Just found out that there is a new and exciting player in the low-end X86 market, today! NorhTec, a Thai company, has come out with a small netbook powered by 8 AA sized batteries. I checked out their product website and the netbook has a very exciting architecture. The main thing that made it stand out was that the entire PC motherboard + CPU platform consumes barely 1.2W of power. This beats even the numbers from AMD/Intel/VIA. Being the processor geek that I am, I decided to investigate further.

The netbook is based off a Xcore86 System-on-Chip, which contains a 586 class processor, audio, video, network, storage, and I/O all on one chip. From a purely technical perspective, this would actually be a whole PC-on-chip. All you would need to get it to run is to add some memory, monitor, keyboard and mouse. This got me thinking that it would be an excellent candidate for a variety of other PC-based products.

So, investigating further, this Xcore86 is a re-branded Vortex86 System-on-Chip. Again, checking out the information on the website, this chip reminded me of some of the older 386 based SiS System-on-Chips operating in the embedded market. So, doing a little more digging, it turns out that I was right! It is the SiS based system. It was the former SiS division that was sold off to a Taiwanese company. So, these babies are essentially the new and improved SiS chips.

Personally, I think that it is great that the SiS chips are still alive – rise from the dead. They had a very specific niche market segment – embedded x86 applications. However, with the present boom in netbooks, they seem to have found a new market segment. However, I don’t see Intel taking this lying down. The situation with x86 patents is rather murky. They may or may not have the legal right to actually produce x86 processors.

Regardless of the legal issues, you can expect this processor to be slower than the offerings from any other company. However, they should be able to compete on cost – shrinking a whole motherboard of chips into one. Couple that with a sightly older manufacturing process, the prices should be competitive for the low-cost segment. Performance while running Linux should be perfectly fine. I am also running Linux on a similar class machine at home.

All in all, an interesting development. I like this NorhTec company. They have been at the fringe of my radar for quite a while now. They’ve got a bunch of other small-form factor PC products, including a couple that I am interested in.

Most technology sites today are reporting on the news that Microsoft is starting its patent attack on Linux. According to the news, it pertains to Microsoft suing a GPS device manufacturer (TomTom) for alleged infringement on Microsoft patents on the FAT32 filesystem. Sigh. This is again FUD.

While I do agree that there are utilities in Linux that use FAT32, it is most definitely non essential. There are like a dozen file-systems that Linux can use. 99% of Linux distributions will either use Ext-FS or ReiserFS as the default file-system. In fact, the only reason that FAT32 code is available in Linux is because of compatibility with other (read – Windows) systems, which is the same reason why NTFS has not taken over Windows entirely (backwards compatibility).

However, there is a far deeper problem here. 99% of consumer electronic devices use the FAT32 file-system (think thumb-drives, digital cameras, mp3 players). While most major companies would have licensed the patent from Microsoft, I can tell you with 100% certainty that there are a lot of companies who do not license it, particularly small and medium electronic companies.

I know for certain because this question gets asked a lot on various embedded electronic forums. Designers of embedded devices are always trying to embed things like SD-cards in their devices because it is very cheap storage (2Gb@RM20). The typical answer that designers get is that Microsoft owns the patent but they are unlikely to enforce it. This case may just change that.

So, while Microsoft may want to spin this as a battle against Linux, in reality it isn’t. Life goes on in Linux without FAT32. The ones who may really end up being hurt are consumer electronic companies like TomTom and ultimately the consumer.

The simple solution to this problem is for the whole consumer electronics industry to standardise on a new file-system that everyone will recognise in their products. However, this is a pipe dream as they aren’t even able to standardise on a single media (SD, CF, XD, MS). But this case may just force people to do that. Otherwise, Microsoft will always hold a knife at our throats.

PS: As for TomTom, since they control their product ecosystem entirely, they can just remove the offending FAT32 code and use JFS/Ext2 instead.

I would certainly like to see the Atom platform available in multiple form factors. One particularly interesting product that I would like to see it in is a network storage server. In fact, a recent article has mentioned that the Atom platform is excellent for running a NAS.

However, the present offerings from Intel – D945GCLF and D945GCLF2 – only have two SATA ports on the board. This means that we are only allowed to add two harddisks to the system. This is definitely insufficient for any half decent file-server with failure protection.

The most common way of protecting against any harddisk failure is by using RAID. However, all RAID configurations require at least three harddisks except for RAID0 (striping) and RAID1 (mirroring).

