AMD has stopped its work on the Personal Internet Communicator project after nearly two years of planning and development. The PIC was announced in late 2004 as a USD 250 headless computer, sporting a Geode x86 processor, 128MB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive. PIC was designed for 'emerging markets' where the cost of computer hardware is seen as prohibitively high.
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2005-11-12
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That is OK. I am going with this:
http://www.pegasosppc.com/efika.php
This is a low power no noise linux machine for file sharing. With a USB2.0 card in the PCI slot I am ready. Or with the same graphics card as the ODW:
http://ati.amd.com/products/certified/genesi.html
It will be my fun for the next few weeks.
Rasmus
Member since:2005-11-12
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http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2006/10/100-toolkit.html
A better approach to emering markets.
Member since:2006-07-06
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Jebb,
A little more technical detail on it (the page is meant to reduce the number of support calls for "which page of the docs is..?")
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/efika.php
It's basically an enhanced AC97 controller in the SoC, with a Sigmatel STAC 9766 (same as on the Pegasos!) - it has an 18-bit internal mixer, and can play up to 16-bit 48KHz stereo audio through each output (it has plenty, check out the gallery).
By default the S/PDIF outputs the same audio that is on the main line-out channel (at least under ALSA this works), but you can tell it to do LPCM/AC3 passthrough if you push the right data at it.
Member since:2006-06-04
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All that said, the big difference in the approach is that the EFIKA can be assembled into many things and that assembly and fine tuning to the local market is an opportunity the local economy can absorb. The EFIKA will have OS options and can be many different things. Example:
http://projects.powerdeveloper.org/projects.php?program=EFIKA
Thanks for the introduction and the opportunity to post that.
R&B 
Member since:2005-11-16
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Member since:2006-06-04
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@encia
Right, that is the point. One size fits all? There is too much _embedded thinking_ in this approach (see http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2006/10/olpc.html ). The whole situation is more complicated and requires more engagement across the spectrum of people involved to insure the effort is successful. OLPC in its current form makes the ultimate objective (isn't it the democratization of ideas, increased communication and educational opportunity, etc.?) more difficult to achieve _for the people that will ultimately achieve it (suggesting here that it won't be OLPC as it is packaged and organized today that is successful) because OLPC distorts the requirements for success. Unfortunately, we have seen this before - http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2005/09/iwantmoreforless.html . Thanks, but no thanks. There is a social movement already working pretty well inspired by a Social Contract and managed through a license and governance model that seems to be doing the trick. Getting wired into that is the key on one end, enabling the flexibility at the point of deployment on the other end is equally important. Making it one size fits all not only restricts the output, but the input as well.
R&B
Member since:2005-11-16
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Member since:2005-11-16
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One could fleet assemble an AMD K8 Sempron based PC under 250 USD. AMD PIC is not competitive enough against AMD's own Sempron based PC.
Refer to
http://www.pricewatch.com/computer_systems_no_os/athlon_64_3000_512...
for Athlon 64 3000+ PC with AMD Radeon X300 for $237.97.
Rev-E Athlon 64 @1Ghz can passively cooled.
Edited 2006-11-14 10:04