90% Zonbu, 10% Windows XP

I realized I forgot to say something fairly important in my recent review of the Zonbu, chronicling my first two weeks with the device.

I really have been able to use the Zonbu to do 90% or more of my regular PC tasks. I’ve barely turned on my XP box in two weeks…

Build a custom music server or buy a Zonbu?

Over a http://www.linuxdevices.com they’ve got an exhaustive article on how to build the ultimate Linux home music server using a small Linux PC, not dissimilar to the Zonbu.

What really struck me, after reading pages and pages of the article, was one of the final conclusions.

This is the author of the article speaking, not me (my emphasis):

I started this whole project before discovering Real’s Rhapsody client for the N800. I believe that Rhapsody is the “killer app,” not only for the N800, but for all small web tablets. Mobile phones someday too, maybe. But I honestly don’t know if I would have bothered to build an elaborate NAS-based music system, had I had Rhapsody on the N800. Why even store your own music, really?

I’ve been preaching this for a while. Rhapsody is a killer app for the Zonbu…

LinuxMCE videos show impressive UI experience

This isn’t a Zonbu specific post, but I just read an interesting article over at DesktopLinux.com and followed the link through to some videos of the LinuxMCE project.

What struck me was how innovative and interesting the UI is. I’m a long time MythTV user, and while I find some of the ideas a bit gimmicky, some make a lot of sense. I’ve got one of those “invasive” full screen UIs on my box. I actually like the Myth UI but seeing a different “take” on design is always interesting.

Perhaps the Zonbu could crib a few ideas from the media center interface, to make interactive with it even easier.

-Mr. Zonbu

My first two weeks with the Zonbu

It has been over two weeks now since I started playing with the Zonbu.

My first foray was under VMWare and then my actual hardware arrived.

I thought it might be a good time to get some summary thoughts and observations out, as much has happened during that time.  Consider this my mid-term review of the Zonbu.

Without further adieu, the good and the bad of Real Life with the Zonbu Mini-PC…