Some folks think that tower desktop PCs are just too big, so they opt for all-in-one computers like the iMac which hide the PC in the monitor. Others opt for low power solutions like nettops which shrink a PC down to the size of a Nintendo Wii, or a somewhat chunky optical disc drive. And then there’s the DreamPlug.

This little computer is so small that it doesn’t even need a power adapter. Instead you just plug the whole computer into your wall jack.

While the DreamPlug isn’t exactly a speed demon, it does feature a 1.2 GHz Marvell Sheeva ARM-based processor, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 1GB of storage, and Ethernet, USB, and eSATA connectors, 802.11b/g/ WiFi, Bluetooth, a headphone jack and an SD card slot.

That’s almost everything you need for a light weight computing experience. But there’s no VGA, DVI, or HDMI output — and that’s because there’s no graphics processor on board. While it’d be kind of neat to plug a keyboard, monitor, and mouse into the DreamPlug and run a light-weight desktop Linux distribution, the little guy is really designed for simpler tasks such as network storage, managing a security system, or home automation.

The computer does have analog and S/PDIF audio output if you want to use it for streaming music. There’s also a mic jack.

The DreamPlug measures just 4.3″ x 2.7″ x 1.9″ and uses just 5W of power. It’s based on the Plug Computer platform.

via dvice

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7 replies on “DreamPlug: A tiny PC that plugs right into a wall jack”

  1. Iogear makes a usb video card so you could always just plug that in and see what ya get.

  2. It looks like it’s meant to serve a USB hard disk to ethernet or WiFi and perhaps serve music? (After you compile a Linux kernal and apps for it.) And where does he get 5 Watts? The spec sheet says 3A at 5V, or 19W from the AC outlet. Has the author never seen an Apple Airport? They can hang from a wall outlet, have an ARM CPU, gig E, WiFi, USB, audio out, and disk / print /music server software pre-installed. We don’t call them PCs, though.

  3. PIxel Qi has a remote screen that if touch screen could work on this (if graphics worked OK then this might work). USB is all that is needed.
    See:
    Low-power, wireless displays made possible!
    https://pixelqi.com/blog1/2010/09/28/low-power-wireless-displays-made-possible/
    Quotes –
    “Wireless Pixel Qi display module can be controlled by another device, using new Display Solution AG board solution”.

    “Today we announce such a solution, the Display Solutions d-screen-Qi10. Display Solutions AG has developed the d-screen-HYBRID driver board which has been combined with the low power, sunlight readable Pixel Qi 10” screen. This module can be plugged into a laptop (or even some phones) via USB for easy access to a second screen. Even better, you can skip the cables completely and use this second screen via wireless-USB: meaning the data is sent to the screen wirelessly and the screen runs on batteries alone. “

    1. Brad – you should try to get one of these wireless screen devices – and do a video on it?

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