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Hardware

Paperweight or Computer? You Decide! 96

Posted by michael from the looks-like-a-pencil-sharpener-to-me dept.
Swaza1 writes: "While looking for something else I came across this embedded system at Web Techniques, which looks a lot like a paperweight I have on my desk. Good golly ... Intrinsyc included 10BaseT, serial, and USB ports on it and it comes in Windows CE or LINUX flavors. When can I get a system in the shape of Snoopy-sleeping-on-his-doghouse desk lamp for my kid?"
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Paperweight or Computer? You Decide! More

Paperweight or Computer? You Decide!

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  • Re:Add a 6GB micro drive to this thing (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Drop in a 6GB IBM micro drive, and you've got ...
    According to IBM's microdrive information it only comes in 170MB, 240MB and 1GB sizes. Where's the 6GB drive?

    see http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/micro /prodinfo.htm

  • Looks pretty snazzy but it looks an awful lot like the G4 cube. How long do you think it will be before Apple comes along trying to stop them from using the design?

    Um, the G4 Cube also resembles the Cobalt Qube. Apple isn't going to be suing anybody.

    --

  • Looking at the price, and the hardware, I think this is just a box with a Compaq iPAQ inside (folded in half, probably).

    -Paul Komarek
  • Y'know... I've always wanted the usefulness of a computer and a paperweight rolled into one. With this little device, I can keep my papers in order, and still have some cycles to spare. And it won't take up my desk like that pesky AT paperweight did.

    All kidding aside, it looks like a very sweet device. Curious though why it only offers Windows CE and Linux, and not the full blown version of Windows. Maybe it's slow enough that loading something other than CE might turn it into a real paperweight (or might tax the processor enough to ignite any papers left under it).

  • Pictures of Boxes That Small (Score:5)

    by dew ( 3680 ) <davidNO@SPAMweekly.org> on Saturday June 02, 2001 @01:37AM (#182417) Homepage Journal
    I went to the RSA 2001 Conference up in San Francisco, and the Embedded Systems Conference was just across the street, so I dropped by with my digital camera. I managed to take several pictures of these boxes in various form factors. You may (or may not) be interested.

    David E. Weekly [weekly.org]

  • Too bad whoever produces those ads couldn't be bothered to worry about the audio portion. Even knowing it's supposed to be "BlackRocket", I still hear it as "flatrock", and wind up thinking of cows instead of computers.

  • Or, to put it in different terms, the Linux being preloaded onto these cubes is free as in beer, and not free as in speech.

    I think yoiu got that backwards

  • Well, your keyboard isn't that small. Who cares if the main tower/cpu/whatever becomes microscopic?

    So, unless you're doing something funky and inadvisable to your motherboard on a regular basis with your gigantic digits....

  • Re:Why not both? (Score:3)

    by edhall ( 10025 ) <slashdot@weirdnoise.com> on Friday June 01, 2001 @09:33PM (#182421) Homepage
    Curious though why it only offers Windows CE and Linux, and not the full blown version of Windows.

    Probably because Windows only runs on the i386 architecture and not StrongARM. WinCE, like Linux, does run on that chip (as does NetBSD, though probably not on this specific box).

    Maybe it's slow enough that loading something other than CE might turn it into a real paperweight

    Actually, I'd expect it to be pretty snappy, probably about as fast as a 200MHz Pentium. Of course, 32MB RAM and only a 16MB Flash as a storage device keeps it from being generally useful, but the StrongARM is a pretty powerful chip, especially considering its low power requirements.

    -Ed
  • Apple's mistake is that they didn't make an ugly little titanium box instead of that sexy 8" lucite cube with the rounded edges.

    Wadda you think? Razor sharp edges, a blue corodized finish and the plugs on the bottom and the Cube can sell now?

    If you want to sell it in Vegas, dimple it and make it look like a die? (Hell sell pair of 'em!)
  • CE costs about 15-25 per license in bulk, so the difference is negligable.

    We must have different definitions of neglible. The $25 will have to be marked up by the time it gets into your hands so then it's $50, sounds like 10% of the retail cost to me. They also have to worry about the costs of complying with Microsoft's ever-more-stringent license requirements, including the risk of having to submit to the corporate equivalend of a strip-search on a moment's notice. These costs also have to be passed along to you.

    They probably hope to make a slightly larger margin on that one maybe?

    They'd be a lot better off passing the savings along to the customer and building up some goodwill/volume. In no time, their user community will be doing the Linux support for them, not to mention advertising.
    --

  • All kidding aside, if you hooked up an external USB hardrive to it, it might run windows off of that. Then it would suck like Billg and Jenna Bush on an illigitimate date. Why waste a perfectly good device with windows?

    Just get one of IBM's CF microdrives, and plug it into a CF port.

  • As long as you can connect everything you need to it, then it doesn't really matter how small it gets. Anyhow, considering tha this is meant to be a server, the only two connectors you need is power and ethernet. Admin can be done remotely, in fact if there was some sort of network aware firmware in the thing, you could probably even reinstall remotely.
  • Given this is meant to be a server product, I am surprised by the lack of IEEE 1394 or SCSI ports for high-speed external storage solutions. Sure USB B is included, but this technology still depends on the processor for its work, while the other two mentioned technologies don't. Maybe they are waiting for the IEEE 1394b solutions to hit the market.
  • No, if you take the computer out of your car, your car doesn't work, and you have some electronics in a pile.

  • Yay. (Score:3)

    by mindstrm ( 20013 ) on Saturday June 02, 2001 @03:03AM (#182428)
    Abuse of the word 'embedded'.
    $500 is a wee bit pricey for something with no real power.

    Embedded systems does not mean 'small'.... you could think of it as a computer inside something that is not a computer. This is not an embedded system; this is a small PC in a tiny box.
    An embedded system is the computer in your car, the computer in the alarm panel, the circuits that run the elevator, the controller in your Boomslang 2000 mouse, and the guts of your digital thermostat.

  • One look at that title and I thought he was talking about my old 386... print server or paperweight? You decide...

    Now I'm just waiting till they build a computer in the hot new "doorstop" form-factor... ;)

  • Somehow, for a design decision like that, finding out a problem with LART seems curiously appropriate :-)

    http://tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/LART.ht ml for those who don't know what I'm talking about...
  • It uses the Intel StrongARM processor. To the best of my knowledge, Windows 9x/NT/2k have never been ported to the StrongARM. Win CE on the other hand has been ported StrongARM as well as many other platforms.

  • Watchout for that USB (Score:5)

    by victim ( 30647 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @09:57PM (#182432)
    That USB is a `B' type connector. In other words you can plug it into your host computer as a peripheral. You can not plug USB devices into it. It is not a simple wiring difference.

    That will rule out all those nifty USB peripherals that you might want to plug into this device. So long to cameras, printers, audio devices, keyboards, controllers....

    I suppose it could be useful for initial programming, but I suspect the only reason it is there is that it is on the SA1110 chipset (which is aimed at handhelds). I also recall that the USB implementation on the SA1110 has (or had) some sort of congenital problem. I believe you would find more in the LART [tudelft.nl] archives. (Which is also available now, but at something like twice this price and no cool aluminium box, but a fully open sourced hardware design.)