RAID0 actually makes multiple disks look like one large disk and it spreads the data over the number of disks (striping). So, in actual fact, this does not provide any protection against disk failure at all. RAID1 makes exact copies of the data on multiple disks. So, it definitely provides protection against disk failure but it wastes a lot of disk space because the available space is reduced by half.

RAID5 is a very common configuration, which spreads the data across multiple disks (striping) and creates a checksum of the data as well. So, it protects against disk failure but it is also far more efficient as it only requires slightly extra space for storing the checksum (N-1).

A file server does not typically require a lot of processing power because file transfer speeds are essentially limited by the mechanical speed of the harddisk. Furthermore, it would spend a lot of time being idle, as most file transfers do not require the active participation of the processor. So, a low power platform would be a god-send.

VIA realises this and has already released actual products based on their C7 low power processor. The 7800 has 8-SATA ports for holding up to 8 disks and comes in a tower and rack-mount physical form factor. It also comes with two gigabit network ports for high speed file transfers.

This product is truly useful as a file server. The only trouble is that VIA products are not always easy to get retail. For some reason, they seem to prefer to sell chips than boxes. In addition, their products are not always cheap due to their lower sales volume.

So, if Intel can get off their asses and make a Atom based mini-itx board that has at least four SATA ports, they would have made a very compelling NAS board and they would steal a lot of customers away from VIA.

But I’m sure that Intel won’t do it any time soon.

I knew that it was too good to be true and it turns out that it was. There were lots of conflicting reports on an Indian $10 laptop. Turns out that the device is not a laptop but rather a storage device. So, instead of replacing the textbooks in class, they are going to replace school bags.

It is basically a over-glorified flash drive with a bluetooth connection. While this device would have had a great market about 7 years ago, this is not so big today. Storage prices are dirt cheap. You can get a 4Gb flash drive for under $10 and 4Gb can store a whole lot of text books and other reference materials.

However, I do like one the basic concept – which is to remove the whole idea of school bags entirely. A kid just needs to bring a thumbdrive to school, loaded with reference materials (including an entire encyclopedia). The kid can plug this into the school terminal and use it for lessons. Teachers can assign homework (on PDF forms) that students carry home and do it on their home computers. They then carry it back to school the next day to be evaluated by software. Snazzy!

We can already implement this today with USB thumb-drives. For RM26 ($7) retail, we can already buy a 4Gb thumbdrive. Anyone who grew up in the 90s like me, will remember using multi-media encyclopedias that fit on a single CD-ROM (700Mb). With newer compression technology, we can definitely fit even more information on this 4Gb drive. 4Gb is a lot of storage space.

All that is needed then, is a way to use the storage space effectively. Students would need to be provided with individual computer terminals in school. This may turn out to be cheaper than trying to give every child an individual laptop. Centralised terminals are much easier to deploy and maintain than individual computers. All we need is a system like the LTSP system.

Wow, this is most definitely do-able. Unfortunately, I’m not interested in it.

This is another example of my engineer-ness. I was thinking about adding a computer to my car, what is known as a CarPC. Such a computer is typically used to provide music and videos for entertainment (it could also possibly be used to build a mobile WiFi hotspot if configured correctly).

Anyway, I was thinking about doing it. A CarPC could be installed in the boot of the car with little problem. I was thinking that an Atom based mini-itx board could be used, coupled with a small amount of memory and a solid state harddisk. Because the car will experience bumps and shocks, it is important to use a solid state drive. So, I was calculating the cost of doing this – about RM300 or so.

Then, the only trouble was with building a user interface to the computer. It has to be something that can be accessed from within the car. So, I thought of building my own little device with a screen and some buttons. Then, I suddenly realised that I could just use a PDA to control the CarPC. That was when the though hit me.

I could just use a PDA as the CarPC!

I have two old PDAs lying around, a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 and an Acer Palm S10. The choice was evident on which to use. The Zaurus is infinitely hackable and had more computing power than the Palm. It has a 200MHz ARM processor, 64Mb RAM, 320×240 LCD display, keyboard, SD card slot, CF card slot. I plan to use the SD card slot for adding storage while using the CF card for peripherals (I have a wifi card for this device).

So, I dug up my old trusty Zaurus from my box of old stuff and plugged in the power cable. Nothing happened. Then, I shook the power socket a bit and the power-LED came on. That is a good sign. Then, I tried to turn it on and again nothing happened. I kept tapping away at the different buttons until something came on screen. However, the screen was dark because the back light did not want to come on. But after more fidgeting, the entire unit came to life! The batteries were just weak.

So, I logged onto the Internet and downloaded the latest version of OpenZaurus, a Linux operating system designed for the Zaurus. I flashed the internal firmware to the latest version and everything worked. This made me infinitely happy as I now have a semi-powerful computing device that I can install in my car. It runs on a 5V power supply which is easy to tap into, in a car.

