
486 PC In 5 Cubic Inches? 188
[Dilbert] writes "I saw this first on ArsTechnica. The machine is a 486SX, fully SVGA compatible, 16 meg of ram, 2 16550A serial ports, hda = 16 meg flash, hdb = 340 meg IBM microdrive. Oh yeah, also built-in 10T ethernet, a floppy header, and parallel port. Granted, most of the ports are brought off the main unit via a 68-pin scsi-style cable to a little port board, but the meat of the machine is still tiny.
The manufacturer is Tiqit Computers." Don't lose it in your couch ;)
Re:486?? (Score:1)
Embedded PC (Score:4)
Re:486?? (Score:2)
Depends entirely on the application. Any project where space, power and weight are heavily constrained are potential targets. I thought of a couple: including one of those experimental electric car projects that you find at universities. Data collection and control would be good uses. A 486 is plenty fast enough if you're not running Windows, but finding that much processor horsepower that runs on a total of 7.5 watts is difficult.
How much power does your Athlon chip dissapate?
...phil
Re:Donating a 386 is donating a burden. (Score:1)
Four years ago? My sister teaches in a school where they still use these now.
Re:486 out of production? (Score:1)
Re:Seti Accelerator? (Score:1)
I was under the impression that that a 486 doing nothing else (and from what I heard, NOTHING) could finish a work unit in a day...
Is your machine in active use?
Wiwi
"I trust in my abilities,
Re:Donating a 386 is donating a burden. (Score:1)
Re:modernize my car. (Score:1)
Re:Seti Accelerator? (Score:1)
Re:486?? (Score:2)
All that, and it isn't significantly more expensive than the little 486SX machine. If memory serves, we paid around $2000 for an Expresso with 500MHz Celeron, 128M RAM, 18G hard drive and the CD-ROM docking station.
Re:similar--but better. (Score:2)
http://www.saintsong.com.tw [saintsong.com.tw]
Looks like the prices have come down a little since the one I've seen was purchased as well.
Re:486?? (Score:1)
better, cheaper alternatives (Score:2)
16 meg flash, for desktops? (Score:1)
It would be great to put my kernel and
Re:486?? (Score:1)
Lies (Score:1)
Without the LCD its even thinner.
And the Dragonball ... (Score:2)
Re:How about a pentium os something in a box (Score:1)
Hard drive? Just set up a DHCP server, and have the system set up (through BIOS) to get its kernel and file system (which it would kep in memory) from the server. No hard drive, no floppy drive, or anything. I would ditch the idea of using the USB port for maintenance (just reset the system and get a fresh OS), rather use it for network (or better yet, use fiber).
Did they make the hardware? (Score:1)
It looks like they just made the software for this, and assembled the hardware from elsewhere. I believe the h/w manufacturer is JUMPtec [jumptec.com]. I've been salivating over the tiny machines they make for a while.
Well.... (Score:1)
Going on means going far
Why 340MB? (Score:1)
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Under exciting (Score:1)
-prak
Could be smaller (Score:1)
Re:better, cheaper alternatives (Score:2)
Re:Where did all the geeks go? (Score:2)
http://www.saintsong.com.tw [saintsong.com.tw]
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:1)
Re:486?? (Score:1)
Doesn't that violate export restrictions?
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Re:SlashTroll v0.15 is released! (Score:1)
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:1)
Re:How about an open design system (Score:1)
LART has 32MB DRAM, 4MB Flash ROM, serial, 10BaseT Ethernet (on separate board), PS/2 mouse & keyboard, IDE (44pin laptop IDE) (all on a single separate board, the "Kitchen Sink Board"), and more. Check out this picture: http://www.lart.tudelft.nl/gallery/vt2 20.jpg [tudelft.nl].
486?? (Score:1)
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Re:Donating a 386 is donating a burden. (Score:1)
Beowulf clunker (Score:1)
I think a cluster of $1000 iMacs would severely trounce a matchbox cluster. And it's been done before... Read about it here. [adelaide.edu.au]
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:1)
Palm (Score:1)
Re:486?? (Score:2)
Bigger and faster isn't always better. While I'm not necessarily lining up to go buy one of these 486s, I have to point out that there's a niche for small, reasonably powerful and LOW ENERGY CONSUMPTION machines. What you describe is small and quite powerful, but it WILL NOT RUN on 7.5 watts.
