Is inventables actually just linkbait garbage which happens to also sell things? They never list the vendor of their products, the prices are always high (often twice that of retail), and they never have any technical details or volume pricing.
Oh, you're interested in this Sorghum based "Non-Toxic Decorative Wood Composite?" [1] Well, you can buy a 4"x3" sample for $15 but they won't tell you who makes it (Kieri USA [2] does) or the cost for boards.
The manufacturer is usually only a Google search away, and I'm willing to pay a premium for a small sample, but I'm not going to order even samples unless I can get more detailed information. Does Inventables actually serve any purpose other than to act as linkbait for a bunch of interesting products?
OK, it’s got an Ethernet jack and a Web server on one end. What’s on the other end? If I were designing a clothes dryer or coffee machine and wanted to Internet-enable it, how would I hook up the signals from the control panel to the jack? Is there some standard bus or serial protocol that appliance manufacturers use for their onboard computers?
But, if you're really interested in internet-enabling a new product, you'd likely be better off selecting a microcontroller with built-in Ethernet (or an Arduino with Ethernet shield, if prototyping). In my experience, products like the XPort were better for manufacturers looking to internet-enable a legacy device with a free serial port.
You can get an Arduino with an ethernet shield for about $75-80.
This does not appear to have any detailed tech specs on the linked page,detail on customisability/programmability or on the interconnects offered. But even if we allow it some leniency on that I figure an Arduino is still the no brainer choice :)
It looks like a Lantronix (http://lantronix.com) XPort, which can be had for much less than $200 from various electronics suppliers. For example, I just found the XP1001000-03R variant for $51 (qty. 1) at Arrow.
As far as the product being designed for hobbyists - hmm - it doesn't really have that feel to it. I think the intended market is more along the lines of one-off or low production volume industrial control hardware, test equipment, etc. One use I've seen documented was as an out-of-band control channel on a very high end FPGA board.
Or you can get just the module, I know the Digi ConnectME is about 50$ for a 75mhz/8mb ram, runs linux and has an eclipse based IDE. Same company that makes XBee modules too.
Certainly not new, I know digi.com sells a lot of these things since at least 2008. Look for the Digi Connect products. The interfaces on the other side can be as simple as RS-232.
They've been on the market for a lot longer than that, actually. But it looks like some incremental improvements have been made over the years, quite interesting really.
That appears to be a Lantronics XPORT, been using them for over 7 years. Interesting they are selling them for over 200 we buy them for 70 each, Now that's markup....
Yeah, looks like an XPort. Maybe this is the evaluation kit, which comes with the carrier board for ~$150-200. It's been a while since I used one (probably 7 years ago), but the serial interface was rather limited. To develop firmware for the XPort itself, you needed an SDK only available under NDA for customers they were willing to support (we were such a customer and the SDK was reasonably usable). It was a cool idea & a great way to Ethernet-enable serial devices, but nowadays something like the Arduino with Ethernet shield is probably more accessible.
I wish someone would design a firewall that is just an RJ-45 jack with a few dip switches to open/close commonly needed ports, the rest closed by default.
I'd think that the bandwidth on an embedded device like this is too low for enterprise use -- it would be a network bottleneck. You'd have to have a much higher clock rate than most small devices can achieve to get full 10/100/1000 bandwidth, so the market would be pretty small.
Interesting product. Doing a quick google search I have seen prices under $100. Unfortunately, it looks like it only has serial out.
I have been looking for a small single board linux computer (preferably open source) to use as a gateway and/or web server for embedded projects. I would like something in between an Arduino and Beagleboard.
Arduino is great for running simple web servers, but it would be nice to have a Linux OS with some familiar tools to be able to build more complex web apps. Products like the Beagleboard fill this need, but they are complex and expensive if you decide to bundle it with your product.
If you don't mind external hosting you can always send your data to the cloud, but I like the simplicity of a self contained product.
The closest I have found to these requirement is at Dangerous Prototypes (sill in development).
Web Platform v2
- 210MHz ARM926 - 2x SPI
- Hopefully 2 layers! - Linux
- 4x USART - 2x 10 bit a/d
- ethernet - < $100?
