It is hard for an small company to produce low-priced products. I have tried, and even an small and simple device that you could get in the market for around US$80 ~ 100, I can't go under US$150 in sell price.... why?: I'm producing small quantities, maybe if I go to 1000-10000 units at a time, I could go under US$100, or maybe under US$50, but I'm producing very small quantities: about 5 ~ 15 units at a time.
Anyway, when you go embedded, you need to optimize the code a lot in order to reduce memory and processor requirements and reduce the overall cost of your solution. When you reduce processor and memory a lot, you reduce costs, but you also reduce the possibility of expanding your product: that's something many companies do, and that's why you get "cheap" devices, but they are not expandable, many users don't care about that, and the companies know that.
I hasn't reviewed the Wizpy (I'm still looking for the hardware features, but I don't see them:( ), I think they just have oversized processor and ram size, which is good and bad.
Does anybody knows what are the hardware specifications for the wizpy?
The main problem I found when I used gentoo is: you can break things for a long period of time while upgrading. I ended with no computer for over 3 hours while I was upgrading, and I DO download all the upgrades before starting the upgrade, so no network problem stops me.
The main problem: the same thing many people says is great in gentoo, the absence of automatic configuration scripts (so, when the configs files changes, you have to change them yourself), and, from time to time, compile-time errors.
The compile time errors, I found to be related to some libraries NOT BEING updated (this was a long time ago, about two years now). and thus, I need to run the emerge's upgrade with a parameter I don't remember, the one you use to force the dependency tree (--deep -r?).
Anyway, I just started to use debian: Debian is cool, but it is sloow to updates, and "stable" is frozen (only security upgrades), but, when you upgrade from one stable to the next, it use to be transparent (apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade , and voilá): I mean, the manual changes that you need to do are minimal.
I actually use debian sid (unstable), beacuase it is updated on a regular basis, and it is really good for desktop usage.
I can explain about the apparent slowness in the "linux" boot.
Your Linux distribution use to start all the services you have enabled BEFORE starting gdm, kdm or whatever graphical login manager you have. But hey!: when you get to the login, you know that all the system has started. Windows load the GUI before a lot of other services, and thus, when you log in, the system is still "starting".
If you want, you can move the GDM, KDM or whatever to an earlier stage of the boot up process... but if you are like me, that you actually use the services your computer have, you will not like to "wait" until all the services are up in order to start to work.
I hope this explains the difference in the start up speed.
Slashdot Mirror
Hi!
:( ), I think they just have oversized processor and ram size, which is good and bad.
It is hard for an small company to produce low-priced products. I have tried, and even an small and simple device that you could get in the market for around US$80 ~ 100, I can't go under US$150 in sell price.... why?: I'm producing small quantities, maybe if I go to 1000-10000 units at a time, I could go under US$100, or maybe under US$50, but I'm producing very small quantities: about 5 ~ 15 units at a time.
Anyway, when you go embedded, you need to optimize the code a lot in order to reduce memory and processor requirements and reduce the overall cost of your solution. When you reduce processor and memory a lot, you reduce costs, but you also reduce the possibility of expanding your product: that's something many companies do, and that's why you get "cheap" devices, but they are not expandable, many users don't care about that, and the companies know that.
I hasn't reviewed the Wizpy (I'm still looking for the hardware features, but I don't see them
Does anybody knows what are the hardware specifications for the wizpy?
c-ya!
I want one of these batteries. I'm tired of the lead-acid batteries, which are way too heavy and doesn't store that much energy.
I just want to build a huge UPS for my whole house, and need some good batteries.
The main problem I found when I used gentoo is: you can break things for a long period of time while upgrading. I ended with no computer for over 3 hours while I was upgrading, and I DO download all the upgrades before starting the upgrade, so no network problem stops me.
The main problem: the same thing many people says is great in gentoo, the absence of automatic configuration scripts (so, when the configs files changes, you have to change them yourself), and, from time to time, compile-time errors.
The compile time errors, I found to be related to some libraries NOT BEING updated (this was a long time ago, about two years now). and thus, I need to run the emerge's upgrade with a parameter I don't remember, the one you use to force the dependency tree (--deep -r?).
Anyway, I just started to use debian: Debian is cool, but it is sloow to updates, and "stable" is frozen (only security upgrades), but, when you upgrade from one stable to the next, it use to be transparent (apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade , and voilá): I mean, the manual changes that you need to do are minimal.
I actually use debian sid (unstable), beacuase it is updated on a regular basis, and it is really good for desktop usage.
I hop this helps,
Ildefonso Camargo
Hi!
I can explain about the apparent slowness in the "linux" boot.
Your Linux distribution use to start all the services you have enabled BEFORE starting gdm, kdm or whatever graphical login manager you have. But hey!: when you get to the login, you know that all the system has started. Windows load the GUI before a lot of other services, and thus, when you log in, the system is still "starting".
If you want, you can move the GDM, KDM or whatever to an earlier stage of the boot up process... but if you are like me, that you actually use the services your computer have, you will not like to "wait" until all the services are up in order to start to work.
I hope this explains the difference in the start up speed.
c-ya!
Ildefonso Camargo