...phil
Re:486?? (Score:1)
Re:486?? (Score:3)
BTW, I think this is damn cool. I just wish things like this were cheaper.
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Re:Novelty aside... (Score:1)
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(-1, Redundant) (Score:5)
Re:Palm (Score:2)
Isn't that a bit personal?
Re:Application? (Score:1)
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:1)
This is a link to the PDF on the 440GP [ibm.com].
And if you don't like PDF, here you go [ibm.com].
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Nice (Score:1)
Oh yeah, an no offense, but I think they mean spelled, not spelt.
Novelty aside... (Score:5)
Yes, for a mere US$1,495.00 you too can own a slow, limited computer that you're likely to sit on, lose in your briefcase, or have your dog eat. Spiffy.
I do have to admit that it's a great design, with lots of potential. PDA's will never be the same - nor will beepers, cell phones, etc. Just put a small projector or LCD screen on the thing, and you've got yourself a backpack (or belt-clip) computer. WONDERFUL. I LOVE it.
But COME ON... for US$1,495.00?!? I'd rather pay an extra $200 and get the OTHER really small computer [apple.com].
Re:486?? (Score:4)
Already done (Score:2)
It could be done at home if you had about $1.2 million (US)dollars worth of tools. (This is new price, you might be able to find used tools for around $400,000 to $600,000 (again USD) A friend of mine has a basic rework iron (Tweezers for resistors/caps/coils) that cost him $650.00 the IR rework station he uses at work costs $5000.00 and that is without the special concetrator/iris to keep from frying the other components.
No, you will not build one of these. Hell I have access to the special tools and I cant. (The multi layer board is impossible at "home")
Re:486?? (Score:1)
troc
Wow (Score:1)
No. But someone had to say it, right? I guess you could get a WHOLE LOT of them in a very small area though. And you thought the G4 Cubes were compact and stackable...
Re:Application? (Score:1)
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Actually... s/os/or my original subject (Score:1)
Re:486?? (Score:2)
While I won't dispute that there might be a niche for the 486 machines where power consumption is extremely critical, I would think it is pretty small, especially when the price and performance of the Expresso is so much better.
Re:Here's a great picture (Score:1)
==========================================
If ignorance is bliss, wipe the smile off my face
Higher Performance Solutions (Score:2)
My personal favorite for embedded computers is Advantech [advantech.com]. For instance, the PCM-5820 [advantech.com] is a 3.5" SBC (It takes up about as much X and Z space (laid flat) as a floppy drive, and it's about half as thick.) I know, Cyrix sucks, but it is a fairly low power pentium-class chip. A cabling kit will cost you another $100 or so, and it has ethernet and (AC97) audio.
If you want to move up into the big time, then they also have SBCs which are 5.25", IE, same X and Z space as a CDROM or something. It goes all the way up to the PCM-9574 [advantech.com] which takes a socket 370 Pentium III, and as it says, "The PCM-9574 is an all-in-one Pentium® III processor single board computer (SBC) with a 2x AGP LCD controller, Audio interface, PCI Fast Ethernet interface and one PCI expansion slot." Using a right-angle PCI riser card, you can add one or two PCI half-length cards sitting just above the motherboard and taking up a very economical amount of space.
By the way, competing in about the same market as the machine this article is about, Their CPC-2245/N [advantech.com] is the same size as a 2.5" hard drive. I don't know what advantech's fetish is with making PCs the size of storage devices, but I guess that's not real important.
Re:TINI: smaller, better, $50 (Score:1)
Sure, it's neat-o and geekworthy that it could be done, but is it practical?
Neat-o. Geekworthy. Impractical. Sure sounds like Slashdot material to me.
< tofuhead >
Re:better, cheaper alternatives (Score:1)
Re:Embedded PC (Score:1)
- Linux Devices [linuxdevices.com]
- Embedded Linux [embeddedlinux.com]
- Embedded Planet [embeddedplanet.com]
There are others, though if you visit the first link you should find all sorts of Linux related emmbedded solutions.
Where did all the geeks go? (Score:1)
Oh my gosh Goddawm expansive (Score:1)
Re:486?? (Score:1)
Uh huh... (Score:1)
Re:Seti Accelerator? (Score:1)
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:2)
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
Re:Application? (Score:1)
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:2)
What's the transistor count of current day processors, and what's the transistor count of the 486 chips? Throwing in a factor for the SRAM, how many 486 processors could we fit on a single die the size of a Pentium III or Athlon?
Re:Application? (Score:2)
486 out of production? (Score:3)
Motorola's 68000 is still out there. Not in Macs but in Sega Genesis machines. It's in A/C's and stereos and all sorts of household electronics. The Zilog Z80 (remember that one?) is still produced. In fact, one is probably looking over your ABS and airbag controls right now... Now, I don't know if I'd trust an Intel CPU (non-embedded that is; their embedded chips are fine) with life or limb, but there's plenty of room for it. Consumer electronics. A dedicated compression processor for digital telephony, HDTV, or a dedicated firewall box to go with your cable modem.
Re:486?? (Score:1)
While the hardware might be antiquated, it can still be used to show what the innards of such systems are supposed to look like. (They're standard IBM-style cases.)
Or, the obBeowulf.
later
Hmm (Score:1)
Hmmm... (Score:1)
They vouch for themselves? Well, that's reassuring...
Re:486?? (Score:1)
I dunno about the shuttle.
Re:Small systems for cable/dsl (Score:2)
I have one and it's brilliant; it requires no external power, you can control it easily from the keyboard and you can run your display at 1600x1200 at high refresh rates with no loss of clarity. I could almost swear that mouse response is cleaner and snappier too.
The case of the unit is a little flimsy, but apart from that I have not found any other weak points in this product. It seems just perfect really.
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
Re:Donating a 386 is donating a burden. (Score:1)
However...The (60 minutes) overhead to completely wipe a hard drive, then reinstall a cheap network card, whatever OS and a low overhead web browser (ie-opera) is too much? Burn-in and go. If it dies, take another CPU/monitor/keyboard/mouse off the "just fixed" pile. Availability through redundancy.
Addition (in lots) to the existing school equipment auction would at least get it into someone else's hands and free up space. You see a dusty pile; someone else sees usable or repairable monitors; someone else sees a pile of rare-earth magnets and stepper motors; someone else is hoping you didn't pull all the memory and hard drives.
About noone here on Slashdot learned programming on anything faster than a 486.
John (crusty old auction / hamfest veteran)
Re: Flamebait (Score:1)
A hint for the moderators out there... if it has a smiley face, at least consider the fact that it is meant as "funny," not as "flame" or "troll."
And for the rest of the moderators, follow the second moderators example - if you see something that was unfairly moderated, mod it back up! A post that is genuinely brilliant will be modded up by someone - but not enough moderators will overturn another moderators trend.
Re:modernize my car. (Score:2)
Nah. Better off just to port a fuel injection system from something more modern onto your vintage car.
I've got a 1974 Plymouth Valiant Brougham with a Slant-6. I've got most of the EFI system from a 1995 Jeep Cherokee with a 4.0L engine, and I'm well along the path towards getting it running.
The only part that I anticipate real trouble with, is actually recalibrating how the computer reads the mass airflow sensor, since at a given engine speed and throttle position, the slightly smaller Slant-6 won't inhale quite as much air... :)
For troubleshooting, just use a diagnostic cable (available from the dealer) and a notebook computer.
Why build it, when it's already done for you?
No, wait, I'm just asking for something else to break down on my car.Heheheheh... You are, after all, talking about British cars. Probably no matter how badly you kludge any additions together, they'll probably still be more robust and reliable than Lucas Electrics.
Here's a thought, if you're handy, your car troubles you, and originality isn't an issue: Rewire it. It's not that tough.
