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Tiny PC: The Matchbox Web Server's Revenge 126

Posted by timothy from the the-mouse-*is*-the-web-server dept.
honkytonkyman writes "You may remember the matchbox Web server Slashdotted a while back. Since then, the matchbox Web server has been expanded with a micro disk drive, ethernet, standard vga, keyboard and mouse connectors -- all in a near-matchbox-sized package, a true PC in a matchbox. Stanford professor Vaughan Pratt has founded Tiqit to market these miniature PCs." This micro PC makes the (admittedly beefier) Xybernaut and friends look like an old Compaq luggable next to a Vaio. I'd like one with an input for use as external storage for my digital camera.
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Tiny PC: The Matchbox Web Server's Revenge

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  • the coolest thing I saw on that page was a link to this site [stanford.edu] about thumbcode and other devices. I want one today!
  • His post must have been a hoax. :)

  • Now these computers are much easier to take to LAN parties than putting a handle on your tower.

    No way, dude! Just take the LAN party with you!

    Firewall/proxy/gateway in one pocket (with your cellphone).

    Fileserver in another pocket.

    Client on your belt.

    Client strapped to your wrist.

    ...

    Forget world's smallest webserver, how about world's smallest LAN? The hub could conceivably be bigger than all the clients.

    Not that I can actually imagine any practical applications...

  • I think this is very cool, and could have lots of applications, but notice the price tag: North of 1K$. There's a premium paid for extremem miniaturization in cost and performance.

    Also, there are many applications for a small (but not necessarily this small), low power computer that can fit into many kinds of environments, and is really cheap.

    I'd personally like to challenge the notion that servers are large expensive machines that sit in a special room attended by their special priesthood. I'd like something about paperback book sized to use as a database server and can sit in an office, mobile, or factory environment. I think minimally there'd be a market in the trade show area.

    Consider the possibility of zero maintenance throw away servers. Restore from backup (or keep a hot backup) and send the bad unit to refurb.

  • I've been looking into embedding a few things and came across the Lantronix [lantronix.com] embeddable CoBox Micro [lantronix.com] device server. See the big picture [lantronix.com]. That nifty little gizmo redirects ethernet traffic to a serial port.

    Now if you happen to have a Scenix [scenix.com] PLC with the TCP/IP stack [scenix.com] software (a free download) for it, you can bolt the serial UART to the back of the ethernet port and you now have a package that talks true TCP/IP and can serve web pages or send e-mail right through your ethernet network.

    Last time I looked, the Scenix kit was about $150 (programmer, software, cables, power supply...) from Parallax, Inc. [parallaxinc.com] and the CoBox was about $200 in single unit quantities. Figure $8 for a Scenix PLC (chip only) and about $20 worth of green board from the Shack [radioshack.com] and you've spent less than $250 for an embedded system.

    Going hog wild, you can pick up a LCD+keypad [seetron.com] from Scott Edwards Electronics [seetron.com] for $120, and a keypad from Parallax for $20, and you're up to $400.

    Can your front door serve a web page that tells you who and when came through the door? Mine can!

    Just playing... ;-)

  • converting from DC to Ac is a real pain

    uh... you need a 5VDC (5V @DC, if I read that correctly), not 5VAC.

    HTH, HAND.

  • Yes, I didn't want to piss anyone off so i didn't post it =))

    Maybe it's all a conspiracy.. a /. conspiracy..

    =)
  • "This webpage served live from the colon..."

    I wonder how small you can get a wireless card down to now. I've seen the chipset layout digram and its not that large. You figure if they can put ethernet on it, it wouldn't take that much more space for a wireless card. Then set up an access point nearby and you could have a webpage served from your colon :)
  • I can't believe that this was a hoax. How do you know? Please post a link or something. Thanks.

  • Not that I can actually imagine any practical applications...
    Not much of an imagination. All together now...Beowulf

    Yeah, but running on a LAN in my dinner jacket?

    A friend of mine installed a Chevette engine onto an ordinary snowblower. It took a lot of work. It was (still is) really cool, but practical applications are limited. Once the neighbor in the next driveway has gotten over the fact that you have a 1.6L four-cylinder overhead cam self-starting snowblower, the original 20" path makes it less exciting. It doesn't throw snow any further than a more practical engine would. And it's way too heavy to actually do anything with. You have to start it up to move it three feet in the garage; it's too heavy to roll on its own.

    Once you replace the shear pins on the auger with something stronger (grade 8 bolts!), it will throw earth, shred forklift pallets and generally make short work of taking out the garbage.

