phlawed - Slashdot User

Submission + - Remote-booting USB-powered devices? 2

Submitted by phlawed on Sunday January 24, 2016 @05:50PM

phlawed writes: USB ports are everywhere. It is very convenient for powering low-power devices, and by using a run-of-the-mill phone charger you can easily get 10+ watts or so. In other words: everyone already has the generic power supply and power cable. No issue with voltage or polarity. Perfect for the hobbyist market.

Another ubiquitous power source (in the enterprise environment) is Power over Ethernet. Active PoE splitters for 12V output are available for ~6-7 USD and up on eBay. With PoE you get networking and power over the same wires, and booting your (possibly borked) PoE device is a matter of instructing the PoE source to cycle the power on that port. (Also, USB chargers with 12V input are available for less than 1 USD on eBay. They are likely all crap, though.)

I am looking for the combination of these two concepts in a compact, affordable, quality product. I found one product offering USB power from PoE. That product appears to have left out Ethernet and has a MSRP of 30 USD. Otherwise, I find PoE wall sockets for a MSRP of USD 100 or more. It appears excessive, given the cost figures of the pieces listed above.

So, if it does not already exist... anyone feel like running with this on your favorite crowdsourcing platform? Any experienced electronics people who can do a back-of-the-envelope calculation for cost of parts and assembly?

Submission + - Attracting developers to abandonware? 1

Submitted by phlawed on Friday September 13, 2013 @05:37PM

phlawed writes: I am a Linux users since the previous millenium. I came from OS/2, which I really liked. I quickly felt at home with icewm, with a suitable tweaked config to give me something resembling Presentation Manager. I may have commented on that before.

Again, I find myself in the position where my preferred 'environment' is eroding. The only force keeping icewm rolling these days are the distribution package maintainers.

I can't code in any meaningful way, nor do I aspire to. I could easily pay for a supported version of icewm, but I don't care to pay someone just to keep it alive. I want someone to take a personal interest in the code, to ensure that it remains up to date, to make it run on Wayland or whatever. I want someone to own the code, be proud of it. Is there a general solution for this situation, apart from whoring for attention on Slashdot?

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