Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.

33 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. New? by catbertscousin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So... it's like a jump drive you can boot from?

    --
    No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
    1. Re:New? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny
      Apache ?
      Who needs this on a key ???

      The Apache is there to protect the key: If anyone who isn't allowed to tries to get the key, he'll be shot down with arrows, then scalped.
      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  2. Way smaller? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It also stores way less music or data. No comparison.

    1. Re:Way smaller? by DigitumDei · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well I read the article, it doesn't say whether the linux takes up part of that 128/256megs (or my reading is up to shit, quite possible considering how little sleep I've had).

      I'd be pretty pissed off if I bought a 128 meg mp3 player and found half the space gone.

      --
      East Coast Brewers
    2. Re:Way smaller? by frodo+from+middle+ea · · Score: 5, Interesting
      How about this MP3 player.

      It is actully smaller than iPod, comes in 20GB and 40GB versions, and comes with std battery life of 14 hrs and an extended one comes with battery life of 35 HOURs.

      It shows up as a USB mass storage on your PC, so can be used in windows, linux , OSX natively (any OS that supports USB mass storage). Doesn't need a stupid s/w to organize your MP3 collection, works by scanning the harddisk.

      And it plays MP3, WMAs, Flac, and most of all Oggs.

      Much more sturdier than iPod. Has FM tuner and can record from FM or buil-in or in-line Microphone.

      The only thing it doesn't have is a interface with an online music store, But that's not a problem for someone like me , who already has more that 400 CDs.

      P.S. I am not a spokesman for the company, just a satisfied customer.

      --
      for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
    3. Re:Way smaller? by clf8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Umm, it's got no screen. If you don't have the remote, I'm sure you can still start and stop music, but how do you navigate what you wanna play? And, given thousands of songs, how do you choose what to listen to?

      "Doesn't need a stupid s/w to organize your MP3 collection, works by scanning the harddisk." You must keep your music sorted pretty well; i just let iTunes do it for me. How smart is it in finding new music added, wouldn't it need to rescan all your music and compare it to what's on the player. Or does it store a database on your computer also? Or, do you just drag over your 20+gig of music and let it recopy every time? It's the stupid software that makes things easy.

      No doubt this is a small and powerful beasty, but lose the remote and I would think you're screwed.

    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!

  3. Shinux ??? by freedom_india · · Score: 3, Funny
    Couldn't they have thought of a better, nicer name...?
    Sounds like kleenex...

    Smaller than iPod? Hmmm... maybe France has a future after all..

    --
    "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
    1. Re:Shinux ??? by swordboy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Its the perfect name for the aspiring geek. As in, "ooh, shiny!"

      They've figured us out. Who forgot to wear their tinfoil hat?

      --

      Life is the leading cause of death in America.
    2. Re:Shinux ??? by biglig2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to whore for karma, but it is presimably called Shinux because the company that make the Medallion is called Shinco, and it's their own distro.

      Interesting that they made their own distro rather than just installing an existing one, they must have a lot of Linux geeks.

      I guess they'll sell a lot to Linux evangleists. "What's Linux" "Let me plug my jewelery into your PC and show you!"

      Except anyone mad enough for that probably already has a keychain drive.

      --
      ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
  4. So its a USB Key... by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That comes with stuff loaded from the factory....

    This is news? *yawn*

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  5. Why? by Unkle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Though it is a neat idea, I don't see the point. The average user is probably not going to use the Linux functionality, and thus probably won't pay the extra money for it. The form factor of the player is neat, though. But not as neat as Oakley's new glasses. http://www.oakley.com/catalog/eyewear/thump/

    --
    Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
    1. Re:Why? by theLOUDroom · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But not as neat as Oakley's new glasses.

      Those things are silly.
      What if you want to listen to MP3s when it's dark out?

      You've got a damn expensive MP3 player attached to another product in such a way the you can't use is 50% of the time.

      --
      Life is too short to proofread.
    2. Re:Why? by B1ackDragon · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you scroll to the bottom of the page, they show a picture of the lenses flipping up, for just such an occasion.

      Though, they still look ridiculous (horrific, even). Maybe that's why the first two people using them look like they're screaming?

      --
      The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches. -- ee cummings
    3. Re:Why? by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Funny

      those oakleys wouldn't exactly be cheap without the mp3 either.

      *What if you want to listen to MP3s when it's dark out?* you flip 'em up and "look like a dork, OMG" as if nerds ever cared for such a thing.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:Why? by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

      They should also go completely black whenever you are in danger.

      If Oakley made peril-sensitive sunglasses, I would be all over them.