So, the plan is to install a media player onto the Zaurus and test it to see if it can play MP3s and OGGs. If that works, the next thing to do would be to find a nice way to interface the Zaurus’ headphone socket to the car radio and provide a suitable 5V power supply. If that works, then it’s done!

In addition to playing media, I can install the wifi card onto the Zaurus and use it as a mobile way to say, check emails and such at public hotspots like at McDonalds or some other cafe. Now, that would be a real accomplishment. Wardriving is also a potential plus!
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The more I consider it, the less likely it is that I will ever buy myself a NetBook PC. A NetBook PC is basically a stripped down laptop that usually weighs less than 1kg and comes with a 10″ screen or so – basically a small and light laptop that you can carry around in your handbag. The main component that makes all this possible is the use of low power microprocessors, which reduce the need for an expensive and bulky cooling system.

However, due to price reasons, it is making less and less sense to actually get a NetBook. For example, consider the following devices from Lenovo (single unit dealer prices are quoted):

• Lenovo S10 (NetBook) – Atom 270/1.6GHz/512kb/533FSB/10.2″/1GB RAM/160GB HDD/GMA950 (RM1619)
• Lenovo G410 (Laptop) – CoreDuo T2390/1.86GHz/1Mb/533FSB/14.1″/1GB RAM/160GB HDD/X3100 (RM1489)

It is plainly obvious that the G410 is a better computer than the S10. It has a better graphics chip, a faster processor and a larger screen. The G410 is a real machine that can be used to do real work while the S10 is more a toy that is useful for checking email than running simulations. Moreover, if the devices are further scrutinised, there will be further advantages for the G410 including the cheaper price tag of RM130.

The only advantage that the S10 has is size. It is sufficiently small to be mistaken for an organiser while the G410 is a real laptop. Therefore, netbooks are pretty much only useful for yuppies and teenagers with rich daddies. For a price conscious student or a serious worker, an older model laptop is definitely a better buy.

However, I am quite interested to see a Atom based server system though. These babies would work very well in the data centre. Some early benchmarks have shown that an Atom 330 with two cores at 1.6GHz and capable of running two threads each, has excellent MySQL performance, easily beating a Pentium 4 2.8GHz machine by 265% (and consuming less than 5% of the electrical power).

I am now considering buying a Atom based system to power my back-end file server. I plan to set up a file server for storing all the encoded videos that I will be encoding for my HTPC. Having a dedicated file system would allow me to grow my storage according to my requirements. That way, I can just get a HTPC system without any built in storage (or remove any bundled storage), which will further reduce the noise levels of the system.

PS: As for the claims of being ‘energy efficient’, this does not translate into real world advantages. While the NetBook uses less power than a normal laptop, it also comes with smaller batteries. In effect, you still only get 2-3 hours of effective use before the thing dies on you. Less so, if you’re using wireless or 3G Internet.

Yeay! The three boxes of stuff that I sent home has finally arrived today. It took a little more than 2 months but all three boxes have arrived safely intact. I am a little excited that my stuff is all back, including my collection of hundreds of original DVDs. However, I am kind of in a bind now because I do not really have any place to store them. So, everything will stay in their boxes for a while.

I am presently living in the home that my parents have lived in for the last few years. Unfortunately, I have not really lived in this house for a decade. So, I don’t really have any storage space to call my own. At the moment, I am sleeping on the living room couch and treating the living room as my own little space. For now, the arrangement is fine as long as we do not have any guests over, which we don’t.

At some point in the future, I will probably go shop around for a residential property to buy. I will probably wait till the housing market drops further, and the interest rates lowered. I am fully expecting a lower interest rate to be announced to help encourage spending. Once that happens, I may start shopping around for a place to live. I have been diligently reading the classified ads for a while now.

For the last few weeks, I have actually been looking at the prices for a piano and also odd pieces of furniture. Some of the prices are actually quite cheap. There was a place selling a brand new Weinstein grand piano for only RM17,000! That is so very cheap for a grand piano. If I had my own little place, I would probably have gotten the piano for myself.

I have been playing my old upright but it just doesn’t quite feel the same once you have gotten used to the touch of a grand. Actually, I have been quite surprised that I can still play some of the higher level pieces relatively well (relative because I can still make it sound okay). I guess that my muscle memory is in better shape than I had thought.

