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DreamPlug ARM Box Brings Power To Plug Computing

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-so-adorable dept.

Blacklaw writes "UK GlobalScale distribution partner New IT has announced its latest ARM-based plug-top computer, the DreamPlug — and it's a major improvement over its predecessors, packing some serious hardware into a tiny case. The DreamPlug packs some serious power in its tiny case. The Marvell Sheeva ARM-based processor at its heart runs at 1.2GHz — a significant boost over the 800MHz version found in the SheevaPlug — and while 512MB of DDR2 memory might not sound very generous, if you need more then your project probably isn't suited to the plug computing model. Unlike the SheevaPlug, the DreamPlug goes all-out to impress, packing integral Bluetooth, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a 3Gb/s eSATA port, two USB 2.0 ports, a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports, and even analogue and SP/DIF digital audio ouputs. ARM developers will be pleased to hear that the JTAG-over-USB feature of the SheevaPlug has been replaced with full hardware JTAG and UART connectivity — although the breakout board is an optional extra."

6 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Edition required by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Funny

    DreamPlug — and it's a major improvement over its predecessors, packing some serious hardware into a tiny case. The DreamPlug packs some serious power in its tiny case.

    Slashdot, brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department!

    1. Re:Edition required by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Funny

      Naturally I misspelled "Editing" in my Subject line.

  2. Wait, what? by jabjoe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The SheevaPlug has always been 1.2 GHz and had 512 DDR2 RAM.

    Port wise, this seams like like GuruPlug version of the SheevaPlug. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuruPlug

    What would be much bigger deal is a better power unit. One less prone to melting. That is the biggest issue with the SheevaPlug family, other then that major failing, they are already pretty good.

    1. Re:Wait, what? by david.given · · Score: 5, Informative
      I run my home server off one --- SMTP, spam filtering, IMAP, a web server, my internal DHCP, DNS, SMB, NFS... it all works beautifully. Even when I become briefly famous and my web server received 80000 hits in one day it didn't even wobble. It's running off a home made SSD made up of four 16GB USB keys and it's dead silent and reliable, running Debian.

      But it's not perfect: the USB chipset is a bit dodgy. I have five hard disks, an ethernet widget, and a few other devices hanging off the SheevaPlug's one USB port and it's not happy --- I had to spend some time fiddling with it before it ran reliably, and there's still a nasty bug where every now and again the USB ethernet adapter stops processing packets (although the internal ethernet port is fine). (Replugging the USB ethernet adapter fixes it.)

      I've been looking at the GuruPlug with great interest; real eSATA and two USB ports would make my life much easier, but I've held off getting one because of the heat problems. Maybe this DreamPlug will be the solution.

  3. Re:Serious Hardware in 1997... by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the other hand, they run on 1/100th the power, 1/10 the size, and no cooling equipment. If you want a high power device there's plenty of processors available, but that isn't what the ARM chips are designed for. It's like complaining that your new 60 mpg hybrid doesn't have as much power as a 40 year old Corvette.

  4. Re:Serious Hardware in 1997... by Bert64 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The linpack benchmark focuses on floating point, whereas most ARM chips don't have hardware floating point units...
    ARM chips tend to do much better at integer benchmarks, and most code you would run on a server is integer code.

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