Itty-bitty, teeny-weeny Linux Pc's

Analysis -- Over at our sister site LinuxDevices, we're always looking at small, embedded-Linux systems. While reviewing Freespire recently on a Mini koobox, an Apple Mini-sized system, I began to wonder, Just how small do full-featured, Linux-powered PCs come?

When I say full-featured, don't mean Internet tablets, like the Nokia N800, or PDAs (personal digital assistants), such as Palm's Foleo mobile companion. No, what I wanted to see were real desktops or laptops that I could fit into a coat pocket. Here's what I found.

The Mini koobox comes in at 6.5 by 6.5 by 2 inches and weighs 3.0 pounds. Mine sits right next to my older-model 1.42GHz PowerPC Mac mini, and while the color schemes are different, they could otherwise be identical twins.

Mini koobox

The koobox has an Intel Celeron-M 370 1.5GHz processor and 512MB of DDR2 RAM. To store data, it has a 5,400-rpm 40GB hard drive and a slip-in slot for the combo CD/RW and DVD drive.

The box also includes on-board 10/100M-bps Ethernet, a pair of USB 2.0 ports and a single IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port. For audio it includes standard RCA speaker-out and microphone-in ports.

Its video selection is a bit unusual. Instead of a standard video port, it gives you the choice of an S-Video port, suitable for driving standard 480i television, and a DVI-D (Digital Video Interface Digital) port. DVI can be used for HDTV (high-definition TV), but in that market it's being replaced by HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). The koobox includes a VGA adapter, since only some high-end monitors include DVI ports. While I'd tend to use the koobox as an easy-to-place Linux PC, I can see how a homebrew techie might want to use it as an Apple TV or other media-extender replacement.

The koobox comes in a variety of configurations, with prices ranging from $399 to $799.

When you look at a koobox, you can easily figure out that you're looking at a PC. The decTOP is another matter. In fact, chances are you'd be hard-pressed at first glance to figure out exactly what the decTOP is.

decTOP

The decTOP started life in 2004 when Advanced Micro Devices introduced it as the Personal Internet Communicator. AMD tried to sell it as an Internet appliance, but it never went much of anywhere. So AMD killed that line, but then along came Data Evolution Corp., a mobile computing vendor, which rebranded it as the decTOP. Under the new name, the device can run either Linux or Windows CE 5.0. However, DEC said it is "committed to enabling open-source development for the decTOP."

Today, you can run decTOP as a stand-alone Linux PC or as a thin client. It is a fan-less design with a tightly sealed, rugged, two-piece aluminum case. Data Evolution claims the device is "virtually impermeable to dust and rugged enough to be used in environments normally found in developing regions of the world but which would be inhospitable to other computing devices." The two-piece enclosure can be opened and snapped together easily, facilitating assembly and maintenance.

While it's no OLPC (One Laptop per Child), it just might be what you need if your job calls for you to rough it. With dimensions of 8.5 by 5.5 by 2.5 inches, it's bigger than the Mini koobox, but it weighs about the same. The lack of a fan and its tiny power consumption—8 watts—make it a good choice for carrying out into the field.

The decTOP uses a 366MHz AMD Geode GX processor and 128MB of SDRAM. For storage it uses a 10GB 3.5-inch hard drive. To talk to the outside world it includes 10/100M-bps Ethernet and a 56K-bps fax/modem.

The decTOP comes with four USB 1.1 ports (two in the front and two in the rear), a standard VGA port and video that can support resolutions up to 1,600 by 1,200 at pixels at 85Hz, and AC'97 audio with stereo in/out jacks.

If you're handy, you can upgrade the system on your own to a bigger hard drive and up to 512MB of RAM. Thanks to the USB ports, you can also install your own Linux of choice. For example, here's a solid description of how to install Ubuntu 6.06 on the system.

For $99 plus shipping, the decTOP might be just the tiny PC, or even baby server, that you need.

Of course, when it comes to small Linux laptops, it's hard to beat Asus' forthcoming Eee PC, or 3ePC. This sub-subnotebook measures 6 by 6.5 by 1.3 inches and hits the scales at 2 pounds. The 3ePC has a 7-inch, 800-by-480-pixel display.