Figure out how to mount a 1980 or so GM alternator onto your engine. They're great, and the American/Canadian GM alternators have built in regulators. Literally, run the positive lead to the battery, and it works. Run another lead to a lightbulb on the dashboard and you'll know when it doesn't work.
GM also had the best distributors at about that time, and I know that there are mounting kits out there that will let you use the GM HEI system on almost all American engines, as well as many imports (VW Beetle, Volvo, etc). Drop the distributor into the engine, connect the spark plug leads, run a wire from the B pin on the bottom of the distributor cap to the positive terminal on the battery, and it will work. (Add an ignition switch in there somewhere for practicality.)
I'd reserve that little 486 for running the large LED sign that you could build right into the trunklid, across the back of your car, telling people to get off your tail when they get too close. I wonder how it would feel to drill holes for a 16 x 160 LED matrix into my trunk...
<grin>
Re:better, cheaper alternatives (Score:2)
Re:Seti Accelerator? (Score:2)
PC 104's Baby... (Score:2)
What would I do with these you ask? Everything from motor control (for an additional $200 bucks) to some small data aquisition and processing (up to $500 bucks if you want something real special), perhaps some RS-485 communications ($200 bucks) to specialized hardware.
Regardless, I can build a whole system which has a lot of functionality for a whole hellova lot cheaper. No I don't get dazzling graphics and/or performance, but if you're purchasing a 486, thats probably not what you're looking for.
Could I do this with Windows CE? Honestly I don't know... I've never used it, I don't know what the code-bloat is like for it.
a system like this is probably 3.5x4x3 (with cabling) excluding a power supply... which you can work around on many apps... I can fit this in a whole lotta places.
For my apps, a G4 would be like using a 50lb sledge hammer when I'm looking for a jewlers hammer.
Application: web server in every appliance (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
Applicable Laws; Not for Resale. You agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the various states and of the United States. You agree and represent that you are buying for your own personal or internal use only, and not for resale.
I thought US law had the 'right of first sale'?
Seti Accelerator? (Score:2)
A 486 should be able to finish a unit in about a day right?
Wiwi
Wiwi
"I trust in my abilities,
modernize my car. (Score:3)
Re:Geez, how much CPU power to you need to teach? (Score:2)
The school gets grants (usually around election time) for the new computers it uses to teach. These grants already pay for new computers and the people required to install them. These systems come configured and customized to fit the school's needs, without bothering with 300 non-standard systems that rarely arrive in working order. The school doesn't get any grants to pull old systems out of storage and try to get them all to work they way we need them to. In the end, it is more expensive for the school to try and implement donated systems than it is to accept government grants for new ones.
Sure, it would be more a efficient use of tax dollars just to take those old ones out, but the school isn't concerned with that. Sure, a 486 could be used for most classroom purposes (and in some cases they are; most of the classrooms without new computers already have old ones), but so can an iMac, so we might as well use the newer option while we have it.
We don't need new computers. We don't need computers at all. But they're here, we've got 'em, and what's wrong with using them? Why should we be forced to use the random 386 you finally decided to dispose of, when the politicians feel like throwing money at kids?
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Re:Donating a 386 is donating a burden. (Score:2)
Good luck.
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Re:Novelty aside... (Score:4)
Do you even know how many thousands of embedded devices there are running on 486 chips? Do you know the power consumption of a 486 compared to a Pentium? How 'bout heat? Now tell me where size really matters - when you've got a big desk with space for a computer, or in an embedded device with 5 cubic inches to spare in the design?
This isn't about a backpack computer. It's not about a belt clip computer. I already have one of those [palm.com]. This is an embedded device! Get it through your skull!
</troll feeding>
Donating a 386 is donating a burden. (Score:2)
We got a rather large "Digital Highschool" grant a while back, specifically devoted to buying new computers. With it, the school bought enough computers to fill at least two new computer labs that I can recollect (one group of 300mhz PCs for a computer-literacy/typing class and one set of iMacs for the library), and when I last left they were planning more new purchases. The science department specifically got some sort of grant that paid for two roaming sets of iBooks to share amongst several classes.