    (Ok, against all slashdot culture, I have done my own research and looked up the aforementioned USB problem. It is the SA1100 which could only be used as a slave, and it had to be the only device on the bus for it to work as documented in the errata. I don't know if the SA1110 has this problem or not. Intel app note [intel.com] here.)
  • You're right, it's not writing to its screen properly last I heard. However, Jamey also found a place where the wrong GPIO bit was being used, so that might be the breakthrough.
    -russ
  • A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399. Add $40 for the CF sleeve plus $60 for Ethernet, and you've got one of these puppies PLUS a display and digitizer. For no additional cost. Could somebody explain to me again why this product is so wonderful?
    -russ
  • Black Rocket is a collection of products and services tossed together by Genuity [genuity.com] (formerly BBN of ARPANET) to get a commercial site up in 10-14 days. The toy rocket is an expensive visual marketing tool created by these overpaid genuises [spiralmedia.com].
  • I have worked with the Intrinsyc board. It's pretty cool, nicely built. Certainly, a real USB connector would be nice.

    With that said, their support was VERY poor. The main contact had one response to all questions: "Why would you want to do that?"

    Also, watch out for the flash. It is VERY easy to overwrite the boot block. If you do this then you will have a paperweight unless you build/buy a JTAG adapter and hack around a bit.

    If you want cool hardware, get an iPAQ and throw Linux on it.
  • Does it actually include CE? Or, do you have to get it from MS (i.e. Platform builder)?
  • The issue is if you accidently overwrite the boot block. If you do that the only way to fix it is to flash via the JTAG port. Has nothing to do with the boot loader itself.
  • If you take the computer out of your car, does i cease to be "embedded"?

  • There a Slash [slashcode.com] based site for the Cube here [intrinsyc.com].

  • Thanks!

    And notice that I accidently hit the 'post anoymously' button... now, if that were a mission critical button, I would have screwed some mission critical server. Luckily, I was reading ./ , and my servers were once again spared an untimely demise.

    Slashdot saves the day again. I owe you beer!

    -= Stefan
  • Not to mention portability (battery). Cube does look kind of cool though. It's hypnotic.
  • this isn't actually "meant" to be a server at all. Intrinsyc is a consulting company, and this board is just a base that they use for many of their customer designs. putting it into a neat-looking cube was only for the demoabilty, and they're only selling it because they got a lot of people asking them if they could buy one. that's it. they're expensive because they're not made in volume but they're also not trying to make any serious income off of it. it's a proof-of-concept box, nothing more. (and it is pretty cool -- you should see it in "real life")

    - j
  • And notice that I accidently hit the 'post anoymously' button... now, if that were a mission critical button, I would have screwed some mission critical server. Luckily, I was reading ./ , and my servers were once again spared an untimely demise.

    Sounds like I could make a killing by selling Ren and Stimpy-inspired "DO NOT PUSH" stickers to put on all the buttons on mission critical servers. I hate it when people push mission critical buttons.

    Gum "mission critical, if you know what I mean" bo

  • Okay, so it's running embedded Linux.

    Where's their source code? I didn't notice it on their site.

  • Another AC idiot. Go read the bloody GPL over at http://www.gnu.org [gnu.org].

    Anyone distributing the binary is required to make the source available themselves, not to rely on a third party. They are required to make a written offer for the source, and to make the source available to third parties.

    Furthermore, do you really think that they used a vanilla kernel? They must also distribute their modifications.

    How about all the other components they used to make up the distribution? Any of those which are covered by the GPL must also be provided in source form.

    If you don't comprehend this, you're cordially invited to use Redmond products until you expire.

    If they don't comprehend this, they'll have fun in court -- and be left with only buggy Windows and a reputation in tatters.

  • CE costs about 15-25 per license in bulk, so the difference is negligable. They probably hope to make a slightly larger margin on that one maybe?

  • Hey, shove it up a stuffed penguin's butt. (Score:3)

    by twivel ( 89696 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @08:28PM (#182449)
    I'm serious, would be cool to have a linux one with the outside being a stuffed penguin. Since it's the size of a paper weight, it wouldn't be too difficult to do the fitting.

  • Pricing question (Score:4)

    by GrEp ( 89884 ) <crb002&gmail,com> on Friday June 01, 2001 @08:23PM (#182450) Homepage Journal
    Why is the Linux version the same price as the WinCE version? Is M$ giving CE away for free, or am I missing something?

    bash-2.04$
  • Diamond Systems makes a PC/104 board that seems equally if not more powerful than this, with a smaller footprint.

    Check it out at http://www.diamondsystems.com/prometheus.htm [diamondsystems.com]
  • Now, instead of having to dry wall a computer server in to lose it, it'll conveniently run away from you and hide in a closet.

    Then, there's the `No, I don't want to be halt(8)ed. Get away from me!' feature.

  • Actually...if we wanna get technical about things. Windows NT ran on Alpha also up until Windows 2000 RC1, i still have Windows 2000 beta 3 for Alpha processors, although it was never released to the public....not that anyone would want to run it. And also, even though the StrongARM processor in this machine is probably 206mhz it really don't compare to a Pentium of similar mhz.
  • If you wanna see one for real, pop over to booth 1505 at JavaOne next week in San Fransisco. Damian Mehers (Intrinsyc)
  • "How can you look someone in the face and tell them that you might have given them something that would eventually kill them?"

    You mean like what a mother would say to her newborn child?
  • Looks pretty snazzy but it looks an awful lot like the G4 cube. How long do you think it will be before Apple comes along trying to stop them from using the design? IIRC they already did that to people copying the iMac design, so the same will probably hold true for this machine which is very unfortunate. Then again who knows, it's much smaller than a cube and doesn't use the opaque plastic so maybe they will ignore this? Let's hope so.

  • Re:A monochrome iPAQ only costs $399 (Score:3)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @08:55PM (#182457) Journal

    Well, while your at it... an old 486 costs $20. It probably consumes a lot more power, but hey I live in Virginia where electricity isn't a problem. So, if I wanted a cheap server, I'd be scrounging through the parts store. Actually, I wouldn't even have to do that. I've got a P-75 just sitting on the floor in the next room doing nothing. Hmmmm... I wonder if I'm contributing to the tech slowdown. Yes, umm... the little cube thingies are great. Buy them by the truckload, then hire me.

  • But the more you admonish people not to push them, the more tempted they'd be to push the "jolly, candy-like" mission critical buttons.
  • In case your knee was jerking around when you wrote that comment, read the specs: it's running Windows CE, not Win 9X.
    --
  • Did anyone else notice that in the Linux version of this, they include server software? Yeah, I'm sure that's one hella of a server, all 27 cubic inches of it.
  • Probably because even though linux is "Free" there is still "cost" associated with developing, customizing, supporting and deploying it. Once again, for the record - linux and associated "Free" software does come with a "self-price", but does come with "time-price" which translates into real dollars.

    Or, to put it in different terms, the Linux being preloaded onto these cubes is free as in beer, and not free as in speech.

    ---
    Check in...(OK!) Check out...(OK!)
  • So close to my dream device....
  • From their site... San Jose, Ca - MediaSolv announced today that it has designed a low cost PDA that will enable real time access and management of e-mail, calendar, contacts and other personal information. The PDA to be demonstrated at the CommunicAsia 2001 tradeshow in Singapore in June, will cost as little as $25. This PDA is essentially proof of concept for the company's Bluetooth enabled ETHERchip technology, a working prototype of which was demonstrated at a wireless show in New York early this year. ETHERchip is a complete system on chip (SoC), with embedded ARM processor, memory, control circuitry, system software and Bluetooth radio. The application on board provides personal information management (PIM) functionality with provision for deployment of other custom features. Usability is enhanced by the introduction of MediaSolv's sKeyTM technology, a predictive text scheme tailored for the Internet PIM environment. The design is also capable of accepting remote firmware updates whilst providing a channel for device controls, maintenance and related tasks. The Bluetooth radio onboard ETHERchip will connect to the Internet using any gateway within the personal area network (PAN). Bluetooth Internet gateways include those announced by several mobile phone and PC manufacturers as well as purpose built devices from companies such as Red-M, Ericsson and Invtentel. The ETHERchip solution is available on an OEM basis, with server side functionality made possible by MediaSolv's server suites, which provide access to messaging and groupware functionality via any WEB or WAP browser. "MediaSolv is a software company and we are not in the business of building PDAs or slicing silicon wafers"said Vasee Nesiah, CEO of MediaSolv. "The embeddable functionality in ETHERchip allows us to go beyond the WEB, WAP and Desktop environments that we already reach and provide a new platform for device and appliance manufacturers, service providers and also other software developers to carve out new business models and revenue potential." The $25 PDA to be demonstrated, as proof of concept, at CommunicAsia in June will embody the virtues of Bluetooth, embedded applications and MediaSolv's messaging and groupware suites. The PDA, and ETHERchip itself, will be available as a reference design to manufacturers and service providers who seek greater subscriber stickiness, value addition and unprecedented differentiation in the market. About MediaSolv: San Jose based MediaSolv is a member of the Bluetooth SIG and a privately held corporation dedicated to pioneering the development of WEB, WAP and BLUETOOTH applications for the Windows(r) and Unix environments. The company employs over 140 staff in USA, Sri Lanka and Singapore. MediaSolv is headquartered at 111 N.Market Street Suite 1000-11, San Jose, CA 95113. www.mediasolv.com
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Comment removed (Score:4)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @08:28PM (#182465)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Wow! Imagine I could keep the HTTP server in the kid's room! Now I gotta tell the kid that he can't play with it else Dad's web server is going to lose its uptime and he would get some "downtime" grounded!

  • Potential core for a robot? (Score:4)

    by dstone ( 191334 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @08:36PM (#182467) Homepage
    Cut the power cord and add some motors and wheels. You could plug the little guy into your LAN and telnet into it (sorry, SSH into it) for programming, etc.
  • Yes, but the same could be said for any OS, including Windows CE. If an experienced Linux developer were creating both of these devices, I would expect that the costs of development would be lower for the Linux version.

    I assume that you meant to go one step further and say something like this: For these developers and for this product, the costs of development, customization, et. al. were higher for the Linux version, and that this difference balances out the higher licensing cost of Windows CE.
  • i've often thought of the idea of starting to ship computers in specialized shaped cases, vanity cases or something... like a crazy pirateship or some such...

  • hmm (Score:2)

    by vectus ( 193351 )
    how long before apple sues them for making a cubic computer?
  • OK i could see this setup: my DSL modem into my SMC barricade into this cube, then a wireless NIC to my epods. I could leave my PC off - this device only using ~400ma (x120V = 48 watts vs my 200-300W PC) would make it ideal.

    Although I agree it's not much more of a device than an IPaq. and it is $500 as well. My 486 was free, runs standard x86 RH7.1, and has a parallel port, way more disk space, etc. Not as pretty, but the price was right.
  • WE ARE THE BORG. We had the cube first. We will assimlate your linux. Resistance is futile. We eat little pieces of sh*t like Steve Jobs for breakfast. Wait no - we do not eat little piece of sh*t for breakfast. All your cube are belong to us.
  • The Cerf Cube [intrinsyc.com] price has been cut to $299 until 7/13/01. That brings the cost/coolness ratio under my limit. Mine should be here Monday.
  • Does he mean a literal paperweight or is it a diss on Apple's G4 cube?

    --
  • If it can only offer me this, and no OS X, then it is a paperweight!

    Get used to it -- you're going to hear more comments like this in times to come.

  • Great, then maybe you and the other Linux user can have some friends. :-)
  • They need a case with a texture and colour like a Borg cube.

    Then you could build them up in a larger cube. Cabling might be a problem however. Add some sort of data/power buss with connectors on each face?(You'd have to feed power in at various points of the cube.)

    It would certainly bring back some of the dominating impressiveness that old Big Iron had!

    "And this, gentlemen, is the company's Borg Super Cube Computer." "Oooooo!"

