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Paperweight or Computer? You Decide!

Posted by michael on from the looks-like-a-pencil-sharpener-to-me dept.

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?"

36 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Suspicious ;-) by Paul+Komarek · · Score: 2

    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

  2. Why not both? by Craig+Maloney · · Score: 2
    Y'know... I've always wanted the usefulness of a computer and a paperweight rolled into one. With this little device, I can keep my papers in order, and still have some cycles to spare. And it won't take up my desk like that pesky AT paperweight did.

    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).

    1. Re:Why not both? by edhall · · Score: 3
      Curious though why it only offers Windows CE and Linux, and not the full blown version of Windows.

      Probably because Windows only runs on the i386 architecture and not StrongARM. WinCE, like Linux, does run on that chip (as does NetBSD, though probably not on this specific box).

      Maybe it's slow enough that loading something other than CE might turn it into a real paperweight

      Actually, I'd expect it to be pretty snappy, probably about as fast as a 200MHz Pentium. Of course, 32MB RAM and only a 16MB Flash as a storage device keeps it from being generally useful, but the StrongARM is a pretty powerful chip, especially considering its low power requirements.

      -Ed
    2. Re:Why not both? by janpod66 · · Score: 3

      With 16Mbytes of disk space, it isn't large enough to hold even the software necessary to run Notepad. And with 32Mbytes of RAM, you wouldn't want to.

  3. Pictures of Boxes That Small by dew · · Score: 5
    I went to the RSA 2001 Conference up in San Francisco, and the Embedded Systems Conference was just across the street, so I dropped by with my digital camera. I managed to take several pictures of these boxes in various form factors. You may (or may not) be interested.

    David E. Weekly

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    David E. Weekly
    Code / Think / Teach / Learn
    h4x0r for

  4. Re:(Possibly) Related Question: by unitron · · Score: 2

    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.

  5. Re:Limbo by deusx · · Score: 2

    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....

  6. Gee its UGLY. That's what sells I guess? by crovira · · Score: 2

    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!)

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  7. Re:Pricing question by SurfsUp · · Score: 2
    CE costs about 15-25 per license in bulk, so the difference is negligable.

    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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  8. Firewire or SCSI connectors? by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 2

    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.

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    Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    1. Re:Firewire or SCSI connectors? by iso · · Score: 2

      this isn't actually "meant" to be a server at all. Intrinsyc is a consulting company, and this board is just a base that they use for many of their customer designs. putting it into a neat-looking cube was only for the demoabilty, and they're only selling it because they got a lot of people asking them if they could buy one. that's it. they're expensive because they're not made in volume but they're also not trying to make any serious income off of it. it's a proof-of-concept box, nothing more. (and it is pretty cool -- you should see it in "real life")

      - j

  9. Re:Its a reference platform by mindstrm · · Score: 2

    No, if you take the computer out of your car, your car doesn't work, and you have some electronics in a pile.

  10. Yay. by mindstrm · · Score: 3

    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.

  11. Re:Watchout for that USB by GregWebb · · Score: 2

    Somehow, for a design decision like that, finding out a problem with LART seems curiously appropriate :-)

    http://tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/LART.ht ml for those who don't know what I'm talking about...

    --

    Greg

    (Inside a nuclear plant)
    Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

  12. Watchout for that USB by victim · · Score: 5

    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.)

  13. Re:A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399 by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 2

    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

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    Don't piss off The Angry Economist
  14. A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399 by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 3

    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
    1. Re:A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399 by selectspec · · Score: 2

      Not to mention portability (battery). Cube does look kind of cool though. It's hypnotic.

      --

      Someone you trust is one of us.

    2. Re:A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399 by istartedi · · Score: 3

      Well, while your at it... an old 486 costs $20. It probably consumes a lot more power, but hey I live in Virginia where electricity isn't a problem. So, if I wanted a cheap server, I'd be scrounging through the parts store. Actually, I wouldn't even have to do that. I've got a P-75 just sitting on the floor in the next room doing nothing. Hmmmm... I wonder if I'm contributing to the tech slowdown. Yes, umm... the little cube thingies are great. Buy them by the truckload, then hire me.

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      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    3. Re:A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399 by janpod66 · · Score: 2
      The iPaqs are not designed for 24/7 operation. That may or may not matter.

      Incidentally, is Linux out yet for the monochrome iPaq? Until recently, I don't think there was any driver for its screen.

  15. Re:Pricing question by twivel · · Score: 2

    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?

  16. Hey, shove it up a stuffed penguin's butt. by twivel · · Score: 3

    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.

  17. Pricing question by GrEp · · Score: 4

    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
    1. Re:Pricing question by AntiNorm · · Score: 2

      Probably because even though linux is "Free" there is still "cost" associated with developing, customizing, supporting and deploying it. Once again, for the record - linux and associated "Free" software does come with a "self-price", but does come with "time-price" which translates into real dollars.

      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.

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  18. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

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  19. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4

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  20. Potential core for a robot? by dstone · · Score: 4

    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.

  21. hmm by vectus · · Score: 2

    how long before apple sues them for making a cubic computer?

  22. Re:And how long before Apple comes a knocking??? by theBunkinator · · Score: 2

    WE ARE THE BORG. We had the cube first. We will assimlate your linux. Resistance is futile. We eat little pieces of sh*t like Steve Jobs for breakfast. Wait no - we do not eat little piece of sh*t for breakfast. All your cube are belong to us.

  23. The decision gets easier! by 87C751 · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
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  24. I have to ask.... by HongPong · · Score: 2

    Does he mean a literal paperweight or is it a diss on Apple's G4 cube?

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  25. That ain't so cool... How about in a mouse? by Flying+Headless+Goku · · Score: 2

    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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  26. Add a 6GB micro drive to this thing by zelbinion · · Score: 4

    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)

  27. Interesting. But too expensive. by captaincucumber · · Score: 2
    I'd buy it for $250. Not for $500.

    The PC I'm using now cost me $420, and it came with a lot more than this thing.

  28. Re:And how long before Apple comes a knocking??? by No+Tears+In+The+End · · Score: 2

    Apple went after folks that made PC-based iMac case knockoffs.

    Apple also threatened to sue people for making themes that looked "too much" like Mac OS X. Apple has, in the past, been a litigious company.

    His comment seems ask a legitimate question.

    --

    -You can cry, but you'll still die. There'll be no tears in the end.
  29. Just wait 6 months... by Hungry+Hungry+Hippo! · · Score: 3

    ... If it's not a paperweight now, it will be!

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    Mmm... delicious white marbles...