Space Cube – the World's Smallest Linux PC

Barence writes "Meet the Space Cube — the world's smallest fully functional PC. Primarily designed for use in space, it somehow manages to cram a working PC with USB ports, card readers, audio outputs and proprietary interfaces into a tiny cube chassis measuring just two inches square. It runs a basic Linux front-end, which the blogger takes a look at, and there are some great photos of the device being loomed over by everyday objects like coffee mugs and cellphones. It has connections for controlling various electronics used by ESA, NASA and JAXA, but it will also apparently be for sale to the public soon, for use by amateur engineers and robotics clubs."

Smallest?

In terms of volume it looks bigger than a beagle board + CF card. The Beagle board is 3" square, but it can be a lot less tall than this. It also has a much faster CPU and (to me, most importantly, since it means I can actually connect it to a modern monitor) DVI output.

incorrect summary

The second line of the article states that it is one of the smallest computers in the world, not the smallest.

yp.

Re:Smallest?

Maybe 2 years ago this might have been 'Wow!' - but with the likes of the Eee etc around - the appropriate response is 'Meh.'

Just some quick back of a fag packet calculation on the Eee put it at 9cm^3. Obviously, a lot more than this with its 5cm^3, but you do get
* a keyboard
* a screen
* 3 usb ports
* wireless ethernet
* mouse pad
* power
* loads more disk space
* 3 times the processor
* etc
all for 300 quid

Which if you got rid of would reduce the size right down to a lot less than 5cm^3.

No disrespect to the folks that put this thing together - and yes I would like one please - but... it's not rockin' my world.

Re:Smallest?

Of course not. And it also doesn't help that the Space Cube, unlike the eeePC, is totally useless by itself.

It's wonderful to have a tiny computer, but if you need to slap on a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to use it it's really not all that tiny, is it?

It also doesn't help that the real reason, in general (i.e., other than embedded computing environments) the reason people want small computers is portability, and this thing is hardly portable- sure, it's small and light, but given that it's totally useless on its own, that lack of size and weight is mostly irrelevant.

Even for use in space, I still think it's a waste of, well, space. Either you're going to connect it to a real computer for display and use (with that big monitor and keyboard) or you're not, and all those jacks are a waste of space.

Re:Smallest?

Just some quick back of a fag packet calculation

Please don't tell us what you used as a writing utensil.

Re:Smallest?

. No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Airport security

Would they let you pass with that in an airport?

Re:Airport security

Yes. Just paint it to look like this [thinkgeek.com].

Yes but...

does it run... oh... it does? Awsome.

How does a cube...

...measure two inches square?

Re:How does a cube...

certainly 2x2x2 which is 8 cubic inches. looking at the photo you get the idea the author of the article is innumerate.

Re:How does a cube...

From TFA:

Quite simply, it's one of the smallest PCs in the world, with each side measuring around 2 square inches.

*Emphasis mine

Which is not even true

On http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2008/07/03/introducing-the-space-cube/ [pcpro.co.uk] (which is linked from the linked article) they mention that the thing is about 2x2x2 inches, so each side is about 4 square inches.

too bad it's not available

Too bad it's not available to the general public at the moment :(

Re:too bad it's not available

Actually this stuff IS available to the general public.

It's called the PC-104 formfactor and it's been around for decades. Hell I got a 386 with A2D inputs and digital in and outs as well as VGA, CF interface and audio interface in the basement that is slightly larger than that that I used for wearable Computing in the early 90's.

It's not new or special. It's standard industrial PC gear repackaged and sold with a "Ooooooh space technology" marketing twist.

What's the big deal with PC compatibility ?

This thing is obviously aimed at special applications.

For these kind of things there are much better solutions than x86 chips. They are smaller, faster, cheaper and more economic than classic HW.

Take a look at TI's daVinci program, for example, or maybe some small Coldfire from Freescale or maybe some cool Arm from NXP etcetc.

PC Pro is clueless.

Behold Picotux! [picotux.com]

Or, less dramatically, gumstix [slashdot.org].

The spacecube is cute, I admit, I'd be amused to have one; but the notion of it being the smallest is silly.

Imagine...

Imagine a beowulf cluster of these puppies! You might actually be able to run a GUI.

Re:Imagine...

Wow! You could make several of them in different colors, and your beowulf cluster would look like a gigantic Rubik's Cube [photobucket.com]! Cool!

Re:Another?

'Primarily designed for use in space'.

It is enormously expensive to launch things into orbit. Making a smaller and lighter computer saves on launch costs, and the weight allowance can be used for other things. Then again, presumably you still have to launch a mouse and keyboard and VDU for this thing, so it's not quite as great a saving as it sounds...

Re:Another?

Then again, presumably you still have to launch a mouse and keyboard and VDU for this thing, so it's not quite as great a saving as it sounds...

Depends on its job. It could be a headless device for logging/collating/forwarding sensor data, controlling a robot, whatever.

Re:Another?

Not necessarily. You could (for example) have them control all kinds of things with no peripherals attached for most of the time (that is, except in the case when a problem needs to be diagnosed).

In case of a problem if there's need for diagnostics, you can then plug some small screen+keyboard and you're set to go.

They're running linux so they should be ideal for monitoring sensors and reporting, transmitting ping/heartbeat signals for any kinds of devices, for controlling hardware, basically for anything that can run autonomously.

Re:Another?

Exactly the same question. My puny phone has 64MB RAM, 369 MHz CPU, screen, battery, built-in speakers, mini-USB port and minimalistic keyboard and internal volume of 66cc (roughly 4 cubic inches). I really do not see the point of that gadget except being really cheap and expendable - and that product is not.

Re:Dimensions, anybody?

Dumbass, its a "Space Cube". It should be measured in the fourth dimension as 2 square inches/sec.

Re:Dimensions, anybody?

Plus I hear it can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs!