[TAG] Mini-puter/bridge/etc.

[Ben Okopnik]

On Thu, Jul 01, 2010 at 07:17:15PM +0200, Ren? Pfeiffer wrote:
> On Jul 01, 2010 at 1259 -0400, Ben Okopnik appeared and said:
> > [...]
> > The only question is, what's the cheapest, smallest box that I can get?
> > Obviously, it needs to have at least one USB port, one Ethernet port,
> > and be accessible via WiFi. If it runs on 12 volts, that would be a
> > great plus. Recommendations on a flavor of Linux to run on this
> > gadget would also be welcome.
> 
> Our media PC is a small Atom box which can also double as a workstation:
> http://www.ditech.at/artikel/MPCE2G0/PC-System_-_dimotion_Micro_E2G0.html
> 
> Unfortunately I only have this link. It's propably a rebranded version
> of something else. I am not sure about the 12V, because it is listed
> with 19V DC.
> Our media PC has a WiFi card, too.

Well, at that price, using a low-end netbook as a bridge, etc. begins to
make sense. That's an option too, of course.
 
I should have mentioned that I'd rotated that possibility through my
brain, as well; in other words, I know that a solution exists, now it's
just a matter of tuning the "cheapest/easiest/most convenient" 3-D shape
for the best fit. :)

> You can also built something out of the bare bits. The Atom boards are
> quite cheap, but you'd have to use an additional card for WiFi.

Oh? I'm not at all familiar with that end of the world; that sounds like
it has possibilities. Any keywords to search for?
 
> > [1] All FOSS-vs.-proprietary rhetoric aside... how the HELL do people
> > put up with Windows? [...]
> 
> With proper medication.

I always had a feeling that "Dopewars" wasn't developed on/for Linux...
explains a lot of things.

If Operating Systems Were Drugs
-------------------------------
DOS: 'Ludes, with a Rasta trumpet smoked for dessert. Like, the world is
nothin' but an illusion, but it's all chill, man. If you stare at the
prompt long enough, you'll be able to see Haile Selassie's face... hey,
you got any munchies? 'Cause, no, seriously, I got this theory of, like,
space and time, and life and shit like that, and - did I tell you about
the time the aliens took me up in their UFO?...  man, they got that
killer alien weed, kinda like Maui Black but it's got, like, sparkles in
it... did you ever meet, like, any people from northern Outer Mongolia?
They're a *TRIP*, man.

Linux: Ecstasy (why did you think it was called *X*-Windows, dude???)
Results in a feeling of universal love, increased clarity of thought,
empathogenesis, entactogenesis, proprioception, and the desire to talk
like you swallowed a dictionary.

Windows: Huffing spray paint while smoking crack cocaine+PCP, with the
attendant possibility of a huge motherin' explosion. Has the synergistic
effect of making you look (and *be*) ever more stupid while getting
increasingly homicidal and hyperactive while already jonesing for the
next hit. aNdTHEnthEspidersCOMEOUToFtHeWaLlSanDEAtYouRBRAINNNN!!!!!!


-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *