[plug] Anybody know how this thing works?

[Russell]

On 8/29/06, Michael Holland <myk at myk.id.au> wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Aug 2006, Russell wrote:
> > They have one advantage over PCs: the specs for the one above say that
> > its power supply brick produces 12 Volts at 3 Amps, which is
> > substantially less power than an equivalent PC draws.
>
> What is an equivalent PC? How about a PIII mini-PC with external power
> brick, e.g.
> http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130018861836
>
> Draws around 25W idle, 50W max, incl internal 3.5" IDE drive.
> Dead quiet with a new fan and HDD. Perfect for many Linux appliances.

I chose my words badly.  What I really meant was "the old PC we all
have in the cupboard waiting for an application like this, configured
to do the same job."  _That_ one will draw lots of power.  Of course,
there are small form factor things around that will do the job with a
modicum of hacking and similar power consumption to the appliances
referred to at the start of the thread.

But the average home user (not most of the people on this list) is
better off buying a dedicated appliance.