Topic: Zonbu? (Page 1 of 1)

I have made a quick search but I don't think this has been discussed before: Zonbu

Has anyone got it? Any experience to share?

I'd much rather get a Chumby,
then another (though cheap and energy efficent) box in my cellar

at least the chumby is open and hackable, instead of closed and 'pay a monthly fee' ("everybody in the family can have one"...
yeah, I'd love to pay 50 bucks a month for having cheap & slow hardware for my family that reads like it will only run their software

On the other hand, they have some nice parts for the illiterate... the automatic backup, always up to date... and who can resist the tempation
to sneak into the profiles and data of a couple hundred thousand users .

So long,

->Tyberius Prime

quote:

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Tyberius Prime said:

instead of closed and 'pay a monthly fee'

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I read that you can pay a one-off fee and get an "open" version of it, but I still have to find it ont their website... [quote]

quote:

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Tyberius Prime said:

and who can resist the tempation
to sneak into the profiles and data of a couple hundred thousand users

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This is not what I read in most reviews... I am not an expert on security at all, so I would it if you could explain how insecure you think it is... Thanks

What the hell is that Chumby thing? I don't really get the point... It looks like a Fisher Price toy and there is not even a headphone line out

Chumby is pretty much a 'internet appliance'... it has tiny speakers built in, plays videos, and generally displays 'widgets' that you set it to with a real machine... I personally would use one
next to the bed ( traffic information and what not in the morning, reading from it at night), or on the john...
at least it's novel.

The Zonbu backup plan leads to 'all of your data is safely stored at secure Zonbu facilities' - and once it's there it can go anywhere...

It looks like a linux box with reduced accesses.
My recommendation, if you want a home pc, regardless of XP or Linux, is that you check your needs first : will you need Photoshop? If this is the case, you need to be able to install on Windows...

Then, for discount, there is nothing better than :
a) adds if you can cope with a comp which is a few years old, you may find good opportunities there.
b) mounting your own pc from scratch (then you can cut the price in half).

If you mount your own pc, choose a crap sound card, a decent video card (decent to top notch, graphic hardware evolves very fast),
and mostly, a good motherboard, this is the core of interdevice communication.

Mounting is not too hard, but it takes rigor, patience, and not being too scared of black screens, blue screens, and the likes.
All this doesn't reduce the price of software : don't tell anybody I told you, but p2p is so nice for "permanent trial versions"... ,)

they tested one of these on dl.tv They had some problems with it but all in all, they gave it a pretty good rating. I think the biggest thing about it is that they manage it for you with the subscription fee. Would make it OK for those that don't do a lot of computing or are not real tech-savvy I guess.

My dad would need one of these. He can crash a computer quicker than anyone I know. At least this way his critical data was not gone. Some people can't grasp the concept of "backup" even after a couple or more fatal crashes.

I want a Drobo

Later,

C:\

(Edited by CPrompt on 08-11-2007 14:20)

Building a computer from scratch ain't the dollar savings it once was. Check out these articles on the Coding Horror Blog for how to do it:

Building a PC, Part I
Building a PC, Part II
Building a PC, Part III - Overclocking
Building a PC, Part IV: Now It's Your Turn

I've learned through hard experience that "maybe I need to use lots of additional force" is never the right answer when it comes to building PCs.
*snicker*

(Edited by Petskull on 08-13-2007 18:48)

Thanks for all your answers guys.
I thought zonbu was a very interesting concept, exspecially that it is based on Linux, but I had to face the fact that it would not really be the answer for me...
Your replies were all very interesting, thanks.

Concept is very interesting, BUT...

Back in the days pcs were "bundles", like Atari or Amiga, the solution that succeeded was the crap that people can tweak,
at that time, IBM PC.

Was it the name? Was it the marketing? I think it was the mere flexibility of "pull this device, pluck that one back in" for each part
- so one could keep his machine evolving by changing only a few parts.

One of these days, the market will switch back to "rented services" for cpu and memory, that anyone can acess with any computer,
but that will only happen when/if the concept of data grid reaches a worldwide audience.

In the meantime, where does an "all in one" solution stand of in terms of home computers?

In that case, service is prioritary, because if you have no access to the core of your system, you lose both power and freedom of customizing
to meet your needs - so the "quality" of Zonbu depends first on the quality of service.



To anyone equipped with a Windows compliant box, or considering buying one, don't, for God's sake, don't switch to Vista yet.
I am hearing dramatical accounts regarding basic functionnality in Vista from everywhere : just spoke with a very disappointed
MS certified developper who has had a passion for MS for years now.

And a broken heart at problems with the installation, device compatibility, and many things in the "Vista experience".

If, however, you do want to feel the Vista experience, for free, you can get a preview by putting something spikey up y... rrmm, er..
well, you get the concept. For home and mostly professional users, Vista does not deliver yet, stick to XP and see if an alternative OS
may meet your needs better.

I should mention I build my machine (specs later) before those articles came out...
.. and it dualboots Ubuntu and an oft-neglected WinXP. My brother needs some Need For Speed: Most Wanted and I'm too lazy to run fight with it on Wine.