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World's Smallest Linux Box Fits in RJ-45 Jack
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Mar 28, 2005 06:09 PM
from the nearly-swallowable dept.
from the nearly-swallowable dept.
An anonymous reader writes "German electronics company Kleinhenz is shipping a network-enabled Linux system built into an RJ-45 Ethernet jack. "Picotux" has a 55MHz ARM processor, 2MB of Flash, 8MB of RAM, a serial port, and five lines of GPIO. It measures 0.75 x 0.75 x 1.4 inches (19 x 19 x 36mm), and weighs 0.64 ounces (18 grams), packaged in a metal housing. A wireless 802.11 version appears to be on the horizon, too. So, if you've ever wanted to network-enable, say, a robot, boombox, or model airplane, this could be the system for you." Is this really the world's smallest? It looks a bit chunkier than a tiny gumstix machine.
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it's all about size (Score:5, Informative)
picotux: 19x19x36mm (12.996 cc), 18 grams
gumstix: 20x6.3x80mm (10.080 cc), 12 grams?
packaged gumstix: 36x15x83mm (44.820 cc), ?? grams
Okay, so the gumstix is smaller. But the picotux has built-in eth [gumstix.org].
Re:it's all about size (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
The picotux is actually smaller than the gumstix. (Score:5, Funny)
Which is smaller - a gumstix or a sheet of paper ? If you say it's the gumstix, then the picotux is smaller.
Otherwise it does not make sense! The german postal service says the picotux is smaller, so the picotux is smaller; but what do shipping fees in Germany, which are paid in Euro, have to do with the size of the gumstix in comparison to the picotux ? And why am I comparing it to mice which are mammals which are rodents of the genus Mus as computer input devices ? It does not make sense.
Therefore you must admit the picotux is smaller.
Parent
Re:it's all about size (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
This isn't exactly a Blade server... (Score:5, Interesting)
For only Eur 99, though, a fair deal if you need a whole lot of tiny servers for something. Who needs virtual servers, when you can stick real ones at the end of each ethernet cable?
Firewall in the port (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Firewall in the port (Score:5, Funny)
That thing will NEVER pass an evil packet!
Parent
Power (Score:5, Interesting)
I could see a use for the wifi+serial setup, you could put this on older serial based nodes and remotely access them. Big market for HVAC when everyone wants them to replace hardware. Our schools here in the Washington state is saving millions by using linux and other technology than going with Honeywell or some other company to rip out the entire system and replace with modern (aka expensive) controls.
A wifi serial setup would be cool, to pop in a router, and then access via my laptop, so I dont have to run a wire when I'm testing or racking it up.
Lots of uses. Very cool idea.
Cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
a: For the wired version: Support for Power over Ethernet. This way, separate power isn't needed in many installations.
b: A single USB port for both versions.
Do those both and you now have a general purpose wired and wireless glue for attaching pretty much arbitrary devices to the network.
Not new - Digi Connect ME (Score:5, Informative)
Dunno what Kleinhenz is shipping, but I'm gussing it's just the DCME with uClinux flashed onto it. Nothing new here.
IIRC, old newsgroup threads when these came out suggest the quantity cost is ~$50/ea, so this product's convenience comes at a bit of a premium.
Re:Not new - Digi Connect ME (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Great build-environment for Gumstix' (Score:5, Informative)
In addition they have a Wiki-page which has a nice tutorial (I must know it, I wrote it;) and other helpful tips.
Add to that: cutting edge software (latest Linux kernel and gcc) and bluetooth (do you remember the bluetooth-sniper from some days ago? It was based on a Gumstix).
Really cool!
Cool Idea. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cool Idea. (Score:5, Interesting)
Then it truly will be a "bump in the cable" as one person said.
Parent
Dual-End it (Score:5, Interesting)
-Charles
How about... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yes but will it run Windows N (Score:5, Funny)
Dunno. But it might run Windows T: The official OS of Bosco Baracus. I pity the foo' who don't run dat version!
Parent
Breaking the law, breaking the law (Score:5, Insightful)
True, it's no workstation, but still the specs are enough to leak trade secrets across the Internet, and the size is such that the bug may go unnoticed by your employer's IT maintenance department. So if you are infiltrating an "evil" company and you value your afterlife more than you value your life, go for it!
Parent
Re:Expensive. (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. This is an embedded systems solution, not a desktop replacement. If you play in that world than you knwo 100 euros is quite inexpensive.
The PC is just too big, too fragile, too power-hungry and too unreliable for a lot of tasks where these tiny machines could be used--even if the computational power-to-price ratio is so much larger for the PC. People in the automation world probably remember a few years ago how the PC-based "soft PLC" would reduce costs and replace all those proprietary, expensive traditional PLCs. Never happened and never will because PCs are too general purpose and inefficient. To this day all I've ever used software-based PLCs for is simulation.
For those who are unaware, PLCs, or Programmable Logic Controllers, are esentially purpose-built embedded computer systems used to monitor and control industrial equipment. The bulk of them today are about as powerful as a 286 PC or even less and they cost as much as or more than a high-end PC. Despite that, the hardware and firmware/software in a PLC is designed from the ground up for deterministic, hard-real-time operation and I/O intensive applications. They also do not have processor fans, hard drives and other unreliable mechanical parts.
That is why these tiny Linux machines are so interesting--even if they cannot do as much as a PC or are more expensive. They could be the beginning of a standard, truly open platform for embedded systems. If the processor unit can fit in an RJ45 jack, then in the future we could do away with racks of PLCs and make field equipment control itself. The stuff I can imagine is mind boggling to say the least.
Parent
small == expensive (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, I guess every laptop in the world is also overpriced, being less powerful and more expensive than a similar desktop.
Mods are sniffing glue today...
Parent
Pulp Fiction (Score:5, Funny)
"This picotux. This picotux was in your Daddy's pocket when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured and put in a Vietnamese prison camp. Now he knew if the gooks ever saw the picotux it'd be confiscated. The way your Daddy looked at it, that picotux was your birthright. And he'd be damned if and slopeheads were gonna put their greasy yella hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide somethin'. His ass. Five long years, he wore this picotux up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the picotux. I hid with uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the picotux to you."
Parent
A 1-character LCD Screen... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Oh, quite cool! (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't have to store much if it can open an outbound network connection to something with logging.
Parent
Re:New IT problems (Score:5, Funny)
Once, one of the finance people asked me, half jokingly, "So is this Linux a piece of shit or what?"
I replied: It is. we use it for the fertilizer your paycheck grows in.
I mark that moment as the turning point when linux went from skepticism to aceeptance in my company.
Parent
Re:Yet, that is not small enough. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent