Hello,
I believe I read on Slashdot(.org) some time ago that some company is making a USB device that contains a CPU in addition to flash, and that it is possible to run Linux on that. My question is, can anyone name the company and/or product? Supposedly the device is as small as a thumb drive.
Thanks.
DLink makes a Network Controller which includes 2 USB-2 ports an ethernet port, and runs Linux with a Web interface. It usually sells for around $99.
Netgear makes a "WiFi Storage Router" which includes 1 USB-2 port, 1 WAN port, 4 LAN ports, and the WiFi radio. I saw this on sale at CompUSA for $49.
Both offer source code for their Linux kernel in case you want to cook up a kernel that is a bit more "juicy".
There was another "smallest computer" candidate, which looked like an oversized RJ45 connector, which had ethernet on one side and serial port out the other side.
In each of these cases, the flash RAM can be flashed to start a boot-loader which can then boot from a USB or LAN drive. After that, the only limitation is the RAM and how it's flashed. Flash RAM can be run in "cached" mode which makes it more like static ram. It would be slow, but could function as an X-client instead of a web server interface (which is the default interface provided).
Maybe this:
Duke
Gumstix is 80mm x 20mm x 6mm and has a USB-thumb option which sticks out a bit beyond the 80mm. We're sold out of the "thumbstix" right now though, but should have some back in stock in a few weeks.
There's something called a BlackDog:
It does run Linux, and from what I looked at, it was a Virtex-II Pro (PowerPC FPGA chip.. no Floating Point CPU of course). It was running a slightly modified debian it looked like.
It was a little larger than a thumb drive. More like an extended CF card, but it (unscientific impression) felt as light as one.
--SR
Here's one that's not USB, it apparently has both Ethernet and serial connections, but it's touted as "the smallest Linux Computer in the World".
Cool... slightly pointless, since it doesn't have it's own NIC - i'd say _needing_ a host computer is a drawback.
"Jeffrey F. Bloss" wrote
World".
Pretty neat, but the shipping is ridiculous. I don't like how the vendors site only contains e-mail submittal forms for "support" and "contact us". No FTP area or downloads at all, I don't like that. :-(
Not as small, but 'interesting' for some applications, is the Netgear NSLU2 file server box. It has a small Linux implementation (SnapGear), a
100base-T network connection, and two USB-2 master ports. About the size of a cigarette packet, and cheap. 8MB of flash memory, and 32MB of RAM. Even an RTC!. Source for the Linux, is included on the CD. For certain USB master applications, it has to be a really economical way of going!... :-)Best Wishes
I saw a article about how to create a liveUSB at newsforge.net.You can check it there.
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