Linux Powers Lilliputian PCs

An anonymous reader writes "Gumstix is launching a whole line of dinky little PCs little larger than a Big Red Plenty Pack. The first Netstix model targets server, sniffing, and network simulation. The next model will be USB-powered, followed by models with SD/MMC slots and built-in WiFi. They come with Linux 2.6.17, and lots of room for user applications."

Centimetre conversion is off

[shut_up_man]

1-3/8 x 4-1/8 inches isn't 35 x 103cm, it's ~ 3.5 x 10.3cm. Otherwise that's a rather enormous teeny Linux server.

KuroBox

[Anonymous Coward]

I just got myself a KuroBox [kurobox.com]. This is a fantastic little thing. It's a full computer (headless). It's excellent for a home file server or web server. Its decently cheap. You add you own hard drive. If you've done a chroot before, you should have no problem setting it up with you own custom linux. I used debian. But you can use Gentoo or others too.

Re:Where's it get its power?

[Clover_Kicker]

from TFA:

> The Netstix 200xm-cf is available now, with a 4-Volt wall adapter

Re:Framebuffer module

[tmasssey]

Just *yesterday* I was looking for *exactly* the same thing: a way to hook up a Gumstix to a display. I would like to use it for a home automation project.

If you use one of the appropriate expansion boards, you can interface a Gumstix to a variety of raw LCD panels: there's even X Windows drivers for it. However, there's nothing for TV out (composite, for example), and there is nothing for VGA out.

The cheapest LCD touch screen I could find is $56 bucks [mouser.com]. Then you still have to buy a controller board and LCD interface (about $150 from Gumstix), and a case, cables, etc. It adds up quick.

The more research I do, the more likely I am to do it with Palms: where else can you get a color LCD with touch screen, 200MHz processor, 32MB RAM, etc. for under $100? Palm Z22 [palm.com]

I'd love to hear from someone with a better idea... :)

pcengines WRAP

[Kirth]

A bit bigger than that, but I've got me a http://pcengines.ch/ [pcengines.ch] WRAP, 3x100MBit, 1xSerial, 233Mhz Pentium-I-compatible processor, 128MB Ram, MiniPCI-slot and a Compact-Flash slot. Make a perfect firewall.

Re:What are you talking about?

[TheRaven64]

The ARM is a RISC processor, and gets less done per cycle than the CISC Pentium.

You are assuming that the ARM chip completes the same number of RISC instructions per cycle as the Pentium completes CISC instructions. This is not likely to be true. One of the big advantages RISC had back in the day was that CISC instructions took several cycles to complete, while RISC instructions took one - and much of the time people were executing CISC instructions to achieve the same thing as RISC instructions and then throwing the side-effects away.

ARM is not very RISCy in many respects. For one thing, the instructions are not fixed-length, they are designed to ensure efficient i-cache usage. For another, most ARM instructions have a conditional prefix; it will only execute them if a condition register is set, making very dense code with a low branch overhead.

Re:Framebuffer module

[ajs318]

Well, most modern TV sets do have an RGB+SYNC input! Portables may be composite-only; but usually, the AV1 connector of any big-ish set (> 50cm. screen) is wired for RGB and composite. AV2 is usually composite-only or SVHS and composite, and sometimes is shared with the camcorder jacks on the front.

Re:Framebuffer module

[s2jcpete]

I have been playing with these for a while now. You can hook up a LCD, and tiny X is part of the buildroot. Check out their expansion boards.

I know the Gumstices

[Aloriel]

I did my final project with Gumstices, developing a complete user manual and they are incredible. You can have many kind of software running inside them and the connectivity is also awesome, USB-net, ethernet, bluetooth, wifi, and now gps (and probably more to come). We set up a JamVM to test Java and also C and C++ small programs. Was nice to work with those small pieces of hardware.