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Hardware

Another $99 Web Terminal 225

Posted by timothy from the caveat-emptor dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes: "If anyone is looking for a fun $99 hacking project, Tiger direct has Compaq Ipaq's for $99, great little web browsing terminals, they support Flash, jJava, ActiveX. The parts (LCD screen etc) are probably worth more than this. You'll need to get a USB Ethernet adapter so you can use broadband." Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service, but at under a hundred dollars, this looks pretty tempting even if only used as a digital photo frame, or an adjunct mail terminal.
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Another $99 Web Terminal More

Another $99 Web Terminal

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  • useful little device (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gcshaw2nd ( 398708 ) <gcshaw@NOspaM.jorj.net> on Sunday December 09, 2001 @12:48PM (#2678600) Homepage
    My friend has one of these ipaq devices, and he fitted it with a 20 gig laptop hard drive. That makes it rather expensive toy I guess, but it's really cool running linux. Think about one of these babies in your living room, streaming music to the stereo, checking email on the couch, maybe even controlling the tv with the right ir port. It'd be very cool.

    The downside though - that hard drive makes a fair bit of heat meaning my friend can't run his ipaq for many more than twenty minutes at a time. A fan is definitely in order, but he lost interest in the project.
    • Think about one of these babies in your living room, streaming music to the stereo, checking email on the couch, maybe even controlling the tv with the right ir port. It'd be very cool.

      Why not just use a regular laptop?
      • Well, if you have a $1000 to spend on a laptop, sure, go for it. But $100 sounds a lot better to me.

  • reputation (Score:3, Informative)

    by cvd6262 ( 180823 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @12:49PM (#2678604)
    Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service

    I bought my ThinkPad X20 from them for a great deal, and they treated me right.

    When it came time for me to get a server for my Ph.D. research, they offered me educational pricing.

    • I've found that in companies like this (with which I've no experience whatsoever, btw), it depends on whom you're dealing with. You're lucky, or you're not.

      Regarding your .sig: I've karma to burn at the moment, so it's worth wasting a point or two.
      Karma isn't there for your glorification. It's there for other readers with higher thresholds. A response is fine and dandy, but unless you're moderated up a lot of people won't see your pithy wit.
      Where did this idea come from that karma is there as a reward?
      If any moderators are thinking of modding this up as insightful, don't bother. It's offtopic. People who are reading at 2+ don't care about side issues; that's why they're reading at 2+.
      If you're thinking of modding this down: bastard.
      • I think that people are always going to inherently see karma as a reward, just because of the nature of how it is handed out (good comments == +ve karma, lots of karma == post at 2)

        It also doesn't help that the posting section in the faq takes the stanve of karma being a reward - why else all of the 'post early, post often' etc. If you don't care about karma, why would you be so concerned about posting early, and if you only posted because you had a good point to make, why would you post more often?

        Same comments as previous poster about moderation of this comment - except I'm happy for it to slip to 0.

        PS. I should make clear that I agree with you - karma shouldn't be viewed as a reward. I was just giving some reasons why people see to think it is.

    • Re:reputation (Score:2, Informative)

      by theBunkinator ( 204351 )
      Ordered it on Tuesday night, came Friday via UPS ground. Site's painfully slow, but processed the order fine anyway. So no complains here.

      linux-hacker.net [linux-hacker.net] has info on hacking this "MSN Companion" as well as other I-Appliances like epods and audrey. Lots of people have done some very nice work on these already. Thanks!

    • Re:reputation (Score:2, Informative)

      by Wolfger ( 96957 )
      I can understand the expression "mixed reputation" when it comes to TigerDirect. My first buying experience with them was pretty bad. A buddy of mine recommended them to me and another guy at work, and we both had bad experiences.

