By now, you might have heard of a company called Zonbu who is marketing a thin client type PC with automatic online data backup and software updates. For an initial outlay of $99, plus $14.95 per month, you get an eBox-4854 with a 4GB compact flash disk running what appears to be a tweaked version of Gentoo. Is this actually a good deal, or not? To exactly duplicate Zonbu’s hardware would set you back about $400 or so. From there, the main problem is that there is very little to choose from in terms of online backup services with a Linux client. The only reputable option I have found seems to be JungleDisk. To match Zonbu’s 50GB of storage space (with 5GB per month of transfer used as an example) will cost you $8.50 per month. At that rate, it will take roughly 47 months before the homebrew alternative to Zonbu becomes less expensive than the real deal. I would say Zonbu has a good thing going. It will be interesting to see if the public embraces Zonbu’s vision of low power, silent computing.