A PC The Size of your Phone Jack?
by EcoGeek.org on 01.16.07
Well, maybe it's a bit bigger than a phone jack, but this "desktop computer" is built to be installed in a wall, with cords for the mouse, the keyboard, the speakers and the monitor running out of it. And at peak use, it only draws about five watts of power.
Absolutely remarkable! The manufacturers of the Jack PC are calling it a "desktop" but it isn't quite what we think of as a computer. For one thing, it doesn't have a hard drive. So how does it work? Basically the Chip PC can either connect to a local network and use the files on a shared server, or it can operate by itself, but the only software it will run is Internet Explorer and you wont be able to save anything.
Remarkably, the Jack PC does not even require you to plug it in. Just like your old chorded phone ran on the juice from the phone line, this thing runs on the power from the Ethernet line and nothing more. An Ethernet line only delivers five watts, so the Jack PC is guaranteed to never pull much more power than a digital alarm clock. But with an 800 mhz or 1.2 ghz processor, the device is no slouch either.
Unfortunately, it will be a while before we can clear up the clutter in our own homes. Its reliance on a central computer for storage and software means that the device is best used in offices. But think of the power a large office could save by using these little guys, not to mention the materials that would otherwise go into hulking desktops for every employee.
In time, as low-power flash drives become larger and more powerful, I can see a wall-mounted PC that pulls no more than five watts becoming the norm. It may have to connect to a central storage unit in every house, but the power drain from that would be no more than a television DVR unit.
The Jack PC seems provides both an intelligent technology that can and should be implemented today, as well as a glimpse into what we might all be using in the future.
It's the evolution of the PC-as-object into the PC-as-utility service, like light or heat. It's getting to the point that for most computing "chores," it's literally going to disappear into the woodwork, connected with its peers on a mesh network.
Also, small point, standard Ethernet does not deliver power; you have to use a specific type of cable and networking devices that can supply the voltage (a standard called Power Over Ethernet, unsurprisingly). Apple AirPort wifi hubs are available in PoE versions, which makes them easy to install in ceilings, etc. with minimal wiring.
Um, not to nitpick but I think you mean "corded," not "chorded," unless you mean phones that can knock out a Bmin7 as opposed to a regular dial tone. :)
It is great that it only uses 5W but....
it looks like there is no off switch so does that means it is 5W of continuous phantom load?
we really need to stop designing devices that consume power when we are not using them.
'the only software it will run is Internet Explorer'. Oh, the horror.
Even if you can "only" run IE, this allows you to author documents using web-based applications such as thinkFree Office Online or ZohoWriter. Not a bad deal.
As it is, I often use a multi-login patch on a desktop PC to make an old notebook work as a Windows terminal.
If *right now* they've got this to run Windows CE and IE, in a year or two they'll have a fully functional PC, no problem. Heck, it's probably more of a price issue than a functionallity one, because for a higher price, I'm sure they could put a nice dual core CPU and more RAM..
This is a technology application that isn't really new. But it is important to understand the intent. While they do have a different application by using a very small form factor to fit in a network jack, the function is not really different to what has been going on for years.
It is a network computer known as thin client. Therefore, it is not really meant to work like a PC. But more importantly it is designed to be an interface into a network.
As the article pointed out you need a server in your house to use this or any other thin client. These clients are setup to walk up and log in. When you log in you are logging in to the server and not this device. From the server you can operate it just like you would a PC. Installing applications and surfing the Internet.
From what I read they offer both Citrix and Terminal Services connection. This allows the user to select almost any configuration.
Also will need consider your networking architecture before applying this device. As it was pointed out by AJ Kandy it uses PoE or Power over Ethernet. To do this a couple of considerations need to be made. A device will need to be connected to the network to supply power that is designed to do this. It will work on standard Ethernet Cat 5 up, but not phone wire.
Certain vendors of big IT solutions tried to get this going several years ago, but found the business didn't really do what they wanted. So it will be interesting to see what this guys are able to do.
Computer cores are shrinking but humans are not, which means that workstations will go from being 50% human interface components (laptop, keyboard, and monitor) to 90% components, by volume. Monitors are getting larger at seemingly the same rate that computers are getting smaller.
If you haven't walked through the laptop section at your local electronics store, you may not have noticed that they are almost entirely devoted to the human interface components -- giant widescreen LCDs, keyboards, and impossibly thin hard drive, battery, and processor compartments.
This hardly should be on treehugger, all it does is causes confusion for those who are not familiar with thin clients and their applications. 5w is exiting but you still have to hook it up to a pc to do all the work. So its 5 w on top of your 120 w pc. Plus networking gear. :)