POSTED BY

Rob Beschizza

AT 3:59 AM
Monday December 8, 2008

Computers

pano

Tiny Pano Logic thin client PC reviewed. Verdict: Beautiful, but...

panologic_04.jpgWhipsaw makes a tiny, beautiful thin client called Pano Logic, and Yanko Design reviewed it.

There’s no hard drive, no processor, nothing but a graphics driver, basic I/O inputs for power, keyboard, mouse, and ethernet port. It boots up like a regular computer bringing you the Windows XP or Vista OS. The experience is almost identical to having a regular computer. Lag is dependent on broadband speed but everything is done via virtualization and computed thru a centralized cloud.

If you want a computer that looks like an attractive paperweight, and are prepared to pay $20 a month for the bandwidth-dependent desktop server it relies on, here you go.

I suspect a small but self-contained machine in a similar style — think "Chrome Artigo" — would be a more practical idea for most computer users.

Computer Fits in My Palm, Pano Logic Review [Yanko]

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6 Comments

k0an

#1 – 8:35 AM December 8, 2008

I'm very suspicious of the claims of this company. They say they make a "zero client" instead of "thin client" which means there is no processor, embedded os, etc... that you find in thin clients. I don't believe this claim and until they show any kind of technical specs of the internals of their device I won't believe it.

claud9999

#2 – 8:39 AM December 8, 2008

I'm not fond of the service model but that seems to be where a lot of entrepreneurial effort is being spent (an interesting item in Marketplace last week about a startup in Israel doing the "virtual desktop" concept, interesting story in that they employ tech-savvy Palestinians and the issues they struggle with just to meet face-to-face.)

But with high-speed wireless + multi-core, multi-user O/S computers becoming the norm, it would be a simple matter to share a single computer between multiple folks in the household. A device like this, properly hacked, can let little Janey or Johnny share daddy's computer with maybe $150 worth of hardware.

Enochrewt

#3 – 9:55 AM December 8, 2008

I am currently doing a ThinClient rollout for my work, and let me tell you, the drawbacks of these things are pretty painful. Currently flash is not supported, DirectX is software emulation, and USB device compatibility is shaky. I couldn't even imagine the step down to a "noclient" with no OS on the client side.

So what is this thing really? Just a glorified VNC/RDP box?

dculberson

#4 – 10:46 AM December 8, 2008

It *has* to have a processor. Even if it's a commodity chip typically used for media work, it's still a processor. Without a processor, bits do not get moved.

Meaning: They're just skirting the definition of "processor" to seem more clever than they really are.

Same with the operating system; it might be a very basic boot loader with network layer support, but isn't that still an operating system on some level?

Baerjamin

#5 – 9:06 AM December 9, 2008

Guys:
Let me start by telling you that I work for Pano Logic. With that said, let me clarify a few things: we only sell our product for enterprise deployments. We are not supporting consumer deployments beyond extending desktop virtualization of our enterprise customers.

Secondly, the Pano Logic client does NOT have a CPU. It is entirely stateless and is designed around an FPGA and USB host controller. Think of it as a PCI card that uses internet protocol as the bus. All the computational horsepower is server based.

This is NOT a thin client. We have focused our engineering on providing a full Windows user experience to the client. Unlike thin clients which rely on the Windows terminal services layer we interact at the console layer in Windows so all peripherals -- including printers, USB thumb drives, etc. -- all do work with no special drivers. Flash does work and is fully synchronized with sound. Video also works just like you'd expect in localized Windows.

If you have any further questions or want more information go to www.panologic.com It's far more productive than just guessing and bashing what you don't understand.

srobinson

#6 – 4:00 AM January 30, 2009

The challenge with Pano is the limited desktop performance - video and graphics. While better than plain RDP, it is a compromised experience compared to a PC at the user desk.

There is another solution that provides and un-compromised user experience and that is PC-over-IP (PCoIP) technology.

To be truly cost effective a Zero client needs to be able to handle any user type in an enterprise - from terminal/task workers, mainstream office users and power users that may require full DVI resolutions and full frame rate 3D graphics. This is what PCoIP delivers.

Check out this Zero Client that is an all-in-one display that Samsung just announced (SyncMaster 930ND) it supports VMware View (aka VDI) and PCoIP to be forward compatible when Vmware VIew integrates PCoIP technology (see vmware announcement with Teradici at the Sept08 Vmworld)

Here is a demo of the user performance including HD video and 3D graphics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzGmwNIpFG4

For full disclosure, I am the Director of Business Development at Teradici.

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