endless possibilities, none of which i can think of
[tech]
posted by tom / January 10, 2006 / 
How is it that I haven't heard of gumstix before? Linux machines the size of a stick of gum that run off of 5V power supplies... wow. One of those suckers + wifi expansion + AirSnarf + clever concealment at a wifi-enabled cafe = all kinds of mayhem. You can get a lot done with 200MHz.
And, for the less nefarious, here's where I saw the link: a magic random wifi iTunes player. Neat!
Comments
For the same price, you could do the same thing with a cheap laptop. Sure, sure, that wasn't the guy's intention... but I'm just sayin'.
Laptops have much more significant power requirements (and are much bigger, obviously). Plus, whatever laptop you can get for $99 is more than likely going to be prone to a failure of one sort or another.
Yes, the stick can't do anything that a laptop can't -- but that's precisely the point. It can do a LOT of what a laptop can do, but in a very small and low-power form factor.
I don't know where you got the $99 price, but the gumstix are $100+. Then you need the PC card board (another $100). Then you need a PC card with WIFI ($50-100). That's already $300 worth of equipment without any assembly or configuration software.
If you really want to be cool, build a Wifi jammer for $20. Been there, done that. HINT: It's the size of a deck of cards.
Where are you getting those prices?
gumstix connex 200: $99
cfstix expansion: $25
froogle says you can get a wifi CF card for $25
if you clicked on the link you'd see that all the software is open source (and free), and it's an integrated solution. you need to do come configuration, but "assembly" consists of plugging the three pieces into one another.
So $150 for a wifi-enabled computer that can run off of three AA batteries and fit in your pocket. I can think of a few possible applications where this would beat the hell out of a full-size laptop.
Can't say I'm really interested in wifi jamming. Shitting out 2.4GHz RF noise is easy. These gumstix dealies might let you do something actually interesting.
What about a small, portable keyboard, screen and a mouse? Why not just buy a Palm-type, Linux OS device, add a small, portable keyboard and a real battery pack/AC adapter. Get rid of the idea of plugging into a PC via USB2, etc. Palms have a screen unless you want to add another adapter for a monitor. Why is everybody just reinventing the wheel. The Palm-sized PC with Linux inside + a keyboard & a mouse is really all you need. No?
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