The Wizpy Multimedia Media Player lets you carry a complete Linux desktop in your pocket says Koichi Yano, President and CEO of Turbolinux.
Turbolinux, a major Linux operating system supplier in Japan, said it will offer a Linux booting device in an iPod-sized media player. This helps to promote Linux among its consumers. The idea is to try Linux – for those who aren’t convinced or are worried about the effort of a full installation.
Wizpy is a portable media player with bootable Linux OS for the PC. It is a compact, palm-sized, bootable Linux OS with a feature – rich multimedia player for both audio and video playback. Wizpy offers users the power and flexibility to boot almost any computer in the world using the Turbolinux operating system.
When plugged into a PC’s USB port, it can boot up the operating system, using all the settings, passwords and bookmarks it contains, so one always get the same own personal computer environment, no matter what machine you’re working on!
Important data such as passwords and credit card information now need not be left on the PC but can be stored on wizpy itself, thus preventing your personal information from being compromised.Users can access their documents, e-mails and the Internet, keeping their and the host computer’s data confidential and safe. Wizpy comes with embedded 4-gigabyte flash memory, 1.5-gigabytes is devoted to the Linux operating system and basic application software. Wizpy uses a PC’s CPU, main memory and some peripherals but does not use the hard drive. It boots Linux as an emulated virtual CD-ROM through a USB connection.
The device also doubles as a multimedia player. It has 1.7-inch OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) color screen and keypad on the front. It measures 84- by 42- by 12-mm and weighs 60 grams Wizpy is compatible with Ogg, MP3 and WMA formats, DivX and MPEG4 video playback, JPEG images, display text files. It has inbuilt FM radio.
The Linux OS also comes with a browser, IP telephony (VoIP), email client, office software, MP3 recording function, media player album art, ID3 tag editing, quick search function and RSS feeder. TurboLinux said Wizpy will work with older PCs, enabling users to make use of aging PCs in schools and in other settings.
The price tag of Wizpy is about US$250 and is available on some of the selected outlets in Europe, India and America.