[Cialug] BlackDog

[dave at visionary.com]

On Fri, Nov 18, 2005, David Stout <david.stout at marshallnet.com> said:

> 
> I am considering purchasing BlackDog. Is there any one who can give me some feedback on this device?
> 
> Thank you,

You should have made it to the meeting...

My impression of the Blackdog is that it does what it claims.

It is a bit slower than what most people expect from a computing
environment, since it's limited by it's 400mhz mobile PPC processor. It
does run Firefox reasonabally well.

The advantages I see:

- Doesn't require a reboot on the host PC
- Doesn't install any software, or leave any trace on the host PC
- You can set up your web / email / ssh clients to have the passwords set,
so you never have to type them in. So you're essentially using the
Blackdog's fingerprint scanner, and you'd never have to worry about a
keylogger on a host PC capturing your passwords.

Disadvantages:

- Slowish
- Needs your apps compiled for the PPC processor

One question I would have is if you can use it on a totally non-privileged
XP PC, like at a cyber cafe. The Windows Firewall does prompt you to allow
some things to be opened.

Overall I think it's a neat device with a lot of potential for the right
person.

Personally I think I'd go for the bootable Live linux cd and / or USB key
route.

-dc