Linux Wall-wart

[PhillipJ]

And didn't the on-chip memory controller just now come to x86 with the Core i7s?

No, the socket 939 AMD Athlon64 chips (and possibly socket 754) had integrated DDR controllers (and Hyper Transport rather than a front side bus) years ago. +1 to Intel's PR people I suppose <_<

 

[chole]

Actually, the developer kit is around $100. They're actually positioning themselves to offer this around the $50 price mark in the near future.

I'm pretty sure that this it not *entirely* accurate. I originally read that Marvell was offering the devkit for $99 and will be selling the product for $50 *in bulk*. As in "For those that do wish to build products on the platform, volume pricing could fall to $50, Marvell expects" (from "http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9634061300.html"). A lot of people (starting possibly with a poorly-worded Wall Street Journal article) forgot about the bulk thing and have been assuming that the price is higher now because it's new but will quickly drop down.

This is sort of true, but only because some companies will buy in bulk and then sell with a reasonably low markup. The PogoPlug folk may be buying them in several-thousand allotments and still making a little bit of profit on that $70 (and even that rate is temporary, understandably so because they need to make a strong profit on the hardware to offset the dev costs of their free online service), but I'm going to guess that you won't find a vendor selling it at the zero or negative markup needed for the end user to get a Plug for fifty bucks.

 

[Svartalf]

I'm pretty sure that this it not *entirely* accurate. I originally read that Marvell was offering the devkit for $99 and will be selling the product for $50 *in bulk*. As in "For those that do wish to build products on the platform, volume pricing could fall to $50, Marvell expects" (from "http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9634061300.html"). A lot of people (starting possibly with a poorly-worded Wall Street Journal article) forgot about the bulk thing and have been assuming that the price is higher now because it's new but will quickly drop down.

Heh... Even at the $100 price point, you're getting vastly more muscle than you'd have otherwise been able to obtain previously- for some things even Beagleboards aren't there (128Mb, soon to be 256Mb- this thing has more RAM to be able to do server-centric things...). You'd have had to spend 500+ dollars on something like this prior to things like Beagleboard or Sheeva Plug and it'd be a hell of a lot harder to get going.

 

[hells_dark]

Very interesting. I would like to use it as a http/file server.
We can plug a big hard drive to it, isn't it ?

 

[Kramy]

Very interesting. I would like to use it as a http/file server.
We can plug a big hard drive to it, isn't it ?

www.pogoplug.com

CODE
http://www.pogoplug.com/

 

[hells_dark]

Very interesting. I would like to use it as a http/file server.
We can plug a big hard drive to it, isn't it ?

www.pogoplug.com

CODE
http://www.pogoplug.com/

Interesting too, but it doesn't seem very open (i use linux) and i don't want JUST a file server

so ? B)

edit:typo

edit2: ho, and no wifi ?

Well, i think i will buy one when they put it at the final price

 

[ljones]

Hmm, $100 for that tiny "wall wart" computer - I wonder if it really is $100, or is it $100 but you need to add on this, and this and .... x.x . And I'll bet the price goes up if you wanted one in the UK!

QUOTE

>Awesome that these things are being placed at the "disposable" price range. I know it's only $50 less than a beagleboard, but it's still nice to see things like this dropping in price. And I think the beagleboard is "only" 600mhz.



Most of the ones I've seen cost a lot more than $50. And the beagleboard is only cheap if you have one piece of equipment in particular, namely a screen that will do DVI. If you don't have one of those and (like me) you still have the old VGA-style screens that means a new monitor, which pushes the price *way* up.

For me the best value computer of around this type is the one most people are talking about in these forums, i.e. the pandora itself.

ljones

 

[Kramy]

Interesting too, but it doesn't seem very open (i use linux) and i don't want JUST a file server

so ? B)

edit:typo

edit2: ho, and no wifi ?

Well, i think i will buy one when they put it at the final price

Well, I'm not positive, but it looks awfully similar, no? Might be worth it to fire off an email to them, asking if they're using Marvell's device.

Ask if it's hacker friendly too.

 

[hells_dark]

You're right. And if they use the pogoplug as a file server, why not the sheevaplug

I'll definitely look forward to it.