Anybody want a really cheap computer?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI everybody, Check this link: http://www.dataevolution.com/dectop%20info%202.htm This company bought the assets to the AMD PIC (personal internet computer). They're selling it for $99, or three for $299. Yes, it runs Linux. Here is one person's experience: http://jsco.org/dectop/ I wonder if this machine would make a good LTSP thin client...hummmmm. Perhaps a topic for a future WLUG meeting? See ya later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGqo+VHl0iXDssISsRAnvgAKCBXbtNXCZ4paL2KzmGCvOYOPr0cQCfVaKH swC2c4lA1DSL6SoiKix8vB0= =gaqH -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On 7/27/07, Andy Stewart <andystewart@comcast.net> wrote:
HI everybody,
Check this link: http://www.dataevolution.com/dectop%20info%202.htm
This company bought the assets to the AMD PIC (personal internet computer). They're selling it for $99, or three for $299.
That looks neat. What got me, though, is that this company is referring to themself as DEC! I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but it's jarring. -- Rich
On Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 08:36:37PM -0400, Andy Stewart wrote:
This company bought the assets to the AMD PIC (personal internet computer). They're selling it for $99, or three for $299.
Wait, so I have to pay a $2 premium for buying three of them?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Chuck Anderson wrote:
On Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 08:36:37PM -0400, Andy Stewart wrote:
This company bought the assets to the AMD PIC (personal internet computer). They're selling it for $99, or three for $299.
Wait, so I have to pay a $2 premium for buying three of them? _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Sorry, its actually $297: https://store.dataevolution.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DT%2D7002 That info will cost you $2... ;-) - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGq2D3Hl0iXDssISsRAkAbAJwKHiIr8h6W+leMc+2LgsqG4PQhZwCgiVe5 3XBnz2Qz00OsIZAo//Fe8rI= =30Vg -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
The decPIC does look interesting at the advertised price point, but I think the price is high when shipping is added. Approximately $37 for shipping + $99 adds up to about $136. With the four for the price of 3 special, the cost was was about $56 for shipping + $297. I suspect that this high shipping cost also would apply to warranty returns as well, significantly decreasing the value of the implied 30 day warranty. I know this topic is a littel old, but I wanted to add my 2 cents. -- kstratton@fastmail.us
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 kstratton@fastmail.us wrote:
The decPIC does look interesting at the advertised price point, but I think the price is high when shipping is added. Approximately $37 for shipping + $99 adds up to about $136. With the four for the price of 3 special, the cost was was about $56 for shipping + $297.
I suspect that this high shipping cost also would apply to warranty returns as well, significantly decreasing the value of the implied 30 day warranty.
I know this topic is a littel old, but I wanted to add my 2 cents.
I just sent email to the company complaining about the shipping cost. They claim the package is 8 lbs but there still no way (IMHO) that it should cost around $40 to ship it. It is a little better when one buys four at a time (assuming you divide the shipping by your other three friends). I checked eBay, there aren't any out there (yet). There will be someday. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGsFKYHl0iXDssISsRAhXoAJ9/Ls3c7BeWyMOrosgDPK7phlX9xQCfeGWv CLPI9T8ScX1vUL04+eAyO0M= =NDL6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
The decPIC does look interesting at the advertised price
kstratton@fastmail.us wrote: point, but I
think the price is high when shipping is added.
The kicker for me is video. I thought this would be just the thing to send to my sister in Georgia, because all she really needs is email and web access (and maybe basic word processing). You wouldn't initially think video performance would really matter there, but then I think of all the times people email links to videos and whatnot, and it would be really irritating to not be able to see what the person's linking to. One of the end-user reviews I found on the web said that the PIC is really too slow for video, managing only single-digit frames per second. The USB 1.1 is also a bit of a downer, but not as much of a deal-breaker for me. -- Rich
My understanding is that playing flash movies is still at the alpha stage (gnash project http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash). For that reason alone, I would not give something like that to my mother. Is there a movie playing technology that is stable enough for general purpose consumption? One negative of the decTOP that is not obvious is that the decTop does not have an integrated network adaptor (based on a web page), instead it comes with a USB to network adaptor. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I am willing to consider ARM or MIPS boards. decTOP likes: 1) low power usage (if I believe web pages, 8W) 2) standard memory and hard drive interface 3) video interface provided as well as mouse and keyboard 4) low price I still have to do some reading up on the TCP/IP protocol before actually deciding to buy something. On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 08:36:11 -0400, "Klein, Richard" <Richard.Klein@cytyc.com> said:
The decPIC does look interesting at the advertised price
kstratton@fastmail.us wrote: point, but I
think the price is high when shipping is added.
The kicker for me is video. I thought this would be just the thing to send to my sister in Georgia, because all she really needs is email and web access (and maybe basic word processing). You wouldn't initially think video performance would really matter there, but then I think of all the times people email links to videos and whatnot, and it would be really irritating to not be able to see what the person's linking to.
One of the end-user reviews I found on the web said that the PIC is really too slow for video, managing only single-digit frames per second.
The USB 1.1 is also a bit of a downer, but not as much of a deal-breaker for me.
-- Rich
_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug --
kstratton@fastmail.us
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 kstratton@fastmail.us wrote:
My understanding is that playing flash movies is still at the alpha stage (gnash project http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash). For that reason alone, I would not give something like that to my mother. Is there a movie playing technology that is stable enough for general purpose consumption?
One negative of the decTOP that is not obvious is that the decTop does not have an integrated network adaptor (based on a web page), instead it comes with a USB to network adaptor. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I am willing to consider ARM or MIPS boards. decTOP likes: 1) low power usage (if I believe web pages, 8W) 2) standard memory and hard drive interface 3) video interface provided as well as mouse and keyboard 4) low price I still have to do some reading up on the TCP/IP protocol before actually deciding to buy something.
Another thing that I like about the decTOP is that it takes a 12Vdc input. That lends itself very well to ham radio related operations, where most equipment takes 12Vdc (think: car battery). Also, a good percentage of the 8W is to run the hard drive. I can imagine swapping that out for a flash card and saving lots of power, which would be important in some applications. If it weren't for the $40 shipping, I'd probably have bought one of these by now. Shipping for four of these was $45 (I think), so if three other people are interested, I'll split shipping with you. Just let me know. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGtdWTHl0iXDssISsRAlWYAJ0WhxA3RLXdi93qeepwscSzgVh2gwCfeiiG mx807TDl2mRou4IUN8okVW4= =djEY -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:50:11 -0400, "Andy Stewart" <andystewart@comcast.net> said:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
kstratton@fastmail.us wrote:
My understanding is that playing flash movies is still at the alpha stage (gnash project http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash). For that reason alone, I would not give something like that to my mother. Is there a movie playing technology that is stable enough for general purpose consumption?
One negative of the decTOP that is not obvious is that the decTop does not have an integrated network adaptor (based on a web page), instead it comes with a USB to network adaptor. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I am willing to consider ARM or MIPS boards. decTOP likes: 1) low power usage (if I believe web pages, 8W) 2) standard memory and hard drive interface 3) video interface provided as well as mouse and keyboard 4) low price I still have to do some reading up on the TCP/IP protocol before actually deciding to buy something.
Another thing that I like about the decTOP is that it takes a 12Vdc input. That lends itself very well to ham radio related operations, where most equipment takes 12Vdc (think: car battery). Also, a good percentage of the 8W is to run the hard drive. I can imagine swapping that out for a flash card and saving lots of power, which would be important in some applications.
If it weren't for the $40 shipping, I'd probably have bought one of these by now. Shipping for four of these was $45 (I think), so if three other people are interested, I'll split shipping with you. Just let me know.
Later,
Andy
- -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFGtdWTHl0iXDssISsRAlWYAJ0WhxA3RLXdi93qeepwscSzgVh2gwCfeiiG mx807TDl2mRou4IUN8okVW4= =djEY -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Even though nobody said to do this, I personally would be careful using the decTOP directly wired to the car battery. I have seen car batteries under charge with 15 volts or more at the terminals. This is outside the range of the ATX power suply standard for the 12V output (+-5%) acording to: http://www.formfactors.org/developer\specs\ATX12V PSDG2.01.pdf. My greatest concern is for the 3.5" hard drive and possibly the DC to DC converter that converts the 12V to a logic level voltages. I was considering managing the power with some kind of script using hdparm to bring the hard drive in and out of sleep, but there are more than a few technical details to be worked out. -- kstratton@fastmail.us
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 kstratton@fastmail.us wrote:
Even though nobody said to do this, I personally would be careful using the decTOP directly wired to the car battery. I have seen car batteries under charge with 15 volts or more at the terminals. This is outside the range of the ATX power suply standard for the 12V output (+-5%) acording to: http://www.formfactors.org/developer\specs\ATX12V PSDG2.01.pdf. My greatest concern is for the 3.5" hard drive and possibly the DC to DC converter that converts the 12V to a logic level voltages.
Point well taken - thanks! There is the theoretical possibility of slightly modifying the box to use something like this: http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-60-WI?sc=8&category=13 Granted, I haven't checked the specs in sufficient detail, but there is hope. :-) Also, I've sent email to the decTOP folks asking them for the spec and tolerances for the 12Vdc input. Once I get this info, I'll pass it along. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGtonUHl0iXDssISsRAqRiAJ42at0gvTzEghAhnIck0Kr/i8ph3wCdF8ZV s2bUk14IPE+cN4F0+Zs4iEg= =Zdyj -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
participants (5)
-
Andy Stewart -
Chuck Anderson -
Klein, Richard -
kstratton＠fastmail.us -
Richard Klein