Plug PC with Robotics Potential

Many companies are producing minute PC’s for different purposes.  Some create them for smart home utilities, where as others create zero space thinclients.  Marvell has created a cheap, pretty powerful, plug PC call the SheevaPlug.  It is ARM based that can run a Linux distro and has an effective 1.2 GHz CPU with 512 MB of RAM.  The compact size and minimal power draw (5V/3.0A) make this another great choice for mobile robotics.  The $100 price for the development kit doesn’t hurt either.

LinuxDevices.com has a good overview of the device.  More detailed specs can be found here.

Of course, there is potential for the many thinclient devices out there.  They are getting more beefy and much, much smaller.  The Jack PC, from Chip PC, is small enough to fit in the wall socket itself and can even be powered via LAN.  The abundance of ports is useful, but the low performance, less RAM, and higher price (higher than $300) makes it less desirable.  However, Chip PC did just release a Linux version of the Jack PC, which does pull some extra attention.