Yellow Dog Linux maker Terra Soft Solutions, Inc. announced that it has dropped the price of the 500MHz G4 briQ. The briQ is a completely self-contained, high density PowerPC G4-based computer. It’s a CD-ROM drive-sized system designed to operate as a Linux network appliance, with its own on-board memory, storage and even a PCI expansion slot. briQs can run stand-alone, and even fit into an expansion bay on a Mac or PC. The systems are suitable as code development workstations or for embedded and parallel systems, as e-mail, FTP or Web servers or as a network appliance.
Inserted into a cluster, briQ systems can be configured for high-performance computing environments, as well, making it possible to set up server farms suitable for distributed computing applications. Yellow Dog Linux optionally offers four and eight node towers that can stand on a desktop or can be mounted into a rack, if you prefer.
Yellow Dog notes that the tiny PowerPC-based computers operate at just a fraction of the wattage of a full desktop machine — typically just 20 to 40 watts per node.
The 500MHz G4 briQ is now priced at US$1,959. The system comes configured with 512MB RAM and Yellow Dog Linux 2.0 pre-installed. This lowers the price of an 8 node cluster from $28,000 to $17,819.