Recently in Computer Hardware Category

Microsoft and Cray are set to unveil the Cray CX1, a compact supercomputer running Windows HPC Server 2008.

The pair is expected to tout the new offering as "the most affordable supercomputer Cray has ever offered," with pricing starting at $25,000. (That is amazing!)

The CX1 combines compute, storage and visualization in a single integrated system that's designed for non-traditional environments like labs or offices. If space is a problem, not to worry, it's compact enough to fit in a broom closet.  Perfect for home!

How can you get one?! It's as easy as shopping on Amazon.com. You can go online, order the CX1 system using a configurator and pay with credit card.

Microsoft's official launch of Windows HPC (High Performance Computing) Server 2008 is slated for September 22 in New York. Windows HPC Server 2008 is the high-end SKU of Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 family. Microsoft is positioning the product as an alternative to Linux, which has gained a solid following in the high-end computing market. 

More at ZDNet.

Small is cool, and smaller is even better!

No doubt inspired by the drive to create the $100 laptop, netbooks (teeny, tiny laptops) have been coming on strong.

The Aspire One (photo at left) and the Eee PC 1000 are popular options. This is a HOT segment right now.

And you're right that the little Atom chip from Intel is awesome.

At 2W max power consumption (compared to something like 35W for a Core 2 Duo laptop chip), with a big 6-cell battery, you can easily get five or six hours of battery life. 

Read a lot more about this at The Dawn of Atom.

Mini-laptop computers, typified by the popular ASUS Eee PC (in photo at left), have been derided by some analysts as little but low-cost toys. But they are changing the shape of the PC business throughout the world, bringing computing power to many who could never have afforded it.

As small laptop sales increase, their popularity is redefining the nature of the computing experience, taking it off the desk and making it an integral part of peoples' lives, wherever they are.

With the Internet playing an essential role, the devices are well-suited to an increasingly connected mobile population, in many cases supplementing rather than replacing one's computing power.

Notebook PCs in general are experiencing torrid growth, according to the latest quarterly PC sales statistics from IDC, a research firm.

Worldwide, portable computer sales for the second quarter were up 37 percent year over year.

Even the United States saw growth in notebook computer sales, although it was less dramatic: up 17.7 percent, while desktop machines and servers sales declined by 4 percent.

Still, IDC expects the portable computer market in the United States to double, from 30 million units sold in 2007 to 61.1 million in 2012.

All the news that's fit to read in the New York Times.

Notebooks, smart phones, Blu-ray players -- name a gadget, and it probably wouldn't exist today without the tiny little integrated circuit (IC).

Not only did the IC give rise to the modern consumer electronics industry, but it has also kept that industry moving at breakneck speed, allowing for cheaper, smaller and more-powerful chips to be produced year after year with dazzling consistency.

So, it's easy to forget that it's only been five decades since Texas Instruments' Jack Kilby demonstrated the first working IC, a discovery that earned him a Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000. (That's the little baby in the photo above.)

While that device started out as nothing more than a single transistor with a smattering of other components on a thin slice of germanium --  -- its silicon progeny now contain hundreds of transistors in a space the size of a single red blood cell. 

So let's fill that cake with candles and blow them all out -- we have great reason to celebrate! 

More at Wired.

There is no doubt that open source Asterisk has taken IP telephony by storm resulting in many vendors offering solutions based on Asterisk. Because the "free" Asterisk software is open source, it has helped drive down the cost of installing an IP-PBX. Only one major cost factor remains - the hardware. If you install Asterisk on a traditional PC, you have several hardware components - the motherboard, the CPU, the memory, the hard drive, the power supply, CD/DVD drive, etc. Some of these hardware components aren't necessarily required to operate a fully-functional IP-PBX or could be replaced with inexpensive alternatives. For instance, instead of a hard drive, why not use Flash memory? It's cheaper, more reliable, is more easily upgraded, and can be easily swapped after a failure. It also uses less electricity than a hard drive resulting in a "greener" Asterisk solution. When you consider how tight profit margins are when offering an IP-PBX to the SMB market, shaving off a few dollars in hardware costs can be a huge pricing competitive edge. For these reasons, PIKA Technologies offers an embedded Asterisk appliance called the WARP Appliance targeting the SMB market with a cost-effective telephony development platform. PIKA pointed out that WARP is not exclusively tied to Asterisk explaining, "Our customers have developed call logging system, IVRs, predictive dialers and 50% of them use Asterisk, 50% don't."

