the business of building PDAs or slicing silicon wafers"said Vasee Nesiah, CEO of MediaSolv. "The embeddable functionality in ETHERchip allows us to go beyond the WEB, WAP and Desktop environments that we already reach and provide a new platform for device and appliance manufacturers, service providers and also other software developers to carve out new business models and revenue potential." The $25 PDA to be demonstrated, as proof of concept, at CommunicAsia in June will embody the virtues of Bluetooth, embedded applications and MediaSolv's messaging and groupware suites. The PDA, and ETHERchip itself, will be available as a reference design to manufacturers and service providers who seek greater subscriber stickiness, value addition and unprecedented differentiation in the market. About MediaSolv: San Jose based MediaSolv is a member of the Bluetooth SIG and a privately held corporation dedicated to pioneering the development of WEB, WAP and BLUETOOTH applications for the Windows(r) and Unix environments. The company employs over 140 staff in USA, Sri Lanka and Singapore. MediaSolv is headquartered at 111 N.Market Street Suite 1000-11, San Jose, CA 95113. www.mediasolv.com
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Karma whorin' since 1999
Cut the power cord and add some motors and wheels. You could plug the little guy into your LAN and telnet into it (sorry, SSH into it) for programming, etc.
i've often thought of the idea of starting to ship computers in specialized shaped cases, vanity cases or something... like a crazy pirateship or some such...
[)(]subliminal labs[)(]
how long before apple sues them for making a cubic computer?
OK i could see this setup: my DSL modem into my SMC barricade into this cube, then a wireless NIC to my epods. I could leave my PC off - this device only using ~400ma (x120V = 48 watts vs my 200-300W PC) would make it ideal.
Although I agree it's not much more of a device than an IPaq. and it is $500 as well. My 486 was free, runs standard x86 RH7.1, and has a parallel port, way more disk space, etc. Not as pretty, but the price was right.
The Cerf Cube price has been cut to $299 until 7/13/01. That brings the cost/coolness ratio under my limit. Mine should be here Monday.
Mail? Put "slashdot" in the subject to pass the spam filters.
Does he mean a literal paperweight or is it a diss on Apple's G4 cube?
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--hongpong.com
Get used to it -- you're going to hear more comments like this in times to come.
They need a case with a texture and colour like a Borg cube.
Then you could build them up in a larger cube. Cabling might be a problem however. Add some sort of data/power buss with connectors on each face?(You'd have to feed power in at various points of the cube.)
It would certainly bring back some of the dominating impressiveness that old Big Iron had!
"And this, gentlemen, is the company's Borg Super Cube Computer." "Oooooo!"
I like it!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Now can we get a distributed.net client built for this soon? I mean with all these internet appliances, we could at least maybe generate some prime numbers in our spare time! :)
Sam
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"The Son of God became a man to enable man to become sons of God."
Sam
you read the Bible?
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This would make an awsome router if there were some way to give it network connectivity. A few thoughts for it's potential use
.org can afford it.
DNS Server
Modular switch
router
Firewall
VLAN bridge
Print server
etc
that is, assuming you or your
maybe if they dropped the price by $395 I'd even buy one.
Maskirovka
Karma Pimp is opening a new Karma Brothel, and is seeking to hire between seven and ten Karma Whores. Prior experiance prefered, but not mandatory; will train person(s) who express the right degree of enthusiasm. All applicants must demonstrate a professional attitude, and be people oriented. Must also pass mandatory drug, M$, and STDs test. Call FE-9D-FFAA during normal working hours.
Does anyone know if Borg Vessels can run linux? I'd like to find out, since this one comes close to resembling a Borg cube.
Seeka
I've got a wavelan card (lucent 802.11 card) for my Ipaq - which is very similar in hardware to this little beast. Its actually pretty fun.
Is Vinton Cerf affiliated with this product? If not, can he sue them for using his name and implying that he's connected with the product? (I'm sure some Slashdotters will say no, any name out there is fair game, information wants to be free, etc. etc.)
Yep, this feels like a rather intermediary solution to the computer-waste problem. We are going to end up with a lot of toxic paperweights, but on the other hand, there will be less old toxic webservers. Perhaps they could form-press it into utility objects so that they are of some kind of use when exported to a thirld-world dumpsite.
Now, if only it wouldn't be so easy to carry off when left unattended on your desk..
You could pop in an 802.11b card in one of those, which would be *very* cool. However, there's still that pesky power cord you'd have to deal with....
Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
A number of times it has been mistaken for PC running Windows (tm) until I point out that there is no PC, just a mouse and a computer monitor or TV.
Not new, but still pretty cool. Too bad they don't show an actual picture of the whole setup instead of a screen capture.
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You have to wonder how much smaller these devices can be made before their very size begins to cancel their usefulness. It is only a matter of time before our comparitively gigantic digits, and interactive body parts become too big for these computers, or will their smaller size be condusive (sp.?) to 3D chip architecture, instead of having ultra thing chips, have a matrix-type chip going, kinda like the difference between tic-tac-toe and 3D tic-tac-toe. it's 3^3 times as great!
IF you could get more storage into this thing, it might be interesting:
Drop in a 6GB IBM micro drive, and you've got a halfway decent small-bandwidth web server.
add some mp3's and a PCMCIA sound card, and have it play They Might Be Giants all day long.
NFS mount to another box and make it a really cool dumb terminal. (that's REALLY dumb, with no monitor...)
put a usb camera with it, apache, and a wireless network card -- instant portable voyeur-cam!
network a bunch of them together and make a beowul... er, never mind, bad idea.
paint it black/green, install an IRC server and use it to assimilate/control all of the windows CE versions of the cerfcube with IRC bots -- send it to Steve Gibson. Put it on a string and swing it around your head and make engine sounds--The borg cube lives! Resistance is mostly futile!
Plug 400 of them into your home network, and use them to DDoS your internet-enabled weather-forecasting toaster. (of course, only if it supposed to rain today)
Since they're both little oddly designed computer items, I have to slip in this question that's been annoying me for ages. Okay, can anyone tell me what that darn little black rocket-shaped thingie is on all those commercials about corporate networks? Forgive my ignorance, I'm probably the last person on /. to know, but what the hack are they? Is it an actual product that looks like that, or is it just an abstract representation of their product? If it actually looks like that--how odd. Those commercials annoy me because not a damn one has explicitly said what the little rocvket thing is. Switch? Router? Firewall? Intranet hub? Paperweight? Aleegory? What?!?
So, please excuse my ignorance and tell me what it is. Not knowing annoys me.
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
The PC I'm using now cost me $420, and it came with a lot more than this thing.
Nah. Just have Superman bundle them up in space and hurl them into the sun!
(Obvious Superman IV reference ;)
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Mmm... delicious white marbles...
... If it's not a paperweight now, it will be!
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Mmm... delicious white marbles...
We took your your comments to heart here at Intrinsyc and chopped the price for the CerfCube from $495 to $299! :-)