CherryPal announces two-watt, Freescale-based cloud computer

It looks like the current ranks of green PCs are soon going to have some pretty daunting competition for the low-power throne, with upstart CherryPal announcing that it's about to bust out a cloud computer that'll consume a mere two watts of power. To hit that mark, CherryPal opted for Freescale's new 400MHz MPC5121e mobileGT processor, and eliminated all the moving parts normally found in a PC, which means no optical drive and 4GB of NAND flash memory in place of a regular hard drive. Otherwise, you can expect to get 256MB of RAM, built-in 802.11b/g WiFi, two USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, and a VGA port, with a "tweaked version" of Debian apparently serving as the OS. No word on a price just yet, but the company is boldly proclaiming that it'll be the "most affordable on the market."

[Via The Register]

[kjb434 @ Jun 18th 2008 5:28PM]

I read "free base" before "freescaled-based"

I had to do a double take.

[Low Ranked @ Jun 18th 2008 5:35PM]

Not sure that this would do well smoked on aluminum foil.

[Ignatius @ Jun 18th 2008 5:29PM]

Hope it has an emulator for Windows... I wanna play StarCraft on this little bugger.

[Fred @ Jun 18th 2008 5:32PM]

Isn't this all a little disingenuous? I mean these "2 watt" computers are great but the processing is still going on somewhere, right? I'm not trying to discourage innovation or anything (not that I could) but it's kind of a misdirection, "Look two watt PC!" but how much power does it take to run the server farm that supports these things out "in the cloud"?

[Shane @ Jun 18th 2008 7:12PM]

It's in there, 400mhz.

[Chuckles McGee @ Jun 18th 2008 9:18PM]

You can do a bit of something with 400 mhz.

[martin @ Jun 18th 2008 5:33PM]

hmm might be nice plugged into the tv for some interneting. it'll have to be pretty damn cheap though

[Ghen @ Jun 18th 2008 8:45PM]

My guess is $50. Anything more won't turn heads.

[Ari @ Jun 18th 2008 5:34PM]

but does it play Crysis...

[Low Ranked @ Jun 18th 2008 5:36PM]

Minimum Requirements

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory
Storage: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10


In other words, No.

[Ghen @ Jun 18th 2008 8:45PM]

... moron

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jun 18th 2008 5:35PM]

Damn hippies. How the heck can you make a computer out of clouds?

[computer.dude.28 @ Jun 18th 2008 5:56PM]

First ya gotta get the weeeeed, maaaannn

[Low Ranked @ Jun 18th 2008 5:38PM]

Wouldn't be bad if it didn't have the international "I'm a virgin" symbol on it.

Unless they're poking fun at their own demographics...

[Andir3.0 @ Jun 18th 2008 6:48PM]

There's an international virgin symbol?

[Low Ranked @ Jun 18th 2008 7:11PM]

Its been right next to your name this entire time and you didn't even know it!

[Andir3.0 @ Jun 18th 2008 9:54PM]

Ah, I see it... you have one too. "@"

[Conor Maher @ Jun 18th 2008 5:44PM]

Looks interesting, a huge percentage of the population think myspace IS the internet :D

So just sell this as an " OMG Super hip cool Myspace computer" that plugs straight into a DSL modem...

[Matthew @ Jun 18th 2008 5:47PM]

Its not a computer, its a smartphone. Without the phone... or the smart.

[burntpigeonproductions @ Jun 18th 2008 5:52PM]

In other news...CherryPal unveils world's largest PDA- external screen sold separately.

[Justin @ Jun 18th 2008 5:52PM]

This does have it's places. A nice, ultra-small-system for Mom & Dad that is easily reimaged and replaced. My dad only uses his computer to check gmail, which is a dauting task in and of itself.

Pretty nice to have a compact little system that isn't prone to part, dust or heat failure like the PIII 733 he's currently using.

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jun 18th 2008 5:54PM]

I agree with you somewhat, but I tried that and failed when suddenly I was asked "Hey, can I put music on this?"

[Ignatius @ Jun 18th 2008 6:00PM]

I'm sure people have a USB hub and a flash drive... I wouldn't doubt the OS comes with a media player.

[Jonathon @ Jun 20th 2008 11:56AM]

What if you took that PIII and turned it into a file server, then just hooked up this to their TV (if it has VGA input). Plug in a usb bluetooth keyboard/mouse and they could bet all set. They'd have a big monitor and could play music through the home theater. Pretty sweet setup if you ask me.

Now for me...I wonder if this could run a MythTV frontend (SD of course)?

[Kevin @ Jun 18th 2008 5:53PM]

wow ... look at the specs:

256GB of DDR2 DRAM

That's amazing.

[MeatPop @ Jun 18th 2008 6:10PM]

I know it's like 2002 all over again, I mean 4GBs, forget about that, it's redundant.

[rento @ Jun 18th 2008 5:54PM]

EPIA wins!

[Information Central @ Jun 18th 2008 6:00PM]

WTF is a "cloud computer"?

And does it support UXCGA+ resolution?

Soon there won't be any real terms left in these articles.

[claudia gold @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:39AM]

A cloud computer shares its resources, so the tiny amount of hard drive space is supposed to not be an issue. You get 50 gb space on the "cloud" online, so you don't need to store it locally (on your own computer).

The concept here is that computers could move towards being less of an individual device that stores and computes for itself, and could instead just provide internet access and share computing power. (Think Google Docs but for everything on your computer.) Many people think this is the future of computers.

I'm very excited about these new computers -- I think it's very forward-thinking!

Claudia

[GaryZ @ Jun 18th 2008 6:14PM]

Looks great to serve as a "brain" for a robot project!

[Reader @ Jun 18th 2008 6:22PM]

True that. Hope it's around 100 bucks or maybe even less.

[Danakin @ Jun 18th 2008 7:26PM]

well, this obviously wouldn't be a gaming machine

but if they up the specs a little...1Ghz processor
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/17/leaked-slide-shows-amds-bga-cpu-to-take-on-intels-atom-process/
^^would work nicely^^
80 or 160GB HD (use one of apple's iPod HDs)
256MB RAM is acceptable...preferred 512MB
Graphical aspect ratio 4:3 @ 1024x768 (minimum)
keep all the ports it has, add 2 more USBs (3.0s when applicable), add a flash media reader
and the only other thing would be CD/DVD drive...even though this appears too be a shorter depth than would fit a CD, there isn't a whole lot of use for a coputer without an optical drive nowadays, so they might want to consider making the case a little bigger and trying to fir one of those in there

...and of course all of these suggestions are a long way off, but right now for a fully functional box of that size, and apparently minimal price, I will surely get one, if not just to take it apart and mess with.

[rhcpsfan @ Jun 18th 2008 10:32PM]

Your pretty much describing a mac mini.oh,yeah ,except for that minimal price because ,you know,it is an apple product. ; )




(just kidding ,I do enjoy the occasional apple product)

[Matt Keller @ Jun 18th 2008 10:46PM]

"You're describing a Mac Mini"


Except that the Mini comes with 1GB RAM, an 80GB HDD and a 1.8 GHZ Core 2 Duo?

[Danakin @ Jun 19th 2008 8:39AM]

Freaking Awesome!...now to ruin it and make one that runs Windows

[NickDG @ Jun 18th 2008 7:28PM]

This isn't supposed to be a powerhouse. Expect this thing to cost $200 or under.

Solid state, simple, quick will do just fine for the old folk.

[sean @ Jun 18th 2008 7:29PM]

a fantastic machine to prove the value of Puppy Linux.

[Some Kid @ Jun 18th 2008 8:22PM]

um yeah what again is this supposed to do?
cause what im getting from this is a solution only to hippie democrats who are stuck in the 80's(therefore 80's technology) and want to save the earth maaaan!
what without this computer the cloud in cloud comp will be made of CO2 instead of water vapor?
this is useless.....