      Then after avoiding the company for awhile, they had a price on something I wanted that I just couldn't beat, and the service was very good. I've shopped TigerDirect many times since then, and the service has been superb. It was just that one time (well, two if you count the experience of my co-worker) that nearly kept me from ever shopping there again.
    • First of all, it runs MSN messanger. (which supposedly can be changed)

      Second, there is a 9.95/month surcharge to use an ISP other than MSN Here is some linkage to compaq to prove it, athome.compaq.com [compaq.com] Follor the "2" below the asterisk at the bottom

      Third of all, there is a 9.95/month surcharge for using the broadband adapter (check the same linkage, but number 3)

      There are other reasons as well, but here is an alternative: The 3com Audrey. It runs QNX, there are lots of hacks and stuff for QNX, it doesn't have those freaking monthly fees, it looks cooler, it has the light up stylus etc etc etc...to see more of my reasons, go to JesusGeeks.net [jesusgeeks.net]. The 3com audrey is OOP, but it is a sweet machine. My friend got it off (ironic?) TigerDirect a few months ago, but unfortunately they don't have it there anymore. THere are lots of ebay offeres for it. The only changes I would want with an Audrey is a full size keyboard.

  • Leenucks (Score:5, Informative)

    by 1010011010 ( 53039 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @12:54PM (#2678617) Homepage
    Before this generates another spate of email about Linux and the IA-1, I have modified versions of Jailbait [sourceforge.net] available on FBM [flyingbuttmonkeys.com].

    They are for a 16MB CF card. Do this to put an image on the CF card:
    dd if=image.img of=/dev/CF-DEVICE bs=1M

    I will not tell you the root password. Boot single-user to not have to use the password, then do "passwd root" to change it.

    You can boot single-user by adding the word "single" at the lilo prompt. For instance, "hdc single" -- where "hdc" is the lilo profile name.

    Enjoy. The jailbait site has information on rebuilding Jailbait images.

    p.s. avoid the Netgear EA101 USB Ethernet adapter, and perhaps any other adapter that uses the kaweth driver -- the hardware isn't reliable. Get a nice Pegasus adapter, like a D-Link.
    • If I nfs mount a drive after boot, can I run X? Also, what about sound support? I'm thinking this would make a nice cheap ogg terminal if I can rig up a simple UI and plug my stereo into it.
      • I don't know about X + QPE. But you could just not start QPE.

        As far as MPEGs go, it has a buzzer, and a headphone jack. MPEG player (including mp3s) is built in. You could load up a microdrive with MP3s, I suppose. You could also get them from the network via a mounted filesystem.
        • Wow. Awesome. Yeah, I'd definitely be thinking NFS mounted music (which is what I do in the rest of the house already.) And I guess I could learn QPE, even if (for obvious reasons) I'm a gtk man. Thanks...
        • Oops, got my stories mixed up. The IA-1 has a single speaker in its base. No QPE. Jailbait is X + blackbox + netscape + some other stuff

          Hehe. The Sharp Zaurus has QPE and the buzzer. :)
    • I'm still running that old old version of Jailbait... can this new version be flashed onto the IO?

      W

    • Sigh... (Score:2)

      by fm6 ( 162816 )
      Wish I were a competent hardware hacker. Buy one of these, fiddle with the packaging, add a wireless LAN adapter, install Jailbait ("Jailbait"? No, I don't want to know) and you've got a real PDA!

      Oh hey, I own a Philips Rush [cnet.com] MP3 player. Anybody got a Linux distro for that?

      • "Jailbait" etymology (Score:4, Funny)

        by Oroborus ( 131587 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @06:20PM (#2679588)
        Just in case you really did want to know and were afraid to ask, it's called "Jailbait" because it's under 16 (megs). ;)
        • That's not bad, but according to the FAQ [sourceforge.net] it stands for the recursive "JAILBAIT's Another Interesting Linux But Also Intimidating Too".

          Not to mention that the guy who made it is named Jeffrey Baitis [sourceforge.net], and he goes by "jbaitis".

          But anyway, can this distribution be safely used on the IOpener? Jailbait 6.0 has all kidns of beta stuff in it, like a beta kernel and very beta USB ethernet drivers. Is all that stuff up to date now?

          W

  • IA-1 Specs (Score:5, Informative)

    by FreakyGeeky ( 23009 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @12:56PM (#2678622)
    Here's a place [iapplianceweb.com] that lists all the IA-1s specs along with other thin clients and PDAs.

  • eBay (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Karma 50 ( 538274 )
    If you're lucky you can one cheaper on eBay.
    $76 [ebay.com]

  • Ideal X Terminal (Score:3, Interesting)

    by PoiBoy ( 525770 ) <brian.poiholdings@com> on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:00PM (#2678633) Homepage
    With its small display, slow processor, and limited amount of RAM, it may not make a very good second PC. However, it seems more than adequate to run a basic X terminal. The 800x600 display would be adequate for having a couple of xterm sessions open or a web browser for casual surfing.

    What would be nice is if someone were able to make a boot floppy or boot ROM for a NIC so that this machine could be used with the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) or some similar software. At $100, it would be great for use in schools, libraries, internet cafes, and other places where little more than a browser is needed and the additional components of a PC such as a hard drive and multiple removable media drives are more of a hassle than anything else.

  • Worst case I can use the LCD display with something else.

    Does anyone have links to modify/hack information?
  • Does anyone know where to get the Compaq IA-2 for cheap? I like the big monitor it's got, like a 15-incher. Honestly, it looks like an iMac: http://athome.compaq.com/showroom/static/iPAQ/inta ppliance2.asp

    It seems like this would make a good kitchen PC (the screen's bigger and much easier to see), or if the processor were powerful enough, a digital TV type thing (playing downloaded music videos of course!)

  • $99 - with rebate?!? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Compare to $299 elsewhere! At my unholy place of employment we sell these for $99 in the store - with a multi-year contract to MSN.

    Are we sure they're not doing this?

  • Uggg...Passport (Score:5, Funny)

    by RedWolves2 ( 84305 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:06PM (#2678647) Homepage Journal
    It uses passport and hotmail as the e-mail account!?!

    Great for $99 I am going to learn things like where to find cheap viagra and how to increase my bust size as well as find Hot Horny 18 year olds.

    Sounds like a great present to give to someone.

  • ISP? (Score:1)

    by xonker ( 29382 )
    Is it possible to use a different ISP than MSN?
    If so, I'm buying several for friends...
    • Also is it a dial up or can I hook it up to my cable modem?

      • Re:ISP? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Karma 50 ( 538274 )
        You can get a USB ethernet adaptor and then you can use broadband

        The DLink one mentioned is $30 [tigerdirect.com]

        Accessories Supported:

        USB Mouse

        Standard Speakers sets
        USB Ethernet Adapters

        Supported USB/HPNA 2.0 adapters
        - Netgear Phoneline PA101 10MB USB Home Network adapter
        - Linksys USB200HA
        Supported USB/Ethernet adapters
        - Linksys USB10TX v3
        - Linksys USB100TX 100T
        - D-Link USB 10/100 Ethernet Adapter
        • You can get a USB ethernet adaptor and then you can use broadband

          This is one that isn't on the product support list for the iPaq, but it is only $22 through Buy.com. It's the COMPEX EU202 LINKPORT USB 10/100Mbps FAST ETHERNET USB ADAPTER [linksynergy.com], and it seems to have the smallest form factor of any of the USB Ethernet adapters I've looked at. It's the same form factor/size as one of USB memory drives, and doesn't hang off a cable like most of the others.

          Anyone have experience with this adapter? Are their any Linux drivers that wil run it? From googling the web I found Linux drivers for the PCMCIA card version of it so it would seem that the chipset is likely the same and might work with Linux.

    • Re:ISP? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by perlyking ( 198166 )
      Do people even read the article?