    But, in a practical sense, it's little more than a curiousity. A fun conversation piece. Just like a dinner jacket Beowulf cluster.

  • I've got an Abit mobo in my box and everyone knows and loves the SoftCPU system they have to let you tweak your system speed.

    I was slightly suprised to see that the 66 MHz 486-SX (AMD Elan SC410) fitted to this machine has the following option: CPU is BIOS-settable for 100 MHz operation with heat sink installed.

    http://www.tiqit.com/computer/specifi cations/ [tiqit.com]

    I used a 66MHz DX at 100MHz for quite a while as my main machine a few year back and I have one recommendation... if you're going to do this carry the unit in a bag, not your trouser pocket!

  • Umm, a spud is only capable of 0.5-1 volt. If you want 5VDC, you need to convert it to AC so you can use a voltage multiplier / transformer to attain the required voltage. There is no way currently to add DC voltages together without converting to AC first.
  • Ok, I have some quick thoughts, though they aren't terribly organized.

    I like encryption. SSH is my friend. How hard would it be to get two ethernet controllers on this thing and set it up as an encrypting proxy between an insecure system and the rest of the world, or at least a server process on a host machine somewhere?

    Would it be possible to set up SSH tunneling out to a daemon on a "real" system and use that just like a SLIP, or even PPP connection? So when you come up to an insecure computer, just slip the proxy around back of the machine and compute away in security.

    Any thoughts?

    Mycroft-X
  • um, in order to play mp3s it would need sound output of some sort, which it does not have (not that I could find anyway)
  • LSD tabs are traditionally 1/4" on each side. Or so I've heard.
  • You had better have two cases and a few tabs of that LSD you were comparing that device to because the lead-based solder in this stuff is going to leave you a withered human being as the lead stops the uptake of important nutrients in your digestive system. Oh yeah, and it will kill your brain cell too.

    However...I might be willing to foot the bill for this. But only if the whole procedure and decay were video taped!

    -AP
  • (when the chips are down you know, there is always something fishy...)
  • Something to remember is that those Scenix chips max out at about 1/4K or RAM, with some of that going to the UART and TCP/IP stack. Doesn't leave a lot for anything else; note that their demo is a few bits of I/O.

  • You can't even play MP3's on this
    thing. Who would need it?
  • is a MatchBox (or HotWheels if you prefer) computer with a Transmeta CPU (for conservative power consumption), 32+ RAM, IBM tiny drive, integrated SBLive! for mp3s, SVGA out to interface with Sony's Glasstron, 100 ethernet, & 2 USB ports. Maybe an old 9pin serial port and a floppy port and an UltraDMA66 port but it can be pretty simple. This would kick all kinds of keester as pocket server/client/java slave/mp3 trick/etc. I'd pay out the nose for one of those if I could afford it. TTFN & Shalom.

    -PipTigger
  • I've never been very good at following directions.

    A Vic-20 to washing machine interface?

    Why did you need your washing machine to talk to something as primitive as a Vic-20? ;)

  • ... but not yet already (almost, though) : the power consumption is too high at present.

    I guess the next step is to replace the 486 with a crusoe.

    After that, IBM can release an improved version of their microdrive.

    Still to be seen : a photograph of a user with the whole thing : matchbox computer + batteries + keyboard + head-mounted display...

  • Do you have pictures of this? I'd love to see it. ;]

    Hmmm... I'll try to scam the digital camera from the office for a couple of days.

    In a nutshell, though, just try to imagine a Vic-20 and a garden-variety, off-the-shelf Made-in-Korea TV set sitting beside a very old (but still pretty in that 1950s way) Maytag washing machine. And a 34-conductor ribbon cable connecting the two.

    It's really rather unspectacular; the software is more interesting. I'd post that, but the source code is on the hard disk of my old Amiga 500, which is packed away in a box somewhere, since I haven't used the thing in years...

  • In the year 2000, I predict... (Score:5)

    by Karmageddon ( 186836 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:22AM (#1037796)
    This message is posted from the future, using microwaves and faster than light travel. BTW, we figured out why a microwave burst crosses a cesium filled cavity to emerge fully formed slightly earlier in time: to get to the other side!
    Anyway, here is what http://implants.stanford.edu/ says 50 years from now in my inertial frame. If your browser does not support inertial frames, try this page:

    Fifty years ago, a computer with less computational power than a modern spamfilter implant
    filled a whole matchbox -- no, it's true, it's hard to imagine: people used to "wear" computers in their clothing back when they wore clothing -- and ran programs consisting of something less than a few hundred million instructions.

