Well, I may still go for it just to have another little machine to play with but after finding out the processor was something like a 166mhz I decided to stick with the Zonbu. Plus the Zonbu had a 1.3GHZ proc, 512MB of mem instead of 128, a 4GB Flash instead of the 10GB HD, and a built in ethernet instead of a USB one. So overall I liked the form factor and everything better so it was worth the extra money. Now I did research the mini-PCI and new shuttle machines but to actually build out a PC would be in the 700 to 1000$ range admittedly for a much better machine. But my goal with this is a mythfrontend, nothing more so I really want small, cheap, and quiet.
<br><br>I'm still thinking thought that a small little dectop for a little mini-server or some such. Perhaps a box to do a wake-on-lan to my mythbackend right before it needs to record or if the mythfrontend fires up. Hard to say. Plus a little box like that for 75$ is hard to resist just to play with.
<br><br>--j<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/7/00, <b class="gmail_sendername">nick thompson</b> <<a href="mailto:nicholas.thompson1@mchsi.com">nicholas.thompson1@mchsi.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
J Cruit wrote:<br>> Cool beans, just to update you the site is now:<br>> <a href="http://www.dataevolution.com/dectop%20info%202.htm">http://www.dataevolution.com/dectop%20info%202.htm</a><br>> <<a href="http://www.dataevolution.com/dectop%20info%202.htm">
http://www.dataevolution.com/dectop%20info%202.htm</a>> as apparently<br>> they bought Norhtek. And the device is a dectop for only 99$ (or buy<br>> 3 get one free, anybody want to split an order?). So other than the
<br>> fact that it doesn't have a flash drive as a hard drive and starts out<br>> at 128MB of memory thats a pretty good deal. But you can swap out the<br>> hard drive for a larger one and upgrade the memory too if you want.
<br>> Plus the Norhtek sounds like it uses an AMD chip so there may be<br>> better compatibility than the unknown one in the Zonbu. Plus the<br>> Zonbu is theoretically "greener".<br>><br>> But at 99$ versus 249$ I'm probably down with the Norhtek. Any other
<br>> super small cheap systems out there?<br>><br>> --j<br>I'd be in for an order. 2 people x $150 or 4 people x $75? Now that's<br>the question. :)<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Nick<br><br>"All unix, all the time."
<br><br><a href="http://npt.ath.cx">http://npt.ath.cx</a><br>><br>> On 10/2/07, * Spence Morris* <<a href="mailto:spence.morris@gmail.com">spence.morris@gmail.com</a><br>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:spence.morris@gmail.com">
spence.morris@gmail.com</a>>> wrote:<br>><br>> Zonbu is pretty much a generic unit with their own variant of<br>> Linux tacked on.<br>> The idea of the network being the computer has yet to fully prove
<br>> itself><br>> There are other mini pc builders with fewer hooks and agendas- re<br>> again, Norhtek-<br>> based in Thailand. Michael C. Barnes sells a lot of his units<br>> here- At last look,
<br>> he had four or five nice models to choose from and good ideas<br>> about use.<br>> Check out <a href="http://Norhtek.com">Norhtek.com</a> <<a href="http://Norhtek.com">http://Norhtek.com</a>> before investing in Zonbu.