Asus 3ePC

After those details, things get a little foggy. Linux fans have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on it, but its shipping date has slipped, and no one really knows even now what its hardware specifications are. We think it will be based on an Intel "Dothan" Celeron M, clocked at 900MHz, have 256MB or 512MB of RAM, and 2GB or 4GB of flash storage instead of a hard drive.

Its I/O (input/output) includes 10/100 Ethernet, a 56K-bps modem, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and "hi-definition" audio I/O. In addition, the device has built-in stereo speakers and a 300K-pixel video camera. A four-cell, 2s2p (two-in-series, two-in-parallel) 5200mAh battery will provide a claimed 3 hours of battery life.

For its operating system, the 3ePC will be running Xandros with a KDE interface. Xandros can run on systems with as little as 128MB of RAM, so it would seem to be a good pick for this tiny laptop.

Its maker still hasn't given us a final price. It appears nearly certain now though that it will run around $250 instead of less than $200.

But, as small as these PCs are, the current tiniest of the tiny would seem to be fit-PC. Made by CompuLab, an Israeli company, the fit-PC is based on the company's CM-iGLX computer-on-module. The company claims it's the smallest LX800-based single-board computer around. With dimensions of 0.7 by 4.6 by 1.6 inches—think paperback book--they may be right.

Fit-PC

The fit-PC uses a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor and is equipped with 256MB of DDR RAM and up to 512MB of flash memory. It also has a 40GB hard drive, two USB 2.0 ports, a VGA connector, audio jacks and an RJ-11 jack. There's no modem behind the RJ-11 port, but you could use it as an RS-232 port for a terminal. The PC also has two audio jacks. Somehow, they manage to stuff all this in there without a fan.

The company officially sells the system with Gentoo Linux. Friends of mine who have gotten them recently, however, report that the fit-PC is now coming with Ubuntu Linux. At a cost of $285, this is a steal for an Ubuntu system.

You might be wondering, considering how slow these processors are and their minimal amounts of RAM, if you can really run Linux on them. The answer is yes, you sure can.

I own a koobox, and I've used a decTOP and fit-PC. Each is more than capable of running Linux, Firefox, Thunderbird for e-mail and OpenOffice all at the same time. I wouldn't try running more than four or five applications at once on these systems, but I think most users will that find any of them works extremely well for day-in, day-out home and office use. They really are remarkable.

Is this as small as PCs can get? No, they're going to get smaller still. Tolapai, Intel's forthcoming Pentium M-powered SOC (system-on-chip), will make even matchbox-sized PCs possible.

With a Pentium M core clocked between 600MHz and 1.2GHz, the first Tolapai chips integrate components traditionally found in PC Northbridges and Southbridges--a GPU (graphics processing unit), external memory and storage controllers, and peripheral interfaces such as USB and Ethernet. With literally everything you need for a PC on a single SOC, how small could a PC get?

The new tiny PCs probably won't be a lot smaller than the fit-PC, simply because you need room for the ports, but shirt-pocket computers and full-powered laptops no bigger than the remarkable NEC Ultralites of the late '80s are coming.

Since I, for one, would kill to have a 21st century Ultralite with Linux, I'm looking forward to the day when I can have as many computers on my desk as I currently have in my entire office and lab: 24. Sound impossible? It's not only possible, it's coming.

Today's minitowers are going to be replaced by hardback-book-sized PCs. By 2010, we're going to be looking at today's 6- and 7-pound laptops with the same amazement as we now look at the KayPro II, the Osborne and the other first-generation luggable computers. The day of the mini-Linux desktop is coming, and it's coming soon.

Columbus Ohio is the Indie Art Capital of the World

The title of "Indie Art Capital of the World" was announced and awarded to the City of Columbus last Tuesday, October 23rd. This announcement marks the beginning of a new grass-roots effort in Columbus to help clarify and boost the cities image throughout the world as a place where all types of art produced with an independent spirit are embraced. Already forging a strong foothold in the community, this title is anticipated to be adopted into the marketing and promotion organizations throughout Central Ohio by the end of the year.

Local indie artist Mike Reed says that he's ready for the new title to be embraced from top to bottom. "Have the Greater Columbus Arts Council adopt the moniker", Reed stated. "Not only is this something Mayor Mike Coleman can start mentioning it in speeches, but every artist has the opportunity to insert it into conversation. Events should buy into the marketing. We are at such a time in our cities history where we can really brand Columbus for one of the things we are great at, fostering independent arts."

Reed, along with fellow members of local artist cooperative, Couchfire Collective host the Agora art events turning out several thousand people. He sees their success as proof of the opportunity to capitalize on Columbus' Indie Art happenings.

He also projects that the title of Indie Art Capital of the World will have a sweeping economic benefit throughout all of Columbus - not just the arts scene. "There are opportunities to generate several millions of dollars in revenue for this city as a result of this branding push", he said citing similar success stories in other US cities such as Austin, TX.

Shortly after the recent announcement, the influence of the title has spread quickly. Daniel Fox, a local entrepreneur and indie artist has already taken note of this growth in the past few days. "Independent Art and Columbus Ohio have always had a strong connection", Fox said. "Our independent spirit extends from crafters to entrepreneurs, from the music scene to theater and beyond. There's so much going on here just under the radar."

The Columbus Indie Art Capital vision unifies and promotes all aspects of the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. It emphasizes the spirit and business of art making at all levels and is discipline and media inclusive - dance, film, visual arts and literature, as well as animation, design, music and poetry.

Centered around the first ever Columbus Indie Arts Conference in 2008 this movement exists to affirm Columbus' status as a hotbed of innovation and ideas. The Columbus Indie Arts Conference hopes to attract a variety of speakers and art makers worldwide, and to celebrate the rich cultural Arts tradition of Columbus.

We envisage this movement as our bridge to the rest of the world to demonstrate our vibrant Arts scene, attract business and economic investment, foster and incubate ideas and innovations, and to contribute to the growth of Columbus.

My husband is a better mother

Originally posted at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21018217/wid/11915773/

 

“What if your child prefers one parent and that parent isn't you?”

Recently, it happened at a typical family function, which, in my family, tends to involve a gaggle of children at my in-laws' house. As always, the littlest nieces and nephews hover around their mommy. Except for my 20-month-old, who hovers around her daddy.

There I sit, in the recliner in the corner, answering questions about my job and looking a little useless while my husband, Gary, carries our daughter, Rose, around the room and over to the piano, where they attempt a version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." When he puts her down on the floor so he, too, can chat with the grown-ups for a bit, she wails in protest, pulling at his pants. My sister-in-law, her 2-year-old in her own lap, watches the whole scene unfold with amusement and says to her brother, "I can't believe how into you she is."

Another time, on our way to the zoo one sunny Saturday, Rose suddenly gets sick all over herself. We pull over. As Gary uses handfuls of wipes to clean our daughter's stained clothes on someone else's lawn, I begin to buckle the baby back into her car seat. She whimpers, looking past me for Daddy.

It's OK," I say soothingly. "Mommy's here."

She stares at me blankly and bursts into tears.

"Da-Da," she insists, straining at the straps and pushing me to the side. "Da-Da! Da-Da! Da-Da!"

When we arrive anywhere, Gary is usually the one carrying Rose because, given a choice, she will twist and writhe in my arms until I hand her over. Me? I'm the one lagging behind with the diaper bag and the picture books and the rest of the supplies.

You know, all the things fathers usually lug.

Daddy's girl
I am no longer merely mildly annoyed by her obvious preference. I find it downright disturbing. So does my husband, enough so that when he and I return from a romantic weekend and pick up our daughter at my parents' place, Gary insists I walk into the house before him so I'm the one Rose sees first. I open the front door. Call her name. Brace myself.

She hears my voice and comes running from the living room. Then my daughter — for whom I gave up margaritas and caffeine and even pain relievers for nine months, the child I labored 13 hours to bring into the world, the daughter I sang to and continued to nurse even after her first teeth came in — runs right past me and straight into the arms of her daddy.

"Well," my mother, who has been observing the scene, pipes up. "She certainly is a daddy's girl!"

I am well aware of the advantages of this situation. At get-togethers, I am often the one conversing with the adults and nibbling hors d'oeuvres while Gary stacks blocks with Rose in the corner. I get to sit on the couch; Gary spends most of his time kneeling on the floor. I can go to the bathroom any time I want and stay in there as long as I want. Gary has to sneak out of the room after first distracting our daughter, however long that takes, then endure her guilt-inducing weeping once she realizes he is gone.

'Take it to management'
On good days, my husband and I joke about the situation. Lately, Gary has taken to calling me management, as in "Take it to management." This is what he tells Rose whenever she asks him for something. I'm the one, after all, who knows which — and how much — medicine she gets and when she shouldn't get any medication at all. I also have an uncanny ability to decode our daughter's various cries; I can distinguish hungry from bored, cranky from exhausted. I simply listen and tell Gary what to do, and if he does it, Rose immediately stops crying. The distressing part is that he has to be the one to do it. Our daughter may need me, but she wants her daddy.

I can't help but notice the looks of envy from other mothers — who wouldn't envy a 20-month-old's mother who can schmooze freely at parties or read the newspaper and enjoy a cup of coffee and a long, hot shower every morning? Some, though, particularly the stay-at-home moms who know I work full-time, seem unmistakably disapproving, giving smug "how sad" shakes of the head. I try hard to stay above it all.

I wish I could fully attribute my daughter's daddy proclivity to my crazy work schedule or to the fact that, during the first year of Rose's life (you know, that all-important bonding time), I continued to commute a total of three hours a day to and from the office, often leaving before she awoke and getting home at night as she was finishing her bath. My husband picked her up from day care every day and usually gave her all her bottles (they were bottles filled with my breast milk, but he fed her nonetheless). Why wouldn't she associate him with happiness, security and home?

Still, it has been hard not to feel rejected. In frequent Sunday-night tirades, I'd complain about having to work full-time and my killer commute. After a full day at the office and an hour and a half battling traffic on highway 99, I was generally not able to do much else but lie on the couch and watch Rose play. I fantasized about quitting.

Trumped by daddy
Before Rose arrived, I'd vowed my life would not change much when I had a baby. I planned to continue my job as a newspaper reporter. After all, I liked working and I'd always believed in teaching girls the importance of being financially independent. But after I got pregnant and felt the baby growing inside me, her kicks getting stronger by the week, I was increasingly conflicted. Visions of bright afternoons in the park with my baby, pointing out flowers and birds and butterflies, competed with daydreams of me as the ultimate career mom, rushing off to report a story, then rushing back to pick up my baby from day care and covering her with kisses as I whisked her home for bath, bottle, story time and bed. Much as I daydreamed, however, I really didn't have a choice: My job provided crucial income and even more crucial top-flight health insurance — a nonnegotiable because my husband's law firm did not. So back to work I went, crying every night on the way home from the office for the first three months. Then, as I was starting to adjust, Rose lost interest in nursing and entered the separation anxiety phase on cue. Except it was Da-Da she couldn't be without.

It's bad enough to get trumped by your nanny. It's worse getting trumped by your husband, particularly one who, until we became parents, had never nurtured so much as a houseplant. I was the one with all the baby–sitting experience. I was the one who was good with kids. I had the uterus, dammit! What the hell was going on?

It was tempting to conclude that my stressful work life was to blame, but much as I longed to believe that, when I watched my husband and daughter play, saw how he read to her and talked to her while she followed him around the house, it was hard not to think that their bond was more than the result of their spending a greater number of hours together.

 

Why the At-Home Dad convention is important.

This was originally posted at http://www.athomedad.org/ "I was asked by the reporter the other day what it was that made the At-Home Dad Convention so special. My answer: it's inspiring to be around guys who so clearly want to be great at the whole parenting thing. They live to make the most of their gig as a dad.

This sticks out particularly because of this piece in Slate last week on how tiresome actually interacting with kids can be (thanks, Greg, for flagging). I'm not the Slate piece will make any sense whatsoever to the convention guys. Playing as drudgery? They don't buy it.

