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AdvantageSix Promises a Tiny ARM-based Computer

Posted by timothy on from the that-looks-tasty dept.

oberondarksoul writes "Drobe, one of the leading RISC OS news websites, is reporting that AdvantageSix have displayed an in-development version of their forthcoming A9home system. Running on a 400MHz Samsung ARM9 processor, and measuring approximately 6.6x4x2 inches, this ought to be a cheap -- and reasonably powerful -- RISC OS-based alternative to small form factor PCs or the Mac mini."

21 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. 6.6 inches? by Kumiorava · · Score: 4, Funny

    The processor seems to be rather large. This kind of measurements have lately been seen in adult industry, not in home electronics.

    1. Re:6.6 inches? by ky11x · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you consider 6.6 inches large, ahem, my friend -- then you have indeed been living a sheltered life.

  2. Interesting by treff89 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This new market sector of small, stripped-down PCs (a la Mac Mini) I foresee becoming extremely popular. The costs are low, therefore people who have given that excuse to not owning a computer will be happy to buy. Usage is simple, which will appeal to the same group of people. They will be useful for clusters (ie. Beowolf) as they are not made more costly by monitors, mice, et cetera. It is easy to take one and install an alternate OS on it (again, a la Mac mini). As well, they will be a hit with developing countries. Cheapness without the ambiguity of a white-box.

    1. Re:Interesting by cahiha · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Tha Mac Mini is actually pretty expensive for what it does; you still need a keyboard, screen, mouse, cables, etc.

      I don't see much of a market for these things in the long run: a low-end laptop is easier to set up, more compact, and less messy (no cables, speakers, etc.). It's also a better deal.

    2. Re:Interesting by roxtar · · Score: 3, Interesting
      The costs are low, therefore people who have given that excuse to not owning a computer will be happy to buy. Usage is simple, which will appeal to the same group of people.

      I don't think that people who haven't owned a computer till now will go and buy one which doesn't have a monitor and runs RISC OS. IMHO they will be more comfortable buying a standard PC running windows.

      They will be useful for clusters (ie. Beowolf)

      Technically Beowulf clusters are diskless along with not having monitors,mice etc.

    3. Re:Interesting by roxtar · · Score: 5, Informative
      As well, they will be a hit with developing countries. Cheapness without the ambiguity of a white-box.

      Another thing these are not at all cheap in developing countries. I'm from India. The A9Home costs 499 Pounds which translates to around 40,000 Indian Rs which is a lot for a desktop computer which doesn't have a monitor. We can get assembled PCs (with monitor, speakers etc) for around 25,000 Indian Rs

  3. Re:Garrhh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    1 inch = 2.54cm, so it's approx. 16.8x10.2x5.1cm in size.

  4. Not really a competition for the mini by FidelCatsro · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looking at the specs sheet and the expected price It really is not any competition for the Mac mini, so its expected to retail for around 499GBP+vat(17.5% on top of that) in the UK (if UKP means UK pound ?, ) which is already alot more than the price of the 1.42ghz g4 based mac mini , which comes with double the ram , double the harddrive .It will probably make a great ARM development machine but i don't think its trying to compete with SFF PCs and MacMinis.
    -Comparing it to a macmini is really doing it a great dis-service

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  5. Re:The whole world doesn't end by the USA border by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    168x103x53mm

  6. Re:where's the ethernet port? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    next to the keyboard mouse ports. there's a photo, I suggest looking at it. and specs listed too.

    RTFA and all

  7. Re:The whole world doesn't end by the USA border by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ;) the price is in GBP and the mesurements are in imperial (used in the UK) So i think your USA stab is a bit off

  8. Re:That sounds like a lot of of money by oberondarksoul · · Score: 5, Informative

    It runs RISC OS natively, which - although not nearly as popular as in its hayday - is still used by a fair number of people. Certainly they're more expensive than the average Intel, but they do have several advantages.

    For instance, the entirety of the RISC OS is in ROM - this gives machines ludicrously good boot times, as well as making it virtually impossible to accidentally hose the system. It also has a familiar and easy to use GUI, using the middle-button for all menus - no menu bars cluttering up every window, and has features such as font anti-aliasing built in (since 1989).

    --
    And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
  9. Re:Hello? by FidelCatsro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    2 main reasons , ARM development and Risc OS development . Perhaps also it would make a rather nice router if you have money to burn , or an internet booth type thing if you wanted.
    Its really not a product your average user would want.
    I really don't see why the artical refers to as an alternative to A MacMini or SFF PC , it just leads to alot of confusion.

