Petit MP3 player boots PCs into Linux

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Oct. 14, 2004

A French company that claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of portable DVD players has added a unique capability to its medallion-shaped portable MP3 players. New "Z2" models of Shinco's "Medaillon" (French spelling) line can be used as USB storage devices that boot PCs into embedded Linux.

The Medaillon Lecteur MP3 Z2 ("lecteur" means "reader") is available in two models. A €119 model offers 128MB of Flash, while a €159 version includes 256MB of Flash. Both weigh about half an ounce (15 grams), and measure 1.7 inches in diameter (42mm) and 0.4 inches in thickness (10mm), enabling them to be worn comfortably on a chain around the neck, Shinco says.

The Medaillon offers stereo audio playback with a claimed frequency response of 20Hz to 10kHz and signal-to-noise ratio of 90dB. Power output is said to be 4mW per channel at 16 Ohms.

The Medaillon includes a tiny rechargeable lithium-ion battery, said to provide up to 8 hours of playback time. The battery recharges when the Medaillon is connected to a PC via a supplied USB cable. The device supports USB 1 and 2, according to Shinco.

The Medaillon is described as offering compatibility with a variety of Windows and Macintosh operating systems. It supports MPEG 1/2 layer 3 (mp3) audio files, and can also be used to transport files of all kinds, according to Shinco.

The Medaillon also come with an embedded Linux distribution called Shinux, and can be used as a boot device on PCs with BIOSes that support booting from USB storage devices. PCs without such a BIOS can be booted from the Medaillon using an included CD or, presumably, with a boot floppy of the user's own devising.

The Shinux environment includes a variety of productivity and file management applications, including: (click for screenshots)

Abiword word processor
Apache/PHP web server
Balsa email client
emelFM2 file manager
Firebird (Firefox) browser
GAIM instant messenger
gFTP graphical FTP client
GIMP raster graphics
ginetconf net config utility
gnumeric spreadsheet
GQview digital camera interface
ipfix utility
Jags network browser
MPlayer DVD/video player
Sodipodi vector graphics
tightVNC remote access
XMMS multimedia player
xterm X console

Further details, and an online order form, are available at Shinco's website. A separate Shinco-sponsored French-language website devoted to Shinux includes an active user forum.

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