Written on August 28, 2008 – 8:10 am | by Bogdan Alex |
We know PCs come in varius sizes and shapes these days. Just how small can a PC be? Some may argue that the smallest smartphones and PDAs can be considered PCs since they basically have a similar intern structure with a desktop PC. Well, those are not the subject of this article. What about a cube that would fit in your palm, is that small enough for you? The Space Cube PC comes from Japan (I should’ve guessed) and measures 2 square inches on each side of the cube. It was designed by Shimafuji Corporation and up until now it’s been a Japan-only product. The guys over at PC Pro have managed to get their hands on one of these and they were quite impressed.

OK, it’s small, we got that, but what exactly is inside this cube? PC Pro reveals that the Space Cube has a processor clocked at 300 megahertz, and 16MB of on-board flash memory and 64 MB DDR of RAM. It boasts enough computational power to run a Red Hat Linux operating system, aided nonetheless by a 1GB CompactFlash card that provides storage space. That actually sends us back in time, when the Pentium II CPU reigned supreme 12 years ago.

If this doesn’t seem impressive to you, then maybe the Space Wire port would be more appealing. The Space Cube includes this special socket that acts as an interface used by NASA, ESA, and JAXA, the space agencies of the U.S., Europe, and Japan, respectively to link up proprietary systems each agency uses.

So if you ever manage to get aboard the International Space Station with the cube in your pocket the special socket will connect sensors and processing units, and perform other computing tasks as it automatically detects other compatible devices.

Wondrous thing indeed, but that’s nothing compared to its price: $2,750!