[ILUG] unison hack

[Justin Mason]

Niall said:

> > Has anyone seen the back of (or even better the inside of) a unison box.
> > Just wondering if it would be possible to connect up a IBM microdrive
> > and install linux as done in the iopener project (US).
> > http://www.i-opener-linux.net/
> 
> Why would you bother ? The great thing about the i-opener was the packaging
> of the device - a box on a plinth with an integrated 800x600 LCD screen and
> a wireless keyboard, with an integrated V.90 modem - all for $99. By the
> time you added in a cable, bracket and hard disk it became more like $200+ -
> an OK price for a nicely designed box, though performance wise it's about a
> Pentium 166.
> 
> Contrast this with the Unison box. Apparently it's also some kind of 386
> processor, but it costs 299 pounds and it displays on your TV -> . I'm pretty
> sure that you could put an equivalent box together for less.

I'd doubt it BTW -- if you can, get in touch with Netnote and we'll hire
you as a purchasing guy ;)

But yep, agreed.  The big deal about the i-Opener was that you got a
flat-screen PC for $99, which is incredible value.

My 2 cents on the Unison question, FWIW: I would doubt Netgem/Unison have
left in the requisite bits for the box to be reflashed/redirected to a
different boot drive, namely (1) a publicly-accessible BIOS and (2) the
IDE connectors. Let alone the ability to get a root shell by typing tab-4
at the right time ;)

--j.