All this money and all these new computers, and about 200-300 486 or older PCs sitting around in various storage rooms waiting to be shuffled off to some place else while they just get older. The school can't sell them because no one wants them and it can't throw them away because someone thinks they're more valuable than they really are.
So, when you donate that old clunky 486 and think it's going to be used, think again. The school doesn't have the time or the money to homogenize and install 300 old computers that were sitting in someone's closet. If you really want to help the school out, sell the computer at a garage sale and donate the money.
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Re:Novelty aside... (Score:2)
Do up a 486 on a
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Re:486?? (Score:2)
No, it's $1500 for a REALLY TINY, REALLY LOW POWER 486. Don't compare it to running down to your local screwdriver shop and buying a $100 motherboard and a $75 Celeron, because you're talking two entirely different critters here.
...phil
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:2)
this is a cool idea and everything, but.... (Score:2)
TINI: smaller, better, $50 (Score:3)
Dallas [dalsemi.com] is giving away their OS, apps, docs, schematics, and source for free from their site.
I'm surprised that the TINI never made it on Slashdot before. Who cares about 486-that-fits-in-my-pants-and-costs-as-much-as-a-P C systems when you can do just about the same for much less? Sure, it's neat-o and geekworthy that it could be done, but is it practical?
Re:Nice (Score:2)
Gentle Slashdot authors, there's a "Search" button at the bottom of each Slasdot page. Please use it.
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Re:Embedded PC (Score:2)
I build robots for a hobby and chase every interesting SBC out there. You can get just as much or a whole lot more for a lot cheaper.
Although in the robot clubs it is becoming common place to use a PC motherboard for brains, if size isn't an issue. (Size and battery power are one thing, but money is a bigger issue)
Re:Novelty aside... (Score:3)
Small systems for cable/dsl (Score:3)
1: A firewall, running nothing else.
2: A box on a DMZ, for any services you want to offer for incoming connections, perhaps SSH for yourself, at the very least.
3: A dedicated logging box.
Plus a fourth box, if you want proxies or the like. I also find mod_roaming and a local IMAP server handy if the desktop is dual boot. Maybe these could be safely be put on Box 2, above, but a purist would probably say not.
This is a lot of boxes, even if old 486's are cheap. It's starting to run into a lot of floor space and electricity. I like the idea of these tiny computers for this role. All 4 desired computers should be able to be packed into the space of one regular sized unit.
Too bad the subject system costs $1500.
Is there anything fairly small, but very cheap? I keep seeing talk of 1U rack mount cases, but those are pretty pricey, themselves.
Good commercialization of a class project (Score:3)
I spent some time with these two modules - the JumpTec PC and Ethernet/Video combo. It looks like they spent a lot of time minimizing the board layouts so that they could drop the pins between them and plunk on a microdrive - very slick!
Yes, believe it or not, you CAN install Windows 95 on this thing - a friend of mine (who now works at M$, RIP) loaded it on ours and said it was the "cleanest install I've ever done". Who'd of thought? :)
Here's a great picture (Score:4)
http://www.tiqit.com/icons/plugged2.jpg [tiqit.com] is the great picture. The same as above, but enlarged about 2x.
Re:(-1, Redundant) (Score:4)
Re:Old News (Score:2)
Re:Small systems for cable/dsl (Score:5)
Yep, heres what you do. Get on eBay and look for laptops that have broken LCD screens, 486 and pentium class. It doesn't matter if the battery is crap either, since you won't be using it. Hook up an external monitor for installation of the OS.
You can stack 4 laptops in about the space one desktop style case would take up, and it is a lot cheaper than buying one of these embedded computers, even once you add in the cost of the PCMCIA ethernet cards.
A 4 port KVM switch completes the package, so you only need one KB, monitor and mouse to access all 5, without taking a bunch of plugs out each time.
The 4 port KVM switch is about 200, each laptop maybe 100, another 150-200 for ethernet cards. Depending on what you have laying around, it might be another 100 or so for power supplies.
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