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Network Adapter Keeps Talking While a PC Is Asleep

Posted by timothy on from the would-make-me-feel-better-about-keeping-a-server-on dept.

Al writes "Researchers at Microsoft and the University of California, San Diego have developed a network adapter that lets a computer enter sleep mode without disrupting the network connection. The adapter, dubbed Somniloquy (meaning to talk in one's sleep), consists of a gumstix running embedded Linux, 64MB of RAM and a 2G SD memory card, connected via USB. The adapter keeps the network connection going and the researchers have also developed a simplified IM client and bittorrent client that carry out more complicated tasks autonomously, only waking the computer if, for example, an actualy IM is received or a download is completed."

14 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. So in other words... by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So in other words you still have a computer running, just not your main computer.

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    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:So in other words... by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      One of the reasons I don't turn off my office computer at night is because, if some pathetic script kiddie walks on water all the way through thousands of hours of preventative labour and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of top tier hardware all the way down to my desktop windows PC, I want to see it first thing, so I won't have had my coffee before I stab myself through the eyeball with a ballpoint.

      Seriously? You think you're safer by having it off 16 hours a day? Moreover, your tech people think that it's acceptable to have an environment where the security precaution is to turn off your computer when you're not using it?

      Wow. Just...Wow...

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    2. Re:So in other words... by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How's it gonna help those of us that download more than 2 gigabytes of porn^Wlinux distros at a time?

      Wake the host PC after each GB and flush the buffer.

    3. Re:So in other words... by Dogtanian · · Score: 4, Funny

      You think you're safer by having it off 16 hours a day?

      Dude, if I was having it off for 16 hours a day, I wouldn't give a flying **** about some shitty PC security!

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  2. Yo Dawg by decipher_saint · · Score: 4, Funny

    We put a computer on your computer so you can download while you download...

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    crazy dynamite monkey
    1. Re:Yo Dawg by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 4, Funny

      The question is whether the NIC can go into a power saving mode and be awoken by an even simpler device when a packet comes in.

    2. Re:Yo Dawg by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I use Wake On Lan to wake my PC. The same thing should work for this.

      Some applications, such as BitTorrent, require a continuous stream of packets. If you can offload processing these packets to another device that draws less electric power and keep the PC turned off until the device is ready to commit its changes, you can save money on your electric bill.

  3. Slashdot editor's demonstrate..... by jdb2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    .....their incompetency once again.

    Apparently Timothy doesn't understand how to use Google, or, dare I say, even the Slashdot "Old Stories" search

    Almost the exact same story was posted on Monday, April 27 .

    jdb2

  4. Microsoft using Linux? by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Researchers at Microsoft"..."have developed"..."running embedded Linux"

    Um, was that a misprint or did hell just freeze over? Hasn't MS referred to Linux as a "virus", a "cancer", "un-American", a "patent violator", and "communistic"?

    1. Re:Microsoft using Linux? by nycguy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Will be researchers formerly at Microsoft "running with an embedded chair" after tomorrow I'm sure...

    2. Re:Microsoft using Linux? by bmajik · · Score: 4, Informative

      if the work came out of MSR, they have a very high degree of platform & technology autonomy.

      MSR is basically academia, without classroom requirements. There are some product unit partnership projects where obviously a focus on shipping/evolutionary MS platforms or technologies make sense for the problem domain, but more abstract problems are often solved entirely with non-MS tools.

      --
      My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
    3. Re:Microsoft using Linux? by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Both of you need to chill. Embedded linux is practically the standard for networking and routing devices...If they'd used anything else it would have been weird and worth of comment.

      Using something else would have been like having something other than an RJ45 port on it.

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  5. Mainframe architecture revisted ... by golodh · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It's funny how today's PCs continue to take architectural queues from earlier mainframe and minicomputer designs.

    Remember when your IBM mainframe had an array of special I/O processors? Well, the bus arbitrator on your motherboard looks suspiciously like one of those. And remember when disk arrays because "smart"? Well ... just looks at the electronics on the average SATA IDE drive and you'll see what I mean. It manages the hardware, and you only talk to the drive's on-board controller, never to the drive itself.

    And now this network controller. Pardon me, I mean network card.

  6. Is it just me? by SuseLover · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is this scary technology? Now your system can become a true zombie on a botnet while asleep. Couldn't a virus/worm just wake your system up and infect it?