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Tiny Computer From Mynix 83

Posted by timothy from the laptops-are-cheaper-and-more-complete dept.
vnsnes writes: "Mynix brands their e-Space computer as the world's smallest PC. It is, '...the only alternative to Desktops and Notebooks; for those who need computing in two places, typically the Home and the Office.' It looks really cool, but would it really be practical for anyone? For people chucking information between home and office it would seem much more economical to get broadband service at home and setup a VPN. Why would anyone use e-Space as a notebook when it comes without a screen, a keyboard, or a mouse? Yes, you can save space with this little guy, but you'll still need room for a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse on your desk. And they aren't exactly cheap: about $1,600. For about the same price you can get a laptop computer with the same specs but with all the necessary peripherals. PC Magazine review here." I guess this fills the same niche that the Saintsong Cappucino does, whatever niche that is.
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Tiny Computer From Mynix

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  • Assumptions (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DarkZero ( 516460 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @03:47PM (#2744871)

    For people chucking information between home and office it would seem much more economical to get broadband service at home and setup a VPN

    You're assuming that the target customer knows what a VPN is, which is a doubtful. Honestly, not that many average consumers have a VPN, a LAN, or even extremely common geek things like broadband service at home.

    • Yeah, but the assumption that this would be deployed in an office environment would lead you to believe that the consumer is a network admin, who undoubtably knows what a VPN is. Put that admin in a software development shop (such as the one that I work in) and you're dealing with an admin whose system already does everything that this puppy could supposedly do for you and more.

      • Theonly advantage this has is the kawai factor (Japanese for cute). An 8 Mb HD? 750 mHz? $1500+?

        How about 10 MB hd, a gigahertz CPU and $500? [tigerdirect.com]

        Anyone have a good idea why one is $1000 more than the other?


        • Further exploration of the article's links shows the Tiger deal to be the Cappucino. [arstechnica.com] Still, why the price difference?

        • kawai == scary
          kawaii == cute

          I don't think you meant scary, neh?
        • Anyone have a good idea why one is $1000 more than the other?

          That is pretty easy to answer! TigerDirect is a company that seems to specialize in getting surplus neato electronics and selling them out at slightly higher than surplus cost (ie, selling them at great prices!). Witness the 3com Audrey for $99 and numerous other deals they have had. Note that TigerDirect does have some regular stuff at regular prices (in fact the majority of their catalog is composed of such items) so not everything is a steal or even a deal. Also they sometimes get stuff that is blown out at low cost while the same stuff is still in regular retail channels at the regular price. Just an observation...
        • I dunno, man... I wouldn't be too happy with either an 8 meg or a 10 meg HD.

          Perhaps you meant GB? Or perhaps GiB?
    • Nearly every moblie employee at our company knows at a VPN. When I say nearly, I would mean 99%. All of our salespeople know how to VPN from their hotel room. And I'd say most of them are non-geeks. We aren't a small company either ($10 billion test equipment manufacturer). So no, the average consumer might know what a VPN is, but I'd say your average office employee does and that is one of the targets of this product.
  • You could use these as servers. Think about it. You can fit about 30 of these in a drawer. Maybe they'll sell the "World's Smallest Server"! Of course, does it run a server OS? Someone should do a test.
    • And, of course, the obligatory "World's Smallets Beowulf Cluster of World's Smallest Servers!"
    • I had an idea once, a far out, way out idea, a way far outre idea - in my lounge you see the avant garde sculpture with all those little boxes spiraling around a central pole - no, wait half a mo, that's the servers, and next to them you have the hard drives on a SAN - don't trip over the power cable, will you!? It's a fully Uninterruptable Power Supply, fully shielded from everything except a nuclear strike. No, the little boxes don't have power supplies all of their own! It's elementary - they communicate with the UPS over the power cable.

