Comments on: Flash-based Laptop for $30 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/ Gadgets, gear and computer hardware. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:40:03 -0500 hourly 1 By: Dankoozy http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/comment-page-1/#comment-388667 Dankoozy Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:38:06 +0000 http://crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/#comment-388667 SD is an evil format supported by the reclusive SDMI to bring DRM to our desktops and MP3 players. CF is actually faster and has higher capacities. 32gb and 64gb CF cards should be out soon enough SD is an evil format supported by the reclusive SDMI to bring DRM to our desktops and MP3 players. CF is actually faster and has higher capacities. 32gb and 64gb CF cards should be out soon enough

]]> By: John Biggs http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/comment-page-1/#comment-175353 John Biggs Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:05:15 +0000 http://crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/#comment-175353 thanks guys. good points. thanks guys. good points.

]]> By: Hans http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/comment-page-1/#comment-175344 Hans Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:02:24 +0000 http://crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/#comment-175344 Good thing the adapter has a drive activity LED. Otherwise the inside of my laptop wouldn't know when there was activity on the drive. I guess? Good thing the adapter has a drive activity LED. Otherwise the inside of my laptop wouldn’t know when there was activity on the drive. I guess?

]]> By: Will Dashwood http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/comment-page-1/#comment-174823 Will Dashwood Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:46:18 +0000 http://crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/#comment-174823 "CompactFlash defines a physical interface which is smaller than, but electrically identical to, the PCMCIA-ATA interface. That is, it appears to the host device as if it were a hard disk of some defined size and has a tiny IDE controller onboard the CF device itself." Basically it's already directly compatible with IDE ports and I guess a simple IDE to SATA chip is all that's required for SATA compatibility. This kind of thing isn't new; I have a similar device I bought a year or so ago for a MiniITX project but it isn't DMA compatible so it's very slow and hogs CPU cycles. To be honest, I don't think even with UDMA133 it would be any faster than a 7200rpm hard disk except maybe for random file seeks. “CompactFlash defines a physical interface which is smaller than, but electrically identical to, the PCMCIA-ATA interface. That is, it appears to the host device as if it were a hard disk of some defined size and has a tiny IDE controller onboard the CF device itself.”

Basically it’s already directly compatible with IDE ports and I guess a simple IDE to SATA chip is all that’s required for SATA compatibility. This kind of thing isn’t new; I have a similar device I bought a year or so ago for a MiniITX project but it isn’t DMA compatible so it’s very slow and hogs CPU cycles. To be honest, I don’t think even with UDMA133 it would be any faster than a 7200rpm hard disk except maybe for random file seeks.

]]> By: Computer Guru http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/comment-page-1/#comment-174683 Computer Guru Thu, 05 Apr 2007 04:05:13 +0000 http://crunchgear.com/2007/04/04/flash-based-laptop-for-30/#comment-174683 I call BS. 1) Why CF? So far as anyone is concerned, it's dead and slow. If you want large flash memory, you use SD. 2) <strong>Consumer flash-based memory cards have a limited lifetime</strong>. In short, they <em>die</em> after writing to them too much. With a digital camera, that's OK, it's millions of hi-res photos. But with a hard drive, it's just weeks of normal usage. This company is making a fake, and they're trying to woo the world with it. I call BS.

1) Why CF? So far as anyone is concerned, it’s dead and slow. If you want large flash memory, you use SD.

2) Consumer flash-based memory cards have a limited lifetime. In short, they die after writing to them too much. With a digital camera, that’s OK, it’s millions of hi-res photos. But with a hard drive, it’s just weeks of normal usage.

This company is making a fake, and they’re trying to woo the world with it.

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