      Features:

      Easy to setup and use!
      Turns on and off like a TV and automatically connects to the Internet!
      Flashing light alerts you of incoming e-mail!
      Tiny! Just 13" tall, 10" wide!
      When the power is off, the screen becomes a digital photo frame!
      Broadband-ready (requires USB Adapter). See compatibility list below.*
      When the power is off, the screen becomes a digital photo frame
      Secure and private - Shopping, e-mail and sensitive information remain protected
      Use your own ISP!
      (Does not support AOL/Compuserve)
      • After reading specs on it, I don't think that you can use things like "Companion" email without going to MSN to activate the service, which entails a monthly fee. You can do that and dial into your present non-MSN isp, but that's not the same as being freee to "use your own ISP" to my mind.
        So if you really want to use it freely with your choice of internet services you may need to replace the OS/software.
    • According to CNET's Review [cnet.com], while you can use another ISP you still have to pay MSN a $9.95 monthly fee. I don't know if this still applies, but be forewarned.

  • Notice the term "Recertified" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:10PM (#2678661)
    When you go to the page at TigerDirect.com, notice the heading of the product: Compaq iPaq IA-1 Home Internet Appliance (Recertified). What exactly does "recertified" refer to? Was this product possibly defective and returned for service? I have never had any luck with recertified or that other "R" word: refurbished. Just a warning!
    • According to Compaq, a new one comes with a 3-year limited warranty. According to Tiger, the recertified one comes with a 1-year limited warranty. I guess they don't have that much faith in the recertification process!

    • Re:Notice the term "Recertified" (Score:5, Informative)

      by VA Software ( 533136 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:30PM (#2678711) Homepage

      There is an explanation of "recertified" elsewhere on the site (this one for an IBM product)

      These monitors are recertified by IBM. They are not used. These monitors have been returned to IBM for a number of reasons, i.e.: a customer refused shipment, returned the monitor without opening the box, or received the shipment in a damaged box. IBM completely recertifies these monitors--at their factory--and repacks them in brand new packaging. They are recertified to "as-brand-new" condition and pass quality control checks. They carry the full IBM one-year warranty. Why pay more? These monitors are in brand-new condition, with full factory certification--and you pocket the savings!
    • I like buying refurbished. You have to think about refurbished products in terms of the company selling that item. That item has already been brought back for whatever reason. That has already cost the company some money to have that product replaced.

      Now they take that refurbished product and fix it up. They sure as hell do not want to lose any more money on that item by having it come back so the company will perform more exhaustive tests on it then they would an off the assembly line item.

      I have never had any problems with Refurbished products. I see refurbished being more reliable then buying off the self. Not to mention the discount you can find.

      I wonder if recertified means that it came back and it was found that it had absolutly nothing wrong with it and was deemed recertified?

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:40PM (#2678734)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • A refurbished product is normally gone over by someone who has some technical expertise while the "new" product is something that was put together by monkeys taught to wield a soldering iron.

          You'd think that should be the case, but it's often not. Returned merchandise often breaks down like this: of ten returned units, six are perfectly good. Two have an obvious problem easily repaired by a skilled, well-trained technician, one is completely fried, and one is flaky and fails once every 37 hours.

          The problems here are many:

          • Skilled, well trained people are expensive, and companies are cheap.
          • Skilled, well trained people tend not to enjoy being low status "repair" monkeys.
          • For manufacturers, it's usually cheaper to make new product than to employ skilled people to fix broken product.
          • Third parties attempting to repair stuff often don't understand it well enough to repair or test it properly.
          • Sometimes manufacturers farm out their "refurbing" to stupid third parties mentioned above.
          • Whoever does the work, it's often more expensive to test and repair boxes than the boxes were worth new. So the company doing this is likely to realize they're losing money and find something more worthwhile to do.
          • That last, flaky unit is probably going to pass diagnostics and look like the other good units, and get passed onto a customer who's going to be pissed at you. 10% of your "refurb" customers pissed off is a lot of people for a big company.
          • Units that have failed once are statistically much more likely to fail again, because automated manufacturing flaws (like poor soldering) are likely to occur in multiple places on the same board.
          In the end, "refurb" units are often of low quality because it's impossible to test and repair computer equipment cheaply and well and make money doing so.
      • Actually I used to think this way too, but I've had really bad results (had to return three Sony monitors in a row before giving up once). Maybe it depends on the company, but if the original problem was intermittent or in some way non-obvious, they're apt to just turn it on, see that it works for a bit, then slap a "refurbished" sticker on it. Had a similar problems with a printer, car stereo and VCR too.
  • I heard that you had to use MSN for the net access on these things (even with a USB ethernet adapter) -- if you're just running the base, non-hacked model. I can't find any specifics on the Tiger site other than sales speak.