    In the intervening decades, computer hardware has continued to shrink, though physicists assure us that we will soon reach the limits of silicon chip physics and will need start using "quantum computers" and "optical computers". And, software functionality has continued to grow, or at least, code size has, so that today we can fit the whole <drool>Beowulf cluster</drool> used to drive this simple webpage into a World Wide Web server farm the size of one grit. Still no room for Propaganda, though.

  • I want to get one of these. Now, if they were to chop off a DP or so, then maybe my perpetually broke butt could afford one.

    Also, offtopic, but it is possible to run a computer system off of a potato, lemon, whatever your fruit of choice is. If you remember your high school chem class, you rmember that the potato in such a system acts as the electrolyte in order to balance the equation, the real action is because of the voltaic differences of the batteries. So, given enough metal, it is possible to make a battery "powered" by a potato, but you're still using the same metals and technologies as a AA battery, just a lot more interesting of an electrolyte.
  • It's funny, (kind of...)
    We Slashdotters ARE a DDoS attack. Site gets posted to /. and the flood of traffic drags the server to a crawllll.

  • Good grief. (Score:4)

    by curtisg ( 63391 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:26AM (#1037799) Homepage
    $1000 seems pretty steep when you can get a SIMM-sized computer for $50 from Dallas Semiconductor. It's called TINI [ibutton.com] (get it?). If you haven't seen it before, take a look; it runs Java and includes an ethernet connection and an interface to their iButton components.

  • Highlights of the machine for the interested: (Score:4)

    by toast- ( 72345 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:26AM (#1037800)
    Here's some highlights from the log:
    1) It uses a restricted bash shell =)

    Log highlights follows:
    Linux version 2.2.15-2.5.0 (root@porky.devel.redhat.com) (gcc version egcs-2.91.
    ..
    Calibrating delay loop... 33.18 BogoMIPS
    Memory: 14248k/16384k available (1148k kernel code, 416k reserved, 488k data, 84
    k init, 0k bigmem)
    ..
    CPU: AMD 02/0a stepping 04
    ..
    hda: SunDisk SDTB-128, ATA DISK drive
    ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
    hda: SunDisk SDTB-128, 15MB w/1kB Cache, CHS=490/2/32
    Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
    ..

    and further:

    bailey% uptime
    10:19am up 59 days, 10:10, 5 users, load average: 0.15, 0.08, 0.01

    bailey%ifconfig eth0
    eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:E0:4B:00:2D:19
    inet addr:209.185.108.212 Bcast:209.185.108.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
    UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
    RX packets:5726415 errors:0 dropped:379 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:103461 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
    collisions:1121 txqueuelen:100
    Interrupt:10 Base address:0x300

    *drool*
  • I don't know what is sadder... That that comic is on the website, or that I have the precise same one cut out and pasted on my monitor.

    Time to drink.

  • You may remember the matchbox Web server Slashdotted a while back

    Hmm, and again, it seems. :-)

  • haha good job! haven't been shocked by that one in a while.
  • There is, and have been, PC's which fit exactly what you are talking about for some time. Many comply with the pc/104 standard (www.pc104.org), and are available in everything from 286 up to pentiums. Try www.emjembedded.com for a couple cool embedded size PC's.


    Tell a man that there are 400 Billion stars and he'll believe you
  • this troll got modded up for making stuff up? what is /. coming to?
  • A semi-practical use for these things (if the price were to drop) would be a very simple, and portable mp3 player. Simply hook it up to one of those portable cdroms, and then you can listen to normal CD's, a CD filled with mp3's (what's that? something like 11 CD's worth?), not to mention video games, though I wouldn't recommend playing them (the games) while you drive.
  • No hoax. I have seen it in the flesh... err, silicon. When I saw it was running a version of Windoze and was moving faster than I thought possible for a 486 SX. The guys behind Tiqit are quite pro-Linux however.
  • There is no way currently to add DC voltages together without converting to AC first.

    Excuse me?????
    Link spuds in series.

  • Embedded Planet, at http://www.rpcgllc.com , has several credit card sized systems based on the Motorola MPC8xx PowerPC family. They take 3-4 watss at 3 volts, and several have 2 Ehternet ports. Hmmm. think 8-16 M DRAM, 2-32 M Flash. Priced under $1K.

    Should be able to fit some PPC version of *NIX in one of those, along with a load of name-your-protocol servers.

