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1.0GHz P3 In A CD-ROM Drive Bay
Migraine Man writes "Similar to the PPC-based Briq, the folks at Stealth Computer have introduced an Intel-based PC that's built into a 5.25" CD-ROM-sized enclosure. It's got a 1.0GHz P3, 256M RAM, 20G HD, 10/100 eth, CD-ROM, USB, FireWire, video, and sound. At USD 995, it's reasonably priced too. You could put three of 'em on a 1U rackmount shelf, or stuff several into a mid-tower and build your own desktop cluster. A summary datasheet is here. Very cool."
I totaly agree, I think those are very cool. Especialy for servers. Imagine having a stack of 10 dedicated servers you were leasing out in a neat little stack. Only question is... upgradeability? Are these going to be disposable computers, or will one be able to replace parts inside? (CPU/RAM/HD...)
What happens if you shove four of these in four consecutive (vertically) 5.25" drive bays? Would they overheat? That might limit the usefulness if you had to space them out... you'd have to buy twice as big a case as physically needed. Maybe if you alternated... P3, coolerunit, P3, coolerunit, P3.... ;)
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
It's got a 1.0GHz P3, 256M RAM, 20G HD, 10/100 eth, CD-ROM, USB, FireWire, video, and sound. At USD 995, it's reasonably priced too.
Kinda like a laptop?
Wouldn't it be about 3 times smaller if it didn't have the CD ROM? Then you could plug in a USB one when you need it, or share one CD between half a dozen units, or whatever.
Virtually serving coffee
There's another reason this will be popular.
Security. I can't see locking this thing down being very hard at all...
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
using the power brick removes a major heat source from the case, which let's you get rid of at least one fan (usually the loudest fan) and let's you shrink the case by a lil bit.
It's the slim slot running along the top of the faceplate, methinks.
This is truly cool. Car use? You can pop it out when you park and put it in your backpack. Take it home, network it to your main box and load up them MP3s and Divx files.
It wouldn't take much to hook up a teensy LCD screen to this. Fold out a mini keyboard from the bottom of the unit, flip up the screen from the top, and you have a nano PC.
Now all we need is a 15" or 17" flat-panel with a spot in its base for this little sucker to slide into and...tada...something like an imac. I could see some companies maybe wanting something like this: Low power consumption and if the monitor fails, you can just slap the pc into the base of a new monitor. Or easy monitor upgrades...harder to do that with an imac.
As nice as these small units are, I'd like to see some wee machines built that stick in dual processors and a couple of 10/100/1000 NICs. No fancy 3D video, no firewire. Just beef to cluster together.
Trolling is a art,
With the DVD option, and a some monitor creativity, you have a pretty cool car unit that is a full function computer, add a gps, play mp3's, dvd's, cd's, whatever... and it wouldn't take up a ton of space.
Really nice tech; if mixed with GPS and GIS and a few other things you could have realtime tracking of where all the squad cars are located.
The webpage the Little PC's outlines some targeted markets:
If you're making a digital sign or a wall mounted kiosk in a mall, you could literally screw this little beast to the back of the unit (or inside) and no one would ever know it's there.
The size does make all the difference in the world when you want the computer out of sight/out of mind and space is a luxury you don't have.
It doesn't appear this device was ever meant for home use or a replacement for blade servers.
Great comparison. While we're at it lets compare my gremilin with a ferrari.
Sure it costs 10x more but then it looks better doesn't it?
This post should be modded down as troll. While the post above this one ("I'd love one of these... in my power mac") was modded down as a troll athough it would be a great idea. Put a pc in mac, and have the best of both worlds in the same form factor.