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Linux Computer in USB Key Form-Factor
PMBjornerud writes "A start-up located in the French Alps near Grenoble is readying a tiny ARM-based Linux single-board computer (SBC) in a USB key form-factor. Calao's USB-9260 USB key-sized SBC measures 3.3 x 1.4 inches (85 x 36 mm). It is based on an Atmel AT91SAM9260 processor, an SoC (system-on-chip) powered by an ARM926EJ-S core clocked at 190MHz. The SoC targets "advanced applications such as GPS application processors," according to Atmel. Here is a Spec sheet PDF. With a 10/100 Ethernet port, firewall usage springs to mind. Other interfaces are 2 USB host ports and room for an expansion card. Which should allow some creative uses. "
a beowulf cluster of these!
Slashdot, come for the goatse, stay for the trolls.
Run Windows Vista?
...I'm not sure anything could.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Just imagine a beowolf cluster of these... Seriously!
The SBC had TWO usb host slots into which TWO of these could be plugged (back-to-back) and EACH of these could have TWO more! And so on and so on. Sure there'd be power considerations (duh).
So, more realistically, plug a multiport USB hub into your PC, and plug one of these into each of the ports... instant cluster!
Yes, I know, there's probably has no _practical_ use like this (190 MHz; 64MB SDRAM), but just for the geekiness of it, I'd love to see someone DO it!
I think the only advantage of this particular linux usb key is it's size. Otheriwse, the gumstix are a helluva lot more powerful and almost as small (think size of a gumstick). Anyway, gumstix also has a variety of expansion boards. I'm waiting for the gsm module so I can make something off the OpenMoko platform or a cobbled together iPhone.
This seems like the ultimate in upgradable technology -- just unplug an old one and plug in a new one. Put this in a car as the on-board computer, then you could pull it out and plug it into another machine to perform diagnostics or upgrade software. This seems extremely useful to me.
21st-Century-Citizen
The Gumstix may have a higher clock, but they use the XScale microarchitectrue. The 926 is the same architecture, but the microarchitecture has superior performance, particularly with regard to memory access. I'd be interested to see real world benchmarks between the devices.
Nah... I think you are just happy to see me.
With Ethernet on one end, USB2 on the other and stacks of ARM9 power?
I bet that security researchers turn it into some kind of network analysis tool before I can say "whippit".
And then the hackers get their hands on it.....
I bet your there are waaay more uses for a sexy little gizmo like this then the manufacturers realize.
Opensolaris? No... seriously, does it?
These guys have inherited the old BlackDog & K9 platforms. Rather than ARM, it uses a PowerPC core. New models coming soon:
http://echoidentity.com/
There is a right way, and a wrong way to do a beowulf post.
First of all, you do not put the word "imagine", or "beowulf" in the subject line. Your subject line MUST pertain directly to the subject at hand. In this case, the subject is a USB key computer that runs LINUX. It is also important to use the word "these" instead of the word "those".
I have taken the opportunity to display a properly formatted beowulf post, conveniently reproduced below:
Subject: USB Key form factor computer
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!
Many Israeli companies have been making computer-on-a-stick for quiet a while now. For example, Yoggie has been making some running linux to be used for security applications. I pick up a regular computer-on-a-stick for about $40USD 3 years ago in Tel Aviv.
"With a 10/100 Ethernet port, firewall usage springs to mind."
Maybe if you're retarded. How effective is a 190 MHz computer with a single 10/100 interface?
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
After seeing this and a few other things tagged with 'hardhack' I decided to find out just what a 'hardhack' is. Turns out that it's a shrub http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardhack. Who knew?
Let's see. A computer that can easily be hidden inside your pocket. With a network interface.
All you need now is a UPS uniform and a target.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
How is it $40? "The Yoggie Pico is available now, priced at $180 with a year's subscription to updates, according to the company. Subscriptions will cost $30/year thereafter."
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
and all you need to use it is another computer to plug it into. (insert giant rolling eyes emoticon here) The Linux world still isn't getting it... Here's your chance to start working on the other stuff like the projection keyboard, 3D sensor for hand movements and gestures, voice recognition, and heads-up displays. Wait, that's all hardware techie stuff and works with Windows as well as Linux. Which means in the next ten years we'll be getting /. stories about how Windows (Whatever) based pocket computers with all of the above are now being made to run Linux.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Yeah, except that all gumstix products put Ethernet on a daughterboard using a Hirose connector that's a complete non-starter in a severe high-vibration environment.
This thing still uses an RJ45 connector which means it still can't be used in such a severe environment in its off-the-shelf form, but it's much easier to desolder a connector and solder a jumper cable to something like a MIL-C-38999 and pot the whole thing in epoxy than try to ruggedize those Hirose connectors (hopeless).
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Saw one at a trade show a couple years back - using one of the dime-sized disks for memory.
Appears as a drive to the system and launches a full-screen window displaying its own X server's screen buffer when plugged in (to a Windows, BSD, or Linux box).
Has enough power storage in a capacitor to automatically save state when suddenly unplugged - so you can just pull it out, take it somewhere else, plug it into another box (perhaps with a different underlying op system), and pick up right where you left off (cursor position, keystroke, and all).
Was intended to be licensed to manufacturers and to sell for $100 for kids to carry between school, library, and home. I think they eventually got a model to market for $125 with a flash drive.
Don't recall the name right now (a somewhat simian word) but there have been a number of stories about it on Slashdot.
The one in THIS article isn't it. Doesn't seem to have any mass storage onboard.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Is this thing on? [tap tap]
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
It seems this one is quite a bit smaller as well. Furthermore, it has 256 MB flash instead of max 16 for the gumstix I saw. Then again, you can easily upgrade the memory of the gumstix using SD or compact flash. And the gumstix seem to have more options. Of course, it depends on the price as well. The gumstix seem to be pretty sweetly priced, we'll just have to wait for the prices of these.
It's already been done: http://www.yoggie.com/
Did you mean the BlackDog Personal Server?
:/- spoon(_).
You realize that USB is the most CPU-intensive bus around?
You would be better off assigning two IP addresses to two aliases on the device and using the one ethernet jack.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...