Computer smaller than an apple?

[Xrain]

that isnt a propper (full) computer. its pretty much the same as those aduino boards it looks like

Arduinos use 6-32 Mhz microcontrollers. That Gumstix is nothing like an arduino, other than it also has expandable daughter boards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_Book
This is a netbook using the same processor.

If you add this board, http://www.gumstix.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=230 You now have DVI, Eithernet, Audio in/out.
This will do resoultions from 640x480 to 1600x1200


Now I wouldn't exactly expect this device to set the world on fire in terms of performance, but it could do basic PC computing tasks.

[ursus]

and that is what you get

when you challenge the wisdom of xrain.

[Hotgreensoldier]

and that is what you get

when you challenge the wisdom of xrain.

My IQ points have raised a bit.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Reference to another thread xP Every time you look at a stupid youtube comment, your IQ goes down by 1/4, every time you look at one of Xrain's posts, you gain 1/3

I wonder if they are going to be able to make something even smaller that can do better then my crappy PC :/

[Osme]

Arduinos use 6-32 Mhz microcontrollers. That Gumstix is nothing like an arduino, other than it also has expandable daughter boards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_Book
This is a netbook using the same processor.

If you add this board, http://www.gumstix.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=230 You now have DVI, Eithernet, Audio in/out.
This will do resoultions from 640x480 to 1600x1200


Now I wouldn't exactly expect this device to set the world on fire in terms of performance, but it could do basic PC computing tasks.

but thats the point. you need additional hardware to make it actually like a modern computer (gui, i/o, such and such) and not just a little thing, otherwise it could just as easily be a glorified aduino board.
throw the thing in with all the hardware to give the i/o of a modern computer (atleast that of the cube of OP) and yea, sure, but then its bigger
i mean yes, technically its a computer, but i could show you a calculator without a case and it would have about the same functionality of the gumstix alone (without additional boards), and smaller

[Xrain]

but that's the point. you need additional hardware to make it actually like a modern computer (gui, i/o, such and such) and not just a little thing, otherwise it could just as easily be a glorified aduino board.
throw the thing in with all the hardware to give the i/o of a modern computer (at least that of the cube of OP) and yea, sure, but then its bigger
i mean yes, technically its a computer, but i could show you a calculator without a case and it would have about the same functionality of the gumstix alone (without additional boards), and smaller

The "smaller than an apple computer" is the exact same thing, it has a main processor board, and then several peripheral boards to give it the connectivity it needs. It just has a fancy black case to hide everything. You always need "additional hardware" with any computing device. You cant just take a processor put it on a breadboard and expect to install windows on it. Those chips have several hundred pins for a reason, some handle power, others handle data channels, others still have inputs for things like crystals.

Even if you could just put a micro-processor on a breadboard and have it magically function, you will still need some way to interact with it. Which is why they have daughter boards, as things like DVI ports, and USB ports,  Audio jacks, and memory chips take a significant amount of board space and severely limit the placement of other necessary components. Take an Iphone for example, It has the accelerometers and gyroscopes for the fancy tilt action on it. I has a I^2C to proprietary iPhone usb cable converter, it also has Analog to digital converters so it can interpret the incoming data, as well as several radio chips so it can have wifi, and phone abilities.



Yet again, the arduino uses a Micro-controller such as an ATMEGA or something similar. It is primarily designed to be a control device for robotics, oven computers, microwave computers, most modern digital devices has micro-controllers to control their actions. They generally have analog-to digital converters built into the chip, so you can hook up directly to accelerometers, or magnetometers to take sensor input, and control devices with it.

A micro-controller is just like a E2 chip in Garry's mod, you use it to control things. While it certainly can perform computing actions, as its a "computer". You cant install something like Linux, or windows on it and surf the web. So like E2 you can always do amazing things with it, but if you notice it never works "quite" right, that's mostly because it isn't really designed to do something like that, you are just being innovative in your usage of it.

That gumstix computer however, can handle Linux, or a smartphone operating system. And it's probably faster than that "smaller than apple" computer as it has a reasonably fast ARM processor, versus a rather slow ATOM processor. Granted there are certainty applications where the ATOM would be faster than the ARM and vice versa.


A calculator is a computer, It's just one from the late 70's. Take my TI-89 for example, it has the same processor as several 70's computers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80

While this is a cheap arugument to use about the semantics of "computer", it doesn't really apply to the gumstix because it is actually a legitimate "computer"

And to top it, with a peripheral board to give it Ethernet, HDMI, audio In/out, and 2 USB ports, it would be about 4.1"x 2" x ~.75" or 6.15 in^3 or just slightly bigger than a cigarette box



If that is too large for you, how about this tiny Linux pc

http://www.gadgettastic.com/2008/08/07/worlds-smallest-linux-pc-world/

[ursus]

The "smaller than an apple computer" is the exact same thing, it has a main processor board, and then several peripheral boards to give it the connectivity it needs. It just has a fancy black case to hide everything. You always need "additional hardware" with any computing device. You cant just take a processor put it on a breadboard and expect to install windows on it. Those chips have several hundred pins for a reason, some handle power, others handle data channels, others still have inputs for things like crystals.

Even if you could just put a micro-processor on a breadboard and have it magically function, you will still need some way to interact with it. Which is why they have daughter boards, as things like DVI ports, and USB ports,  Audio jacks, and memory chips take a significant amount of board space and severely limit the placement of other necessary components. Take an Iphone for example, It has the accelerometers and gyroscopes for the fancy tilt action on it. I has a I^2C to proprietary iPhone usb cable converter, it also has Analog to digital converters so it can interpret the incoming data, as well as several radio chips so it can have wifi, and phone abilities.



Yet again, the arduino uses a Micro-controller such as an ATMEGA or something similar. It is primarily designed to be a control device for robotics, oven computers, microwave computers, most modern digital devices has micro-controllers to control their actions. They generally have analog-to digital converters built into the chip, so you can hook up directly to accelerometers, or magnetometers to take sensor input, and control devices with it.

A micro-controller is just like a E2 chip in Garry's mod, you use it to control things. While it certainly can perform computing actions, as its a "computer". You cant install something like Linux, or windows on it and surf the web. So like E2 you can always do amazing things with it, but if you notice it never works "quite" right, that's mostly because it isn't really designed to do something like that, you are just being innovative in your usage of it.

That gumstix computer however, can handle Linux, or a smartphone operating system. And it's probably faster than that "smaller than apple" computer as it has a reasonably fast ARM processor, versus a rather slow ATOM processor. Granted there are certainty applications where the ATOM would be faster than the ARM and vice versa.


A calculator is a computer, It's just one from the late 70's. Take my TI-89 for example, it has the same processor as several 70's computers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80

While this is a cheap arugument to use about the semantics of "computer", it doesn't really apply to the gumstix because it is actually a legitimate "computer"

And to top it, with a peripheral board to give it Ethernet, HDMI, audio In/out, and 2 USB ports, it would be about 4.1"x 2" x ~.75" or 6.15 in^3 or just slightly bigger than a cigarette box



If that is too large for you, how about this tiny Linux pc

http://www.gadgettastic.com/2008/08/07/worlds-smallest-linux-pc-world/

and that is what you get

when you challenge the wisdom of xrain.

You've been owned pretty hard, deg.

You might want to sit down.