    5. Re:Why? by Koyaanisqatsi · · Score: 3, Funny

      "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses with mp3 players."

      "Hit it!"

  6. Strange... by mirko · · Score: 3, Informative

    Looks like the MP3 player from Virgin that got discussed here.

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  7. 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.

  8. Recursive MP3 player by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

    The question is: does this Shinux-booting MP3 player comes with xmms installed, so I can play MP3s?

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. 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

      --
      -- If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide --
  9. My iPod by Mononoke · · Score: 4, Informative

    boots Macs into OS-X.

    --
    NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
  10. The ultimate hacker tool by spyrochaete · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I bet one of the included tools can mount NTFS. Just walk over to a server, discreetly boot up Linux, copy the SAM file, brute force it at home, and you've got superuser access. Any smart net admin would ban this player from their workplace.

    1. Re:The ultimate hacker tool by blowdart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Err. Right. Any smart admin has disabled access without a password, so you can only shut it down by the pulling the power, any smart admin has passworded the BIOS and told it to boot off the hard drive, and any smart admin has disabled the USB ports on a server anyway.

      Other than that though it's not a hacker tool, there's no blue LED.

    2. Re:The ultimate hacker tool by Crashmarik · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Any administrator in a security sensitive environment will ban all removable media. Take a look at the recen Livermore Labs scandals.

    3. Re:The ultimate hacker tool by Errtu76 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Any smart net admin would lock the door to the server room so none of this is possible.

    4. Re:The ultimate hacker tool by Le_Batleur · · Score: 4, Insightful

      BIOS password protected: Mandatory.
      USB Support killed: Doubtful.

      I guess you armchair sysadmins don't actually know what happens when you kill a useful facility like USB? I'm getting tired of seeing this line of reasoning coming up, and not enough being done to have it shot down.

      You throw out support for USB fobs (which have taken over from floppies, mercifully, and must have at least halved support calls planetwide!), cameras, audio recorders (not *just* MP3 players), mobile phone synching - all kinds of stuff which can be used as much in evil as in good.

      Use the sensible approach - approach the task in greater detail. Monitor what is being done with USB, educate what is acceptable, highlight what may be exploited, ban what is only globally unacceptable.

      And encypt the HDD partition if you're really that paranoid about seeing it when booting USB - otherwise it's useful to carry recovery software on a USB removable drive.

      Between USB and the proposed universal drive bay of Intel's (although I can't see many users needing that activeated as much), it's too inflexible to ban at that high a level.

      We don't ban road usage because criminals might drive on them. That's akin to what you're proposing.

  11. charging by Ziak · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The Medaillon includes a tiny rechargeable lithium-ion battery, said to provide up to 8 hours of playback time. The battery recharges when the Medaillon is connected to a PC via a supplied USB cable.

    Am i the only one who feels that charging a mp3 player by just a computer is a bad way of doing it?

    --
    Loading Please Wait....
    1. Re:charging by blowdart · · Score: 3, Informative

      Am i the only one who feels that charging a mp3 player by just a computer is a bad way of doing it?

      Why? My Zen recharges by USB, as does my phone when it's docked in it's cradle. That saves me 2 power adapters when I'm travelling. Heck, even my digital camera powers up via a cradle which can draw power from USB alone, and my portable hard drive draws power from a USB2 port (unless you're on a Dell Inspirion which complains that the device is sucking too much power from the port. Cheap ass dells!)

  12. MP3? by lunadog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With Linux installed, why is it using proprietary mp3 and not ogg?

    1. Re:MP3? by piquadratCH · · Score: 5, Insightful
      With Linux installed, why is it using proprietary mp3 and not ogg?

      The player itself probably has only a dirt cheap mp3 decoder chip onboard. The ability to boot Linux (or some other OS) has nothing to do with the player's abilities. Every USB mass-storage device can boot an OS (but not every PC can boot from a USB device).

  13. Re:Interesting idea by andrewweb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Bear in mind that the French percieve the USA as bullies, who throw their weight around and fight dirty when they can't get their own way"

    Actually, I think you'll find it's not just the French who think that....

  14. We (YDL) did it win an iPOD a while ago by zapp · · Score: 3, Informative

    We at Terra Soft Solutions (Yellow Dog Linux) did this with an ipod a while ago. We had intent to sell ipods partitioned with a 5gb Linux space, and the rest open for music - but Apple informed us that the drive wasn't inteded for frequent read/writes, just burst reads... and that we would probably burn the drive pretty quickly.

    Ah well, it woulda been cool :)

    --
    no comment