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Tiny Boxen

Posted by michael on from the blink-and-you'll-miss-it dept.

swg101 writes "These people (openbrick.org) have developed a small computer designed for open source and free software. I quote: "This great little Linux box can be used as a firewall, micro-server, PABX, thin client, multimedia, almost anything imaginable. It contains a fanless 300 Mhz x86 compatible Geode processor and 128 MB SDRAM. Software can be installed on a Compact Flash or on an optional Hard Disk." Sounds like a nice solution for many applications."

4 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Truely Quiet and Cheap by fm6 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Hmm. If Flash memory gets just a little cheaper, you could have a serious desktop computer with no moving parts at all. Or you could install a disk drive that emphasizes low power consumption and limiting noise, rather than performance. There are a lot of desktop users who hate computer noice and dislike power waste.

    Of course this all depends on availability of good Linux apps. It isn't just the Linux emphasis of the boxes designers. Windows is just too bloated to run on this kind of system.

  2. Clusters by bwt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It would be *very* cool if these things could be clustered together to make a scalable server. Need a database server? Then get 32 of these, each with a HD for ~$10K and cluster them together. Each comes with one HD, so you've got your RAID array. Need more power next year? Add 8 more.

    With the coming onslaught of DRM on faster processors, the obvious solution is to find better ways to scale existing hardware products.

  3. Soekris by ksw2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been eye-balling a similar system over at Soekris. Same idea, but with 2 or 3 NICs integrated.

  4. Other options by -tji · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There are several other small boards that would make excellent Linux network servers. But, most of the ones I have seen are not sold in small quantities.

    Such as this board: Nexcom EBC563

    It uses the low power / low heat VIA C3. The C3 is MUCH faster than the Geode used in the "OpenBrick". It has 3 NIC's, making it a great firewall.

    Now, only if I could buy it, in a small case..