Introducing the Gecko Surfboard

[222bunnies]

darn i wanted a surfboard for my gecko

[awatemonosan]

gah, they are all backordered. i ordered 2.

[norhloudspeaker]

The units start shipping on the 21stof March. I don't know that we have taken orders online yet as I don't think it is live on the website. I might be wrong. In any case, they will be ready by the 21st of March. We had to fix a mold issue with the plastic case.

[awatemonosan]

oh, last email i recieved said that they were available sometime last month, so i placed an order online for a 16 gig sd card and in the comments i ordered 2 of the surfboards.

The response was that they were backorderd, maybe i should cancel that order...

But in any case i intend on buying a couple dozen of these if they perform the way i hope.

[Intosia]

Is there any news on when this is going to hit the stores? I love this thing :D

[norhloudspeaker]

We are working some deals now after CES. I think that we should have distribution in place for March / April.

[Intosia]

@norhloudspeaker Thanks :)

[ExtraordinaryLeader]

Thanks for sharing this lovely video!

You sure got the passion! And shows a lot of fun in this video!

Great job!

Dawn Mendonca

[tejpbitar]

looks like my commandore 64

[predeturd]

a few questions,

what kind of switch is the keyboard?

what does the SoC consist of? particulary the graphical portion of it

does it support booting from a usb flash drive? and if so is there any usb flash drive that fits in the internal usb?

will dvi-vga/vga-dvi adapters work with it?

are there any onboard speakers? (i know they would sound crappy but for basic browsing some audio would be nice)

[ngrcat]

Does it have Mini PCIe slot? Would be quite usefull.

[norhloudspeaker]

There is a socket for the 3G modem. I am not sure if this is a PCIe or not.

[ngrcat]

It could. It's usually used in netbooks for BT/WIFI or 3G cards. The reasons I'm asking is that one can get Broadcom HD mini-PCIe card for around 20$, which can be used to play HD videoo without need for strong CPU. Would be quite cool if it worked on Surfboard/Edubook etc.

[kakibajs]

I also have one of these but mine came with a monitor on it. Laptop it was called.

[norhloudspeaker]

We have the Edubook for those so inclined.

[norhloudspeaker]

WiFi is available but you need to hook up the monitor some way.

[moocow1452]

This seems like a really awesome product for not just tech Luddites, but also third world markets who could get one of these hooked up to a tv, and start accessing the rest the internet.

[norhloudspeaker]

Thank you very much.

[tobszon123]

Can you even play a game on it? What components does it have?

[norhloudspeaker]

You can play games but certainly not real time 3D games. The Surfboard is a 1Ghz computer. When XP was first introduced, I had a 300Mhz Pentium II laptop. 1Ghz computers were the hottest computers out there. XP will run and run fine.

[bent540]

nice! new C64?

[mrkhyronm]

If you would have used the Broadcom BCM70012 chip this would have been the perfect surfing computer because the flash10.1 will use the Broadcom to acc flashvideos.

[lrpreda]

A good idea, just some ?'s ans suggestions.

The Sata connector is internal or external ?

Why don't put a touch mouse (like on laptop) where are the numbers, will be less cables around.

good product and price.

congrats

[emoboi86]

Where can I purchase one of these?

[norhloudspeaker]

The SurfBorad will be ready sometime after CES which is January 7 through 11.

[emoboi86]

GREAT! I hope you post a link once it becomes available :)

[kremlar]

very cool, but the keyboard doesn't look so great. hope it feels better than it looks.

[norhloudspeaker]

The keyboard feels good.The one on this video is a Ukraniun layout with English keys. Not sure how that happened but the feel is fine.

[thelyniezian]

Wil it be available in the UK?

[thelyniezian]

And which distro, if any is pre-loaded? Or is it bespoke?

[norhloudspeaker]

We now have Ubuntu 9.04, 8.04 Mint 8.0, Puppy Linux 4.13, WattOS, Centos and a few others running. WattOS is our default. WattOS is a small, faster version of Ubuntu with a LXDE interface.

[nick80ru]

Чуваки изобрели Спектрум!

They invented ZX Spectrum!

[SteelCity1981]

Also have you guys ever thought about putting that type of XcoreX86 cpu into small mobile devices like cell phones or PDA's especially PDA's.

[norhloudspeaker]

Yes we have thought about it. We will not likely do this until another generation or two in order to get more efficiency. We are at 90 nanometers now but we will go to 45 later.

[SteelCity1981]

What are the hardware specs on this?

[norhloudspeaker]

1Ghz x86 Xcore86 CPU with 512 MB RAM (standard). 1GB available later. 2 x USB external -- 1 USB internal for wifi, optioal 3G modem, 2 x SD slots for storage and 1 SATA connector for 2.5 inch hard disk.

[SteelCity1981]

@norhloudspeaker how is the x86 cpu compared to the Intel Atom or AMD Athlon Neo in battery life and performance?

[thelyniezian]

What does it have in terms of hard drive or equivalent?

[norhloudspeaker]

I am not sure where it says hard drive or equivalent but what we have are 2 SD which are tied directly to the IDE and one connector for a 2.5 inch SATA drive.

[thelyniezian]

Are they just slots or are there cards built in? If so how big?

[thelyniezian]

Also what do you mean by "internal" USB?

[norhloudspeaker]

There is one USB slot inside the case designed to use with a WIFI dongle which we can install as an option.

[norhloudspeaker]

The WiFI is added via an internal USB socket. The 3G is a module. I don't recall the standard but it is something like MicroExpress

[721542]

what about change keyboard with time

[norhloudspeaker]

The keyboard shouldn't wear out but if it does, it is easy to replace.

[assismeny]

I use tove somthing like it 25 years ago:

Sinclair /spectrum

Oric

Commodor 64

remember those computers

so this computer is not the first one as he claim on the video- he is probably to yung to know about them.

[norhloudspeaker]

I am 56 and my first computer was in 1978. I used all of the older computer keyboards. We are not claiming to be the first but we are the most energy efficient and the least expensive x86 desktop capable of running x86 LInux and / or Windows XP.

[thelyniezian]

As relating to computers with built in keyboards an energy efficiency, you don't have any idea how this tends to compare to those old machines?

[assismeny]

Its a laptop with no Lcd Panel what so neat about it?

[pastubbs]

I kind of like its like those all-in-one atom based nettops with out the screen.

[norhloudspeaker]

Many of the 32 inch and larger sceens have VGA inputs. The Surfboard could be used to provide easy access to the Internet with one of these.

[Kweezy157]

Also, Gecko could've put in a touch pad for the mouse (Like on a LapTop. (Sorry for leaving so many comments..im intrigued by this device.)

[norhloudspeaker]

I had asked for a touch pad but that didn't make it in.

[Kweezy157]

This would be good use for a low-end cost efficient Media Center for a bigscreen Tv...but then again theres the wires...

[norhloudspeaker]

This generation will not make a multimedia device although it could be a Internet Radio. The device is more for browsing, e-mail, office automation, thin clients, dedicated functions such as reservation desks, help desks, POS, etc. We will be improving the Xcore's performance over time and the modules are interchangeable.

[Kweezy157]

Cd drive? Unless its on the side or something. Because if Windows fucks up & needs a reinstallation then you're screwed. ALSO unless this device supports USB booting which from there you can install Windows.

[ALADAR16]

MOUSE

[norhloudspeaker]

A USB mouse can be easily added.

[norhloudspeaker]

You can hook up a USB DVD drive. These are about $50.00 each and are available anywhere. We might offer our own option but any USB DVD / DVDRW will do.

[bummers]

Hi Mike,

I think the Gecko Surfboard is a great and I hope Norhtec succeeds! A few suggestions:

* Have 1gb ram or an upgradeable ram option or both

* Update the Norhtec website

* Use a blog (eg wordpress) or CMS (eg Drupal) backend so you can update your site easily and focus on product development.

* With the above site update, consumers can send you queries and suggestions easily through comments instead of emails

[HongKongGhost]

Looks great, where can I buy one?

Can I run debian linux on it?

[norhloudspeaker]

Linux, Puppy, Ubuntu, Mint and many other Linux are running. Please look at videos of the Edubook here on Youtube and you can see some of the OS options being supported. The same CPU module is used in the InfoPad, Edubook Surfboard and the upcoming 3G Webtop.

[michelecant]

Please, please, please take into consideration giving it a pointing stick. It would make it much more portable and practical. Thanks

[norhloudspeaker]

This is our first iteration and we will look at the market and see how it goes. I had wanted a touchpad but it didn't make it in. I can check with our keyboard vendor to see if a tubstick is available.

[agungk]

I heard that it uses Vortex86 processor.

In my experience, Vortex86 is not very reliable and what can work on Intel or AMD x86 flawlessly (FreeDOS for example), stmubles on Vortex86.

I hope they have rectify this with their newer chips.

[norhloudspeaker]

The Vortex86 is a SiS550. This is not using that chip and the only other product that currently uses the same chip is the Edubook. The CPU is very stable but it is not high speed.

[Sessyliz]

This shit is gonna get outdated and unable to keep up with updates fairly quickly I suspect, but then a 100 euro give or take? Not so bad if it only lasts two or three years (unless ecology is a subject you worry about, of course).

A couple of years back that sum would only get you an iPod shuffle... And anyone remember the 100 dollar laptop project? This is it!

[persiacom]

Computers in keyboards are a bad idea, it looks like a cheap keyboard, you can't replace it. Just get a netbook and you have a monitor attached.

I won't be wasting my money on this thing.

[ApocSymph]

This sounds like a really good idea and a good product. When it's released I'm going to look into it more. I may get one. =)

[TovarakaFrank]

Das teil kauf ich mir :-D

[ericluk169]

Is it safe to assume that the storage medium on the Surfboard is SDHC cards with the possibility of adding a 2.5" laptop drive?

[norhloudspeaker]

There are two slots for SDs. These can be SDHC. There is space inside for a 2.5 inch hard disk and a IDE socket. I have asked for a SATA chip to be added but I don' t know if we can pull that off or not. The device is primarily designed for thin clinet, cloud computing and light desktop. Many people don't realize they can log into their main computers using RDP.

[norhloudspeaker]

There is space and a connection for a 2.t inch SATA drive.

[nck65]

Looks great and value for money.

[donchiller666]

awesome, im definitely getting the linux one :D

[b1k3rdude]

Er, Hello..... Amiga A500/A2100 anyone! They around back in the 80/90's and were way ahead of the tech curve at the time.

[amokoma100]

Yes so was the C64, but sadly they couldn't download porn.

[lukisbg]

hello! where can i find the producer?

[amokoma100]

Well that's a shame.

[norhloudspeaker]

No HDMI.  Just XVGA and Composit video out.

[amokoma100]

*Nerd orgasm*

 Awesome product, does it have HDMI?

[Kweezy157]

Huh I made up that word too when I first seen the HTC Touch Pro (Im a big Windows Mobile nerd) only I called it a Nerdgasm lol.

[wush07]

Great!