    Anyone know about that for sure from first hand experience? It sounds like a good coffee-table net box for web browsing even with the basic setup.

    Thanks for the help.
    • It clearly states in the feature list that you can use your own ISP. However AOL/Compuserve aren't supported.
      • You can dial into your own ISP.(whoa, head getting dizzy from all the freedom!) Get a little closer to the specs, this thing is almost hardwired to MSN until you flush its OS/Browser. It's not just a matter of the dialer being set to ring MSN.
        I'm not saying don't buy one, just be aware that if you really want to use it, and Bill Gates hanging on your tit @ 10/mo. wasn't what you had in mind, you've got to hack your way out.
  • Look at the features section:
    "Flashing light alerts you of incoming e-mail!"
    This baby is just packed with features.

    Ok, I must admit what if they would ship it to my Country, I would buy it in a flash.
  • From the "feature list":
    Use your own ISP!
    (Does not support AOL/Compuserve)

    Yeah, you're free to use any ISP as long as it's called MSN.
    Sorta trick question, "3 letter isp, starts with M and ends with SN".
  • to all the people thinking xterm... why bother? Just go vnc! I use that on my audreys... it's much more reliable, and the only speed problems are if I try to animate something (which cheap LCDs aren't good for anyway)

  • There's a reason for that low price. (Score:3, Informative)

    by thesolo ( 131008 ) <slap@fighttheriaa.org> on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:29PM (#2678708) Homepage
    These are refurbished models, meaning they were broken at one point, returned to the factory, and fixed, but then never sold again.

    So, Caveat Emptor; you may never have a problem with your unit, but from my experience with refurbished items, I will never buy another refurb/recertified product again. (read: would work for about a week, then need fixing again) You'd be better off checking on ebay to see if you can get a deal on a new item, if you really want one of these.
    • I've purchased *many* refurbished items... I've owned refurb laptops, my 900MHz phone is a refurb, a video camera... the list goes on and on, and I've *never* had a problem with a refurb. Keep in mind that a factory refurb means that it might have been broken (it also might have worked but not quite been up to spec) but that it was then basically reconstructed with OEM parts, and refurbs usually carry a limited warranty. Of course it's caveat emptor with even *new* equipment, but I for one have had excellent luck with factory refrubs.

    • refurbished models, meaning they were broken at one point

      They're not necessarily refurbished. They're recertified. You must've missed this [slashdot.org] comment posted just above yours describing IBM's definition of recertified vs. refurbished.
    • In addition to the comments pointing out that recertified means new, refurbished also usually means that someone returned an open box. Meaning, refurbished items are usually new too.


      I have never had a problem with a refurbished item, and I think its likely that most others haven't either.

    • What a dingus! (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      So, Caveat Emptor; you may never have a problem with your ebay dealing, but from my experience with online auctioned items, I will never buy another item from an online auction site again. (read: You may not get ripped off most of the time, but if you buy enough items you will) You'd be better off buying a refurbished product to see if you can get a deal on a new item, if you really want one of these.

      Online auctions are not that great. There is no fraud protection unless you pay for it. Paypal is not fraud protection.
    • In my own experience, I've had terrible experiences with refurbished monitors, and decent experience with other products.

  • Tiger Direct service (Score:5, Informative)

    by smartin ( 942 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:36PM (#2678728)
    Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service

    Having bought a bunch of Audrey's off them and following the hacking community at linux-hacker.net I'd just like to put in a positive word for Tiger Direct. They have treated us well with the Audrey's, taking back defective units even though they expicitly said up front when you bought them that they were not returnable. They repeatedly asked the board for input and comment on pricing and product offerings and finally sold off all the returned machines (some of which there was nothing wrong with) for parts at a dirt cheap price. I would not hesitate to deal with them again.
    • FYI:

      Tiger Direct, aka, Global Computer, aka SystemMax. I'm sure they have a few more names, probably from acquisitions that have been made over the years. I been buying stuff from them for years, and so far, I don't have any complaints. In fact, I've gotten some damn good deals at the Global clearance center located off Route 59, in Naperville, Illinois.

