$250 Freescale-Based "Green" "Cloud" Computer

An anonymous reader sends word of the CherryPal, a tiny desktop computer that its maker says will consume just 2 watts. It uses a Freescale processor that runs Linux and has no moving parts. The CherryPal has integrated software and an embedded Linux (based on Debian) that has been stripped down to support Open Office, Firefox, iTunes, instant messaging, and multimedia access locally. More applications are available in the cloud, and 50 GB of cloud storage is included. It comes without keyboard or mouse but with ports for VGA, USB, Ethernet, and built-in Wi-Fi. It's claimed that the CherryPal will boot up in 20 seconds from 4 GB of flash. They've buried Linux so that the end user doesn't see it; the entire UI is presented through Firefox. The CherryPal site says: "There's no software or upgrades to install, no risk of viruses, and no operating system to deal with and free 24/7 support."

"green" vs "no upgrades"

so buying a throw-away brick is now considered green?

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

so buying a throw-away brick is now considered green?

Yeah, because the parts you replace when upgrading are notoriously biodegradable!

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

That analogy means the opposite what you think it does. You really might as well throw away the whole puzzle if you already are missing a piece.

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

I've never thrown a PC away. I've been upgrading my trusty Radio Shack TRS-80 CoCo2 all this time. . . component by component. I've even kept the circuit boards.

Seriously, the ecologically worst parts of the computer are the circuit boards and the LCDs if I recall correctly. I don't see how swapping a big-ass motherboard in and out of your relatively benign metal case is that green.

This, on the other hand, is small and does consume very little power. I bet its footprint isn't much bigger than the average video card. If you want to be green it probably means not buying a computer, or making due with old / slow shit.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. IN THAT ORDER! How many geeks here follow the first and most ecologically beneficial part of that triad?

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

I didn't go quite that far back... well, maybe I did. My third computer was an IBM XT I bought used in 1987. It was the last whole computer I bought. At one time my "IBM XT" sported a forty meg hard drive, 386 processor, joystick, mouse, and SVGA graphics. Alas, the next upgrade replaced the last remaining origional parts, the case and power supply, as the new motherboard wouldn't fit in the XT case.

I put back together with its original parts, but its monochrome hercules card had died. I left it in the house the bank foreclosed on in 2005, along with a bunch of other computers, all built with spare parts.

I met a rich man once, who told the that the secret to wealth was to never throw anything away! When the great depression hit he'd bought a Model T Ford from a friend as a favor to the friend, who needed fifteen bucks to buy mules and a wagon to move to California. He had no use for it and stored it in his barn.

In 1951 a collector spied it and bought it from the old guy for $100,000. He invested the $100k and will never want for anything again.

I met this gentleman long before the bank took the house, but I had been overcome by insanity; I'd not gotten over my divorce, they were taking my house away, the doctor took me off Paxil and the only thing that kept me from killing myself was knowing what it would do to my children.

As lomg as you never throw its parts away, all computers are green; at least, as green as they ever were. So maybe this "green" computer isn't so green after all; at least, not in the hands of a nerd like me.

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

And why exactly would you throw it away?

Its just a matter of time until the release the CherryPal2...

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

I'd imagine most of the "upgrades" to your computer-using experience are going to be on the server-side, since the computer itself is basically a thin client.

Re:"green" vs "no upgrades"

And why exactly would you throw it away?

Its just a matter of time until the release the CherryPal2...

I'm really, really hoping the next version is the Cherry 2000 [wikipedia.org] instead. I'd buy one of those.

Has to be said...

So who is going to be the first to pop that cherry?

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Re:Has to be said...

So who is going to be the first to pop that cherry?

Not me, I live in north america, you insensitive clod. I'll have to wait for the CherryNTSC to get a taste.

More better circuitry

Green Cloud? Can we have a Brown Hornet computer? How about a Black Canary monitor?

The Black Canary can tell us whether we can safely breathe in the Green Cloud.

