Linux PC-in-a-stick to cost coders £139 Reg Hardware Mobile Week Norway's FXI Technologies has begun taking orders for its ultra-tiny CStick Cotton Candy Linux computer, pricing the PC-in-a-stick at just £139 for Brits. That's excluding shipping and import taxes, mind, and even then FXI admitted that the wee gadget will be shipping in limited quantities when it …
Just for the record, the Homebrew Computer Club coined the term "personal computer" in (roughly) early 1976. I don't remember who first used the term, but we were pretty much all using it in normal conversation before the USofA's bicentennial. It was used to cover any computer that was intended to be used by an individual, regardless of power, processor(s) or other configuration. Thus the term personal computer. I called my Heath H11 a PC in 1978.
Several years later, IBM added the capital letters and co-opted the phrase in a brilliant marketing move. The rest is history.
@jake You, sir, are completely RIGHT.
April 1, 1977
"On 1 April Apple Corporation is founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.
They developed the Apple I and introduced the term: Personal Computer."
http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1976.htm
So fact is Apple introduced the first PC.
Bet some minds are blown by that :)
Actually, +++ath0, Jobs & The Woz got the term from the Homebrew Computer Club. I don't remember them capitalizing it in their early Apple advertisingPress Releases, but my gut feeling is that Steve would have done so ... IBM co-opting the term is probably part of the reason Apple is so obsessive with patent, copyright & trademark filing even when prior art clearly exists.
The 5100 series (1975) was a "portable computer", not a "personal computer". The unfortunately named 5150, with it's completely different architecture, had almost nothing in common with the rest of the 5100 series.
And again, I was discussing the origin of the term, not marketing.
It wasn't Intel, it was IBM who really took the "Personal Computer" ball and ran with it. Earlier computers were mostly called "minicomputer", "microcomputer" or "home computer" and only rarely "personal computer". That's until IBM came into the scene with the IBM PC.
You'll find Alpha powered computers tend to be called Workstations.
It just gets confusing if we start calling all smaller computers since the Altair "personal computers".
It's already confusing.
Is a Mac a PC?
What if you install Windows on an Intel Mac. Does it then become a PC?
If a Mac is a PC, then are older PPC-based Macs also PCs?
If you install Linux on an Intel PC, then is it still a PC?
How about big 8-cpu Xeon servers running Windows? Are they still PC's, given that PC stands for 'personal computer'?
It is not complicated, there's just a lot of marketing fog. The term PC is derived from "Personal Computer", as in for the use of one person. Simple really. These can be machines such as;
Commodore 64, 128, Plus 4, Amiga, VIC 20
Apple ][, IIc, III, Mac (all variations), and even the iPad
IBM PC and all of its descendants.
TRS 80 Model 1, 3, CoCo etc.
BBC Micro
Sinclair ZX81, Spectrum etc.
Amstrad
Atari 500ST, 1024ST etc.
Texas Instruments 99/4A
Coleco Adam
Ohio Scientific
NorthStar
IMSAI 8080 (if you really REALLY want that old-school look & feel)
And many many more.
The trouble is that the term Personal Computer has been plastered over the top of the original term "micro-computer", which is a more accurate description of (but not nearly as friendly as) what the machine really is. A Microcomputer can be used as a personal computer but an instance of a personal computer, by definition, would not be capable of being used by more than one person at a time.
The micro-computers of the last 10 years (2002-2012) have been more than powerful enough to support many users at once, making them more along the lines of yesterdays Mini and main-frame computers (but much easier to use & maintain).
Most people think of the PC as referring to an IBM PC or a clone.
Equipment has changed over the years but most people still think of it as a box for personal use, probably using an x86-based CPU based on the premise of the original design of a generic piece of computing hardware with an open and upgradable archtecture.
These days however, the term is pretty meaningless.
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First attempt at getting a price came back with $195 each. If I go to the Pi forum, I am sure I could find some people interested in clubbing together to get a quantity discount. First thing I do with a new laptop is replace the glossy display and the spinning disk. Even at £125, a Qi display is about double the one-off cost of an ordinary LCD panel, and I like to go outside when the sun shines.
I am tired of getting burned for the cost of a whole laptop when all I want is a CPU/graphics upgrade. In the long run, I see this option saving me money.
Indeed, it's a bit confusing really!
You need to plug it into a usb port to power it, chances are that usb port will be a laptop or computer, which you could just use as a.... computer.
Sure you could plug it into a usb wall wart but meh. They've pushed for a usb stick style just for the "cool" factor I think.
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...though I'm steeling myself for the prospect of either (a) sleeping through it; or (b) stumbling to the computer, enduring an hour of repeatedly hitting F5 (and following that, the monitor), only to find once I've got through, that I'm too late and the first run of 10,000 Model Bs have all been flogged off...
