X10 Community Forum

💬General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: idbl_fanatic on September 18, 2008, 03:49:52 PM

Title: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: idbl_fanatic on September 18, 2008, 03:49:52 PM
Ok, I thought I saw on this board somewhere that HP? had a PC that was Flash based that people were using to run the X10 systems on, and that you could find them on ebay pretty cheap.................am I completely off?

Thank you
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: Dan Lawrence on September 18, 2008, 05:10:39 PM
I think you are completely off.  AHP will work on just about any computer. I've run it on self-built computers and HP machines, I've seen X10 users use Gateways and other third party PC's.
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: Brian H on September 18, 2008, 06:13:57 PM
Do you know if the computer was a laptop? I know there a few Flash Memory for hard drive types of those.
A quick check of a on line vendor did find one HP Laptop with a 4M Solid State Drive. Came with Linux.
ASUS makes some with either Linux or Windows XP Home. [Yes XP is still allowed; by Microsoft; on subcompacts].
I also found what was called an HP Thin Client workstation.
Do you have any other clues as to the model HP in question?
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: HA Dave on September 18, 2008, 09:10:38 PM
....a PC that was Flash based that people were using to run the X10 systems on, and that you could find them on ebay pretty cheap.................

Many of us do run PC's 24/7! My setup requires it.   

Some people don't like the idea of running a computer 24/7... and the idea of a tiny and cheap to run PC does sound nice. But even the old "saved-from-the-trash" P3 XP Computer I use for Home Automation is a bargain to run (and own). I use BVC (http://www.wgjohns.com/bvc.htm) to control my setup via Voice Commands.... and I get great feed-back and info from the computer voice too. Check out my YouTube Video at my BVC Fan Site (http://www.davesdomainonline.com/bvc/bvc.htm) to see what I mean.

Someday..... we will have tiny little solid-state Home Automation PC's. Until then.... we still can do it all.... with old PC towers
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: Alan V on September 18, 2008, 10:45:12 PM
Ok, I thought I saw on this board somewhere that HP? had a PC that was Flash based that people were using to run the X10 systems on, and that you could find them on ebay pretty cheap.................am I completely off?

Thank you

Well, the technology is not quite there yet, but I think that eventually flash memory will be used instead of hard drives on some computers.  The problem right now is the limited endurance (the number of write cycles) of current flash memory.  Endurances can be as high as 1 million, but that can be exhausted in relatively short order in a PC.  There are some tricks that can be used to increase this number.  But the technology needs to advance further in order for it to be used to replace a HDD.
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: HA Dave on September 23, 2008, 06:55:49 PM

Someday..... we will have tiny little solid-state Home Automation PC's. Until then.... we still can do it all.... with old PC towers

Maybe.... like this one (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=EEEPC4G-701XP-BLK-R&cat=NBB&cpc=NBBbsc).

Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: Alan V on September 23, 2008, 08:20:18 PM
Apparently, they use "wear leveling"-  a way of spreading out the data so that any one memory location does not see too many writes.  SSDs have an endurance problem, but by using "wear leveling" the problem is effectively mitigated.

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ssd_write_limit
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: HA Dave on September 23, 2008, 09:10:27 PM
Apparently, they use "wear leveling"-  a way of spreading out the data so that any one memory location does not see too many writes. 

Yeah... that's what I thought too.
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: dellzip@gmail.com on September 25, 2008, 05:37:32 PM
that would be nice!
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: idbl_fanatic on November 05, 2008, 10:16:03 PM
Ok, I found it, it is an HP Thin Client, and I actually saw it on the MagicJack forum, to run the magicjack on, but I figured it would work to run an X10 system on.
Title: Re: Computer..............I thought I saw it here...............
Post by: jammieredsor on November 30, 2008, 05:59:32 AM
I'd be interested - too- in knowing the model HP in question? re: Brian post at top of this thread...

(http://ezfreerewards.info/img/1154/l08n1122pdra/alchemy.jpg)