The PIKA WARP Appliance isn't a turn-key Asterisk IP-PBX, but instead is a development platform that enables resellers and VARs configure Asterisk 1.4.x to their liking, and then offer a customized version of Asterisk through their distribution channel. In fact, PIKA sells what they call the "PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk Developers Kit", which includes a PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk, one 4 port FXO (trunk) module, one 4 port FXS (station) module, one SD Memory Card (1Gb), one Serial Cable (programming), a network cable, and Getting Started Guide. The PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk Developers Kit is discounted to $550 (limit 1 per company) to encourage developers. The normal non-discounted list price is $725. The main concept behind the WARP Appliance is to offer resellers and VARs an inexpensive Asterisk hardware platform that they can OEM and offer under their own brand name. I should also mention that the WARP Appliance now also works with FreeSWITCH, so developers can also choose to embed FreeSWITCH instead of Asterisk. In fact, any telephony application such as IVRs, call logging, predictive dialer etc. built using PIKA's telephony APIs can be integrated onto the appliance, whether it is a proprietary application or based on an open source platform.


Back Panel and the cover taken off to show the inner guts of the WARP Appliance

Importantly, the Kit comes with 4 analog phone ports and 4 analog trunk lines, or essentially a 4x4 "development" phone system, which is perfect for many SOHO and SMBs. In fact, considering many IP Phones are >$200 and analog phones can be had for $20, one should not underestimate how many small businesses would like to dip their feet into VoIP but aren't ready to commit to expensive IP phones. The PIKA WARP Appliance allows them to get a fully-featured Asterisk IP-PBX while offering up to 4 analog phone stations and 4 analog trunk lines. In fact, resellers can even offer 8 analog stations by swapping out one FXO card and instead including two FXS cards - all modules can be mixed and matched in any combination, including BRI in future For inbound and outbound calling the reseller can offer 100% SIP for the trunking side, which has the added benefit of lower per minute charges compared to traditional PSTN dialing. The configuration of the appliance is modular and can include up to 9 ports of a combination of FXO/FXS/BRI plus VoIP stations and trunks.

Top View looking inside the WARP Appliance

While there are many DIYers (Do It Yourself) out there that have built their own home-brewed embedded Linux Asterisk appliances, PIKA has spent considerable resources on choosing reliable embedded hardware and performing quality assurance (QA) testing. When building your own appliance, DIYers have to be concerned with EOL (end of life) on components such as motherboard, memory etc and have to deal with software installation issues and integration with the hardware (ie. drivers)

WARP comes pre-loaded with the 2.6x Linux Kernel (stripped down PIKA version) and includes SSH (Dropbear), Asterisk and Asterisk GUI (1.4.x), database (SQlite3), Httpd (webserver), PHP5, NTP, DHCP, TFTP server & client, as well as VLAN and DNS. As previously mentioned, you have the ability to add any software package that your application requires.



I got to test drive the PIKA WARP Appliance in the lab and was pretty impressed how easy it was to load firmware, add packages, and build a fully-functional copy of Asterisk. The unit includes a RAM disk, full root access, 256MB of RAM, and 256MB of Flash for loading the Linux kernel. Additionally, you can add an SD memory card for additional memory storage, useful for storing voicemail. The processor is powered by a AMCC Power PC 440EP, which operated at 533MHz. The outside of the unit features a 2 x 20 backlit LCD display, with API-controlled front-panel scroll button. You can even control the LED with simple shell commands.

Make the LED red:
echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-red/brightness
echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/warp-green/brightness

Make the LED green:
~ #> echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/warp-red/brightness
~ #> echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-green/brightness

Make the LED orange:
~ #> echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-red/brightness
~ #> echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-green/brightness

To turn the LED off you just echo 0 to both.

I learned this tip on David Clarke's blog/community. David is the Business Development Manager at PIKA Technologies and he started the blog of a place where developers can find 3rd party add-ons such as various Asterisk GUIs and WARP tips. It is relatively new but content is growing daily. You can check it out here: www.pikawarp.org

The back of the unit includes Music-on-hold audio in, paging system audio out, an SD slot, a single Ethernet port and one USB port. I'm told PIKA is working on a dual-Ethernet port WARP Appliance in the near future. This would allow the appliance to add NAT firewall capabilities. Importantly, the unit includes a power failure switchover emergency PSTN port. In the event of a power failure, you can still make an outbound call, i.e. 911.

