On Sat, 2008-08-09 at 10:47 -0700, Jasmine Strong wrote: [...]
I was planning to use one as a desktop PC. Given that all I ever seem to do on my desktop machine is play video, read email and surf web, there's very little I couldn't do on a Cortex-A8 at less than one watt, that I can do on this Mac at a couple of hundred...
A while back my desktop PC blew up and I had to use my Asus eee as a desktop replacement. Plugged into my 19" monitor and full-sized keyboard it was surprisingly usable --- and completely, *totally* silent. I am now hooked on computers with no moving parts.
Does the A8 have an FPU? The literature I've found is a bit evasive, using phrases like 'floating point capable' but linking to the DSP. Is it powerful enough to decode video without using the DSP? Is there any useful open source software that can use the DSP for doing that sort of thing?
Also, it's a bit of a shame the Beagleboard doesn't have any onboard ethernet and a bit more memory (128MB is definitely pushing it) or it'd be an fantastic replacement for my home server (currently an elderly Shuttle that runs rather warm and loud)...