Curious Blend of VPN, PDA and USB Drive

An anonymous reader writes "Realm Systems has developed a cellphone-sized mobile device that takes advantage of the hardware of a another PC by attaching via USB. It requires an Internet connection to connect to a backend system, but acts as a fully functional PC with dual PowerPC processors, a 20 GB drive and all your applications - if you can find someone who lets you connect to their PC. An interesting option especially for a price of $195 for the mobile device." So, for a $10,000 central server, a $1000 PC, and a $195 device, you can have the computing power of: a $1000 PC. It seems like there might be cheaper ways.

Comments

Re:WiFi

[thea64man]

Well I would guess that probably because if they used Wi-Fi #1 some computers don't have Wi-Fi(although many do) #2 most computers have USB #3 USB is cheaper (i think) I like the concept but the actual product could use refinement.

Re:Overkill

[lachlan76]

My guess would be that it puts it into hibernation and then boots from USB.

Re:Neat idea, but

[Spy Hunter]

It's not for you, it's for large companies. Now that I understand what it is, I think it could actually be useful. The article didn't help much, but if you want to know what it really is:

It is a USB hard drive + integrated computer running something like knoppix + fingerprint scanner, in a package not much larger than an iPod. You take it with you anywhere, then plug it into any computer you find. After scanning your fingerprint it automatically takes over that computer and brings up your suspended Linux desktop on the screen, just how you left it. It also sets up a VPN over the Internet to access your company's intranet so you can work just like you were in the office. When you're done you unplug it, which instantly suspends your session until you plug it in again.

The central server is cool because it backs up all of the devices as they are being used, so if somebody loses theirs it's not a problem. You can just copy their backed-up image onto a new device and give it to them. You can also track usage and do security junk like that. I'm not a big fan of that feature, since it will probably lead to stupidly restrictive policies that are automatically enforced with an iron hand by the software. But that's a management problem, not a problem with the technology per se.

Re:Neat idea, but

[Spy Hunter]

Oh, I forgot to list the disadvantages. The way I see it, hardware compatibility will probably be spotty. Not only does it need to detect and have drivers for all types of PC graphics cards, network/wireless cards, sound cards, modems, and mice; it has to use them all through this weird USB connection, plus it has to dynamically switch to a completely different set without rebooting when it is plugged into a different PC. Even if it works this process can't be very fast, not to mention the fact that it needs to re-setup the Internet connection (if it's not using DHCP you'll need to specify the correct network settings too, ouch) and don't forget that it needs to hibernate Windows too, which takes a while and doesn't always work correctly. I couldn't see the whole process taking less than a minute in a best-case scenario, which makes it a lot more annoying to, say, plug it in for a quick email check.

Either that, or it doesn't really hibernate and take over the host computer like they say, but instead simply runs a proxy program on the host computer's OS to display stuff on the screen and get input from the keyboard/mouse. This would be fast, convenient, and highly compatible (and I suspect for these reasons that this is how it really works); however, it would be completely vulnerable to keyloggers or other malicious software running on the host machine, defeating the whole security aspect of the device.

Exactly: Damn Small Linux does the job

[kt0157]

I have a flask disk with Damn Small Linux and QEMU. Plug into a PC, run the emulator and away you go. And it's free.

Next step: a 1Gb flash disk with Knoppix.

Step after that: teeny tiny 40Gb Freecom FHD XS with any damn Linux distribution you want.

Re:Too damn proprietory

[Homology]

And it looks like it wants to more or less shut down the host PC. It's be more interesting if it was accessible via a terminal services, VNC or X window itself.

Come to think of it, a couple of friends have a Sharp Zaurus and it's SSH-able when it's sitting in its cradle...

The developers of OpenBSD is porting OpenBSD to Sharp Zaurus

What does this offer

[CastrTroy]

What does this offer over using a Linux live CD and a usb hard drive. If you just had computers that would boot off the usb hard drive, you wouldn't even need the Linux Live CD. Why does it need processors if it has to take over another PC to use it?