The appliance can run software from flash memory or via a network file system (NFS) located on your development computer. According to PIKA, "Initially, you will use NFS to execute the software( kernel and ramdisk). NFS will be the primary method for running software on the appliance during development. It is faster to boot using NFS, updates to files can be done without taking the time to write new images into flash and, depending on the file type being modified, without rebooting." There are 3 methods available to load software onto the Appliance.
a) svn checkout of PADS
b) tarball of PADS
c) pre-built images file for the appliance

Building the software is very straightforward using PADS (Pika Application Development Suite) to compile the various packages and then transferring it to the WARP Appliance. You can also compile directly on the WARP Appliance itself using gcc. (See: http://pikawarp.org/?p=53) If using PADS, your development computer requires the following Linux packages in order to use PADS:
• A serial client (e.g. minicom on Linux or HyperTerminal on Windows)
• TFTP (Trival File Transfer Protocol) Server
• NFS (Network File System) Server
• WGET
• Subversion (SVN)
• AUTOCONF
• AUTOMAKE
• LIBTOOL
• NCURSES
• SSH client
• GCC 4.x or greater

On your development Linux PC you go to the location of your unpacked source or SVN checkout of PADS and simply type:

#make menuconfig

This command displays the package selection menu. This will include default menu selections, but you can easily add/remove packages from the Appliance. Next you select 'Exit, choose 'Yes' when asked if you want to save your configuration and then enter the command:

#make

This will build the software with the packages you chose. When the build is complete, you will have an NFS mount point at <Your PADS path>/build_warp/root.

The software image for the kernel (cuImage.warp) is created during the previous step. To create software images for the ramdisk and the persistent file system, you simply enter the command:

#make image

The following compressed images will be located in <Your PADS path>/images:
• cuImage.warp (kernel)
• uRamdisk (ramdisk)
• image.jffs2 (persistent filesystem)

The next step is loading the images into the appliance. There's a few ways of doing it, including entering a special bootloader mode called U-Boot and using a serial cable and software like HyperTerminal. But a much easier method is doing it across the network using TFTP or SCP to transfer and load the software onto the appliance. To actually write software to flash you use warploader. warploader is a PIKA's tool that allows you to write software into flash memory while the appliance is running. The tool provides a single step to replace software eliminating the need to enter the special U-Boot prompt and a serial connection to load new software.

After transferring the image to the appliance, you just type this command to load the software into Flash:
#warploader -p <partition name> filename

For instance:

#warploader -p kernel /root/cuImage.warp (kernel)
#warploader -p root /root/uRamdisk (RAM Disk)

Flash memory has a limited number of write-erase cycles. A utility is provided to track the writes to the NAND flash and can be used to monitor excessive or rapidly increasing amounts of data written to flash which may indicate a problem with an application.

To view the amount of data written, enter the following at the Linux prompt on the appliance:

cat /proc/driver/ndfc
or on my version:
cat /proc/driver/pikasd

Unfortunately, the number of writes is reset to zero after a reboot, but still a useful utility.

Two additional partitions called persisent1 and persistent2 are provided in flash memory for user-defined purposes. This space can be used for additional persistent data or for files that will not fit into the ramdisk image. I should point out that when the system is booted, the ramdisk is read from flash or NFS into memory and therefore, the size of the ramdisk is an important consideration for system performance. The maximum size of the ramdisk, using the current settings is 64 Megabytes, out of the total 256M of RAM. PIKA claims that this size is sufficient for a load that includes all of the packages currently made available by PIKA in PADS, with the exception of GDB (GNU Project Debugger).

I hooked up some analog trunk lines using a Teltone analog simulator as well as a few analog phones. I also registered a Polycom IP650 and an Aastra 57i IP phone. I was able to make extension-to-extension calls, outbound calls through the Teltone simulator, and inbound calls to the auto-attendant. In my testing of the PIKA WARP Appliance, it handles fax just fine. It doesn't currently support T.38 real-time fax over IP because T.38 is very processor intensive, but PIKA told me T.38 support is in the works. PIKA includes some special built-in extensions to speed development and testing. For instance, I was able to dial 500 and make an IAX VoIP call to Digium's corporate auto-attendant (misery.digium.com) with no firewall configuration. I'm always impressed how IAX is able to traverse NAT firewalls without messing with the firewall.

Here's a list of the built-in testing extensions:

Extension Purpose/Destination
2222 - Connects to the audio in port to listen to the audio sent from an external device such as an MP3 player.
2233 - Connects the handset microphone to the audio out port on the appliance, used for paging.
2244 - Begins playing pre-recorded prompts to the audio out port on the appliance. After dialing, if you hang up, the prompts will continue to play.
2255 - Stops the pre-recorded prompts started by dialing extension 2244.
4001 to 4005 - These extensions call FXS lines 1 to 5, respectively. If the FXS module is not present, the call will be routed to voice mail.
4006 to 4010 - These extensions call the sample SIP Agents defined in sip.conf. If the SIP agent associated with the extension is not registered, the call will be routed to voice mail.
4060 - PIKA FAX receive test. Connect a FAX machine to one of the FXS ports, dial this extension and the
appliance will receive the FAX. A tiff file will be stored in /tmp/warpfax.
4061 - PIKA FAX transmit test. Connect a FAX machine to one of the FXS ports, dial this extension and the appliance will send a test FAX (the PIKA logo) to your FAX machine.
9<number> - Calls out on an available FXO extension. If no FXO extensions are available, congestion will be received.
500 - IAX test call to Digium's auto-attendant.