      The CPUs communicate over a gigabit Fibre Channel with each other and with the SAN - SAN's an arbitrated loop of course, the CPUs are switched fabric - and these are my screens - a full seven times twenty-one inch! And all running Enlightenment on X on their own Graphics PUs. It's wonderful what you can do with switched fabric and a set of flat screens!

  • Desktop equal? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mahtar ( 324436 ) <aborell@gmail.com> on Sunday December 23, 2001 @03:48PM (#2744879)
    The e-Space is a full powered miniature Desktop system with a rich feature list that equals full sized desktop systems

    Integrated ALI 1632 Graphics and Trident BIOS with support for additional 4MB of memory upgradeable to 8MB with AIMM.Intel® 3D Graphics with support for additional 4 MB of Digital Display cache memory with AIMM

    Watch out, GeForce3.

  • If you are worried about theft, you can just stash it in a safe when you leave for work. Of course, if you're smart, you'd just buy a cheaper desktop computer and encrypt the filesystem.
    • There are (or were) government/military sites that handled top secret documents by limiting storage to removable media.

      At the end of the day, you popped the media out and it went into a safe until the next day.

      You could use these tiny pc's the same way, but you get the added advantage of making more difficult to install spyware in the PC itself.

      Of course, you now have to deal with people just slipping one of the tiny pc's into their pocket and walking out of the facility.
    • Because an encrypted file system is going to prevent the physical theft of your computer?

      Taking a computer with an encrypted filesystem is going to allow time to break the system. In addition, the loss of the computer is still going to cost you in time to make up the lost data.

      Unless, of course, you are saving to a network drive not physically attached to you computer, in which case the encrypted data will not matter to the physical thieves.

      One of the better solutions is to use an encrypted filesystem on a portable Firewire drive. Then you have something that will fit in your pocket that you can easily move between computers at home and work.

      Of course, then you or your employer is paying more for computers and upgrades.
      • Because an encrypted file system is going to prevent the physical theft of your computer?



        No, because most thefts are done by people who just pawn the stolen items. An enctryted file system would be enough to keep most not-important things secret. You would then restore from a backup, and file a report with your insurance.

  • Could be useful. . . (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Cyberllama ( 113628 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @03:53PM (#2744897)
    Its a shame manufacturers don't put a little more thought into such products. A few more refinements and I would be able to think of dozens of uses. However, as it stands, I can still think of few:

    1) Put linux on it and hide it away as a server. Everyone loves a tiny server, espeically at lan parties when the less equipment you have to lug around too much equipment.

    2)How about a Beowulf cluster of 100 systems. . . In your closet!

    3) uhm....Other stuff I guess? Honestly with just a tiny screen and some sort of input method this could really be neat. I mean Palms/PocketPc's just don't have enough power in them. . . But since the manufacturers seem more inclined to make a neat gadeget (which admittedly is enough to make me sort of want one) than they are a useful product you'd have to do this bit of mod work yourself.
    • ...but is not practical.

      Sure, it would be neat to Beowulf a large chunk of these, and stick them in a closet. Unfortunately, there are two major problems with that:

      -You'll still have to worry about heat ... and if you throw 100 of these in a closet with its corresponding switches and miscellaneous accessories, it will heat up to approximately say, the temperature of the sun. Most standard household closets don't have a dedicated HVAC system.

      - Secondly, and most importantly, at $1600 a pop, you could construct a pretty mean rack-mounted cluster, which although taking up a smidgen more room, will give you a helluva lot better than a bunch of PIII/750s.

      Nope, this is just another useless invention, though certainly eye-catching. While stashing away this as a tiny server might be neat, you again have to remember the price...I'll build you a really powerful and tiny mini-ATX system which will be easy enough to stash and hide away, for about a grand less. ;)

      Good try, Mynix, but you'll only get a brief spurt of purchases from impulse buyers and gadget-freaks (in my family, called "the Uncle Robert syndrome", in homage to an old gadget-freak of family yore :).

      Happy holidays to everyone!

      Ryan

  • People with very cluttered desktops, or people with almost empty desktops who complain a computer 'takes up too much space'. Yes, these people do exist, amazingly.
    • Yeah, but I would think a $100 desk from target would be a better way to go. I bought one of those desks that has the shelf under the top to put your computer on. This device would end up taking up more room than it would save. I really don't understand what their target market is... Except maybe you setup a station at home and one at work. Then you have a smaller and lighter device to carry back and forth. But if you need to work on something in between (or on the road) you can't. Maybe they did want to narrow the market to that specific case though.
      • Hahah, turns out I guess I was right. I finially got to the page and it said "perfect for someone that needs a computer at home and at work!"

  • Jadetec [jadetec.co.uk] also call their MicroPC [jadetec.co.uk] the world's smallest. Since the e-Space site seems to be a little bit Slashdotted right now, I can't compare the sizes directly, but Jadetec's offering claims:

    Dimensions: 157mmx 146mmx 45mm

  • Slashdotted? (Score:2, Funny)

    by suwain_2 ( 260792 )
    There are nine comments...

    They're probably hosting their site on one of these things!

  • One obvious use for such a machine... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by iapetus ( 24050 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @04:02PM (#2744919) Homepage
    Any area where you really do have to fit a large number of PCs into a small area - we've recently outfitted a training room, and small footprint has been one of the most important deciding factors in purchasing the hardware. We ended up going with slimline PCs and LCD monitors, but if the budget had stretched a little bit further, devices like this might have been ideal.

  • security (Score:3, Insightful)

    by whiteben ( 210475 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @04:06PM (#2744926)
    Perhaps one possible target audience for these machines are the same people who invest in removeable hard drives. There are lots of people who want the security of removeable media -- perhaps a combined package of the processor with the hard drive would be attractive to these people.

    BEN
    • Removable hard drives have lots more uses than just mobility or off-site storage.

      Eg. I have IDE RAID system. I know that the disks are going to crash - disks always do, sooner or later. Now, when (not if, when) a disk crashes, I just bring the system offline, take the disk out, and bring the system back online. I know - with hotswap SCSI I wouldn't need off/online cycling, but that costs a lot more.

      Without removable bays I would have to open the case, open some 20 or so screws to get the media bay off, disconnect cables that are in VERY tight space, and so on.

      Operation time reduced from at least half an hour to five seconds. Add off/online cycle of about five minutes.

      Now, I have a laptop for work. I work at home, at two offices, and at customers' sites. Laptop is good for that. But, if I could get three tiny light computers and a KVM-switch into same space as one laptop, that'd be great. If it were a single package with shared redundant power supplies and two power jacks, single keyboard, video and mouse jacks, separate network jacks and so on, it'd really be great.

      I'd still have the laptop (for working in train - I rather use train than car for moving between cities as that allows me to work, sleep, or read while traveling). But, I'd be able to get several setups (development system, Linux server and multiboot WinXP/2k/NT4/ME/98SE/98/95) whereever I need those. Eg. for client-server software with Linux server that has to be tested against every damn Windows ever made (ok, Win95 and newer only) clients.

      Anyway, VMWare is OK, but laptops still don't have enough diskspace for me to set up a gazillion client systems (read the Windows list above). There's just enough space for separate trashable Linux test environment and "stable" Win2k (customer requirements mean I need MS software, too) on top of working, stable Linux host.

      Also, VMWare provides only virtual hardware. What if I need to connect different systems to external devices for development and test? Say, I need to have development system connected to a box so I can tweak it, bring software in and out, and see the logs, while at the same time I need a real client connected to the same box? VMWare works only if the connections are using different hardware (eg. serial console, ethernet NFS for development filesystem, and USB client).
    • Portable processing power.

      Picture this. a desktop case with any where from 2 to X number of slots to hook these in. You have a scalable Multi Processor system. When you need that much processing plug them all in, when you don't you have several systems to use.

