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World's First Linux Computer In A CF Card

Posted by timothy on from the please-don't-format-in-your-camera dept.

An anonymous reader writes "LinuxDevices reports on the world's first Linux computer to fit inside a CompactFlash card. The 'Compact Flash Computer' (CFC) can be mixed and matched with third-party CF cards to instantly create minuscule Linux systems based entirely on CF cards. A wide variety of third-party CF peripheral cards can be used with the CFC, including RS232/485, Ethernet, Bluetooth, USB, 802.11, GSM, GPRS, GPS, and more. A combination power supply / bus expander module on a separate CF card, as well as a tiny 8-slot CF card backplane, are available as options." An anonymous reader adds "The card is based on a Freescale MPC5272 system-on-chip processor and contains 32MB of SDRAM and 8MB of Flash memory, and it comes with a uClinux based operating system and GNU development/debug tools."

7 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Maybe not the first? by remahl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That is not a Linux computer on a CF card. That is a Mini-ITX-based computer _with_ a CF card.

  2. Hasn't Sun's plans for motherboard-less... by rokzy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...computing (it was duped 3 times so you must have all seen it) just got 0wn3d?

    1. Re:Hasn't Sun's plans for motherboard-less... by Daniel+Ellard · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Yes, but the rest of us read past the headline and therefore know that the two stories couldn't have less to do with each other.

      --
      Disclaimer: I work for a company, but I don't speak for them.
  3. The custom-built pda by jsebrech · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You know, this could be a great way to bring upgradeability and extreme customizeability to portable devices.

    One could imagine a sleeve where you plug in a cpu card, some data storage cards, a wifi card, and so on. Sleeves could be upgraded to provide new peripherals. You would use firewire, usb or some other generic protocol to provide the interface between the sleeve, the cards, and the outside world (possibly using stub cards that transform a cf card to a usb data storage card).

    That way when you need a bigger screen, you'd buy a new sleeve and dock your old cards into it. Cpu not fast enough? Just upgrade the cpu card, no problems with having to replace the entire pda.

    Why hasn't this been done yet? It seems like an untapped market just waiting to be discovered.

    1. Re:The custom-built pda by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why hasn't this been done yet?

      Because most people, unfortunately, are not geek hobbyists, and think of computers in terms of application, not of mechanism. To them, this reconfigurability is just additional cost, complexity, and fragility to get a "follow the directions to assemble it yourself" device that performs some task that they want to do, like store lists of phone numbers. Sure, it drives us bonkers that we don't have a pretty interface and better support for the I2C bus (or internal USB in cases), interesting input (knobs, sliders, etc that can be interfaced with) devices, cheap interesting output devices (LED/LCD/VFD front-panel displays), thermometers, and the like. The typical computer user, though, doesn't give a damn about extending or reconfiguring their computer, because they want to accomplish a task, and don't really want to "figure out what to do to their computer to accomplish that task".

      Sigh.

      --
      May we never see th
  4. How much does size matter? by dotslashconfig · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't really understand the rush to make linux as small as possible. I mean honestly, Feather and Damn Small Linux can already fit on USB thumb drives. Has this just become a contest to see how stripped down of a distrobution people can produce? We understand that Linux is versatile, and that we can apply it in small storage spaces if need be. But really, to what extent do Linux developers need to keep hammering the point that Linux can fit in spaces that the Windows kernel would need a magnifying glass just to identify? I think this is a case of Dead Horse meets Mr. Stick.

    Anyways, yes - we can make linux small. But wouldn't it be even cooler if we could make linux even better within the comparatively small spaces it fits already? Or maybe it's that I don't use CF cards enough to really see the full potential for this.

    1. Re:How much does size matter? by tomcio.s · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No you do not use CF cards enough.

      First, you have to remember the read/write cycles on them.

      Second, given the extensibility of this product, and the fact that it is solid state plus low weight, it can now be used in places that no normal PC would be able to go. I.e. high pressure, high heat, etc. Why? Because it can easily be enclosed in a protective casing to do so.

      That's why it's important to do all the minimization work. To enable a generation of tinkerers to take their dreams of exploration further.