Jorpho wrote:

But will it run Win9x!? 😉

ARM11 processor

Sadly not, unless some genius manages to disassemble and re-write the kernel. It's still an interesting system though.

ready to act as afully-functional PC

Reminding me that you get what you pay for the missing space lead me to read that as awfully-functional.

Whoa. Neat.

Svenne wrote:

Sadly not, unless some genius manages to disassemble and re-write the kernel.

Ah, but of course. For some reason for a second there I thought it was referring to some Intel Atom-like derivative.

Interesting project. If they want to use it in schools the success will really hinge around the software available, activities ready to go and good documentation.

Personally I think this is more of a "I wish we had this during my schooling" mid-life crisis kind of project because these days really everyone has access to a computer. Especially in schools.

The main issue is really finding ways for teachers to use technology in an educational context. I think this product is cool, but pitched at a very high / specific level that most teachers and students simply won't understand.

Schools really only need Apple IIe with Oregon Trail. 😉 Think of all the educational funds that could have been saved avoiding the upgrades since the '80s!

Hmm I lack the background knowledge to get what you are saying 🤣

Care to share?

The Apple IIe was a computer very commonly found in schools some 20-25 years ago.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Interesting project. If they want to use it in schools the success will really hinge around the software available, activities ready to go and good documentation.

Personally I think this is more of a "I wish we had this during my schooling" mid-life crisis kind of project because these days really everyone has access to a computer. Especially in schools.

The main issue is really finding ways for teachers to use technology in an educational context. I think this product is cool, but pitched at a very high / specific level that most teachers and students simply won't understand.

It seems to me that it's much more likely to end up being used as something that can be quietly jacked in to someone's server farm somewhere and never found ever again.

(I remember when Dreamcast homebrew became a reality, there were people speculating that a fully-functional yet relatively small computer like the Dreamcast could become a tool for such things.)

It's all good, except for the linux part, what a waste.

If it's Linux, then perhaps Dosbox on Linux? 😁

Trust me. For this purpose, Linux is the best solution.

Funny you mention that as I'm having a really hard time thinking of a worst choice, specially for this purpose 😁

Either way, it's an interesting piece of hardware. One can only wonder what could be next in the mini-computer world.

I wonder...

- How good is the linux experience going to be on that? Seems a bit slow and limited.

- What school kids do they imagine will be interested? Use of windows at school means homework easily picked up at home etc... Maybe it's aimed more at the IT or electronics specialists than all kids. I think mine would think it a bit shite.

- Will need to be bolted down or in a big box to prevent pilfering.

I wonder if it would make a beowulf cluster really cheap and easy to assemble. Oooo a little bit like the transputer 😜 ie. little processor with it it's own ram and connectivity [I know it's only a superficial resemblance].

I don't think even a school kid would use such a wimpy computer.

I don't really see it having too much use in a typical educational situation either. Something like an Arduino or Lego Mindstorms might be more appropriate – but then, you can't get either of those for $25.

Lucid Puppy 5.25 (A lightweight linux distro (distribution)) runs respectably in my K6-2 366MHz (550 underclocked). But my system has 256MB RAM.

I think the computer would be awesome, if somebody made it into an MP3 player, cause I love Linux and I love music. So I actually daydreamed about that computer the other day. So then people could ask me , "what is that kind of MP3 player ?" and I could answer them with a smile "that is no MP3 player, that is an awesome Linux computer that also plays MP3 files among other stuff".

If you want open source on a portable music player, just get Rockbox.

Darnit. It doesn't support the Sony Walkman.

My ancient Creative Zen Xtra totally needs open firmware like that. Gotta get past that 128GB LBA limit and get FLAC support. 😉