Slashdot Mirror
Photos and Commentary On AMD's PIC
vincecate writes "I just purchased a brand new
AMD PIC
which has been on Slashdot
and
LinuxDevices.
I have opened it up and put
some pictures and comments on the web.
Some interesting things are that the system uses only 8 watts,
the Windows CE does not want you installing any software,
you can not get to the BIOS settings,
and I was not able to boot Linux." (He was able, though, to boot Linux from an IDE device on a mini-ITX system also based on the Geode processor.)
The problem booting from the CF card is probablly just a partition type or signature thing. It would be interesting to hook the hard drive from the PIC up to a working Linux box (as hdb or hdc) and poke around to see how it is partitioned. Maybe a block copy from the hard drive to the CF would create a booting CF based system. Granted it still would be running WinCE, but it would be a start.....
. there used to be a sig here.....
"It might as well not even have a keyboard or monitor port. Yeesh."
Didja read the bit about who the target audience is and what it does do?
"Derp de derp."
or a PIC-like microcontroller made by AMD?
sounds to me like the point is to provide some serious virus/trojen/spyware hardening for sale in an environment full of new users and poor availability of tech support.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
I saw a Lithium CR232 battery in one of the photos. By making it hard to remove and voiding the warranty by opening it up, this thing is not meant to last for more than a couple of years for the regular Joe.
www.rexguo.com - Technologist + Designer
About Microchip Technology
Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at www.microchip.com.
###
Note: The Microchip name and logo, PIC and MPLAB are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the USA and other countries. PICDEM is a registered trademark of Microchip Technology Inc. in the USA and other countries. I2C is a trademark of Philips Corporation. SPI is a trademark of Motorola. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies
Sure you didn't confuse this with the crippled XP Microsoft is selling in Asia?
SoftMaker Office for Windows|Linux|Android
Win CE is open source to the OEM's
Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code.
It's funny when someone says they tried to install linux and it didn't work, they get chastised for trying. If he never mentioned Linux at all, there would be at least 5 users asking "Yes, but does it run Linux?" ;)
What about a poor geek in such a country? I find this attitude of "It's an almost charity thing and you should be grateful for what we choose to give you." to be very condencending.
It will be perfectly natural for a few recipients of these things to gain skills and to try to find a way to get them to do other things. There is VERY little reason for these to be locked down to the extent that they are.
Friend, I appreciate the sentiment. But I live in a so-called third world country and not every "intended customers" here are worried about feeding themselves and not getting shot at. In fact, a big part of this country is really poor, but not that violent. So, please, don't generalize, ok? :)
My neighbor's
What about a poor geek in such a country?
This brings up a couple interesting points, none of which are really worth pursuing. But I'm surprised (or maybe not surprised) to see that most Slashdotters posting about this and what it can and can't do have remarkable tunnel-vision.
This isn't meant to be a "geek" machine. This isn't for a "poor geek" (who, I'm sure, if he or she was worth his or her geekiness, would find other, better machines to receive geek training from). It's a *tool* -- much in the same way that a hammer or a pair of pliers are tools.
In fact, you sound like a bunch of carpenters complaining that no one is gonna use a $4 hammer from Home Depot when what they really need is a $49.95 double-balanced claw hammer with an oxide tip to "properly sink nails."
Yeah, that's nice, but when I need a hammer -- I need a hammer. I could care less about the size of the claw or the oxide tip.
I realize most folks here are in college and high school and aren't yet capable (this is gonna sound condescending, but it's true) doing what my old comp sci professor called "taking a step back and shutting the fuck up for a second."
(This is the same guy who urged us all to read Shakespeare in order to understand that what's really at the core of computer science is humanity -- not silicon. At the time we laughed. Now, twenty years later, I've come to understand he's exactly right.)
Anyway. I digress. And I condescend. But, really. the windows/linux stuff is necessary sometimes, funny other times, but in this case, it completely misses the point. What no one is mentioning is the cultural *reason* for such a low-cost box -- and how (and why) the internet has become (oddly?) indispensible -- even for those "poor folks" in the sticks.
That's pretty amazing, actually. And it seems to be the most significant part of this story.