Check out the link: JBox
http://www.igojava.com/products.htm
You could but the CPU and the videocard are not the best.
This is a piece of hardware I don’t understand? Who is the intended user and why?
… and on top of that it was an ugly piece of hardware
// Tomas
Ewww, what were they thinking? I jumped out of my skin when I first looked at it and then gradually it dawned on me that it’s a) more expensive than b) slower than c) bigger than d) uglier than e) less cool than f) less useful than g) less well supported than a bloody Mac Mini!!
If it were $150 and had a GeForce class card in it they’d be in with a chance but as it is, it looks remarkably like a totally overpriced PC in a hideously cheap orange case.
Has someone in the market research dept. been on the crack again?
Cas 
Well, it’s not as good as an Xbox or PS3 for games. It does have a DVD drive. Maybe it can double as a DVD player, but in bright orange it’s not going under my telly. Even though it’s got a net connection, it won’t work as a web/mail server coz it’s got a 2.5" disc drive and I found to me cost that they are (mostly?) not rated for continuous operation - I put together a Book sized linux box with such a drive to use as a mail and web server. Lasted 3 months then the disk started erroring. (This was 5 years ago so maybe there’s some good continuous use 2.5" discs out now. Anyone know of any?) It least my book computer can also run linux off a flash card, which will work 24/7, but is more suited for use as a router then a server. I think my box has a VIA processor in it too.
(Wonders if you can now get a decent 24/7 operation 2.5" drive now)
/Edit Looks like you can get 24/7 2.5" drives now That’s good for my dead book comp, which when fixed (when I have time) will be a sight more useful then the jogo box.
off the shelf embedded programming, using Java.
Getting PC/104 boards and SBCs can be a hassle, using this box is far easier. And compared to other embedded solutions, this is a speed demon.
It could probably easily be used as a cashregister or in many info terminals.
…and how exactly does it beat the Mac Mini? In any aspect, at all?
Cas
On paper, it doesn’t - unless you particuarly want that intel-ish hardware instead of apple stuff (my brief forays into embedded systems of this size everyone was running x86 hardware, and perhaps that’s still important?).
But, in practice, the mini has serious mini-only bugs. For instance, we have some Iiyama monitors that if you plug in to any PC or mac or ibook or powerbook with a DVI cable work beatifully - but plug them in to the mini, and they go pink and start strobing the desktop.
In short, having had them in the office since they came out, they’re great littel things, but you need to wait at least one more hardware + software revision for them to iron out various of these things (which look to me like the normal kinds of glitches from it being a brand new product with lots crammed into a small space, probably some vendor hw bugs too, etc).
power drain ?
You surely don’t think this wee startup has produced a bit of hardware from thin air that’s going to actually be better than the Mac Mini, glitchwise?
And what might the power drain of a Mini be, given that it’s made from laptop components and uses a little G4?
Cas
Hmm. Have you ever looked inside a mac mini?
Tiny integrated systems for embedded systems work tend to be done by people with long years experience cramming complete intel x86 computers on to palm-sized miniature mobos. I doubt Apple employs many of those kind of specialists - basically, you’re pitting a general-purpose PC company against a startup from a highly specialist industry. It would be reasonable to expect the latter would be likely to be better than the former, assuming they recruited from within their industry…
I don’t doubt they employ seriously clever engineers to design their products. The Mac Mini is the size of a stack of CD jewel cases; it’s full of laptop sized components and honestly it’s a great piece of work. That orange monstrosity looks uncannily like a baby AT turned on its side (look at the back view to see what I mean). It’s got no less than two fans facing outwards as well so it’s not going to be quiet either.
Cas
For comparison. I bought this http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=14_46&products_id=160. Add memory and hard drive & it’s in the same price ballpark as the java go box, but doesn’t have a CD and is only half the speed, so not as good value. It looks a lot nicer though. It worked fine (for 3 month) as an email & web server. I left out keyboard & display. Access was via X11 and FTP. Lots of other motherboards etc, on the linitx site also.
What I’m trying to say is that it has been possible to do this kind of thing for a while now and I can’t see why any embedded solution supplier would go for the java box, rather than assembling their own custom solution.
I must be missing something.
Instead of using your PC to create software for Java enabled embedded devices, you buy an overpriced console?
It might be a hassle to get PC/104 boards and SBCs but I bet it would be much easier than buying an overpriced low end ‘console’.
I haven’t done any work on embedded products so I’m afraid you’re going to have to explain it to me.
You don’t use the embedded system to write software, it’s for delivering functionality to the end user. E.g build then into set-top boxes, point of sale terminals, bank ATMs. For hobbyists these boards (when boxed) make great routers (those with multiple ports) and can also be an email/web server all in the same box. They have also been used for making MP3 jukeboxes. You could also run game servers on them, provided there is sufficient processing power. Obviously these applications could be coded in Java, although the benefit is difficult to see, as you don’t really need ‘run-anywhere’ with embedded applications.
But it’s not really the business for a games console as it’s too expensive and lacks processing and graphics power. Maybe you could run information kiosks with it.
You dont buy PC 104 or SBCs to develop - you do that to run it!
But its such a hassle - and a kit probably runs you 500$+, however you have to write to all the manufacturers coz few of them actually list their prices (!!!)
it’s such a closed silly industry.
That said, the specs on industrial computers is way different than that of the jbox - so they can’t be compared directly.
That said, if I were to do a general purpose solution, in small confined space (and/or low power req) I would definately go with a via solution (probably not the jbox solution directly.)