I am kind of in an odd position because I have the interest in buying stuff and filling up my own home but I do not really have a home per se. I can’t possibly fill up my parents’ home, which is already filled to the brim with stuff that we have collected over the last few decades. I also cannot fill up my sisters’ home because it is her own place and we have different tastes.

I know that most of my readers are not technically inclined. So, I will try to explain things as simple as I can. I have just built a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) prototype at home. My purpose for doing so is to get some performance numbers so that I will know what resources I’ll need to design and build my final HTPC.

The prototype HTPC is using a small form factor and low powered computer that I used to sell. It uses a VIA 1GHz processor, which has the equivalent performance of a Celeron 600MHz or so. This is fairly underpowered and it shows. I have been testing the system for playing back films that were encoded with H264 and vorbis.

VCDs are encoded with MPEG1, DVDs with MPEG2 and Bluray uses H264. So, H264 is a superior method for encoding videos. It is able to compress the size of the video while maintaining a superior image quality. What this means is that I can store about 350 full length films on a 250Gb hard disk. However, the trade-off is that it requires more computing power to play the video as compared to other encoding methods.

The prototype HTPC will happily play back a DVD sized video encoded in H264. However, when I check the load consumption numbers, they are hovering at about 0.9, which means that 90% of the processor’s working time is being consumed during playback. This means that the processor cannot do anything else while playing the film. This is not very useful for the production HTPC that will probably have to stream the video files from somewhere off the network while playing it.

However, an Atom based system should be more than capable of doing it. The D945GCLF-2 board has a new dual-core Atom processor in it with HyperThreading capabilities running at 1.6GHz. This will effectively mean having about a 4.2GHz processor, which is more than sufficient. So, the new Atom board should be able to happily decode films and stream them off the network. They also come with S-Video/Composite ports at the back that can be connected directly to a TV set.

While most websites recommend running a HTPC with at least 512Mb of RAM, the prototype system has only got 128Mb of which 16Mb are used for shared video. So, this leaves the computer about 112Mb of memory. When a computer is low on memory, the operating system will use the harddisk to store parts of it, which will slow it down a lot. This shows as everything takes a long time to start and run. So, for the final HTPC, I will probably install 1Gb of RAM in it.

As for noise, the prototype system has a notebook harddisk and processor fan in it. However, the noise levels are such that I cannot hear them at all. There are so many other sources of noise in my living room that these things are not really a consideration at all. Once the film starts playing, I can no longer hear the computer anyway. However, for cost purposes, I would probably install a solid state storage in the final HTPC.

As for power, the Atom based system is fairly low on power. I believe that the total amount of heat dissipated is under 40W. So, that is like having a 40W light bulb sitting in the living room. While it will generate some heat and feel warm to the hand, it will unlikely start any fires in the TV cabinet.

And for the software, I am presently using the default build of Mythbuntu – a specialised version of Ubuntu Linux for media PCs. It works well enough for my purposes. I like the fact that it has a full OS installed, which allows me the freedom to download stuff onto the HTPC.

The one hardware thing that I was not able to test is surround sound because I do not have a suitable sound system. The board comes with SPDIF, which is often used to transmit 5.1 surround sound channels from a PC to audio equipment. However, I was able to test the playback of a 5.1 surround sound film and the 1GHz processor was unable to handle the job. As a result, the film stuttered a lot and the sound was horrible.

Another two things that I was not able to test is the remote control and IR transmitter functions. These will have to be bought and installed for a proper HTPC. It does not make sense to run a HTPC with a keyboard attached. The alternative is to connect a mini keyboard to the HTPC but even that seems rather bland.

So, all in all, it’s quite a successful prototype so far. I will try to assemble a final HTPC at some point in time. I’ve already identified all the components and will only need to pop down to LowYat (or order the parts online) at some point.

I’ve always wanted to write about this as I’ve noticed that few people have encountered the phenomenon before. The topic has to do with the choice of archival media for long term storage. With the amounts of data that we generate today, whether it be videos, images or text, we need some form of method to store the data safely. This applies as much to research and work as well as personal data.

A very common way of archiving data today, is the blank CD or DVD. It’s cheap to obtain, small enough to not take up much space, and holds a large amount of data on it. Many people are under the impression that it is safe and reliable. I’ve always known that the chemicals used for the burning layer, have a lifespan. Some research would reveal the manufacturer’s quoted lifespan as about 75 years or so. More than sufficient for personal data.

But something happened to me once, to change that perception. It all happened quite by accident.

I was working on my computer at home, one lonely afternoon. As the day was quite hot, I bought myself a big packet of cendol, which is a popular Malaysian beverage, which is made of crushed ice, gula melaka – a form of brown sugar made from coconut, red beans and some green gelatinous thing made of starch. So, it’s sweet and cool, perfect for a hot sunny day.