Re:More better circuitry

From the submission:

It uses a Freescale processor that runs Linux and has no moving parts

The processor has NO MOVING PARTS!!! You bet your sweet bippie that this is more better circuitry. Finally - a solid-state microprocessor!

But it's not that much cheaper ...

The problem with this device is that it isn't that much cheaper than a full budget PC that will whack this into the ground.

$250 for what is essentially a DTV receiver (my ex had a £25 Sagem Freeview receiver that had an integrated 250MHz PowerPC) with 4GB flash... sure it comes with 50GB of online storage, but they haven't reduced the affordability.

Re:But it's not that much cheaper ...

I agree that it has a nice size.

However, for $50 more at Wal-Mart, I can pick up an el cheapo Compaq sporting basic sound, 512MB of RAM, and a hard disk good enough to put a modern distro of Linux on it and have it work as a decent box. No, it won't boot in 5 seconds, but it will do a lot more for not that much more outlay.

If Cherry Pal could kick the price down to $100 or so, that would be an alternative, but right now, unless one wants a highly portable cheap computer (which for $50-$100 more, an EeePC can do the job with a monitor), this computer has a hard market to crack into.

What's missing:

Strange what small things they left off:
* no microphone jack, so no voip
* no extra usb jack, so no uploading pictures, printing, scanning, using a thumb drive, or loading your ipod

Those things would have hardly added to the size or cost and would greatly increase the usability of this thing.

Oh yeah, it'll be a pain to replace the "all firefox" interface with a more familiar linux desktop as you'll have to do the installation over the wire.

But I think the small size and pared down power are not so bad. It could be cool ... one day.

iTunes?

They have a version of iTunes for a Debian system that never needs to be updated?

I don't even think Apple has that yet!

OT: Asus B202

Isn't Asus suppose to be releasing their Asus Box B202 [hothardware.com] about now?

• Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
• 1GB or 2GB of memory
• 80-160GB hard drive
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• SD/MMC/MS memory card reader.
• $269-$299
• mid-July release date

What's up with that?

WTF?

CherryPal!?

Was "My Little Computer" fraught with trademark peril? Or could they not get Hello Kitty to return their calls?

There's a "popping cherry" joke here somewhere, but damned if I can find it.

Oh, wait... *snicker*

Nice try.

No way I'm using my work PC to visit cherrypal.com, even if it is tech related and I can get away with it.

Firefox Commandline Plugin?

They've buried Linux so that the end user doesn't see it; the entire UI is presented through Firefox.

Is there a Javascript interface to Linux that can use the URL line as a commandline to an embedded shell? Something like "javascript: alert(cmd('ls -l ~'))"? Or even better, a javascript option that can direct output to the main Firefox window (tabs for file descriptors). Of course, with security settings to lock untrustworthy javascript (eg. in downloaded HTML pages) in a crippled/chrooted sandbox, but allowing typed commandlines just like in a bash shell.

That way, Firefox can wrap the OS out of sight, except that skilled users could still get to the OS and a commandline. But without a whole extra terminal app, or any other apps for that matter.

Re:Cloud computer?

The point of this is that it connects to their cloud. Think of this as an X terminal that connects to a mainframe via the internet. The point isn't to build a cloud out of these things.

Re:Cloud computer?

Well, until the meme changes from "beowulf cluster" to "cloud," then I think we're safe.

Re:2 watts?

It's ok. The rest of the PC uses magic and fireflies to run. I'd say that's somewhere around 8 watts.

That's a maximum rating on the power supply

From their (weird) web site [72.51.37.17]: 9vDC 2.5mm 10 watt AC-DC adapter power supply So the box is not eating 2 watts, but 10, unless you can pump in it 9VDC in a more efficient way.

The 10 Watt rating is the maximum output of the the power supply - that means the computer itself has to draw less than 10W. It was probably cheaper to buy an off-the-shelf 10W power supply than have a custom 2W PSU built. It does not mean that the computer itself draws 10W.

Re:Free-based computing

Free-based [wikipedia.org] may sound cool, man. But next thing you know your laying in a pool of your own urine, in a truckstop restroom, somewhere west of Amarillo, Texas.