Did anyone actually make a Gumstix PCp?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:46 pm

A few months ago I found this thread and was wondering if any of the many people that planned on making a PCp with gumstix ever finished. I think its a pretty good idea, just if someone figured out the easiest way to make it.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:39 am

I don't think so. In fact, I don't think anyone has yet managed to build any kind of PCportable at all.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:54 am

Is there any real reason why no one ever made a Gumstix PCp, besides cost? In that old thread it sounded so easy to do.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:35 am

vskid wrote:Is there any real reason why no one ever made a Gumstix PCp, besides cost? In that old thread it sounded so easy to do.

Well it's likely a combination of cost, time and work. Keep in mind that most people on the forums are still in grade school and majority of those that are not are attending college. That doesn't leave much time to work on someting, and if you don't have the time what's the point in investing the money? So with two out of three things needed cut out how can you work on it then?

As I see it the PC portable is a nice consept but it's not really worth it in the long run, unless your out for bragging rights. Which in that case someones really motivated to get the damn thing working and complete.

Post by **gannon** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:40 pm

Here's a good list for those looking for low-power PCp units: http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8498487406.html

Zzebotes13 · Post by **Zzebotes13** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:28 pm

where can you buy any of these boards, also how difficult would it be to connect a harddrive to them/ set up completely. would it require programming skills.

Post by **gannon** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:51 pm

If you want something where you can easily set it up I'd recommend the Acme Fox (I've been thinking of using it to make a tiny fileserver for college since my current one is...well, big and heavy are adequate terms I guess

)

Zzebotes13 · Post by **Zzebotes13** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:33 pm

if anyone wants it, i found the link for a matic motherboard (single board comp) and a link to a forum of a guy who "succesfully" made a PCp. no pics

http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?src=FG&item=69244
http://forums.techguy.org/do-yourself-p ... le-pc.html

-well...her you go. if anyone tries this, please let me know how it progresses

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:18 pm

Zzebotes13 wrote:if anyone wants it, i found the link for a matic motherboard (single board comp) and a link to a forum of a guy who "succesfully" made a PCp. no pics

http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?src=FG&item=69244
http://forums.techguy.org/do-yourself-p ... le-pc.html

-well...her you go. if anyone tries this, please let me know how it progresses

It looks like it isn't done.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:05 am

So...did you notice that none of these links, except the link to the forum, and just about none of the relevant links on that forum work? I'd sure like to see that 50 dollar single board computer, but, alas, it doesn't exist! Heck, even axiontech google results won't open. For all I know, axiontech doesn't even exist anymore!

But, I guess I'll wait and give it a try later before ranting about it

Post by **gannon** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:51 pm

Actually, works fine for me, the SBC is a MATIC MSC3680A celeron unit with no CPU

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:07 pm

Well, now it's working fine for me too. I was hoping for something better than what I saw.

Do an eBay search for Advantech, and you'll come across 4 x 5.7 inch "half-biscuit" SBC's on a fairly regular basis- usually with a 233 or 300Mhz geode processor and a CF II slot, if memory serves. Sometimes you also come across SBC's of that form factor with VIA Edens or C3's.

Zzebotes13 · Post by **Zzebotes13** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:44 pm

how easy is it to work with these boards, could i just plug in the hardrive, and cd-drive. install an os, ad drivers and expect it to work (quick version of steps). or would i have to be able to configure bios and program and whatnot.

...

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:46 pm

Zzebotes13 wrote:how easy is it to work with these boards, could i just plug in the hardrive, and cd-drive. install an os, ad drivers and expect it to work (quick version of steps). or would i have to be able to configure bios and program and whatnot. ...

I think it depends on which board you're talking about. Some are easy, some would make you want to die.

Since it would be hard to make a PCp that works, does anyone know if the browser on a Pocket PC or Palm can display meebo.com and/or pandora.com? Those are the two I'm not sure about them working on a PDA.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:30 pm

Since it would be hard to make a PCp that works, does anyone know if the browser on a Pocket PC or Palm can display meebo.com and/or pandora.com?

Pandora requires a bare minimum of 128MB and swap (256MB of RAM is the listed requirement) and Flash 7.

No current PDA can handle it. There are 128MB RAM PDAs, but the memory is spilt between execution memory and storage, and even with hacking you can't get it high enough. To do anything else while running Pandora you need swap on top of the 128MB. The reason I know this is that I've played Pandora on my parents' computer with 128MB of RAM, it couldn't play it before I bumped it to 128MB, and it has to thrash the disk to do anything else (even light surfing) with 128MB.

If the rumors of the Nokia 870 are true, with it sporting 130MB, Pandora could run on it, particularly if they bump the processor up as well. If there was a PDA that could handle pandora, I'd probably have it, as that is a definate contributor to my desire for a PCp. When I first started, Launchcast was one the driving factors, which doesn't work on a Pocket PC etither.

Meebo.com should run OK if you get a VGA Pocket PC, or you just use GAIM or the individual clients for Pocket PC.