Petite MP3 Player Boots PCs Into Linux

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Petite MP3 Player Boots PCs Into Linux

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 14, 2004 @11:41PM 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.

23 of 215 comments (clear)

New? by catbertscousin · 2004-10-14 23:42 · 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 · 2004-10-15 00:10 · 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.
Way smaller? by Richard_at_work · 2004-10-14 23:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

It also stores way less music or data. No comparison.
1. Re:Way smaller? by DigitumDei · 2004-10-14 23:56 · 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 · 2004-10-15 01:14 · 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 Civil_Disobedient · 2004-10-15 03:15 · 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!
Why? by Unkle · 2004-10-14 23:48 · 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 · 2004-10-14 23:55 · 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 · 2004-10-15 00:14 · 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 Minwee · 2004-10-15 01:25 · 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.
This is player is made by Korean EraTech by i4u · 2004-10-14 23:50 · 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.
Recursive MP3 player by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · 2004-10-14 23:50 · 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 · 2004-10-14 23:58 · 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 --
My iPod by Mononoke · 2004-10-14 23:52 · Score: 4, Informative

boots Macs into OS-X.

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NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
The ultimate hacker tool by spyrochaete · 2004-10-14 23:56 · 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 · 2004-10-15 00:01 · 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 Errtu76 · 2004-10-15 00:06 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Any smart net admin would lock the door to the server room so none of this is possible.
3. Re:The ultimate hacker tool by Le_Batleur · 2004-10-15 00:48 · 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.
Re:Shinux ??? by swordboy · 2004-10-14 23:56 · 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.
charging by Ziak · 2004-10-15 00:01 · 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?

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Loading Please Wait....
MP3? by lunadog · 2004-10-15 00:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

With Linux installed, why is it using proprietary mp3 and not ogg?
1. Re:MP3? by piquadratCH · 2004-10-15 00:47 · 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).
Re:Interesting idea by andrewweb · 2004-10-15 01:07 · 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....