Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on November 21, 2004 11:20 PM
I can only recommend before starting writing an article to do some research. You have guessed right that biggest part of the cost of the modern PC is backward compatibility cruft.
I can only recommend reading LinuxDevices.com - amount of work done on industrial front is just astonishing. But it can be more. Embedded/industrial applications are gaining much power. But still are shadowed by fat, gov.-sponsored, political, high-performance project Linux is rather used to run on.
You just need to recall all those projects like: Linux on wristwatch, transparent Linux firewall (which looks more like tiny convertor), etc.
If someone will jump in, and produce little appliance with only needed minimum - I bet it can cost even less than $100. And you even do not need to change CPU arch - VIA produces bunch of low-end low-power low-cost CPUs and SOCs.
P.S. Another story which comes to my mind, is that when one Chinese producer had proposed to produce Palms. He had estimated that Palm produces in China would cost about $40. But including all PalmOS/etc licensing costs it would cost less that $150. Not bad? Let's start with $40. Add $10 for CPU which is capable running Linux, subtract $15 - we do not need LCD/touch screen, and finally add $40 for video card with TV/out. We are about $75. What do you think? Definitely possible.
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Posted by: Anonymous Coward on November 21, 2004 11:20 PMI can only recommend reading LinuxDevices.com - amount of work done on industrial front is just astonishing. But it can be more. Embedded/industrial applications are gaining much power. But still are shadowed by fat, gov.-sponsored, political, high-performance project Linux is rather used to run on.
You just need to recall all those projects like: Linux on wristwatch, transparent Linux firewall (which looks more like tiny convertor), etc.
If someone will jump in, and produce little appliance with only needed minimum - I bet it can cost even less than $100. And you even do not need to change CPU arch - VIA produces bunch of low-end low-power low-cost CPUs and SOCs.
P.S. Another story which comes to my mind, is that when one Chinese producer had proposed to produce Palms. He had estimated that Palm produces in China would cost about $40. But including all PalmOS/etc licensing costs it would cost less that $150. Not bad? Let's start with $40. Add $10 for CPU which is capable running Linux, subtract $15 - we do not need LCD/touch screen, and finally add $40 for video card with TV/out. We are about $75. What do you think? Definitely possible.
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