But, I'm still going to give it a whirl, on the off-chance that I can actually land myself an R.Pi. Ah, the hoops I jump through ;-)
(Look forward to seeing a review of the Cotton Candy sometime - this may be the most exciting time for lovers of Small Cheap Computers, since the Eee 701 came out five years ago...)
> I'm steeling myself for the prospect of either (a) sleeping through it
You're not going to get one. You might as well stay in bed.
That goes for the rest of you lot as well. Stay in bed. Don't go to the site. It's not going to work for you.
Vic
[Who's going to be up at 6am hitting Ctrl-R like it's going out of fashion :-) ]
Don't think it's too little too late.
Don't think Raspberry Pi need to be worried either, this has sufficient in common to prove there's a market developing, and sufficient differences to prove that there's room for more than one player in the broader market (assuming this one happens).
I think the SmartTV and STB people may need to be having a rethink soon though.
As has been noted above, a dumb HDMI-driven screen and something like one of these (can't comment about this particular one) and you can build your own smart TV (or even your pwn PVR or other screenless STB) with better functionality and better performance for a much better price than a Panasonic or Pace or whatever. Any decent modern TV is basically just a display and an ARM invisibly running Linux, and set top boxes just lose the screen. Some assembly may be required, initiall, but what's to stop the TV market going the same way as the DSL router market in due course.
"You'll find Alpha powered computers tend to be called Workstations"
And also servers, and there was a specific chip family called the AlphaPC, and if you had the right handshake you could get Alpha motherboards on industry standard ATX from a handful of vendors and Alpha chips from Samsung and and and. Search for PC164LX and/or PC164SX and see where it leads you.
Micro-size SDHC cards can give you a cheap 16GB, power from the USB port on the TV, and Bluetooth...
Finding a decent Bluetooth keyboard seems to be hard (I know a few tablet users who are still looking) but this could turn a TV into something with the power of a netbook. Is this the heart of an STB, or of a general purpose computer?
It's both, I think. Even if it is a bit of a geek toy at the moment.
Why is that?
Partly in the expectation that I wouldn't get one of these today, I'm currently trying to convert a 2nd hand £50 SFF office PC into a mediabox. It would be nice if I could use a BlueTooth kbd+mouse with it rather than a generic RF remote, so I could also use thekbd+mouse with my phone, my laptop, my washing machine, etc when required.
There are plenty of cheap RF remote kbd+mouse and some of them are OK (I already have an old one).
But where are the sensibly priced BT keyboards?
"turn a TV into something with the power of a netbook"
Maybe so. Or maybe even encourage TV vendors to split the overpriced display piece from the overpriced and underpowered STB piece so both chunks don't have to be upgraded at the same time.
Can someone please enlighten me as to its usefulness. It's really cool for what it is but how would you use it?
The only use for me would be having a comp in a hotel room (provided tv has hdmi + usb - no guarantee). Even then I would need a keyboard and pointing device (connect phone with bluetooth and use as trackpad & keyboard?).
If the Cotton Candy can support Bluetooth HID devices (keyboards, pointers, etc.), that would help, not least as it would free up a USB port or two. Actually, the CC only has one USB port, so a hub (and possibly a powered one) would be just about essential.
Some hotel chains seem better than others at providing TVs with external inputs - Travelodge tellies seem to be older ones in my experience, and I've had more luck with Premier Inn (I could access the HDMI on the TV at the last one). You shouldn't need USB on the TV - I'd guess you could either power the CC from a USB charger or a powered USB hub.
I look forward to seeing this little fella in action, though I remain (and am open) to be convinced that Android is well-suited to it...
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One of these with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, connected via wifi to your network, and HDMI to a TV or monitor, becomes a useful PC, which you can carry in your pocket, smaller and lighter than a phone. And the price is the same or cheaper than many media streamers on the market.
Or the basis for a wearable PC, there are many other options. I expect the people pooh-poohing it are the same ones who rubbished the iPad when it first appeared.
A lot of people said that the iPad was rubbish because it wasn't a PC.
They totally missed the point. It was a success BECAUSE it wasn't a PC.
This unit and the Raspberry Pi are aimed at different markets, but they are both innovative products.
They both have multiple uses, and I will probably try out both.
@ Leo Maxwell
So you add the expense of keyboard, mouse, wireless adapter, HDMI cable and still don't have a screen. You may as well have a tablet or netbook in your hand. Less bloody faffing about. Wearable PC? Great, I'll strap that monitor to my back power off the car battery in the little cart I pull about. There is already tech that does what this does in a much more elegant way and functional way.
"They both have multiple uses, and I will probably try out both." Yes but what are they? I see nothing that I can't do better with other tech. Someone please give me a clue.
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