Gumstix Ships Mini Linux Computers

Start-up Gumstix Inc. on Tuesday shipped two printed circuit boards and mini-computer cases for building Linux-based handheld devices, peripherals and robotics. The Palo Alto, Calif., company released two boards, the 200x and 400x, each the size of a stick of gum and weighing less than a tablespoon of water. Gumstix also shipped two single board, mini-computer cases, the Waysmall 200x and 400x.

The new products are meant to meet a growing demand for increasingly smaller computing platforms for Linux devices, Gumstix officials said.

"The tiny Gumstix boards and computers offer greater flexibility for the development of handheld appliances and peripherals and robotics," Gordon Kruberg, Gumstix founder, said in a statement.

The 200x and 400x boards include 200MHz and 400MHz Intel PXA255 chips, respectively. Both products also come with 64MB SDRAM, 4MB Flash, an operating system, MMC/SD slot and multiple I/O. The 200x sells for $109 and the 400x $139.

The 200x and 400x Waysmall computer cases sell for $139 and $169, respectively. Each include two mini-DIN8 serial ports, one USB mini-B client port and a power supply.The installed software includes a "Busybox" implementation with web server that enables users to establish a network connection over any of the USB or serial ports. The cases also come with a complete Linux kernel and a cross-compiler that lets developers build applications on a host PC and then load them to the Gumstix board or Waysmall computer to run.