<br>><br>> On 10/2/07, *J Cruit* < <a href="mailto:j@packetgod.com">j@packetgod.com</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:j@packetgod.com">j@packetgod.com</a>>><br>> wrote:<br>><br>> So I e-mailed Zonbu and got a quick response, I think this may
<br>> be the exact platform I've been looking for to use for a small<br>> quiet Mythfrontend system. I'll have to figure out some sort<br>> of USB remote, and my TV does actually have a VGA input so I
<br>> should be good there. My other options were a repurposed<br>> MacMini, a shuttle SD02 for 499$ (without memory, HD,<br>> Processor, etc but with a remote port).<br>><br>> This is the response from Zonbu:
<br>><br>> "Yes, you are free to do as you wish with the Zonbu hardware.<br>> While we do not and cannot officially support running<br>> alternate OSes on the Zonbu hardware, several users have
<br>> reported successfully installing other OSes (e.g. Ubuntu<br>> Linux) on the hardware without any problems"<br>><br>> Hey, thanks much TCLUG for putting me onto this.<br>><br>
> --j<br>><br>><br>> On 10/2/07, *J * <<a href="mailto:j@packetgod.com">j@packetgod.com</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:j@packetgod.com">j@packetgod.com</a>>><br>> wrote:<br>
><br>> I'm tempted to hit this for their "249$ without service<br>> plan" and wipe<br>> it clean with my own distro. They must be using commodity<br>> hardware and
<br>> many of those SFF PC cases start at 100$ for something 10<br>> times the<br>> size. Small ones like the Zonbu are generally even more<br>> just for the<br>
> case. So a complete Linux friendly SFF quiet<br>> environmentally friendly<br>> PC for 249$, while a bit light on the specs I wouldn't<br>> mind running a
<br>> little home web/e-mail/SSH server off of it or perhaps<br>> just a mythfrontend?<br>><br>> I think I'll do it, buy it and see if I can load my own<br>> distro by hook
<br>> or by crook. I'm hoping by crook as I haven't had a good<br>> project for a<br>> while.<br>><br>> --j<br>><br>> Steve Cayford wrote:
<br>> > Chris Frederick wrote:<br>> ><br>> >> G. Scott Walters wrote:<br>> >><br>> >>> Anyone ever heard of Zonbu?<br>> >>>
<br>> >> [...]<br>> >><br>> ><br>> ><br>> >> Looks interesting. I've been looking at small form<br>> factor PCs for a
<br>> >> while. They look very similar to these:<br>> >><br>> >> <a href="http://logisysus.com/product/smallest-pc.htm">http://logisysus.com/product/smallest-pc.htm
</a><br>> <<a href="http://logisysus.com/product/smallest-pc.htm">http://logisysus.com/product/smallest-pc.htm</a>><br>> >><br>> >> >From the Zonbu site:<br>
> >><br>> >> Zonbu Desktop, Standard plan, Billing every two years =<br>> $412.95<br>> >><br>> >> Thats standard options after all discounts, plus $358.80
<br>> after two years<br>> >> for more support. Also, their "Cancel anytime policy"<br>> warns that if you<br>> >> cancel the membership service, your device will not give
<br>> you access to<br>> >> your data after 3 months. They do have a free/no<br>> support option, but<br>> >> I'd probably want to talk to a sales person before I
<br>> went with that.<br>> >><br>> >> I guess it depends on what their support covers, but I<br>> don't see much<br>> >> there that strikes me as worth $180 a year.
<br>> >><br>> >> >From their site:<br>> >><br>> >> Disaster proof storage - Very doable and cheap.<br>> >> Free automatic software upgrades - Most linux distros
<br>> have this.<br>> >> Unlimited Internet support - You are reading this on a<br>> mailing list. ;-)<br>> >> Remote file access "anywhere, anytime, any browser (no
<br>> plugins)" - That<br>> >> just sounds scary to me.<br>> >> Overnight free hardware replacement limited warranty -<br>> Nice, but that's
<br>> >> an extra $60 a year.<br>> >><br>> >> My $0.02 would be that everything looks nice, but<br>> personally I'd rather<br>> >> pay more up front for something without a huge service
<br>> contract, or<br>> >> required membership service.<br>> >><br>> >> ymmv,<br>> >> Chris Frederick<br>> >>
<br>> ><br>> > It seems to me that there could be a pretty good market<br>> for something<br>> > like this. Not for us on this list, but for the<br>> proverbial "my
<br>> > grandmother." Folks who want a web browser, email, office<br>> suite, and<br>> > some basic games and who don't want to deal with updates,<br>> spyware,
<br>> > system administration, etc. Considering how much people<br>> spend on<br>> > services like Geek Squad the rates don't seem too outrageous.<br>> >
<br>> > -Steve<br>> ><br>> > _______________________________________________<br>> > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota<br>> >
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