[clug] Anyone heard of this Linux device??

[Paul Wayper]

steve jenkin wrote:
> Anyone heard of these things? Seems expensive to me. Comments?
>
> <http://www.zonbu.com/device/pricing.htm>
>
> US$249 to buy, otherwise monthly on-line storage rental.
> Elsewhere says "no fans, no disk" and 20W.  No idea of CPU clock-speed
> or distro.
>   
Not really.  I just priced up a comparison system out of equivalent
parts on AusPCMarket:

Via MII-12000 - 1.2GHz processor, CF & PCMCIA, video, audio, LAN,
TV-out, Firewire: $330
512MB DDR RAM: $85.80
4GB Flash Drive: $93.50
Morex 3688 MiniITX case: $162.80

Total price: $672.10 including delivery.

If we assume the usual 100% markup for buying in Australia, that's still
around $500 for the Zonbu.  And the latter is passively cooled, as
well.  So all around I'd say excellent value.

It's also worth noting that Zonbu have been contributing back to the
various projects it uses, which will be good for OpenChrome driver support.

I still want to find out how easy it is to get an Apple TV running as a
MythTV front end, though :-)

Have fun,

Paul