    • If you have leads to more Audreys, other than the hiked prices on eBay, I'd be interested to find one new unit. I missed the Tiger Direct sale procrastinating. Email me? -- [ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

  • Use your own ISP! (Does not support AOL/Compuserve) typical MS hah hah

  • I looked into it and compared it with a Dreamcast (Score:3, Interesting)

    by outofpaper ( 189404 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:51PM (#2678759) Journal
    About one month ago I looked into buying my grandmother an internet device. I debated the Folowing a 486 win QNX runing on it(fast enough for web browsing a geting e-mail), an old pentium win linux on it(tried and true works with out any problems), an old pentium win win95 on it (would work ok as long as she didn't add any new programs but would be going against my beter jugment), a dreamcast (they cost 70$ hear in canada and they come with a key board), and one of theis babies.

    I ended up being realy torn betwean the dreamcast and the I-paq. The dreamcast had the added bonus of being able to play games in 3d, plus to give it java compatabilty it would only cost 20$ us. I would then be able to us it a VNC terminal (thanks to vnc's jave aplet viewer). On the other hand the I-paq was a stand alone device and that would apeal to her since it's more like an other apliance (microwave, stove, blender, fax, tv).
  • Does anyone know if you can run this at 640x480 as is? I'm thinking of getting it for my aging mother-in-law and I'm not sure if 800x600 on a 10-inch screen will be readable by her. Thanks!

    • Does anyone know if you can run this at 640x480 as is?

      No. Unlike CRT technology, LCD technology has discrete pixels, one to each set of three transistors. Rescaling an input produces ugly blockiness or blurriness instead of the exact aliasing that hinted fonts rely on.

  • Available hacks (Score:3, Redundant)

    by calibanDNS ( 32250 ) <brad_staton@hotm ... com minus author> on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:57PM (#2678776)
    If you're interested in knowing what kinds of hacks are available before purchasing one of these then take a look at the Linux Hacker BBS Forums [linux-hacker.net].

  • With Dreamcast? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zach` ( 71927 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @01:58PM (#2678780)
    Could I hack this to let my video output cable for my Dreamcast plug into the LCD screen? I currently have the two audio cables from the DC going into my hi-fi system... adding an LCD would rawk. Is this even remotely possible?
    • Now that is a good idea then you would have the best of both worlds. The abilty to us multiple disk formats from your dreamcast and the lovely flat panel screen. I could actualy see a portable dream cast hack being done. I'm definatly going to get one to look into this option.
  • I'm trying to order one right now and it seems they've been /.ed. I just hope they haven't run out of them before my secure page actually renders. Basterds :)

  • So, you want to hack it? (Score:4, Informative)

    by patco15 ( 213842 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @02:14PM (#2678804)

    So, you want to hack it?

    Well then I'd start here if I were you:
    http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/Ult raBoard.pl [linux-hacker.net]

    On this web-board, it's called the MSN Companion.

    Random signature string.

  • Is this a good match for a network using the Linux Terminal Server Project [ltsp.org]?

    Seems to be...but comments from those familiar with LTSP.

  • Debian works nicely on it (Score:5, Informative)

    by nowt ( 230214 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @02:52PM (#2678868)
    After perusing the linuxhacker stuff and looking carefully at the jailbait files, I was able to use jailbait's /etc/lilo.conf as a basis for booting into debian potato (dumped onto a microdrive).


    Now it's on debian-sid with gnome running nicely (Trident video driver). USB networking fine (2.4.16 kernel with kaweth and pegasus both rolled in for 3com usb + linksys adapters).


    The only outstanding item I've not been able to get working is the audio chip. Here's a link on what it is. [sigmatel.com] The annoying bit is support for this does exist in the current 2.4.16 a97 codec drivers but via an intel i810-type chip. This is AMD based.

