Just ran into this article on LinuxDevices.com. It talks about a tiny computer that looks like this:

That’s all there is to it. This ethernet jack has an ARM9 processor in it with 8 MB RAM, 4 MB Flash, and some interfaces that you can hook up electronic devices to. The idea is to add network connectivity to devices that normally don’t, like air conditioners and stuff. Apparently there’s even a WiFi version of the thing.

I found a couple of neat things about this device. First it gives you network access to pretty much anything allowing for centralized controllers to manage those things. This is probably old news to guys who work on building maintenance automation systems and stuff like that. But this device somehow made it all real for me.

The other thing to note is the memory size here. 4 MB Flash for the file system isn’t very big. And neither is the 8MB RAM you run with. If anyone ever asks if C is still important, I’ll just point to this thing.

And finally, I had to have a chuckle when I saw this: “the kit includes an IDE based on Eclipse 3.1.2 and CDT 3.0.2. It supports C/C++ devlopment, CVS code management, and visual debugging via Ethernet.” Yet another vendor using the CDT to build cool things :).