Features/Specs:

• Operating system -- Denx ELDK, with a 2.6.19.2 Linux kernel
• AMCC Power PC 440EP Embedded 533 MHz Processor 1200 mips
• Supports floating point and MMU (memory management unit)
• Internal flash 256 MB NAND(OS + apps) plus 4 MB NOR memory (uboot)
• 256MB RAM
• External removable 1 GB SD flash memory (no hard drive improves reliability) for additional voice mail prompts / storage
• back -up of configuration files and custom settings (facilitates unit replacement)
• Reset function remotely controlled
• Maximum IP ports 75
• Maximum FXS ports 9
• Built-in FXS ports 1
• Maximum FXO ports 8
• Maximum BRI ports 4 / channels 8 (future)
• Simultaneous calls 32
• Dynamic thermal management (fan)
• Power failure transfer
• Music on Hold input
• Paging system output
• Echo cancellation

Connectivity

• WAN/LAN ports 1
• RS-232 interface
• USB ports 1

Display

• Size 2x20 character
• Backlight
• ScrollButton
• API

Physical

• Brandable
• Desk mountable
• Wall mountable
• 9.25" W x 6.65" D x 2.18"H

Ratings Score Installation Documentation Features Usability Performance Overall

Conclusion
Comparisons will no doubt be made with Digium's Asterisk Appliance 50 (AA50), so I thought it might be useful to offer my own comparative analysis. I haven't tested the Digium Asterisk Appliance, so I can't compare the development environments between the two. Though, I am under the impression that Digium not longer supports an open development environment. Looking strictly at feature-specs, I see that the PIKA WARP Appliance does have some key advantages, including built-in Music-on-Hold, paging, LCD display, 5 more FXS ports, and higher scalability (75 vs. 50). The Digium Asterisk Appliance does however have 4 LAN ports to the WARP's single WAN/LAN port and the Digium Asterisk Appliance has an additional WAN port which currently the PIKA WARP Appliance does not have. The PIKA WARP Appliance offers 256MB of RAM to Digium's 64MB of RAM and WARP offers 256MB of Flash memory to Digium's 8MB of Flash.

Feature-specs aside, perhaps the WARP's greatest advantage is that is flexible and customizable while the AA50 supports Asterisk only. I asked PIKA why the AA50 isn't conducive to 3rd party applications and development and PIKA told me, "With such a small amount of memory and a more complex development environment, allowing 3rd party apps is not realistic to the typical Asterisk developer and Digium likely found it too difficult to support. PIKA has made the development process easy with PADS so it is a more viable option for Asterisk developers."

The PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk is a compelling platform for developers, resellers, and VARs looking for a low cost, reliable, feature-rich Asterisk appliance to offer to the SMB market. The complete customizability and its ability to support analog trunks, analog phones, as well as IP phones and IP trunks makes it a great solution for small businesses that don't have voice T1/PRI lines. Further, unlike Asterisk on a traditional PC, the WARP Appliance comes pre-installed with Music on Hold (MOH) and Paging built-in, as well as power failure transfer (PFT). Another key advantage is that it is modular allowing you're the choice of up to 9 ports of a combination of FXO/FXS/BRI ports. Further, the WARP Appliance can handle up to 75 IP phones and 32 simultaneous calls, which is quite impressive for this very small and surprisingly light device. I should point out that many new small businesses are started each day and these "green fields" are looking for a cost-effective and feature-rich phone system. The PIKA Warp Appliance fits the small business market segment quite nicely both from a price and feature perspective.

Further, medium-sized businesses that have outgrown their current key system or PBX could be enticed to switch to the PIKA WARP Appliance even if their current phone system lease isn't up yet. The reason is super low-cost of the WARP Appliance. Of course, resellers, VARs, and developers will no doubt package together their own applications and offer a profit premium over the $725 list price. Still, I'd expect the PIKA Appliance to allow developers to offer a full-fledged Asterisk IP-PBX with strong analog support for around $1000, which is a very competitive price. All-in-all, I really liked the PIKA WARP Appliance and I think developers will too.