I don't know if I've said so on the blog, but I'm taking a pass on KC this year. One of the realities of working full-time is that the weekends with the family become that much more precious, and I'm not quite ready to voluntarily take a pass on that time. But my thoughts will be with you guys that do make the trip."

Sponsors

Tribute to dad through the eyes of a 13 year old.

Sometimes it takes a smart kid, and a great post from one to remind us how we look in their eyes:

"Its Funny how something tragic can actually bring people closer then they ever were. For example, Michael had had a “hard” life, with a tiresome job. He was also not really able to see his kids or wife. But, in 1995 his life became even harder when he was diagnosed with (which is a lack of a certain enzyme in the body). Then in 1999 at the age of 39 it was found that Michael’s kidneys were no longer working and he was in need of a transplant. He could no longer work and had to be on a dialysis machine. In 2000, he received a transplant and could be free from the machine he had to be connected to early in the morning and late at night. It was said that he would die at the age of 40 like most people who suffer from Fabry’s disease, but because of the excellent treatment, he is living strong at the age of 47.

If you haven’t guessed already, this man Michael is my dad. He means so much to me that I don’t know what I’d do without the strange jokes he uses to gross out my friends and I or even his obsession over electronics and super heroes. The main reason he is my unsung hero is because of his will to live. There are a lot of symptoms of Fabry disease such as: damaging of the nerves in the body, severe depression, and/or short term memory loss, but he tries his best to live each day. He still doesn’t work and is Mr. Mom for the household and I think that men of any age should learn from him. He is a loving respecting husband, father, and friend to his loved ones and I know I would be no where without him.

The day my dad got called in for his kidney everything was in chaos. My mom was off the walls. I was balling my eyes out, my next door neighbors were cheering and my dad was just smiling. It was like something in the bible where the battle of St. Michael and the devil would be. My dad was St. Michael and the devil dragon was the disease. He likes to tell that story because of the tattoo on his leg. My dad’s favorite part of the story is when St. Michael wins. He is like St. Michael because he is strong but, not just physically. He is also strong mentally and emotionally.

There were days I would break down and cry because daddy had to go to the hospital again. I was so afraid he wouldn’t come back that I would think to the future and see me sad without him there beside me. Most of all I remember crying because I thought about how daddy and I couldn’t dance at my wedding. It was a bad way to think but that’s what people do when they are worried, they think bad thoughts. When he went to an infusion, just for 2-3 hours, I would sit home and look back on the afternoons we would go get sushi from our favorite restaurant or go out driving and never know where we’d end up. Its days like those people take for granted but I could never do that. He is only one man, and he can only live once. He is my daddy, my father, my unsung hero."

Huffington Post puts at-home dads on double secret probation

Peggy Drexler over at the all powerful Huffington Post gave the At-Home Dad Convention a nice plug.

She didn't raise any new points as she reminded us of the low US census numbers and put out a reminder not to call us Mr Mom. But she did note the emerging evidence that moms have the last word around the house wether they are there or not.

Using her husband as her anecdotal evidence she writes:

My husband was between jobs for a number of months and took over the care and chauffeuring of our young daughter. Before long, I was eyeing him the way white corpuscles eye a splinter. Out!

We're past the days when men could handle two TV remotes the way the Earp brothers handled their pistols at the OK Corral - yet be mystified by the three dials on a washing machine. Still they are more likely to apply the five second rule (anything dropped that is not on the floor for more than five seconds is ok to eat), mismatch an occasional school outfit and are secure in the belief that dishes left in a sink for the afternoon do not cause Ebola. There can be a nagging feeling on the part of moms that, in their absence, things might not be running with mom-like precision.

I think many of us, including moms are guilty of using the 5 second rule (I use 10 seconds), not matching my kids clothes, and leave a few dirty dishes now and then. But if thats all thats left for moms to leave that nagging feeling behind, I say that's progress!

Am I saying that more dads staying home to take care of the kids is a mistake? Not at all. It's wonderful. But I am saying it's not a slam-dunk swap.

None the less, I viewed it as positive article, but be warned we are on double secret probation.

Would have been nice if she gave the convention a link though.