Gizmodo
We've had our hands on these super-green Linux-and-Via powered babies for a little while, but now it's your turn. Even though the beta program is expected to run until September, Zonbu is confident that the hardware on 1.0 is locked. That's why today, the company started selling the little box, but will cover the first three months of software support, technically a beta run, for free.
If you recall, the little EPA-friendly silver box comes without a keyboard, mouse and monitor, but surely any self-respecting geek has plenty of those lying around. Zonbu's CEO, Gregoire Gentil (who also had a hand in the Gentoo Linux platform that Zonbu runs) says it's really a secondary PC, for kitchens, living rooms or wherever. You can have a look at Brian's full-throttle hands-on for details, but here are some things to keep in mind:
• It comes with many software titles pre-installed for music and video playback and Office-doc management. It's got an IM client and Skype, though it won't support video yet.
• The current version doesn't have integrated Wi-Fi, though you can use a dongle. Gentil says that his company is exploring a Wi-Fi option for the future.
• The pricing breakdown is a little funny. It's $99 if you commit to two years of service. $13 per month gets you 25GB of storage in the cloud, transparent to you from the desktop. (The internal memory is just a CF card, so up to 8GB.) You pay for service up front, so a two-year order with the 25GB storage would cost, up front, $370.95 (including the free three month deal). It's $199 if you only want one year of service, and if you don't want any service at all, it's $249.
• Service includes maintenance and tech support, plus new programs every six months. The downside for geeks is that in this arrangement Zonbu keeps admin access to itself. You'd need to go without service to have root-level control.
• As you can see from the photo above, there's very little you can't plug into this thing. It has six USB ports, and supports 800 cameras and 1500 printers without any extra drivers necessary. It also supports Mac-formatted, FAT32 and NTFS formatted drives, so like more drives than Windows or Apple (unless you know some trick).
• And for you greenies, remember, this baby uses just 10 watts while a standard PC uses 200 watts, and it has EPEAT Gold status for being made entirely out of earth-friendly materials. Put that in Al Gore's pipe and smoke it.
[Zonbu]
Comments
Smoke Al Gore's pipe? No thank you.
These things never work. Remember free PC's for signing up for dial up internet accounts? Millions of dollars (granted, VC money) lost... same thing will happen here.
A new paradigm is not in the cards anytime soon.
Of course, I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.
Al Gore's son's pipe would be better, no?
@ Judd:
I'd much rather smoked from Al Gore's Pipe than Clinton's Cigar.
Game. Set. Match.
piece of crap
"Zonbu: making open-source, closed platform"™
"Zonbu: have it our way"™
I never inhaled.
Sorry, just not getting in on this one. $250 for a thin client? Nope. I can make my own for cheaper, and have total control over it.
Now, for the non-geeks among us (are there any reading this??). it might work, but it isn't a paradigm shift at all.
I have some pretty poor pictures of the inside of the Zonbu over at [www.zonbulive.net]
Yay, another subscription based network appliance. Remember how these things dominated the PC market 7 years ago, which is why instead of this intel based macbook, I'm writing this on my 3Com Audrey V? And how y'all don't have PC's at home, but rather small appliances that were free, but required a 2 year subscription to AOL or something?
Of course you don't, because that was bizarro world, and in our universe, people stopped making these stupid things.
And, if they can call their $250 computer a $99 Linux PC, then I'm calling my $2200 Macbook Pro a $500 laptop!
Looks cool all we need is for someone to find a useless 32gb hard drive and mod it to work with a 32gb internal hard drive
But with all those USB ports you can probably get a external hard drive and it'll work wonders for you.
Please post processor speed, ram, etc.
Eh, just get a DecTop for $99 without all the hassle of a subscription or thin client stuff. I'm gonna get one to play with once I get home from my trip.
I've been fiddling with lower end systems lately, exploring a "minimalist" PC setup of sorts for basic tasks.
Unless you're a PC gamer, it is entirely possible to have a satisfying computing experience on a "minimal" machine.
For someone not into this stuff, but possessing basic skills this might just be a great solution.
This would be perfect for my parents who don't understand the concept of backing stuff up, and can't figure out how to not install spyware/adware/malware whilst surfing the interweb. Trying to maintain their Windows machine is like building a house of cards. As soon as they sit down all my work goes out the window. FInally got my mom a Macbook and she has no problem with that, but this might be even simpler especially if the interface was simple enough.
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