] One of the cheapest Linux computers you can buy brand new ] (not at a garage sale) is the Linksys WRT54G, an 802.11g ] wireless access point and router that includes a ] four-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can be bought for as ] little as $69.99 according to Froogle. That's a heck of a ] deal for a little box that performs all those functions, ] but a look inside is even more amazing. There you'll find ] a 200 MHz MIPS processor and either 16 or 32 megs of DRAM ] and four or eight megs of flash RAM -- more computing ] power than I needed 10 years ago to run a local Internet ] Service Provider with several hundred customers. But ] since the operating system is Linux and since Linksys has ] respected the Linux GPL by publishing all the source code ] for anyone to download for free, the WRT54G is a lot more ] than just a wireless router. It is a disruptive ] technology. WRT54G + Asterisk = ? The original title contained the word "Inadvertently".. Cringely always has some flaw in place when he is pointing out the obvious. |