      I don't know if that would work or not, but it is a cool idea.
  • I beg to differ with their claim.. there are functional systems much smaller than this thing. Single board systems have been doing this for years -
    See: WinSystems, Inc. [winsystems.com] for one such company.
  • I remember the matchbox pc and the more impressive credit card pc which was a webserver on a 16k smart card with a tcp layer written in java and about 5k of storage space, so unless this "smallest pc in the world" is the size of a flea or as thin as paper i think their claims are exaggerated
  • ... it makes a great foot rest

  • Actually fairly useful, (Score:4, Insightful)

    by CharlieG ( 34950 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @04:28PM (#2744983) Homepage
    but not at that price!

    Picture you develop/work in two locations, home, and a client. The client may NOT allow you to have a VPN. They have supplied you with a desktop, plus a computer system. This allows you to bring YOUR box with you to have the environment YOU want - you use THEIR monitor and keyboard, and work!

    Thing is, at that price, you can buy a laptop
    • I did that for almost a year, except with an actual desktop system. I did get funny looks lugging that thing into the office every morning, but it worked out pretty well. Maybe geeks would lose the wimp image if they had to lug a full tower to work every day.
  • This PC [tigerdirect.com] seems to do everything the $1500 one does. Check out what it comes with: Specifications: Processor: Intel Celeron 1GHz processor (FCPGA) 370-Pin processor socket System bus frequency at 66MHz Memory: 128MB SDRAM; Upgradable to 256MB One 144pin DIMM slot for PC100/PC133 SDRAM Storage: 10GB UDMA hard drive 24X Max. CD-ROM drive Video: Intel 82810E built-in full motion video accelerator H/W motion compensation for S/W MPEG2 at 30fps 4MB of video memory (shared) Supports 1280 x 1024 pixels resolution at 24bit color One S-Video Out port One AV Video Out port Speakers and Audio: Built-in 16-bit stereo (Sound Blaster / Adlib compatible) Full duplex 3D stereo sound Built-in speaker One 3.5mm microphone in port One 3.5mm line out port (using active speakers) Communications: Built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet (RJ45) Built-in 56K V.90 modem (53K max. per FCC regulations) IrDA Peripheral Connections: Two USB ports One 9-pin serial port One 25 pin parallel port (EPP / ECP) Keyboard and Mouse: One 6 pin PS/2 mouse port One 6 pin PS/2 keyboard port Electrical Requirements: Line voltage 100V AC (100V to 130V AC) or 230V AC (180V to 260V AC) Frequency: 47 to 63 Hz, single phase Power in: DC 18V / 3A Maximum power 64 Watt Weight and Size: System approximately 950g (2 lbs) System Dimensions: 157mm x 146mm x 45mm (6.18" x 5.75" x 1.77") One Year Manufacturer Warranty No Operating System Included [PERFECT FOR LINUX!]
  • If you're looking for small computers, try Shuttle SV24 [shuttlela.com]. It's almost as small as the e-Space and costs only $250, much less than the e-Space. But SV24 is a barebone so you will have to put in the CPU and memory, which is still very cheap.

  • The Effect (Score:2, Informative)

    by bckspc ( 172870 )


    If you can't get in, here's the Google cached page:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:fILryV3u3R4:w ww.mynix.com/espace/ [google.com]

  • For use in Cars? Typically, cars don't have much space to put things. This thing looks like it is just about the size of the current standard GM car computer (maybe a little thicker). Would make a great way to customize the engine response, give a HUD, control your entertainment system, etc.

    Just have to keep MS software off it!

  • One thing about these small computers is that they're never cheap. Has anyone seen a small (aka, small enough compared to a desktop to be considered cute) PC that's affordable (under a grand)? Maybe possibly useful as a gift, ya know...
  • $1,600 for monitor, keyboard and mouse?! Where are you shopping dude? For about $350 you can get a 15" Viewsonic flatscreen and for $50 more the mouse and keyboard (although these days used equipment -- albeit bulky -- somes in dirt cheap. Nice machine but what's the target market? It's a laptop without the screen and keyboard. Why? Just cos' it's there? Boomzilla

  • Noise levels? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by doorbot.com ( 184378 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @05:30PM (#2745150) Journal
    I wonder how loud this is. It's pretty small so I just don't anticipate it having much natural airflow. Since it's a Pentium III (rather than a Celeron, or even Pentium (@ .13 micron?)) it will generate a good amount of heat. So it must have a fan. But small fans trying to move a lot of air tend to be quite noisy (and irritating due to higher pitch).

    The design is interesting and hopefully we will see more computers like this, but I don't find myself all that impressed yet. I want a system like the one shown, but one that relies on passive cooling. Frankly, size isn't a concern for me, make it rack mountable or a bit taller and maybe twice as wide. I'll mount it on its side PS2-style and have a nice quiet server (or desktop). With some good PS2-style design (eg, designed to stand on its side or lay flat) you could have a Mac-ish computer... one where it was both functional but also designed to fit into a room; something designed to not look like a plain computer box. Something you could put in your living room and not feel like a complete computer nerd when friends came over.
    • I've been throwing around a plan to construct a case that fits in the footprint of my Hitatchi DVD player..

      say.. 7 inches tall, 16 wide/10 deep or so, large enough to fit a decently powerful PC (probably Tualatin 1.2Ghz + ATI 8500 AIW + TV card + something like one of these [rme-audio.com] for sound output, as a hometheater/console replacement/hifi replacement box..

      Preferably I'd be able to let it just dissipate heat off passively.. (hence the Tualatin)

      using this sort of front panel aesthetic [denon.com]
  • It seems like wearable computing is the ideal application for something like this, but also the one that isn't being pursued at all... In terms of just using it to carry data between your home and office, I agree that it's pretty useless. A small laptop with VGA and PS/2 ports fills that niche just fine.

    Of course, exactly how usefull wearables really are is another debate entirely...

  • Hello? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by aurorascope ( 466416 ) on Sunday December 23, 2001 @05:36PM (#2745170) Homepage
    Haven't you guys ever heard of a laptop with a broken screen? Heck, get one of them for next to nothing; stick a monitor on it whenever necessary.
    -
    • More importantly, why wouldn't I just buy a Laptop to begin with ? $1600 buys a very nice one, even if that included a Monitor, mouse and keyboard. Now not only can I use it at work and at home, but on the road as well and although the monitor, keyboard and mouse are nice, I don't NEED them. This device has the worst features of both, in that it needs a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and it is not that powerful, flexable or upgradable and it is not nearly as portable as a laptop. I see no purpose in this device, you either want a powerful, flexable and upgradable system (a desktop) or you are willing to sacrafice all or most of these features for the sake of portabilty (a laptop).
    • COCO Pops are NOT the answer! Now Honey Nut Cheerios, they ARE the answer! ;0)

      Analyst99
  • I hope Linus doesnt get pissed off at that company name.

    Explanation for the linux joke impaired:
    As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want). -Linus - 1991
  • I don't think that a small pc is all we need...

    I mean, the only use that I can think of for one of these machines is as an 'appliance' or 'convergence device' (as in: get my mp3s/oggs or divx movies -- or software dvd? -- in the living room without putting a big beige box in there). If you need something portable, get yourself a laptop. If you need a pc at your desk, get a 'real' pc. (and spend a lot less money...).

    I think that what we really need is some kind of small motherboard (like the shuttle sv-24) maybe, plug in one of the faster VIA C3 processors (heatsink cooled -- of course), and, very important, a fanless power supply. (anybody know where to get one of those?)

    I ain't buying this stuff...
  • It's a $300 SBC board packed inside $1300 of what again? Honestly, $1600 is a waste for that. I mean, yeah, it'd make a small server, blah blah. Big deal--$1600 can get you a dual-processor 1U rack unit with far more standardized hardware. And you could certainly custom-build a unit of about the same size for far less using an off-the-shelf SBC, many of which have optional onboard LCD controllers, allowing you an easy route to a small display as well (you can find 8" VGA LCDs on eBay for sub-$100). And as a replacement for a laptop... you can buy 2 good laptops for the cost of one of these things.
  • Why would anyone use e-Space as a notebook when it comes without a screen, a keyboard, or a mouse? Yes, you can save space with this little guy, but you'll still need room for a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse on your desk.

    ever hear of the twiddler? (www.handykey.com) or a HMD? ever hear of wearable computing? $1600.00 is dirt cheap for a turnkey wearable platform with that kind of power. as soon as I can find a 800X600 monicle display that costs less than a minivan I am all over this puppy. imagine on your train commute lying back working,coding,watching a divix flick, playing a game of quake3 with someone else on the train using your wifi card.

    there is a huge world out there called wearable computing, check it out, and look up it's father. Steve Mann, the inventor of the wearable computer.
  • Hook this baby up with a Head Mounted Display [wearcam.org], a wrist-mounted keyboard and trackball, some batteries, 802.11b, then stuff it in your backpack, and away you go!
  • Does anyone else remember when this was called the Ergo Brick?
  • I have a Cappucino (the DVD version) which I primarily use as a portable task server.

    Basically what I call a "task server" is a computer dedicated to things that take too long, like Kazaa downloads, compiles, DivX compression, etc. I can leave the machine where it is more convenient to do the task while I'm gone, whether that is at work, at home, or on the road. For instance, as I have lots of bandwidth at work so if I'm downloading the latest Buffy episode it is more convenient for me to leave the Cappacino at my desk. If I'm doing some projects at home I'll use it at home. I also use the Cappucino to a lesser extent as a transfer file server.

    With WinXP Pros's "Remote Desktop Connection" I can use any Win2K or WinXP machine to connect to the Cappucino remotely and control whatever task I'm running there. WinXP Pro's RDC is really quite cool, and at DSL speeds I can run apps from home while machine is at work, and visually barely notice that I'm connecting remotely.

    I like the Cappucino for what I use it for, but it really could use some improvements to make it more generally useful. I'd consider using it for music or as a lan party machine, but the Cappacino's video is useless for games and the audio is insufficiently high fidelity (though I know someone who is using it with a USB audio system with better results then I.) The DVD version doesn't rip very fast either, so it is only an adequate dedicated ripping machine.

    These audio and video limitation appears to also apply to the Mynix e-Space machine as well. If a successor to either box was using the new nVidia nForce chip I'd swap out and use the new device more broadly then I'm currently using the Cappacino.

    The only major thing that I can see of Mynix e-Space machine has over the Cappucino is that it appears to have a DVI output. I have been trying to convert to DVI LCDs, and the Cappucino is now my only computer that can't use them.

    However, the fact that the Mynix e-Space machine require USB for networking seems a poor choice. My Cappacino only needs two wires, an ethernet and the power, (which both conveniently plug on the same side) and it is up and working.

    Another minor advantage that the Mynix e-Space machine appears to have is that all the major connections are in the back. The Cappacino has connectors on three sides, spaced out fairly broadly. If I was trying to use the Cappacino as a semi-portable desktop machine, the wires coming out from all sides would be quite inconvenient.

    -- Herder of Cats
  • I'd choke using this as a networked machine. The supported network connections are a choice of 2 USB ethernet for "10/100" connectivity (3Com and D-Link). Hmmm, USB is maxed out at 11Mbps. Also, the way that USB works is each device "reserves" a slice of bandwidth appropriate for their needs, but must be careful to not hog all of it or nothing else will work on the same bus. If I recall correctly, at least the 3Com USB (which is an OEM from Acton and I believe the same as the D-Link) only reserves 2Mbps. Boy, that would suck when you are used to near 100Mbps (or even 10Mbps) to local servers.
  • 81 comments, and no one mentioned the girl.

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