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  10. Photos and videos of the A9home by monkeyson · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are loads of pictures and videos of the A9home - including comparisons to a 50 pence coin and a Mac Mini - on The Iconbar's show report:

    http://www.iconbar.com/news/wakefield2005/report/

  11. Here You go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny


    6.6x4x2 inches = 0.033x0.020x0.010 rods

  12. It's Purpose? To Make the Mac Look Mainstream by ickoonite · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I had a look at the article and then the web site (scary, I know, but I'm British. "In Britain, nerds read TFA!"), and what immediately struck me was how unbelievably marginalised this little segment is, making Mac users (of which group I am a member) look a relatively mainstream bunch. Part of me - the obstreperous adolescent within that screams out to be different - almost wants to run join them? Isn't being marginalised the whole reason I use a Mac? :P

    I was trying to work out why these people continue to use this platform, and it can only be a manifestation of that sadistic quality that is present in so many geeks - the one that leads us to defile a beautiful Mac mini with the installation of, say, Slackware 7 or Red Hat 5.2, just to be difficult, or why we tunnel PPP over SSH to create VPNs (because IPSec and PPTP are for lusers). I looked at a few screenshots, read some articles - one which particularly amused me was that which opined the lack of full and decent internationalisation (it seemed so prehistoric) - but it was somewhat reassuring.

    There is still a group of individuals who run scared from the Macintosh, and who belittle those that use it, although their numbers are declining, and rightly so, because the Mac's superiority in all fields bar gaming is so resplendent ("Que le flamewar commence!"), but I like to think that having seen this, Mac users' choice seems a little more rational - at least their OS-du-jour is better than the standard (i.e. Windows). RISC OS just sucks.

    So I really can't bring myself to coo over the specs of this machine. It's about as big as the Mac mini, yet:
    • it lacks an optical drive;
    • the processor is about as powerful as modern-day PDAs;
    • it's fucking expensive for what it is;
    • less RAM, VRAM, disk space, etc. but on the plus side you do get an RS232 serial port...
    Call me a philistine or a cynic, perhaps, but what's the point? There are plenty of us who've got a Windows 95-era machine somewhere, and for those of us that don't but still want the same "feel", there's always KDE. So why am I going to fork out five hundred quid for this...?

    iqu :s
    1. Re:It's Purpose? To Make the Mac Look Mainstream by ickoonite · · Score: 3, Insightful

      RISC OS is based more around function than form. It won't look as pretty as your Mac, but it'll be one hell of a lot more responsive.

      The Macintosh user interface has traditionally always placed function before form, and even today, it is one of the premier operating systems in this regard. Mac diehards continue to argue about the Human Interface Guidelines and lament Apple's more-than-occasional failure to adhere to same. It goes without saying that this never happens in the Windows world.

      That said, I'm sure you've got a point about responsiveness (although I can't help adding that Tiger has, belatedly, improved things in this regard). But there are certain features (like Exposé) where the Mac's comparative added horsepower become essential.

      This thing will appear as fast as a high-end system on the desktop.

      Whilst you have a point, this is somewhat bogus. If I (could) run Windows 95 on my Athlon 64 3400+, I'm sure it would fly, but fact is I don't - I want/need the added functionality and ease-of-use enhancements that later releases have brought. And with Mac OS X, Apple's done a pretty good job of keeping old hardware (like my 400Mhz iMac) useful with, even with all the eye candy.

      If you think Windows 95 or KDE come even close to RISC OS then you've been smoking crack.

      I've not used RISC OS as much as I'd like, and I know it had a following in education for a while (certainly over here in Blighty anyway), but I think its spartan style means that there aren't going to be many more users coming to the fold these days. For that reason, I think the Windows 95/KDE analogy is at least partially valid (in that they both look ugly as shit).

      iqu :|

  13. Re:Garrhh! by CableModemSniper · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok. It's approximately 0.625McM*.

    *Mac Minis

    --
    Why not fork?
  14. Re:That sounds like a lot of of money by sa110 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The A9home most cetainly does come with a keyboard and mouse. I suggest you check the specs of it before posting missinformation.

  15. Re:Garrhh! by Glock27 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    an ARM running at 400mhz would outdo a pentium M at 1200MHz. Since the Pentium M at 1200MHz is about the speed of a 1.42GHz G4 Mac Mini, then this machine is about the speed of a mac mini.

    OK...first of all I challenge your figures, please cite some references for a 400 MHz. ARM (Palm/PocketPC CPU) being as fast as a 1.2 GHz. Pentium M, or a 1.42 GHz. G4. Does this ARM even have hardware floating point? Most don't...

    Secondly, the Mac Mini comes with a great software bundle, a ton of available software, a good (if not great) graphics adapter, and for the cost of the ARM box I could get it with 1 GB RAM and the Superdrive.

    In a smaller case. That sounds worth it to me.

    I doubt you'd even notice the size difference (Mac Mini is 6.5"x6.5"x2"). You and I have very different concepts of "worth it".

    --
    Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
    Score: -1 100% Flamebait
  16. I do a lot of ARM development and... by WouldIPutMYRealNameO · · Score: 3, Informative
    This strikes me as weird.
    1) It's very pricy. ARM cpus are dirt cheap compared to power or x86 CPUs, the rest of the components are pretty standard. The build cost for this machine should be less that 100USD in reasonable sized runs.
    2) It draws A LOT of power. I don't think that any ARM machine I've worked with draws close to 20W @ 5V.

    On the whole though, I think this is a cool idea - when I worked on a 200Mhz Xscale ARM running Debian, it was perfectly fine for web surfing, etc. Perfect for Mom and Pop if they just wanted to surf & do email.

    --
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