This is one of the smaller devices like this I've seen. I am really curious about the photographic opportunities that could be open with such a device. Footage could be directly streamed online via ethernet cable connected directly to the camera...
could this be used the same way those wall outlet/pluggable web connected computers were for hacking networks? i.e. you replace someone's existing ethernet wall jack with this one w/a server in it, and they would NEVER find your machine piggy backing off their internal network.
If you're referring to the physical jack, then, essentially, no. They were standardised in the 1970s, and the form factor hasn't changed at all, while electronic parts have become much much smaller over the same time frame.
There may have been advances within the connector itself, to improve the signal-carrying properties of the internal connections, but the overall design of the connector is basically unchanged.
[+] [-] tylerritchie|15 years ago|reply
Is inventables actually just linkbait garbage which happens to also sell things? They never list the vendor of their products, the prices are always high (often twice that of retail), and they never have any technical details or volume pricing.
Oh, you're interested in this Sorghum based "Non-Toxic Decorative Wood Composite?" [1] Well, you can buy a 4"x3" sample for $15 but they won't tell you who makes it (Kieri USA [2] does) or the cost for boards.
The manufacturer is usually only a Google search away, and I'm willing to pay a premium for a small sample, but I'm not going to order even samples unless I can get more detailed information. Does Inventables actually serve any purpose other than to act as linkbait for a bunch of interesting products?
[1] http://www.inventables.com/technologies/non-toxic-decorative... [2] http://www.kireiusa.com
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danwolff|15 years ago|reply
If you play with several dozen of their materials, you will get several product ideas, some olf which may even have markets!
I think they are trying to provide value through all the normal ways an online reseller would, with a bent for the entrepeneurial inventer market.
At least that'd the impression that I get. For large quantities I would hazard the guess that no party misses out on the pie.
[+] [-] sethg|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerryr|15 years ago|reply
But, if you're really interested in internet-enabling a new product, you'd likely be better off selecting a microcontroller with built-in Ethernet (or an Arduino with Ethernet shield, if prototyping). In my experience, products like the XPort were better for manufacturers looking to internet-enable a legacy device with a free serial port.
[+] [-] ErrantX|15 years ago|reply
You can get an Arduino with an ethernet shield for about $75-80.
This does not appear to have any detailed tech specs on the linked page,detail on customisability/programmability or on the interconnects offered. But even if we allow it some leniency on that I figure an Arduino is still the no brainer choice :)
[+] [-] tesseract|15 years ago|reply
As far as the product being designed for hobbyists - hmm - it doesn't really have that feel to it. I think the intended market is more along the lines of one-off or low production volume industrial control hardware, test equipment, etc. One use I've seen documented was as an out-of-band control channel on a very high end FPGA board.
[+] [-] cnlwsu|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PonyGumbo|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] imr|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Isamu|15 years ago|reply
http://www.digi.com/products/wireless-wired-embedded-solutio...
http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/embedded-device-s...
[+] [-] marcinw|15 years ago|reply
If memory serves me correctly, some peers at my university had wrote a web interface to control the lights on the Christmas Tree in the commons area.
[+] [-] DuckPaddle|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerryr|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grandalf|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pixdamix|15 years ago|reply
http://www.yoggie.com/New_Yoggie/Welcome.html http://www.yoggie-gatekeeper.co.uk/
I don't know but it seems they failed a funding round.
[+] [-] stewartbutler|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nabilt|15 years ago|reply
I have been looking for a small single board linux computer (preferably open source) to use as a gateway and/or web server for embedded projects. I would like something in between an Arduino and Beagleboard.
Arduino is great for running simple web servers, but it would be nice to have a Linux OS with some familiar tools to be able to build more complex web apps. Products like the Beagleboard fill this need, but they are complex and expensive if you decide to bundle it with your product.
If you don't mind external hosting you can always send your data to the cloud, but I like the simplicity of a self contained product.
The closest I have found to these requirement is at Dangerous Prototypes (sill in development).
Forum: http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&...Wiki: http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Robert:_AT91SAM9260_Linu...
[+] [-] noonespecial|15 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheevaPlug
Or if you're into x86 try something from pcEngines. A bit more expensive, but no crosscompiler required to build packages on your desktop.
http://www.pcengines.ch/
[+] [-] mhp|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drdaeman|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philthy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brianbreslin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ashishb4u|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iclelland|15 years ago|reply
There may have been advances within the connector itself, to improve the signal-carrying properties of the internal connections, but the overall design of the connector is basically unchanged.