Japanese Pocket-Size PC Cube Demonstrated

rocketjam writes "The Japanese company, Personal Media Corporation, has demonstrated a prototype of a cube-shaped pocket-sized computer called the T-Cube (tentative name). The T-Cube runs the T-Engine OS, an operating system apparently being developed by a consortium of Asian companies for embedded devices and networked computers. The machine is about the size of an orange, uses a CPU made by NEC and sports a desktop written for the Chinese Market supporting Multi- and Super-Chinese Character sets. It is scheduled to ship in Q1 of 2004."

Comments

Now we need the foldable screen ...

[foobsr]

... to make full use of it (and perhaps learn chinese ).

CC.

screen

[penguinoid]

Uhh, with the screen it is bigger than a laptop :-(

So what?

[rjstanford]

Honestly, I don't think that the size of a (not-very-powerful) computer matters beyond thresholds. Ie:

Can it easily slip into my pocket?
Yes: iPod, etc
No: cube the size of an orange

Can I carry it around easily?
Yes: cube, laptop
No: server

Does it need reinforced flooring?
Yes: mainframe
No: server

So, basically, I'm not seeing much of a reason to go minimalistic on computers. If portability is a concern, that's already solved with modern laptops - which this isn't meaningfully smaller than (I mean, can't be treated much differently than). If it isn't a concern, then you don't need the extreme small size. And if density is a concern, you're better off with more powerful systems (per cubic whatever) than smaller ones.

Just MHO, of course.

Re:So what?

[Xzzy]

I quite disagree.

The lure of a small fully functional PC that's easily totable (granted this one isn't really pocket sized but it's still quite portable) and can plug into a full size keyboard/monitor kiosk type thing is definetly there. For me anyways.

Granted the current world doesn't have the infastructure for this sort of thing but if it took off, I think it would be awesome to have a fully configured machine to my tastes available wherever I went.

Even if it was just a gateway to accessing my real machine at home, it would have value because I would have every bit of software I'd need to get to my stuff.

Re:So what?

[RevAaron]

I totally agree. A small computer has a huge appeal to me and a lot of other folks. No, it'll never be the thing for gamers, or folks who prefer having a large and loud computer. Some people like that, just like some folks like having a large and loud car.

I have a WinCE-based PDA/handheld PC/palmtop, the Sigmarion III. Japanese-only (like all the good stuf!), but as a non-Japanese speaker it works great for me after I had it imported.

It has USB, which is rare on a PDA- so there is external kb and mouse. One day, I'd like to get a VGA out card for it. Software comes with it to run it on an external monitor at 1024x768- and not just for presentations, but acting as a regular video card. The cost is prohibative for me at this point, though, and not all that neccesary. As long as I have at least 640x480 I'm fine, and this thing runs at 800x480. VNC, remote X11, SSH/telnet, etc etc- I usually run all of my apps locally, but having the ability to run any app I need from my Linux file server (can't keep all those mp3s on SD cards!) is a bonus.

This beats the pants off of Mini-ITX

[billcopc]

Wouldn't you just love to build a super computer out of these tiny cubes ? Get a dozen, pop them in an old gutted VCR case and you just built a clustered TiVo.

Potential Form Factors...Geekbook?

[hirschma]

The "motherboard" on this must be super tiny. I'm guessing that it uses very little electricity, too.

I'd love to see it in a clamshell handheld configuration - 800x480, wide format screen, perhaps 7" diagonal, minimal psion like keyboard, and a big old battery, something off the shelf, perhaps a pair of cell phone batteries. Trackpad eraser would be nice, too.

Offer it with no memory (but with a SO-DIMM slot), cf slot (two better), ethernet, serial.

Hardware only warranty, and let the user or vars populate the memory, storage device (flash or CF hard drive), memory. That way, it could be offered as cheaply as possible. Use a standard boot method, too.

Then let the community decide on what OS to port to it - NetBSD, Linux, whatever. You'd end up with one device that spans from a very stripped PDA like config (minimal flash, memory), to something that could be a mini-notebook (lots of memory and up to 4 gigs of rotating storage), and everything in between.

It could be a portable serial terminal for sysadmins, a mobile web/internet platform, a portable media player, or a total notebook replacement. Whatever you want it to be.

I'd love one, and would pay near-notebook prices to get one. At under $600, it'd be a killer. Anyone else?

Jonathan

Tron, The Most Popular OS in the World

[fuck_this_shit]

It's running tron judging by the screenshots.

What is the world's most widely used operating system? It's not Windows , Unix or Linux, but ITRON, a Japanese real-time kernel for small-scale embedded systems. ITRON runs on mobile phones , digital cameras, CD players and countless other electronic devices.

ITRON emerged as an ambitious Japanese initiative known as The Real-time Operating system Nucleus (TRON). Launched in 1984, TRON was designed to replace disparate computer systems with a unified, open architecture for a "total computer environment."

[...]

The ITRON specification is a standard real-time OS kernel that can be tailored to any embedded system. ITRON already has been ported to a wide range of microprocessor architectures and has quickly become Japan's de facto standard for embedded systems. Today, the specification is used in an estimated 3 billion microprocessors.

http://www.linuxinsider.com/perl/story/31855.html

Re:is that an orange in your pocket?

[RevAaron]

First, this isn't meant as a PocketPC. Yes, there's no screen and instead a VGA port- duh.

The TRON family of OSes (of which this t-engine is a derivative) have plenty of support- in Asia. Not in the US, no.

Rarely stable PocketPC? You should get a Linux PDA! I had to reboot my Zaurus far more times than I've had to reboot any PocketPC; and the reboots take 5 minutes instead of 20 seconds. Count your blessings. :)

Re:is that an orange in your pocket?

[BrookHarty]

I'm waiting for unlocked sidekicks, but the details are sketchy if SSH application will work without access to the application servers.

The Sony P900 or the Treo 600 is the one that I would go with. But I really like the sidekicks size and layout. Too bad its locked to 1 carrier. Being able to SSH and having a fullsize thumbboard is really nice.

The T-Cube seems like a perfect replacement for an audio/visual pc. I play all my mp3s/videos over the network on an Xbox. The t-cube has audio, not sure if the vga can do fast enough video for movies. 400mhz seems fast enough for it. Looks like a nice thin-client, but not being x86, having to port software would be a chore. If there was network streaming video/audio from a server, then it would be nice and seemeless. Mplayer streaming or VLAN streaming is the most popular.

But ya, 2 different types of uses.

Re:Strange that they call it a "pocket computer"..

[HTH NE1]

You know, with computers that small, they might as well come up with interesting cases for them. Who wouldn't want a functional pocket-size computer in the shape of a miniature Cray X-MP? Or inside an empty 12 oz. can of Jolt Cola?

Think of the applications for toy lines, particularly action and fashion figures!

Camera

[penguinoid]

Can I use my digital camera as a screen for one of these? Heh, nothing like having a few GB of hard drive for storing pictures.

Not really an orange.

[infinite9]

Actually, it's not sitting next to oranges. They're mikans, sort of like tangerines. These things are somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball. Very tasty too.

And that price tag is not really abnormal in Japan. When I was there, 10,000 yen was about $40. They were selling cantaloupes for that price. They would cut the vine nicely and gift wrap them in little window boxes. Now, that's about $100. Oddly enough, honeydew melons were only about 500 yen at the time, maybe $2.

Efficient computer design

[BeProf]

I've thought for a while (ever since the G4 Cube) that cubes make for a more effiecient use of space. Unfortunately, 'efficient' here means more internal volume for less surface area. That tends to lead to heat problems, but that shouldn't be a problem here.

What I'd really like to see is a 'cluster' appliance that looks something like this, but can 'stacked' via some kind of edge connector on the sides.

Lego computing!

!=orange

[not_anne]

The pictures show tangerines, not oranges. Tangerines are smaller, flattened at the poles, fatter at the equator, and darker orange.