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Petite MP3 Player Boots PCs Into Linux

Posted by timothy on from the now-that's-a-good-idea dept.

An anonymous reader submits "A French company has created a teensy MP3 player that also boots PCs into Linux. The 1.7-inch diameter, half-ounce Medaillon (way smaller than an iPod) has been around for a while, but 128MB and 256MB models of the Z2 version are now supplied with Shinux, an embedded Linux distribution that includes lots of cool open source applications." The list of included apps, from AbiWord to Xchat, is pretty impressive for a device intended primarily as a music player.

4 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. This is player is made by Korean EraTech by i4u · · Score: 5, Informative

    See this Coin-Sized MP3 Player

    It also has been OEMed by Virgin Electronics and is available at Target. The only funky thing with this french OEM is that it has a Linux on it.

  2. My iPod by Mononoke · · Score: 4, Informative

    boots Macs into OS-X.

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    NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
  3. Re:Recursive MP3 player by OblongPlatypus · · Score: 5, Informative
    And the answer is: Yes, it does. From the list of apps:

    ...
    # tightVNC remote access
    # XMMS multimedia player
    # xterm X console

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    -- If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide --
  4. Re:Way smaller? by Civil_Disobedient · · Score: 4, Informative

    Look, I hate the iPod-People as much as the next guy, but let's be honest, here.

    The unit you linked to is only smaller because they've put the entire display on a separate "remote" unit. That sucks. From an engineering point of view, you want to minimize all ways in which to break the thing -- having a dedicated wired-remote doubles these chances. And look at the weakest link in the chain -- the cable from the remote to the unit -- if anything happens to that cable (stretched, yanked, sliced or diced) or the plug on the end, there goes your fancy display.

    Never mind that it's encased in aluminum. The cord isn't.

    If they had put the display in the unit, it would be near-perfect. If they added a 1/8" optical-TOSLINK connection to either the unit itself, or the base, that would be perfect. Who wants a line-audio copy of a CD? Digital, man!