Gecko Surfboard - hide a computer in the keyboard

The idea to combine a computer and a keyboard is not at all new, at the dawn of the 80s of the last century, this form factor was very popular: ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Acorn Electron, MSX and many many others. In consequence, the fashion has changed, and for several decades the computing power has been separated from the periphery.



And as the story develops in a spiral, it is not surprising that various monoblocks began to appear again. So, everyone has already heard about the computer-keyboard Asus Eee Keyboard, which, like, should be released in early 2010.



But not a single Asus ... Some NorhTec decided to release its own version of the QWERTY keyboard stuffed with various electronics - Gecko Surfboard.

')













Characteristics of the “machine” are more than modest:

• Xcore86 (Vortex86MX) SoC clocked at 1.0GHz
• 512MB DDR2
• SD / SDHC card or IDE 2.5 "HDD
• VGA (“resolution” is not specified) and composite video output (!)
• 10/100 Ethernet, optional 802.11b / g, 3G module
• 2xUSB 2.0

Interestingly in all this 3 points: power consumption, which is 5 watts (!), Noiselessness and price.



The price will be around $ 150 for the version with windows HP on board and $ 99 (!) For the version with Linux.



So if everything goes as planned, then in early 2010, this device will be on sale. And then maybe everyone will get a personal computer :).







Xcore86

Xcore86 Device on Module

NorhTec



Via linuxfordevices .