World's Tiniest PC's

[Ryudo Lee]

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/pcs/multimedia/2007/07/gallery_tiny_pcs

Some of these are really amazing.  I've never realized how small you could actually make a motherboard.  There's even one complete pc that runs off of the innards of a thumbdrive.

Discuss.

[Zedd]

Oh microchip! *crunch*Wheres the dip? Or am I looking at it

[Azlan]

lol, booze PC.

I want the one the size of a thumb drive... can you imagine the damage one can do with a computer that size and an unsecure IT area...

[Tapewolf]

Most of these are ARM-based, and to be honest they aren't much different in size from a regular PDA.  And I'm writing this on a mac mini 

The 'space cube' looks neat though.  Something about that size with enough grunt to run a softsynth would be dead useful, though.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Meh.

[bill]

Don't they have thumb-drive computers used as security suites, or something?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

That's generally a USB stick with a key stored on it.

Variations on the theme have been around for years.

[roninfoxtail]

Don't they have thumb-drive computers used as security suites, or something?

I've heard of a flash drive that works as a firewall. Linky?

[Sid]

And I'm writing this on a mac mini 

Huzzah for Mac Mini! *patpats the one he's using to write this*

And "Ohhhhhhhhhh shiny!" at that Pico-ITX board. I kinda feel tempted to build a sort of emu-center/MP3 player with that... or with a Mini-ITX one at least...

[superluser]

And "Ohhhhhhhhhh shiny!" at that Pico-ITX board. I kinda feel tempted to build a sort of emu-center/MP3 player with that... or with a Mini-ITX one at least...

I've spoken about wanting to make a recording station with no moving parts.  At just over $200, PicoITX should be a good starting point.  There's also a fanless mini-ITX for a hundred or so...excuse me, I must go make a withdrawal...

[Brunhidden]

Regardless of how small these things get its a matter of how its used.

arm based computers? if its something like leelah has on futurama, cool. if its a bracelet that talks to remind you of appointments, neat.  if its a titan AE style ring that seems to defy logic, gnarly dude.

the same thing can be thought for cellphones- they were made so teeny tiny for a while without thought of use. a great many people i know including myself keep forgetting thier cellphones at home or in the car. if you made a tiny cellphone why not make it into something else? if my glasses or necklace had a cellphone built in i would hardly ever forget it, and its by default hands free.

Its a matter of practicality, and finding marketing people with IQs. remember when they came out with super concentrated dish detergent where one third as much liquid will do the same work? they put it in bottles a third the size, why couldn't those bleepity bleepin morons have put it in the same sized bottle so you actually had the convenience of buying it one third as often? my thought is if you make a tiny computer you make a computer the same size as previous ones but with incredibly increased performance. same thing goes for CDs, they were going to switch to mini disks with the same capasity instead of making CDs the same size but five times the volume... fortunately we now have dual layered CDs- think how FF9 for the PS1 comes in 4 CDs but FF11 for the PS2 comes in only one.

Anyone who clings to the historically untrue - and thoroughly immoral - doctrine that violence never settles anything I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler would referee. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forgot this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and there freedoms.

[techmaster-glitch]

[useless comment]
Titan A.E. FTW!!!
[/useless comment]

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

fortunately we now have dual layered CDs- think how FF9 for the PS1 comes in 4 CDs but FF11 for the PS2 comes in only one.

Not wanting to disagree with you, but, uh, the dual-layered thing is a DVD, which is a totally different kettle of fish to a CD - even though they look identical to the naked eye, they're -quite- different.

Which, of course, explains why you can fit only 650Mb on a CD (or 700, or 800 at a pinch, depending on how it's been made) but 4.7Gb on a single-layer DVD, and 9.2Gb on a dual-layer DVD.

Blu-ray and whatever the other one is are even larger. *shrug* it'll keep happening like that.

[Brunhidden]

i was just pointing out how capacity exploded in just 2 games worth of time.

just think how we may play FFXXV

Bill Gates-
Computers will never need more then one megabyte of RAM

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

640k ought to be enough for anyone. -- Bill Gates

And yes, I fully agree about the capacity. :-]

[superluser]

arm based computers? if its something like leelah has on futurama, cool. if its a bracelet that talks to remind you of appointments, neat.

My first reaction to this was to say, ``ARM?  I thought we were talking about VIA.''

Then I looked back and discovered that there was, indeed, an ARM-based computer.

I am an enormous dork.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Heh. I was tempted to comment about Core-based computers, as well, but that's a different tangent...

[Zorro]

Try an OS called QNX.  An entire OS on one boot floppy.

Most of my Diagnostic tools I carry on a flash drive add up to only 120 or so Megabytes plus the 1.3 MB boot sector on the flash drive.  You can also do this with some of the Mini Linux Distros.

[Tapewolf]

My first reaction to this was to say, ``ARM?  I thought we were talking about VIA.''
Then I looked back and discovered that there was, indeed, an ARM-based computer.

The first two are, and the last one probably is as well.  The point is, the definition of 'PC' that they're using seems broad enough that you could also count Windows smartphones, the bulk of which is taken up by the screen.

Years back Tiny made a shoebox-sized PC that was entirely contained within the keyboard like the ZX Spectrum.

[Turnsky]

Most of these are ARM-based, and to be honest they aren't much different in size from a regular PDA.  And I'm writing this on a mac mini 

The 'space cube' looks neat though.  Something about that size with enough grunt to run a softsynth would be dead useful, though.

in reality, size = versatility when you take portability into consideration, a super-powerful gaming machine is only as versatile so long as you can be bothered to lug around the entire setup, a mac mini would be more versatile than my own monolithic PC in such a case.

although it'd be easier to lug around than its former config ever since i switched from a 19" CRT to 22" LCD

i'm waiting for a PC that, when unfolded, has the same amount of screen space as a small LCD monitor, but weighs as much as a small remote control.

[superluser]

The first two are, and the last one probably is as well.  The point is, the definition of 'PC' that they're using seems broad enough that you could also count Windows smartphones, the bulk of which is taken up by the screen.

Part of it, I think, is that if you add a keyboard and mouse (presumably via USB), most of the computers that they showed will be capable of doing everything that your desktop (or at least your desktop from the 80's) can.

i'm waiting for a PC that, when unfolded, has the same amount of screen space as a small LCD monitor, but weighs as much as a small remote control.

In a couple of years, they'll have flexible OLEDs that you can just roll up.  So instead of having to carry around a PDA made of a flat surface roughly a foot across, you'll have a PDA that can collapse into a tube.  That's where I see the future going.

[Tapewolf]

The first two are, and the last one probably is as well.  The point is, the definition of 'PC' that they're using seems broad enough that you could also count Windows smartphones, the bulk of which is taken up by the screen.

Part of it, I think, is that if you add a keyboard and mouse (presumably via USB), most of the computers that they showed will be capable of doing everything that your desktop (or at least your desktop from the 80's) can.

The same goes for the smartphone.  The only barrier is the OS and that can be replaced.  You might need an expansion card to add a VGA out, but there's no real difference to the first two PCs they show.

Besides, the last one in their list is an embedded server...

[superluser]

The same goes for the smartphone.

Well, I don't know if I'd disagree, then.

[Ryudo Lee]

Still, I'd like to take a crack at building the world's slowest cluster in a shoebox.

*Builds*
Voila!
*Box goes up in flames*
I'll admit there's a cooling problem...