  • Well, if you want to serve from your colon, start with the pill-sized camera [newscientist.com] with a transmitter.
  • No problem. A web search for JUMPtec finds several dealers, and lists of assorted cards. There are various adapters, so you can add Ethernet to the basic cards...unless this particular configuration doesn't have the expansion points which JUMPtec's cards have.

    But if you just want a small machine, you can use the existing hardware -- it merely won't be quite as tiny as this one.

  • Yeah, but somehow being able to say "I'm serving my discussion site out of a matchbox." is so much cooler than having a server sitting in your bedroom keeping you up at night because the fan makes so much noise ;).
    -Antipop
  • Sometimes these kind of stories make me think of a pissing contest: "mine is smaller than yours .. ". However some companies want to make vending machines into web-servers for business maintenance: reloading, dynamic pricing, mechanical failures, etc. Furthermore they could have or sell dynamic advertising too. Rather than have custom networking, you use commodity web portals. It might seem overkill, but it might be cheap, and allow for future not yet thought of business opportunities.

    Electronic vending was one of the original network applications in the early days of computer networks at MIT, Starnford etc, in the 1970s.

  • Re: etching PCBs for your PC (Score:3)

    by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @10:51AM (#1037814) Homepage
    A Vic-20 to washing machine interface?
    Why did you need your washing machine to talk to something as primitive as a Vic-20? ;)

    I told you not to ask. :)

    Actually, the washing machine is far more primitive than the Vic-20!

    Seriously, it's a 1954 Maytag Automatic. It's been washing dirty underwear for almost 50 years. When I got it, it needed a hose, a belt and a timer. Not bad for reliability - I love Maytag stuff.

    The hose and the belt were readily available from any Maytag dealer, since they're still used on today's coin-op washers. And take care, since Maytag belts are meant to slip, not like a comparable automotive fanbelt. Spend the extra for a genuine Maytag part.

    The timer was another story. I didn't want to kill the look of the original timer, so I didn't try to hack another one in. I just disconnected all the leads off the timer and ran them to a relay board.

    The relays are controlled by a Vic-20 with an EPROM that I programmed back when I still programmed in assembly language. (I haven't programmed anything more than HTML lately, and you start to forget all the op-code labels and important addresses when you haven't done assembly in a while.)

    The washer sits in the laundry area of my kitchen, with the Vic-20 and a small black-and-white TV set right beside it. Turn it on, and the washer immediately asks you the usual sorts of washing-machine questions.

    Tub water level is read through the joystick port. A little bit of custom I/O turns on and off the water solenoid and motor relays. And an analog to digital converter pulled from an early digital voltmeter reads the temperature of the tub with a thermistor, and the software opens and closes the water solenoids to set the temperature to whatever you desire.

    I did have a crashing problem with the first EPROM I blew - there was a bug in the software that tried to divide by zero, causing the computer to lock up. Of course, it was in the routine that was reading the joystick port to determine the level. With the water solenoids open and the computer locked up, a crash caused a flood. I added a deadman switch to the circuit and the software as a safety device, corrected the bug, and it's been great since. 5 years later. :)

    It's really cool, not very useful, but a lot of fun. I think I'll put it on the Internet someday.

  • Re:so (Score:2)

    by Azog ( 20907 )
    I think inserting a computer into your body is not such a great idea, at least not yet. Or at least do some more research on it. And whatever you do, don't get drunk and start cutting on your neck!

    However... If you could figure out a way to package the thing in a sterile capsule that would not react badly with your body, you could probably embed it into a roll of fat over your abs. Come on, you're a geek, your six-pack is well insulated, right.

    Actually, I think embedded machines have been done for people with diabetes - automatic insulin injectors implanted under the skin.

    Try to find out about one of those. I'm sure they cost a fortune, but maybe you could buy an empty case and power supply from one and jam your computer into it.

    Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to, though - I would rather have a battery powered PIII with GeForce 2 the size of my Handspring Visor. I wouldn't mind carrying it...


    Torrey Hoffman (Azog)

  • It would have to be incased in something, like maybe plastic. I won't want my blood flowing over a live cricit board any ways, even if it is a few volts.

  • 1/4 Inch is roughly 1-2 CM? something like that.

  • Big, mean, FBI guy with sunglasses and a no facial expression wearing one of those long coats.: Hmmm... why are those soup cans connected together with network cables?... And this one's beeping...??

    You: Uh... Ummm... I have to go to the bathroom, BRB.