  • Tiger Direct (Score:4, Informative)

    by RainbowSix ( 105550 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @02:55PM (#2678881) Homepage
    quote
    Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service
    /quote

    Here is Tiger Direct's Reseller Ratings rating table:
    Overall Score for Tiger Direct:2.8/7.0

    These are in yes/no form:
    Do you feel that you received a fair/competitive price for the item that you purchased from the company? 110/22
    Were the salespeople courteous, knowledgable, and helpful? 43/72
    If the product you purchased was shipped to you, did it arrive as expected without any delivery problems or delays caused by the company? 72/60
    If you returned a product to the company for exchange or refund, did they exchange the product without a big hassle or refund your money without a large restocking fee? 10/64
    Would you buy any products from the company again? 41/90
    Would you recommend the company to a friend? 37/93
    Overall, were you satisfied with this company? 43/92

    Link:
    http://www.resellerratings.com/cgi-bin/reseller/ve ndone.cgi?TigerDirect [resellerratings.com]

    Note: I've never used Tiger Direct nor do I know anything about them. I'm merely stating the information found on the website mentioned above.

  • 802.11? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Johnny00 ( 213878 )
    Anyone got one of these to work with 802.11B?

    I wouldn't mind getting one of these and sticking it on my living room coffee table for the guests and drunkers that come over and try and use one of laptops while I'm working. (come-on man, lemme check my hotmail!) I got the whole network (cept for the gaming rig) setup on the wireless and I don't want to run ethernet back into the living room after I just got rid of it.

  • If you have taken the Boulder Pledge, (Score:3, Funny)

    by Grand Facade ( 35180 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @03:14PM (#2678963)
    You'll never purchase a thing from Tiger Direct.

    "Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything offered to me as the result of an unsolicited email message. Nor will I forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online community."

    The only good thing I can say is they gave a prompt refund.

  • For more ideas... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Usquebaugh ( 230216 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @03:36PM (#2679063)
    Go here [linux-hacker.net] Despite it's name the message boards are pretty OS agnostic

    Personally I want a eVilla [evilla.com].

  • The cheapest IA of all (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IGnatius T Foobar ( 4328 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @03:51PM (#2679117) Homepage Journal
    While it's fun to think about modifying these appliances to run Linux in your kitchen (or whatever), it's important to remember that if you're really looking to put together something useful -- as opposed to re-engineering an iPaq or iOpener for the hack value -- you're probably better off getting a bargain-basement used laptop. Most of us here already have a home LAN, a Linux server, and a broadband connection, right? You don't really need a very beefy laptop to accomplish the "appliance" task. Enough memory to run X and perhaps a local browser, a color display, something to boot from, and an Ethernet adapter. I've got an old AST Ascentia J over here, complete with its wonderous 16 MB RAM and 500 MB disk. But it's got a usable color display and a built-in pointer. The battery was shot so I just threw it away. A call to /sbin/hdparm keeps the hard disk from spinning except when it's being used, so it's easy on power too.

    Think twice and you can save some money. No special tinkering required.
  • Canada? Seems like their online account application form is US centric.

    If so, please let me know how you did this....

  • Just what I need... (Score:3, Funny)

    by ZoneGray ( 168419 ) on Sunday December 09, 2001 @05:44PM (#2679484) Homepage
    Just what I need, another project... Not that it isn't tempting mind you. I'm looking at this, saying "99 bucks isn't much, looks like a perfect little hacking toy" thinking of the possibilities for a Linux appliance... ssh from the bedroom or something, for those late-night (or early morning) emergencies.

    Then I remember that I have three old PC's and two old laptops sitting in the closet that are ALSO perfect for this and I'll never get around to those, either.
  • I'm getting one, I'll probably try to get NetBSD to run on it. My thinking is to use the CF card to store a kernel, but to use NFS for all the real disk space.

    Looks to me like a very cute little x terminal. Anyone know if the memory is upgradeable?

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