Every now and again I like to browse through Kickstarter just to see all the cool ideas I am not having. Awhile back one project just called to my inner geek – ChiP The worlds first 9 dollar computer. So I did it – I became a backer on Kickstarter. The process is really easy and I love the updates that these guys send out every now and again. I signed up for the base unit with a HDMI adapter – my basic vision is being able to check my email on my TV with a punch of a button without having a giant mess of cords and a box sitting in my cramped TV shelf. Was pretty much a mess when my kiddos had the game systems hooked up.
This little computer will do a lot more (streaming, some games etc…) but I figure if it will just do the email and facebook checking on the big screen between shows it is worth the money. Also hoping I can run a slideshow screensaver and turn my TV into a cool digital photo frame. The crafty part of me wants very much to see what kind of cool enclosure I can come up with too. 🙂 Gonna be some good old fashioned geek fun when it comes in.
The computer comes with linux preinstalled and I am comfortable with that having used it on servers for years and years. Modern linux desktops are getting pretty swanky too – I have a laptop running Linux Mint in my office and everything in that laptop just works like it was made for it. I did not have to fiddle with anything to get wifi, network and printing going – it even supported the built in webcam – a very viable alternative to Windows for general use. The CHiP guys posted a video not long ago with it running Quake on a little hand held version they call Pocket CHiP. Hard to believe you get that much bang for your nine bucks.
I will come back to this post in the future and let you know what I get up to with it!