The new Sling Media SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD (Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB100-100) are now available for pre-order from Amazon and SlingMedia.com at $299.99 each. Just in time for the Christmas holiday season! Woot! Ok, Christmas is still 3 months away, so I'm getting a little ahead of myself.


The highly anticipated SlingCatcher lets you display video content to your TV using a USB drive, but even cooler it can project your PC's display (Youtube, Hulu, etc) and audio to your TV. It can also directly receive a Slingbox feed.

The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first Slingbox to stream in high definition (HD) supporting 1080i resolution and 5.1 surround sound. It can serve video up to PCs, Macs, and mobiles. Slingbox PRO-HD supports multiple inputs including of course component inputs to capture HD broadcast content from your HD set-top box. It also sports an integrated digital tuner including both ATSC OTA and clear QAM - a first for any Slingbox. You'll probably need some serious bandwidth to stream HD video over the Internet, so really this is best for streaming on a LAN not over the Internet. Though Slingbox does some pretty good compression and buffering, so maybe it can?

To pre-order the Slingbox PRO-HD from Amazon before the mad holiday rush (Wii shortages?), head on over here

And to pre-order the Sling Media SlingCatcher SC100-100 Universal Media Player for TV on Amazon, click here

Seems like every blog about notebook computers and batteries is bad news -- recalls, fires and the like.

Well, how about some good news for a change!

Hewlett-Packard (HP) will reportedly release a notebook next month that can run for to 24 hours using a high-capacity battery -- but only if it's running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system.

The long-lasting notebook will be a special configuration of the 6930p, part of HP's EliteBook line.

The allure of a battery that can last a day is incontestable, as anyone who has spent time in an airport searching for a power outlet knows. The secret to the 6930p's long battery life is new technology -- and some old technology, too.

To get the best battery performance, the 6930p will have to run Windows XP rather than Windows Vista. Vista has been criticized as being a power hog, although some of its flashy, power-draining features such as the translucent Aero windows can be turned off.

Read more about it at PC World here.

The electronic newspaper, a large portable screen that is constantly updated with the latest news, has been a prop in science fiction for ages. It also figures in the dreams of newspaper publishers struggling with rising production and delivery costs, lower circulation and decreased ad revenue from their paper product.

While the dream device remains on the drawing board, Plastic Logic is introducing its version of an electronic newspaper reader -- a lightweight plastic screen that mimics the look, but not the feel, of a printed newspaper.

The device, which is unnamed, uses the same technology as the Sony eReader and Amazon's Kindle (photo above).

Both of those devices are intended primarily as book readers, but Plastic Logic's device has a screen that is more than twice as large. The size of a piece of copier paper, it can be continually updated via a wireless link and can store and display hundreds of pages of newspapers, books and documents.

The reader will go on sale in the first half of next year. Plastic Logic will not announce which news organization will display its articles on it until the International Consumer Electronics Show in January, when it will also reveal the price. 

Read more about it at the New York Times.

Sony has issued a recall for thousands of its VAIO laptops because of possible overheating or short-circuits.

(Didn't we blog about another similar Sony problem not all that long ago?) 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said that the recall is voluntary, and it recommended that Vaio owners stop using the products unless otherwise instructed.

The recall affects 73,000 VAIO TZ-series computers in the U.S. and apparently 440,000 units worldwide.

The safety commission said the reason for the recall is because "irregularly positioned wires near the computer's hinge and/or a dislodged screw inside the hinge can cause a short-circuit and overheating."

It added that this hazard could result in burns to consumers. In fact, the commission reported that Sony has received 15 reports of overheating, including one person who received a minor burn.

The affected models are the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series, and VGN-TZ2000 series. Sony will arrange for any needed inspection or repair.

Sony posted a statement on its eSupport site that said "the issues involve a small number of units which may overheat due to a wiring problem." 

Here's the official notification from the CPSC.

Vodafone and Dell have announced that Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 ultra-mobile notebook will be sold with built-in mobile broadband, exclusively through Vodafone stores and online, and directly from Dell, in key European markets.

Available in late September, the Inspiron Mini 9 is designed to deliver the utmost flexibility, reliability and speed for email and Internet browsing on-the-go without the need for an additional modem. (Or so they say.)

Digital nomads and avid web surfers alike (that's their wording, not mine) will be able to connect anytime, anywhere, whether on the road, or on-the-go, while surfing the Web, chatting with friends or enjoying their favorite online videos and music.

Wonder how long it will take for this to make its way to the U.S.?

And yes, there is a U.S. version that sounds pretty sweet -- reminds me of my old Compaq Contura Aero -- now there was a subnotebook (remember that category?)

There's lots more at Gizmodo.