  • PC/104 (Score:3)

    by spagthorpe ( 111133 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @11:14AM (#1037819)
    You know, for a little bit larger footprint, you can go with a PC/104 solution, and get a fully functional PC for a fraction of the cost. None of the JAVA based, special purpose embedded web server crap, but a real-life functional PC that can run anything you want. The beauty of these things, is once you have the main CPU board, you can add on virtually anything you want...hundreds of different interface boards for them. Check out this link [pc104.com] for some examples....
  • But then they'll know when we're stealing food from the vending machine!!

  • Have a web server disguised as a telephone, CD player, etc., or perhaps *combined* with such an appliance, so that the cables would be more discreet.

  • Power Supply (Score:4)

    by mu_cow ( 168630 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @06:41AM (#1037822)

    Power supply required

    5 VDC regulated at 2.5-6 watts

    Looks like the power supply may end up being bigger than the computer. Now I wonder whether you can get 5 VDC out of a dozen potatoes... :p

  • Combine that matchbox pc with a Nokia Communicator mobile phone. Wow.

    And that docking station [stanford.edu] is awesome.

    And these are just lab versions, working with standard notebook PCMIA dimensions.

  • Tiqit.com has a link not so cleverly hidden making fun of Win95. It's on the main page in the bottom of the right frame. Or just click here. [tiqit.com]

    Now these computers are much easier to take to LAN parties than putting a handle on your tower.
  • Wow! What's pricing and availability going to be like?

    Grab the soldering iron (Not the hot end, mind), the plans are available on the website. Yes, you too can build your own MatchBoxPC! The only problem could be etching your own PCB's. Anyone want to do a batch of them?
  • If it contains illegal data, or is capable of containing data, the feds WILL take it. It has happened. They take ALL music CDs in case you burned data to a CD-ROM and placed it in one of the jewel cases. They take answering machines and anything they believe capable of such an act, so it would be advantageous to have a wireless network run from a soup can, or more appropriately, through a large Tomato juice can.

  • Another small webserver... (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @06:50AM (#1037827)
    Another small webserver...

    PicoWeb Server [picoweb.net]

    About the size of four US quarters.
  • No, this one is at least possible (And it is a bit harder to fake pictures of a fully built PCB & components), and really is just slightly larger than a matchbox.

    And before anyone asks, yes, it does run Linux, and yes, you can build a beowulf cluster of these (Now it has ethernet and all).
  • Excellent idea. My tape deck separate is a big box or air with circuitry at the front - I could hold a whole cluster of these servers in there all networked together, getting power from the Tape Deck power cable supply, and a small built-in UPS for those nasty moments when the NSA turn off the power to your place.

    Bluetooth connection to the computer that is physically built into the wall, and plastered over and then wallpapered over, and nobody could ever find your system. Ever.

    I prefer the soup can idea though, although you could fit 2 or 3 of these devices into a large baked bean can. If the connector was on the bottom, then the ethernet can run *inside* the shelf itself, and then into the computer that is built into the wall.

    Great place to store all those highly illegal porn piccies, eh? (only applicable to politicians). With the RIP bill in the uk (Stand [stand.org.uk] against this), this is a great way to hide all that information.

  • I actually thought they put the miniature PC in a MatchBox toy :-(( You know those little cars we've all played with and still do :-))

    http://www.matchboxtoys.com/ [matchboxtoys.com].

    doh!

  • And it's small enough that you can Tiqit with you.
  • The main frame of the Stamford wearables page is already timing out.

    Way to go Slashdot!! Stick it to 'em :)
  • But you will likely load down your spud. Its esay to buck 1V up to 100V, but hard to actually power anything that actually draws a current.

  • Web-farm (Score:3)

    by Ron Harwood ( 136613 ) <harwoodr.linux@ca> on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @06:57AM (#1037834) Homepage Journal
    You could make these things hot pluggable and manufacture web-farm "arrays" of the little buggers.

    Take a couple more and make a DB cluster, and you got yourself the world's smallest slashdot site... ;)
  • It appears nobody noticed the price - $1500. Too expensive! If anybody can recommend a sub-$500 device with Java and TCP/IP capability, I would be really happy. I would like to run webserver and application server with that. Also, another device ($200) for running web clients would be great.

  • Matchbox PCs (Score:4)

    by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @06:46AM (#1037836) Homepage

    Wow! What's pricing and availability going to be like? I can think of a dozen uses, both at home and at work.

    Ya know, sneaking this thing into Canada without having to pay duty on it should be pretty easy. It's possible that it might even elude a body cavity search if you're determined. (And have it well packaged...)

    This webpage served live from the colon...

