Comments on: A horse of a different color http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/ K.Mandla's blog of Linux experiences Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:19:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Onyros http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38397 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:25:06 +0000 http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38397 That one I can answer, eksith. No way, José ;)

Even the 701 runs circles around that one.

]]> By: eksith http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38369 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:48:15 +0000 http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38369 If the devices powered by it can beat the ASUS Eee PC for that price, then it might be worth it.

I don’t actually need another laptop right now

No, but the computer fairy says it’s OK for you to have another one.

]]> By: Michael http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38363 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:54:08 +0000 http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38363 Transmeta is where Linus Torvalds used to work :)

]]> By: Luca http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38362 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:50:40 +0000 http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38362 I picked up a thin client a few years ago that has one of these. Strangely even though it is a thin client it is rather powerful compared to some of the machines you use!

luca@tcs:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineTMx86
cpu family : 6
model : 4
model name : Transmeta(tm) Crusoe(tm) Processor TM5700
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 798.169
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr cx8 sep cmov mmx longrun lrti constant_tsc up
bogomips : 1646.01
clflush size : 32

luca@tcs:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 234 209 24 0 32 135
-/+ buffers/cache: 40 193
Swap: 0 0 0

It has a 512mb internal flash drive which is particularly slow, so I installed grub and have it boot Ubuntu 7.10 from a USB flash drive. It has USB 2.0 so this is great, plus it only uses about 20W!

]]> By: Onyros http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38360 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:21:58 +0000 http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-horse-of-a-different-color/#comment-38360 Oh, I’ve had the “pleasure” of working with one of these Crusoe laptops once before. I’ll just start by saying that a 200 dollar pricetag is way too much for it.

They are very, very and I mean, very slow. Even if it is in mint condition, 200 dollars for a laptop with that chip is overpriced. I can get a used Thinkpad X40 for 50 bucks more here in Portugal, and the performance difference is huuuuuuuuuge.

They were aimed at being power efficient, mostly, but that came at a cost. I remember the laptop I used had a 1.0GHz Crusoe processor, that was much slower than a Via C3 Mini-ITX system I had. Well, I don’t know if you’re acquainted with the kind of performance a Via C3 has (mine was an 800MHz chip, which is outperformed easily by a 550MHz Celeron)… but that says a lot.

And even where it was supposed to be strong – power saving – it failed.

So, long story short: you don’t need that laptop, you will get better performance from very low end Pentium III or Celeron, and it will cost you less.

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