With the Jack PC, the Computer's In the Wall! 119
cylonlover writes "The Jack PC from Chip PC Technologies offers a neat and novel thin-client desktop computing solution where the computer doesn't just plug into the wall, it is the plug in the wall. Running on power provided by the ethernet cable that also connects it to the data center server, the computer-in-a-wall-socket supports wireless connectivity, has dual display capabilities and runs on the RISC processor architecture."
Welcome... (Score:5, Insightful)
...to 2006 [slashdot.org].
Am I missing a development (the 'news') bit or is this just a slashvertisement?
data center server (Score:1, Insightful)
So the ethernet cable runs directly from the device to the "data center server?" Interesting.
BFD. (Score:2, Insightful)
If I want a less cluttered desktop I'll get one of those all-in-one machines from Lenovo, HP, or Apple.
Maybe someone should come up with an buried computer - dig a hole in the yard, put the computer in their, and run cables into the building and have it run off of its own heat pump!
Or the cat box computer! Put the computer in the cat box have it run on the heat of the turds and the energy of the cat burying its shit!
I mean. there are TONS of useless gimmicks to sell a commodity appliance like PCs - just see what the toaster manufactures are doing.
I'm just getting really cranky with sales and marketing bullshit that tries to sell mediocre products.
Re:Welcome... (Score:3, Insightful)
Those who cannot remember posts of the past are condemned to re-read them. -- G-Dawg "Santa" Yanayana-bing-bang
Re:GPL viotation, (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Old news. (Score:5, Insightful)
They only benefit I see to having to bolt these into the wall is in a school or a public place where theft would be a concern.
Bolt it into a wall behind the big screen. Instant super digital picture frame or announcement board, just add software.
The main threat is from the long cable industry, using a traditional cheap PC somewhere else with long cables. The other threat is no upgrade path, if you'll need to do the long cable thing on the next generation anyway, why not do it now.
Re:Old news. (Score:3, Insightful)
That is exactly where these things come in handy -- environments such as schools or places with computer labs that if a lab monitor turns around, equipment would be walking out the door.
I can see using these Jack PCs (secured in the wall with Bryce Key-Rex security screws or something of that nature) in an environment where you want as little equipment out in the open as possible, where if a crackhead goes werewolf and rips a monitor off a Kensington cable and dashes off with it, that isn't as big a loss as losing a computer. Plus, the crackhead isn't going to be looking at a plug in the wall for something to steal unless he is going to try to rip out the wiring to sell the copper.
Add Citrix or MS terminal server, and this is a decent solution for a number of applications.
x86 equivalent (Score:1, Insightful)
My eyes started glazing over when the press rel-- I mean the story -- explained the processor speeds in "MHz x86 equivalent." Is that a single-in-order-core Atom x86, or a multi-core OoO with lots of L3 cache i7, or a really-long-piped Pentium 4 or...? Seriously, this tells you nothing. It's totally ok to use "x86" as shorthand for certain qualities of a processor, but performance (especially in terms of clock speed) sure as hell isn't one of those infer-able qualities.
This car has a color, similar to a painted Ford.
Re:Old news. (Score:3, Insightful)
Not if they are Microsoft Office shops. Or are teaching Visual Basic or any number of other Microsoft products.
As much as I like Linux it isn't the solution everywhere.