  • Perhaps my navigation skills are lacking, but I would have loved to see a picture of the tiqit, but couldn't find one on the site.

    How about that site design? While it is a bit of a nice break from the dry, cookie-cutter traditional sites, it was a bit frustrating to swim through their new-agey copy to find the facts.
  • Now... the smallest ever PC. Delivered in powder-form.

    Just add water.....
  • but can it stand up to an ak47 at close range? This is the real question begging to be answered here people. oh yea, and imagine...
  • So how many potatoes would be required to power this one? :)

    Oh, and can we overclock it and play Half-Life on it for 22 seconds before the matchbox blows up?

  • All you then need is to use wireless ethernet and you all you need is a way of getting power into the device.

    I'm now wondering if it'd be possible to build a system where you'd have re-charagable batteries powering the in-a-can PCs... which are re-charged by putting the can in the microwave for a couple of minutes

    Node3 offline to recharge

    Node3 recharging
    Node3 going around and around
    Node3 fatal error - out of cheese on popcorn re-do from start.
  • Clip one of these to your belt, attach a glasstr on [sony.com] and a keyboard [slashdot.org] and you're ready to stride out into the world.

    And get hit by a bus.
  • Has anyone figured out how to leave a /tmp/Garak_was_here or something. When you log in as a guest the commands are very limited.
    Kinda neat tho, maybe I should pop the chip outa my 486 stack up some pcbs and take a picture clameing that its a working box, put the chip back in boot her up and put it online. :)
  • Estimated pricing on Tiqit's website was "$1,xxx.00", which even on the low end ($1,000) is WAY too expensive.

  • so (Score:5)

    by jbarnett ( 127033 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:44AM (#1037845) Homepage

    the dam thing get slashdotted enough, thanks CmdrTaco. (joking).

    suprised no one has committed on "a cluster of these". Have 200 cpus cranking away (even if they are 486) would be kinda need.

    So is that a cluster in your pocket processing ray trace or are you just happy to see me?

    They did install Windows and Linux on it, that is pretty cool. Since it looks like a "standard" pc, I bet you could pretty much throw anything on it, as long as it supports a 486. OpenBSD could be cool, just so you could say "I got 12 differant types of encryption in my pants, you want to guess which kinds and where?"

    Or load up the thing with Metallica MP3's, stick it in your pocket, grab it from the out side of your pants and shout "HEY LARS I GOT YOUR MP3'S RIGHT HERE"

    There is so many fun things you can do with this. Portable web cam, portable mp3 player (might have to tweak it out a bit, cpu wise) 300 Megs in the world of mp3 players is nothing to laugh at, hook up a zip or extrenal hard drive for extra storage.

    Ever seen those LCD screens about the size of a tab of LSD? They are like 1(2??)CM square, small enough to put into a part of sunglasses. Hook up on those up to your shades, slip the match box computer into your pocket and you can watch down the street and have the "Terminator Bulls Eye" on everyone you meet. Or just want down the screen and have a slide show of Miss Portman pics, no one would ever know.

    Man, this things has so many uses, anyone see the price his company will be offering these for? The site is slashdotted and could tell if they said or not.

    Those are the good things, the bad things about this: You might accdentily drop it in the crapper if you aren't carefull. Plomp.

    Sorry if this post seems long, I don't care, I just though of something else.

    Being this small, you could (if you had the skill) implant one of these into your body somewhere (you pick the best spot).

    Seriously I could imbed a matchbox size devices into the back of my neck, in my arm or maybe my legs with nothing more than the devices, a really sharp and CLEAN knife, a sharp and clean switching needle and a case of the cheapest beer you got.

    If anyone wants to buy me one of these and a small LCD screen (2CMx2CM for example), I WILL embed this into some part of my body (which ever is the easiest and less painfull). Seriously I WILL give my body to science for this, if anyone wants to foot the bill for the matchbox computer and workable LCD screen. But the only thing I would require it to run either Linux or *BSD. Having a BSOD inside your body doesn't sound like fun.

    I am not joking around here, ship me one of these and an LCD and I will self-insert this into my body for the "advancment" of science or the "curiously sick" side show expeirnce. In exchange for this, I will give you free banner ads on any web page/server I run out of this for the life of the unit.

    people will probably think I am fucking around here, this is not a joke. Ship me one of these units and I will self-insert this somewhere into my body somewhat permentably (for the life of the unit or the life of me, or if there is a upgrade avaiable with more cpu, etc). On the creepy side, what would happen if I died with the unit still on, "Hey you got the check out slash dot, they have a web server running from inside some dead guy"

    Seriously I am going to get one of these, one way or another and insert it into my body, that would rule. Doom2 24X7, nonstop, dool...

  • $1000 seems pretty steep when you can get a SIMM-sized computer for $50 from Dallas Semiconductor. It's called TINI (get it?). If you haven't seen it before, take a look; it runs Java and includes an ethernet connection and an interface to their iButton components.

    Some projects require more then just a processor with a tiny bit of ram. I'd like streaming MPEG-1 video encoding and 802.11 ethernet. TIQIT is much closer to that goal then TINI.

  • What happened to your link? It takes you to slashdot.org [slashdot.org]. Inquiring minds want to know...

    Correct link is: http://www.theregister.co.uk/000525 -000013.html [theregister.co.uk]

    --
    You think being a MIB is all voodoo mind control? You should see the paperwork!
  • The price of 1,XXX$ (as they put it) is a *VERY* poor decision on their part. This targets their systems for higher end products, which could have hardware much better suited for them for a much lower cost.

  • Re:but wait... (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    But wouldn't the CABLES running out the back give it away? Oh, I get it, wireless network, too, and battery powered - I can just see it now -

    "Uh, officer, that's just a can of soup"

    "But why does it weigh 5 pounds?"

    "Uh, it's extra chunky??"

  • And I would be happy to use them for micro - per machine firewalls. Sorta like a Netscreen 5 but much cheaper.
    I tried using the cheapo linksys firewall switch
    but found it not configurable enough to handle a
    subnet instead of a single ip.
    I have an regular machine now to do the trick but
    that is a rather bulky solution.
  • Gee, someone needs to actually click on the links and go read some Wearable Computing history links. He's nattering about the Rememberance Agent and other old hat wearable ideas.
  • Does anyone know where a picture might be at? I couldn't find one on the page.

    Thanks!

    -S

    http://students.washington.edu/steve0/ [washington.edu]
    steve0@u.washington.edu
  • Rememberance Agent ?

    Got a Link? that isn't slashdotted? And who where you talking to?

    Where you talking to me? You must be talking to me cause no one else is around. You talking to me? You talking to me?
  • All you then need is to use wireless ethernet and you all you need is a way of getting power into the device.

    ...or, to put it another way:

    If you had some ham, we could have ham sandwiches, if I had some bread.


  • This webpage served live from the colon...

    And where do slashdotted colonic webservers go to recover? [meepzorp.com]

    ======
    "Rex unto my cleeb, and thou shalt have everlasting blort." - Zorp 3:16

  • Wire your potatoes in series.
    This also works with apricots and plums.
  • The main e-mail server for the company I work for uses Linux on a 486-66MHz/24M RAM/250M disk, which is close to the specs of this box. I know lots of other companies that still have the odd 486 around doing file service, print service, etc.

    In other words, you really can make production servers out of this class of a box.

  • Do you really believe that or are you just making it up?

    Say you have a flashlight with a 6V bulb in it. You put in 4 D cells at 1.5V each. In series this gives you the required 6V. Have a look at any piece of battery-powered gear if you want evidence.

  • Price breakdown (Score:3)

    by Tekmage ( 17375 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @12:18PM (#1037864) Homepage
    Just to shed a little light on how their costs might break down...

    Pricing for individual components is available at http://www.emjembedded.com/

    ...for the JDM486, JDMCOM, MITEPC and MODBOX, plus a JDMCPS and JDMIOS, the price comes out to $680 before any taxes or shipping.

    ...from IBM's online shop, the MicroDrive (31L9335) is $379 before taxes and shipping.

    So, that's $1,059 worth of individual parts. That leaves $436 for the remainder of the parts, low-volume production of the custom boards, labour for assembly, and some source of funds to pay everyone and offset future development costs.

    Recommendation for future development: Transmeta Crusoe as processor. :-)
  • slashdotted again

  • I'm sure that CSIS and CSE agents are passing on your info to customs right now...

    We wouldn't want you importing stuff and not paying the government for the privilege...
  • I had the pleasure of working very closely with Proffessor Pratt when I taught a two-semester guest scholar course up there a few years back. He was always obsessed with the miniaturization of computing devices back then, and let's just say he's a little miniature in other areas, too! :) That's just a joke - Prof. Pratt is just as normal as any other guy. But he's fully aware who has the upper hand in raquetball!!

