A Canadian start-up has started shipping a compact, fanless PC pre-installed with a lightweight Debian Linux OS said to support all major Indian languages. Thinteknix claims its “Chimp” PC offers a full PC experience, while saving users from spyware, worms, and other problems endemic to Windows-based computers.

(Click for larger view of the Chimp's rear panel)

The Chimp is based on a fanless, low-cost PC platform powered by a Via Eden C7 processor clocked at 800MHz. It has 256MB of RAM. I/O includes a parallel printer port, USB, VGA, stereo audio I/O, and 10/100 Ethernet.

Storage is provided by a removable 1GB CompactFlash card, which users can expand by purchasing a larger CF card, or adding a 2.5-inch hard drive to the enclosure. Additionally, the Chimp appears to work with a “virtual disk” service that adds network storage capabilities. The storage appears to be hosted on Thinteknix servers, with Web access provided by the Relay directory manager.

On the software side, the “Chimp” runs a customized Linux OS described as a “pure” Debian Linux implementation derived from BOSS Linux from CDAC, India. Instead of the Gnome window manager used in BOSS, however, Thinteknix opted for the lightweight XFCE4 window manager.

The Chimp's Linux OS uses the XFCE4 window manager, and is said to include scripts needed to support “all major Indian languages”
(Click to enlarge)

Other applications installed by default include:

• Firefox browser with standard plug ins (Java, Flash)
• Mplayer Media player
• Xpdf PDF document reader
• Ekiga VOIP and video conferencing
• Gaim IM
• GIMP image editor
• SCIM for multilanguage keyboard support (based on BOSS Linux from CDAC India)
• OpenOffice.org office suite

According to Thinteknix, the SCIM component can be configured to support all Indian languages, thanks to support for scripts that include Arabic, Bengali, Gujarathi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu. Additionally, company spokesperson Varadarajan Adhi said, “It is very easy to add even Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scripts using SCIM.”

Users wishing to customize Chimp's Linux-based OS can also use the Apt package manager to install any of Debian's 18,000+ pre-compiled binary packages. Adhi said this capability sets the Chimp apart from similar platforms such as Zonbu's Zonbox, which confines users to a set of managed applications selected by the vendor (unless they opt to install the “community edition” of Zonbu's Gentoo Linux-based stack).

Chimp and Zonbox compared

Zonbu's Zonbox prototype (Click for details)

Although they may differ on package management philosophies, Zonbu and Thinteknix appear to be taking a very similar approach. Both aim to offer silent, appliance-like computing experiences backed up by network storage. Both appear to source their hardware from value-oriented Asian OEMs; the Chimp's hardware platform closely resembles the CuteBox-3853, while Zonbu's current Zonbox prototype appears to be based on the CuteBox-3854 (Zonbu spokesperson Gregoire Gentil hinted that the Zonbox would be available with “much much better” hardware when it ships this fall).

The CuteBox-3853 (left) resembles the Chimp, while the CuteBox-3854 (right) resembles the Zonbox
(Click either to enlarge)

Availability

The Chimp is available now, priced at $275, according to a Thinteknix. The system does not yet appear on the company's online store, however. The store does list a $100 “Beaver” model based on a 486-class system-on-chip processor.

 
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