Keeping the CherryPal in Perspective
I read with some amusement the CherryPal review over at TG Daily – the author’s biggest gripe was that she felt the CherryPal was really ugly because the ports faced in front. (Turns out, the direction of the cherry logo confused her, which is funny to me because I never even noticed the logo’s direction. I just set up the box with the ports facing back. Big deal!) There was also a complaint about the box seeming “flimsy,” which is not my experience whatsoever. And, oh, horror, there’s no CD/DVD drive!
Such reviews are truly missing the point of the CherryPal, which was conceived to be a low-power green computer that did not require moving parts or fans. Let’s just try to envision the world in maybe as little as five years, where DVDs are becoming obsolete with the increased use of digital downloads and flash drives. Let’s look ahead to a time where electricity costs are increasing due to increased power consumption and lowered reserves of natural gas. Perhaps at that time, a small desktop computer that consumes only 2 watts and doesn’t need a DVD drive would be ideal? Perhaps.
The CherryPal was never meant to be a robust desktop computer with all the bells and whistles. It was initially marketed to people who were interested in helping the environment by using less electricity to power their computers. In this respect, CherryPal has succeeded.
Where CherryPal has failed is in its implemenation of Linux, which, as discussed here in length, ends up eating the CPU so the machine often slows down to a crawl doing basic tasks. The launch of the CherryPal was delayed, and I believe what was eventually sent out was not the cloud computer that they originally envisioned. (Max Seybold mentioned to the Brand Angels that they switched to Xubuntu at the last minute to offer more software in lieu of the original cloud.)
CherryPal Going Forward
There are two main issues that will stop CherryPal from being a viable consumer product. One is the price and two is the CPU/OS problem.
Price
At $250, which does not include a monitor, mouse or keyboard, the CherryPal is still currently too expensive for what it has to offer. Computers have come down in price so much that you can buy a full-featured desktop on sale for $300 in many stores. Radio Shack is even offering an Acer notebook for $99 – though the catch is that you have to sign up for AT&T’s mobile broadband for two years. (Some have figured that you could cancel the AT&T contract and still only pay $250 for the laptop with the early termination fee.)
CherryPal, in its current form, would have to drop down in price to about $100 to be a good value for the average consumer. Unfortunately, we still have problem #2:
CPU/Operating System Issues
It’s clear that a standard distribution of Linux that is not optimized for the CherryPal CPU will not be good enough to get this machine commercially viable. It also seems that most of the CherryPal developers have left the building – I still don’t have a clue as to whether a USB stick is capable of booting the device.
Let’s assume, however, that someone was smart enough to allow a USB flash boot for the CherryPal. If the Powers That Be had foresight, they would enlist the help of volunteer developers to fine tune a Linux distribution for the PowerPC chip used in the device. If such community-driven distributions could be installed on the CherryPal by users with a simple USB flash drive, we might be onto something.
If the CherryPal had an optimized operating system on it that actually best utilized the CPU, then maybe the price wouldn’t be such an issue. Unfortunately, the CPU is such a roadblock right now, that the machine will probably frustrate most people who try to use it. If someone came to me asking for a way to get a cheap computer running Linux, I’d be more likely at this point to tell them to find a Pentium III on Craiglist for $50 or less and put Linux on that. No, it’s not green, but what’s so green about leaving your equipment on for twice as long because it takes you that much longer to do anything?
I’ll be posting a comparison of my Pentium III/Puppy Linux performance vs. the CherryPal soon. I also hope to get my hands on some other small Linux boxes in the new year. Fit-PC would not send me a review copy but perhaps Linutop will. (Sorry, I just can’t be dishing out a few hundred bucks here and there to try all these babies.)
Meanwhile, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that CherryPal can get it together. I think the initial vision was a good one and there is definitely room for a product like this in the future, if the kinks are worked out.
I love technology but I am also quite aware of the negative impact it can have on the environment. Still, I think it's technology that has the most potential to save us. Here you'll find articles on the green tech aka clean tech, such as alternative fuel, green computing, and e-cycling. You'll also hear about the "green" and the "tech" - from green household cleaners to why Linux is the progressive operating system of choice.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Excellent, honest evaluation!
Fit-PC is a proven product. They have excellent support and a forum site to answer most questions.
You might want to check out the LimePC site (limepc.com) their pc looks exactly like the Cherrypal. They will be at CES in Jan 09. We might get some good reviews from there. Their software is customized for their unit.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
It would be really interesting if CherryPal were to become an open computer. When I first heard about CherryPal I was very interested, being a PowerPC fan for a long time. I was quite dismayed to learn it would only provide a browser interface and not give developers access to the bare metal, making it quite useless for me, alas. But I’m quite interested in watching the CherryPal saga unfold.
In the mean time, I’ve picked up a Beagle Board (http://beagleboard.org) to satisfy my need for a non-Intel development platform. Beagle Board is doing it right — great processor, low cost, low power, [mostly] open software and documentation, and have thereby collected an enthusiastic international developer community. CherryPal should try this — what have they got to lose?
December 18th, 2008 at 1:22 am
I’m part of the fit-pc UK team at Anders Electronics, and we would be happy to supply a review model of the fit-pc for you to test for a couple of weeks.
We’re confident it will stand head and shoulders above the green-pc competition!
Benjamin
December 18th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Green Tech Girl, it’s great to read the CherryPal reports from you about this. Keep ‘em coming I say. I am into environmentally-friendly alternative devices and this one could be a mammoth hit if the software on it gets to a very functional state. There is an alternative OS called MorphOS 2.1 (I say “M2″) that is extremely responsive on lightweight hardware. It would blow Linux away in responsiveness terms on CherryPal hardware, make using the device a joy and not an excruciation, but M2 needs more stability and a more capable browser. Those things are attainable, M2 and CherryPal should explore a relationship. But I’m interested in CherryPal regardless.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:55 am
@Chuck
The CherryPal *is* a LimePC.
I’ve looked at the Fit-PC a bit as well, especially the Slim. I’m concerned about the performance of the 500MHz Geode though, but I guess I won’t know until I try, eh? The 12V (+/-3V) power input makes it an EXCELLENT candidate for a carPC as long as it can keep up responsiveness with the navigation and media software.. That and it’s insanely small.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
@Muriani
Check out FitPC’s forum under Support. There are lots of interesting inputs.
December 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
@John
To some degree John, Cherrypal is an open PC. It’s running a modified version of Ubuntu, so you can do just about anything you could on a normal linux computer. The only problem at the moment is that they have hidden the ability to access the bootloader. I’ve been rebooting over and over again trying to find the magic key, but they did a good job at making it either hard to find, or a timing thing that I haven’t figured out… Perhaps I’d be better off looking at the files in /boot/
@ Chuck and @Muriani, it is running an OS called LimeOS, but looks nothing like the screenshots over at limePC. It also is running a worse processor than what Lime claims to have…
The worst part about the Cherrypal at the moment though is it’s lack of reliability from the company… First the shipments were delay. Now the OS has a gaping security issue (they shipped it with a default username and password that they told people not to change, and then left SSH running…), and people aren’t being communicated to when they send emails in (either that, or they’ve started ignoring me… wouldn’t surprise me)
January 9th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I’m happy for the few individuals who have received their Cherrypals. I eagerly made my Paypal purchase on July 21 after reading the green pal-in-the-cloud hype, hoping to make a birthday gift of it to my wife. Despite all the assurances of the company, including the ridiculous 114 tie-in to the US election, the claim that a big order from Africa had taken all available units, I couldn’t even make it a Christmas present. No reply to our last email Christmas Eve. Nearly six months and counting — if you’re thinking of ordering one, please wait till you hear I’ve received mine.
January 24th, 2009 at 1:41 am
I’m writing to let readers know that I finally got my CP last night. I went to the CP community form and complained there about not having received it in nearly six months, and had a tracking number within 24 hours. However, the unit I received is a used one, with all kinds of unusual settings that have me stymied right now. (Also, the plastic top of the case is slightly deformed; I think I may have a unit that was used by one of the developers’ it’s serial #66). I went to single digits on the clock, learning about gnome-panel and resurrecting it. Checking out all the Chinese-language favorites saved in Firefox will have to wait till I can connect to the Net, ’cause the person’s set-up has me baffled, but I’m working my way through it. Oh yeah, in the trash was a nice-sounding Chinese mp3 titled something like “Linux Is For Humans.”