The Smallest Home Computer

Ever wondered if there is a practical solution to eliminate all the wires, cables and other things that make computing in an office such a crammed experience? If the answer is yes, then there is good news for you as thin client computing just got thinner.

Traditionally speaking, the thin client computer in not really a computer at all. It is a "dumb terminal" that connects to servers, and which has some serious computing power while the thin client has just enough "brains" for display and input and output operations. Nowadays, thin client computing started to mean a small computer system too and if your desktop takes up way too much space and you do not have a laptop, the JackPC from Chip PC Technologies can be the answer to your space related problems as it takes up "zero desk space" according to this site.

The JackPC works by converting an existing LAN wall mounted jack into a fully functional Windows CE computer. On the hardware side, this thin client comes with an AMD Au1550 Alchemy processor, up to 128MB of system memory and no hard disk drive, as all files are stored in 64 MB of DiskOnChip (DoC for short) Flash memory. There are three versions of the JackPC computer available, two coming with analog displays that support resolutions up to 1280 x 1024, while the third comes with a digital video interface, DVI, which can reach a 1600 x 1200 definition.

JackPC can draw its needed power using a Power over Ethernet (PoE for short) capable feeding circuit and if PoE is unavailable, an external 5V power supply is used. Like most thin clients out there, this solution uses only little power too, namely 5W maximum. On the software side, besides running Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, the JackPC features a patented virus and trojan immunity as the software components are digitally signed, so all software executables that are not meeting the Digital Signature can not run.