I poured the beverage into a big 12cm zebra brand steel mug, which should be fairly familiar to any Malaysian, and sat it down on a coaster. The coaster was basically a spent CD-R that didn’t quite burn properly. As they were usually termed as coasters, I used them literally as such. This was when I noticed something interesting. A ring of clear plastic would appear under the base of the big steel mug. It would seem that the CD-R coating had dissolved in the water that condensed on the outside of the mug and collected at the bottom.

So, I did a few more experiments, and ran the CD-R under tap. I even drowned it in a basin of water. However, the chemical layer only dissolves under the steel mug of cendol. So, I bought a few more mugs of it, over the next few days and ended up with a crystal clear piece of CD-R plastic. The entire top layer had dissolved off, including the metalic coating.

It would seem, that the chemicals used are actually water soluble, under the correct temperature conditions. I have no idea what the threshold temperature was, but it is definitely above freezing. So, it may not be a good idea to put archived data into “cold storage”, so to speak.

In light of recent developments in Malaysia, with the computers of certain prominent anti-establishment bloggers, consistently being confiscated for dubious investigative purposes, I thought that it might be a suitable time to write a little about information security. The whole idea behind information security isn’t to foil justice, but to make sure that the rights of people are not infringed.

With harddisk sizes going into the Terabyte range, there are lots of things stored on a person’s personal computer, including personal information that nobody has any right to access. Sometimes, these confiscated computers are subject to random checks in the hope of finding something, anything, that can be used to entrap the owner. So, let’s start with the basics.

Email Security
Although the technology has been around for more than a decade, I’m surprised that most people do not know about it, much less use it. Email, is transmitted in the clear. So, anything that is said through an email, can be easily intercepted and read by others. The only way to protect the content of email messages is through the use of public key (PKI) cryptography.

The most commonly used software is PGP or if you want an open source version, GNUPG (GPG). Both these software integrate fairly well with all popular email programmes, whether it be Outlook, Thunderbird or Kmail. So, you wouldn’t even need to know any voodoo to get it to work. If you use a webmail programme, these tools also provide a regular text based mode, which can encrypt/decrypt plain text documents, which you can then cut-and-paste into the webmail client.

This software allows you to encrypt every email that you write, so that the only person who can read it is your intended receipient. So, I would urge everyone to install and learn how to use these tools. These tools should be used for all business communications as well, if you don’t want your competition eavesdropping on your sensitive communiques.

How PKI works is by exchanging public keys. A public key is a very large number that is represented in text, as shown below. When you send me an email message, your private key and my public key is used to generate a secret key that is used to encrypt the message. When I receive it, I will be able to decode the email using my private key and your public key. So, at no time would either of us need to expose our private keys. All these things happen mathemagically.


-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----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=wwef
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----


Any eavesdropper would only end up reading a bunch of random letters and numbers (much like the ones above). As an additional step of protection, do not store your emails locally in an unencrypted form. Leave them encrypted and have your email programme decrypt them each time you wish to read them. All these steps add an additional layer of protection.

There are no known exploits that can easily defeat this scheme, at least not until computers can factorise extremely large numbers quickly enough, at which point, you just double the size of the encryption key and continue using it. The easiest way to steal a PKI protected email is to just haul you to court and force you to divulge it’s contents.

Harddisk Security
It’s no use just protecting our communications channel if we do not protect our data storage as well. So, all harddisks, whether internal or external, should be encrypted. Truecrypt is a tool that runs on all platforms, which allows on-the-fly-encryption (OTFE). OTFE essentially intercepts all access to the harddisk and encrypts anything being saved and decrypts anything being read, transparently.

So, if you ever lose your laptop due to carelessness, theft or legal confiscation, at the very least, your data is safely tucked away. Anyone who tries to access your data without the correct keys, will only end up reading a bunch of random gibberish again. So, all your private communications, photos and videos, will be protected under heavy lock and key.

However, there is one caveat to using OTFE encryption, which only applies if you’re traveling to the US. The government is legally allowed to make copies of your harddisk data at the border. If your computer is encrypted, they are also empowered to deny you entry or to confiscate your computer. So, it may not be a good idea to travel with encrypted data through US customs.

There is one currently known exploit, to defeat this system, but it involves a lot of preplanning. The attacker would need to physically compromise your computer within minutes of it being shutdown, and preserve the memory contents by freezing your memory module, as illustrated through the following video. The solution to this problem is to not leave your computer running, unattended. Given enough off-time, the following attack would not be plausible.