[Sebastian @ Jun 18th 2008 9:00PM]

So you guys get stock options, too? Would be intresting to see how much it costs to spread the word.

Also see: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/18/cherrypal_paid_reviews/

[Babau @ Jun 18th 2008 9:02PM]

Wonder if 400mhz is enough for a standard def mythtv front end?

[Scott @ Jun 18th 2008 9:05PM]

But will it blend, that is the question!

[Paul @ Jun 18th 2008 9:14PM]

Man people are short sighted in their comments here...

Attach a couple simple usb drives and use software RAID and this becomes a great, headless NAS. Heck, I bet it could probably even stream music (though video would likely choke it).

Attach a printer and now you've got a print server.

Throw on Apache (its doubtless already there) and you have a capable web server.

A few tweaks and it replaces your Linksys as a wireless router/gateway/firewall (and uses less power).

Doubtless you could do all of these at once--none really take that much oomph. Think poor-mans Windows Home Server.

Strap it to the back of a monitor and install rdesktop or VNC and you have an elegant "network computer" perfect for university computer labs.

Install Firefox and lock it down and it is perfect for an internet cafe.

This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for to allow me to turn off my electron guzzling PC but still provide shared file and print services, file synchronization, backup, and simple web serving. Open your mind beyond whether or not it can replace your primary desktop and perhaps you'll see some real value in this type of box.

[jordan @ Jun 18th 2008 11:00PM]

Wouldn't you need another NIC to serve as a router/firewall? Yea, I'm sure USB NIC would work (assuming USB2.0), but my experience with USB NIC's in Ubuntu has been hit or miss. :)

But yea, this thing could do a lot. I'm still planning on hacking some old Wyse Winterms I've collected into web and print servers to replace the desktop that I've got running for those sole purposes.

[Paul @ Jun 18th 2008 11:23PM]

@jordan, I think the ethernet NIC would serve as the WAN NIC and the wireless as the LAN NIC. Having not tried this, I'm not 100% sure it would work, but it makes sense. Not a direct replacement for most wireless routers which have at least 1 (mine has 4) LAN ports, but I think it would still work for many (most?) folks who don't connect computers directly to their wireless routers. I do connect my PC directly (wireless for lappies), so my WRT54GL stays put, but every other home WLAN I've set up for folks has a router with 4 unused LAN ports.

I'm curious as to the power footprint of the Wyse's. They were created well before any real concern over power consumption.

[jordan @ Jun 19th 2008 12:18AM]

Good point, I didn't factor in the wireless.

As for power footprint, it's pretty small. The 3125's have about a 20-25W total power consumption, IIRC. Honestly, I'm not even sure where all that power went to, unless the CPU was just horribly inefficient, because they would rarely fail due to overheating (they had really small heatsinks, as well), and the only time I've found them overheating was in a 100+ degree warehouse with very high humidity when they were 3+ years old (in the same spot for almost 3 years, even).

Now, the S30's w/AMD Geode CPU, those babies are sweet. I think total system consumption is

[Michael Lush @ Jun 23rd 2008 8:01AM]

I've been looking for something like this, I want an always on machine
without the power overhead, I could then set up my home server to wake up on lan and boot it when needed.

[Matt Keller @ Jun 19th 2008 12:06AM]

Would be nice if it had an eSATA port...

[kevin @ Jun 19th 2008 4:43AM]

I could use two of these right now. I have a PC which downloads from my web-server and prints when something is queued to print. I also have a PC listening to a GSM modem (kannel), which passes the messages on to a web-server.

Currently using low power VIa based systems, but this is better.

[Danakin @ Jun 19th 2008 8:46AM]

yeah...eSata w/ a 400MHz processor...good thinking!

...maybe they'll toss in an 8800GTX?!

[Mickel @ Jun 19th 2008 10:49AM]

I want one, I wonder if it could run Asterisk?

There are many tasks this thing could do, just use your imagination.