Koolu vs Zonbu (thread renamed)

greggh · Post by **greggh** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:45 am

A little background first. A couple of weeks ago, after listening to Dave Yates talking about his new toy, the Linksys NSLU2 (slug), I decided I wanted to get a cheap little box to keep always on, but I wanted it to be as capable as a full PC. I decided I was going to buy either the Koolu...

http://www.koolu.com/
Koolu (thin client) for $199 + $35 shipping
Koolu (net appliance with 80GB drive) $299 + $35 shipping

...or the Zonbu...

http://www.zonbu.com/home/index.htm
Zonbu standalone desktop $249 + $7 shipping

I ended up buying the Zonbu. Part of the reason for that, was that the Koolu website had some wrong info on it. Even though they had increased the memory in the base version from 256MB to 512MB, that's not what I saw on the non-updated order page. There were some other problems with the Koolu site, like not telling you the shipping cost until after you entered all your info.

Anyway, after I bought the Zonbu, I sent an email to Koolu telling them they lost my sale because of things I felt they were doing wrong and offered them some advice on some things on the site I thought needed fixing. It turns out that Jon "maddog" Hall is the CTO of Koolu, and both he and the CEO Andrew Greig emailed me back thanking me for my input, and they may even send me a free Koolu to review (score!).

I mentioned to maddog in the email that I became familiar with him through the Tech Show here and suggested that it might be a good idea to come on TLLTS and talk about the Koolu as well as other stuff. I told him I would post the suggestion here in the forum. So let's see what happens.

lizerazu · Post by **lizerazu** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:39 pm

I would love to hear an interview with Maddog! I fully support the Tech Show having him on.

schotty · Post by **schotty** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 6:03 pm

Maddog, I love listening to you. Please accept the opportunity to speak with the TLLTS guys

Post by **Patrick** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:24 am

Cool stuff! This is definitely the future of computing for most people. I sent emails to both companies.

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:05 am

Here's a review of the Zonbu box:
http://mrzonbu.wordpress.com/2007/08/15 ... the-zonbu/

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:29 am

The Zonbu box looks like it's this device:
http://www.ewayco.com/51-embedded-syste ... ystem.html

schotty · Post by **schotty** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:00 pm

Patrick wrote:The Zonbu box looks like it's this device:
http://www.ewayco.com/51-embedded-syste ... ystem.html

My bet is that they found the same OEM for the chassis kit. AOpen makes alot of stuff that I would never have guessed. As does ASUS and Foxconn.

Post by **Patrick** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:50 pm

Mention TLLTS and get $25 off your purchase of the Koolu.

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:11 pm

I modified my nslu2, but the nslu2 is slowwwwww. If I could start over. I definately would go with the koolu. I my boss (better half) will let me, I plan to get a koolu. Oopps she just dsif no. oh well.

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:21 am

Here's a presentation maddog did on thin clients not too long ago:
http://koolu.com/images/pdf/ThinClients ... ntu2.0.pdf

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:22 am

That would make a fine slide presentation. But you know you can used old pc's such as p1/2//3's as diskless thin clients also. I used to use p1/2 for thin clients but I needed them for other duties (future robots) so i bought some thin clients (compaq t20/30 and neoware both now part of hp) thin clients off of ebay for like 30 dollars a piece. Set them to pxe boot and they work great with ltsp. A friend emailed koolu about the ltsp server they plan to come out with, but they have not responded yet.

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:28 am

davijordan wrote: A friend emailed koolu about the ltsp server they plan to come out with, but they have not responded yet.

I wish I had pressed more about this myself. I would assume it would work fine with LTSP. This is a subject I would really love to get into. So many projects and not enough time! Note to self: I really need to win the lottery. When the kids get older I might want to setup thin clients for them for their computing needs.

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:14 pm

The trick is to do support for people who like to upgrade. More affluent clients get rid of so much stuff because ms has them conviced they need newer equipment.. With 4 clients and a server I might have 400 dollars at most invested in my lab. I have been given quite a few old machines, printer, and 2 - 19 inch monitors. When I replaced the p1/2's, the thin clients were the bigest investment. Resale places and computer repair shops are a good place for cheap equpment also on occation but it is getting slimmer now that people are becoming more computer savvy. I also get up early on trash day and cruise the neighborhood somtimes, but not as much as I used to. I have been instructed not to get anymore toys, unless I sell part of what I have. You can not argue with your better half. I am lucky, my daughter has her own thing now but she still comes over to do stuff with me.

update:
Maddog says that koolu will not be coming out with a server, but they will recommend other businesses if you want one. one of those would be great basis for a robot!

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:27 am

Apparently the koolu box is manufactured by FIC from Taiwan:
http://www.fic.com.tw/about.aspx

These are the same people who manufacture the phone being used by OpenMoko.

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:05 pm

They are supposed to be coming out with a faster version soon.