    Anyway, the link doesn't go into too much detail of the history of this device, and I certainly didn't work hands-on with it. But I did see and review initial design papers. The first "working" model was actually built on a 386 chip, which really are quite small, inverted and used as a foundation. The copper connectors were run through a global resin-wound resister, so they could do really short wire runs and send instructions directly to the core without induction loss. Usually, in a full sized computer, you can counter-act this using sheer power, but adding that kind of power to this device would, of course, make it bigger than a matchbox.

    But where they did make it bigger (bigger being relative!) was in the area of storage. They tried using soft-sim memory as a long-term storage medium, which not only required banks and power, but it would be flushed everytime it lost power. So they had to add anohter battery and alternate power in a sort of RAID-5 storage solution. Then you only power half of it down at a time.

    Obviously it made the thing bigger, and it looks like they've moved onto a MUCH better design. I hope they go commercial with this thing - I'd love to program some crap for this puppy!

    Anyway, I was just thinking you fellow slashdotters might want a little insight into the earliest designs of this computer.

    cheers!
    sw

  • I already did the calculations, you need 6 spuds, a couple diodes, a cap, and an opamp to get the required voltage. Why all the extra stuff? Because converting from DC to Ac is a real pain.

  • Re:Careful now... (Score:3)

    by Bob McCown ( 8411 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:06AM (#1037879)
    Don't say 'passing'...that thing has sharp edges...

  • True, crackers find something intersting, post it to slashdot and within hours the crack claims to his 31337 hAck0r freind about the attack.
  • At a grand+ a pop, there are many other better solutions. At that point, you can buy a couple of normal stripped down servers, providing a much lower-to-maintain cost then these.

  • but wait... (Score:5)

    by geekpress ( 171549 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:07AM (#1037882) Homepage
    I'm just waiting for someone to make small computers that look like Campbell's soup cans, like the kind you can hide valuables in. You could have a whole network in your pantry cleverly hidden from anyone with a warrant.

    Okay, so it's a bit absurd, but what isn't these days.

    -- Diana Hsieh

  • The only problem could be etching your own PCB's. Anyone want to do a batch of them?

    In Canada, there's a company called Olympic Circuits just outside of Toronto. Good boards, good prices, good service. And they'll do double-sided/multilayer boards, which I'm sure this thing will require. (ugh.)

    On the other hand, an enterprising do-it-yourselfer can easily roll his/her own single/double-sided boards. All you need is to print the patterns out onto overhead projector transparencies. Use a *good* laser printer, and make sure the "Toner Saver" mode is *off*. Iron the transparencies to the clean blank copper boards. Peel off, leaving the toner on the copper. If the board is to be double-sided, you're going to have to be very careful to make sure the top and bottom patterns are lined up properly.

    Etch the board in either ferric chloride or ammonium persulfate, drill holes, and mount your components. Plated-through holes aren't going to be possible with this method, so to pass a signal from top to bottom (and vice-versa), I just use a little scrap of wire through the hole and soldered to the top and bottom pads.

    Everything you need to do this is available at you local Staples and Radio Shack stores.

    Boards done this way are ugly, but they work, and they're cheap. My Vic-20 to washing machine interface was done this way, and still works, 5+ years later. (Don't ask.)

  • Server details (Score:3)

    by CMU_Nort ( 73700 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @07:55AM (#1037884) Homepage
    Personally, I much prefer the HotWheels server compared to this matchbox server. They always seemed to have a lot more detail.

  • Computer on a chip (Score:3)

    by CAIMLAS ( 41445 ) on Tuesday May 30, 2000 @01:56PM (#1037889)
    From what I (think that I) have heard, some larger schools have processor dye etching facilities. CalTech, or something like that. Not entirely sure, but I recall hearing this at one point.

    Wouldn't it be technically feasable to minimize the circuitry and produce a single chip on a small board, similar to some of the old 486sx chips that had small boards, since they were smaller than normal 486 chips?

    All that would need to be done is then put connection sockets on the board, or wires away from the board, and you basically would have a space-free computer. it could (possibly) fit inside the large plastic cases on most cables. heck, with modern .18 microns and such, it's definately possible...

    Now THAT would be a cool grad student project...

    -------
    CAIMLAS

  • Miniaturisation is always nice. But does my cellphone needs to run W95? Or does my watch needs to run linux to tell the time? Do I need a webserver on the go? No, I need a damn good and reliable client that takes no more fuel than needed. I don't care where the server's at. I certainly don't want to carry extra power to run a server.

    Oke, the point is that it could run it if you wanted to. But I don't see how running a portable power savy server could be marketable selling point for any other than a geek... ;-)

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