    I like it!
  • Now can we get a distributed.net [distributed.net] client built for this soon? I mean with all these internet appliances, we could at least maybe generate some prime numbers in our spare time! :)
    Sam
    --
    "The Son of God became a man to enable man to become sons of God."
  • You don't need FPU for rc5, though... it's an integer-based solution to symetric cryptography. (That's why G3's still blow pentiums out of the water with it.) As for the primes, that I'll concede. :)

    Sam
    --
    "The Son of God became a man to enable man to become sons of God."
  • you read the Bible?

    ________________________________________________ __
  • This would make an awsome router if there were some way to give it network connectivity. A few thoughts for it's potential use
    DNS Server
    Modular switch
    router
    Firewall
    VLAN bridge
    Print server
    etc

    that is, assuming you or your .org can afford it.
    maybe if they dropped the price by $395 I'd even buy one.

    Maskirovka

    Karma Pimp is opening a new Karma Brothel, and is seeking to hire between seven and ten Karma Whores. Prior experiance prefered, but not mandatory; will train person(s) who express the right degree of enthusiasm. All applicants must demonstrate a professional attitude, and be people oriented. Must also pass mandatory drug, M$, and STDs test. Call FE-9D-FFAA during normal working hours.
  • Curious though why it only offers Windows CE and Linux, and not the full blown version of Windows.

    It has 32 mb RAM and 16mb of FLASH. It'd run windows about as well as a wad of thermite in my propane tank. Sheesh.

    All kidding aside, if you hooked up an external USB hardrive to it, it might run windows off of that. Then it would suck like Billg and Jenna Bush on an illigitimate date. Why waste a perfectly good device with windows?
  • Does anyone know if Borg Vessels can run linux? I'd like to find out, since this one comes close to resembling a Borg cube.

    Seeka
  • Time to get out one of those tacky sixties phones and see if you can build a web server inside it. Failing that maybe there's room in the bottom of a lava lamp. Perhaps it's time for a /. competition for the most tasteless web server. Not just plain crude - tasteless, like your grandma wearing an Eminem T-shirt. Keith
  • yes and then control the robot over a wireless network from your home it's cool how small it is .
  • No Windows "Full Blown" on StrongArm might be a reason ;-)
  • I've got a wavelan card (lucent 802.11 card) for my Ipaq - which is very similar in hardware to this little beast. Its actually pretty fun.
  • Is Vinton Cerf affiliated with this product? If not, can he sue them for using his name and implying that he's connected with the product? (I'm sure some Slashdotters will say no, any name out there is fair game, information wants to be free, etc. etc.)

  • Yep, this feels like a rather intermediary solution to the computer-waste problem [slashdot.org]. We are going to end up with a lot of toxic paperweights, but on the other hand, there will be less old toxic webservers. Perhaps they could form-press it into utility objects so that they are of some kind of use when exported to a thirld-world dumpsite.

    Now, if only it wouldn't be so easy to carry off when left unattended on your desk..

  • The iPaqs are not designed for 24/7 operation. That may or may not matter.

    Incidentally, is Linux out yet for the monochrome iPaq? Until recently, I don't think there was any driver for its screen.

  • Re:Why not both? (Score:3)

    by janpod66 ( 323734 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @09:00PM (#182491)
    With 16Mbytes of disk space, it isn't large enough to hold even the software necessary to run Notepad. And with 32Mbytes of RAM, you wouldn't want to.
  • You could pop in an 802.11b card in one of those, which would be *very* cool. However, there's still that pesky power cord you'd have to deal with....
  • A number of times it has been mistaken for PC running Windows (tm) until I point out that there is no PC, just a mouse and a computer monitor or TV. [ultratechnology.com]

    Not new, but still pretty cool. Too bad they don't show an actual picture of the whole setup instead of a screen capture.
    --
  • You have to wonder how much smaller these devices can be made before their very size begins to cancel their usefulness. It is only a matter of time before our comparitively gigantic digits, and interactive body parts become too big for these computers, or will their smaller size be condusive (sp.?) to 3D chip architecture, instead of having ultra thing chips, have a matrix-type chip going, kinda like the difference between tic-tac-toe and 3D tic-tac-toe. it's 3^3 times as great!

  • Add a 6GB micro drive to this thing (Score:4)

    by zelbinion ( 442226 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @10:02PM (#182495)
    IF you could get more storage into this thing, it might be interesting:

    Drop in a 6GB IBM micro drive, and you've got a halfway decent small-bandwidth web server.

    add some mp3's and a PCMCIA sound card, and have it play They Might Be Giants all day long.

    NFS mount to another box and make it a really cool dumb terminal. (that's REALLY dumb, with no monitor...)

    put a usb camera with it, apache, and a wireless network card -- instant portable voyeur-cam!

    network a bunch of them together and make a beowul... er, never mind, bad idea.

    paint it black/green, install an IRC server and use it to assimilate/control all of the windows CE versions of the cerfcube with IRC bots -- send it to Steve Gibson. Put it on a string and swing it around your head and make engine sounds--The borg cube lives! Resistance is mostly futile!

    Plug 400 of them into your home network, and use them to DDoS your internet-enabled weather-forecasting toaster [brunel.ac.uk]. (of course, only if it supposed to rain today)
  • Well, cellphone technology has also been in this "miniaturising" rush, but as you can see, apart from watches incorporating cellphone functionality, the actual handheld cellphone has not diminished in size, just because somebody could make it the size of a coin.
  • A company called mediasolv was trying to demonstrate a sub-25$ PDA. Any idea where it went? I only guess that this is another way of intel trying to ease the developers plight by providing EVMs.
  • Since they're both little oddly designed computer items, I have to slip in this question that's been annoying me for ages. Okay, can anyone tell me what that darn little black rocket-shaped thingie is on all those commercials about corporate networks? Forgive my ignorance, I'm probably the last person on /. to know, but what the hack are they? Is it an actual product that looks like that, or is it just an abstract representation of their product? If it actually looks like that--how odd. Those commercials annoy me because not a damn one has explicitly said what the little rocvket thing is. Switch? Router? Firewall? Intranet hub? Paperweight? Aleegory? What?!?

    So, please excuse my ignorance and tell me what it is. Not knowing annoys me.

    Chasing Amy
    (We all chase Amy...)
  • I'd buy it for $250. Not for $500.

    The PC I'm using now cost me $420, and it came with a lot more than this thing.

  • <I>Apple went after folks that made PC-based iMac case knockoffs.</I>

    Apple also threatened to sue people for making themes that looked "too much" like Mac OS X. Apple has, in the past, been a litigious company.

    His comment seems ask a legitimate question.

  • Computer waste problem?

    Nah. Just have Superman bundle them up in space and hurl them into the sun!

    (Obvious Superman IV reference ;)

    --

  • Just wait 6 months... (Score:3)

    by Hungry Hungry Hippo! ( 453616 ) on Friday June 01, 2001 @10:06PM (#182502)
    ... If it's not a paperweight now, it will be!

    --
  • um.. a stuffed penguin.. doesnt sound too heat-dissapating
  • im on a cube server right now..with non-server parts. its more like 30x30 centimeters, but yes.
  • The monochrome iPAQ doesn't include a 10baseT port. Embed This!
  • From what I have seen of the kit. Everything is open sourced and the kernel is very vanilla. The source is included in the kit.
  • The bootloader looks to be based on the BLOB from www.lart.tudelft.nl. Any issues with the flash can be fixed by hacking that code.
  • My manager is slashing prices left and right. Blue light CerfCube special!!

    We took your your comments to heart here at Intrinsyc and chopped the price for the CerfCube from $495 to $299! :-)

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