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Hardware

Small Form Factor Comparison Matrix 232

Posted by timothy from the size-and-shape dept.
Giggles Of Doom writes "With small form factor PCs, such as the Shuttle XPC line, becoming all the rage these days for office and gamer use, it can be a daunting task to find the model that is right for you. With more and more manufacturers getting on the SFF bandwagon, the selection is growing rapidly. How do you compare each one? You could spend hours combing manufacturer sites and reviews, or you could be thankful that someone has done all the work for you already! The Small Form Factor Comparison Matrix is just that, a chart listing over 30 of the most popular SFF boxes, their features, and price. Sort by any field, and limit your search to things like "Pentium 4 Only" or "Under $200 Only." If you're looking into getting a SFF box, this is the place to start." (Sudhian Media and mini-itx.com are also good sources for information on small PCs.)
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Small Form Factor Comparison Matrix More

Small Form Factor Comparison Matrix

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  • Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:20PM (#7718092)
    Does anyone know of a small dual-CPU capable motherboard?

    Something like a micro-ATX form factor but with multiple CPU's would be great.

    Hey Shuttle, how about a flex-ATX system with dual Xeons, Opterons, or similar?
    • One word: Heat.

      Two words: Heat Problem.

      Many words: Are you f'ing nuts me boy!

    • Re:Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:4, Informative)

      by xlyz ( 695304 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:27PM (#7718147) Journal

      you mat want to check future c3 development from Via

      here is a picture of a nice mini-itx dual motherboard: http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image /4/0,3363,sz=1&i=43115,00.jpg

    • Re:Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:3, Informative)

      by October_30th ( 531777 )
      Hmm... trying to keep two CPUs cool in an flex-ATX box? Getting sufficient cooling for two P4/AMD CPUs in an 1U rack case is already difficult.

      Would two full-size P4/AMD heat sinks even fit on an flex-ATX board?

      • Re:Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:3, Informative)

        by GeckoX ( 259575 )
        Say what?
        All of our servers in our rack are quad P4's, all 1U, no problem whatsoever.

        (Thanks to the engineers at IBM, but the point still stands)
        • That was my point.

          It's difficult to get proper cooling for dual systems (Opterons in particular) in 1U. You can't just go and buy a case, mobo and stuff in two blowers and heat sinks and expect it to work in your rack running 24/7/365.

          • Re:Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:3, Informative)

            by GeckoX ( 259575 )
            No, of course not.
            You buy a case and mobo _designed_ for dual or quad use.

            Not difficult at all.

            Now trying to stuff a dual or quad board into a case designed for a single proc, well, you get what you deserve I guess.

        • Re:Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:3, Informative)

          by ambit ( 208647 )
          As far as i knew, the smallest Quad Xeon box IBM makes is 3U [ibm.com]
      • why would you use 'fullsize' heatsinks in sff?
        wouldn't that be like, umm.. stupid?

        when you'd design the case and the mobo accordingly there would be no problem at all, but i guess most people who would like to buy such a product are already buying 1u rack computers.
        .

    • Re:Multi-CPU SFF? (Score:3, Informative)

      by ghostis ( 165022 )
      This sounds like a good idea until you think about how much heat a dual cpu system puts out. Other posters have commented on the WHOOSH sound that comes out of single cpu SFF systems. In these small cases there is not the large reserve of circulating air to dissapate heat like you have in a full dual CPU tower. Hence, air must be moved through the system very quickly. You would probably be getting into the decible range of a large shop vac for dual cpu. But, if you made the outside a heat sink like car

  • small ff need to be quiet (Score:5, Insightful)

    by xlyz ( 695304 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:21PM (#7718105) Journal

    small form factor will raise the importance of un highly undervaluated aspect: noise

    when you sit just beside your pc you soon start striving for finding a noiseless pc (that mostly mean a fanless pc)

    • Small Fandom (Score:3, Informative)

      by fm6 ( 162816 )
      Some Googling for "fanless pc" tells me this: if you look for a small ff with a fanless design you find either (a) boxes designed for embedded applications, not strong on performance (b) expensive multimedia boxes.

      There are ways to cut down noise without relying solely on passive or liquid cooling. Lots of low noise PSs and fans are available [quietpcusa.com] (and not that expensive). Even replacing a worn/cheap cpu fan can make a lot of difference. Unfortunately, case and system vendors mostly don't pay much attention to

  • Sigh. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by plastik55 ( 218435 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:22PM (#7718113) Homepage
    There's no column for noise. I know some people who have Shuttle XPCs. Whenever I see them I think "Wow, how cute and practical!" Then they turn it on. WHOOOOOOOOOSH like a jet turbine.

    • Re:Sigh. (Score:3, Informative)

      by Giggles Of Doom ( 267141 )
      The reason there is no column for noise is due to the fact that there is very, very little info on it. Sure, many review sites will say "this one is quiet" and the like, but very few, and even fewer manufacturers, list actuall db measurements. And even if they did, they wouldn't measure it the same way anyway.

    • Shuttle - silent XPC (Score:5, Informative)

      by bani ( 467531 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:46PM (#7718339)
      http://us.shuttle.com/specs2.asp?pro_id=264

      i have one.

      The hard drive (Maxtor 4G160J8) is louder than the PC. And you can barely hear the hard drive.

      The heatpipe, massive heatsink, and temperature controlled fan help a lot.

      It WHOOOOOSHes for about 3 seconds when you power it on, as the hardware is initialized. Then it goes totally and completely silent as linux boots, and stays silent during heavy use.

      Shrug.

      • Quiet versus silent (Score:5, Informative)

        by Adam J. Richter ( 17693 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @02:31PM (#7718686)
        It WHOOOOOSHes for about 3 seconds when you power it on, as the hardware is initialized. Then it goes totally and completely silent as linux boots, and stays silent during heavy use.

        "Silent" would mean no noise. A PC can be silent when the hard disk is spun down and all of its fans are stopped and nothing else in it is making any noise. You probably just meant "quiet."

        I remember being in a terminal room at usenix many years ago which was full of Network Computing Devices X terminals, which were silent (diskless, fanless, no other parts moving or otherwise making sound). It was like being in a library. By far, the loudest remaining sound was the keystrokes from everyone typing.

        I like silent (as opposed to quiet), PC's, although I've only used them in practice as thin clients.

        When I see a vendor using the term "silent" to refer to a PC that is merely quiet, I consider that vendor to be a liar, and I generally can't trust them enough to be willing to do buy from them.

        I also buy a lot of quiet hardware, like big slow fans, aluminum cases so I can disconnect more fans and so on, but I try never to buy from vendors that call these things "silent."

        • under your criteria, your PC would have no hard drive.

          not a very interesting PC to me.
          • You can have a completely silent computer and not have to worry about "not having a harddrive" via the following options:

            1) Use a solid-state harddrive, very expensive but possible. No noise.
            2) Don't use a harddrive, use a fileserver. The fileserver would make noise but can be installed in a well-ventilated closet or even off-site if you have the bandwidth.
            3) Boot from a regular harddisk, copy necessary files to a ramdisk (shmfs in Linux is great for this) and then remount the harddrive read-only and spi
        • "silent" to me means, one that i can't hear *at all*.

          the SB52G2 fits that criteria for me.

          shrug.

    • On the subject of noise column missing, I agree with you. On the other hand, my desktop box at work is a Shuttle, and it's incredibly silent. So my first-hand experience on them is actually good.

      Granted, when the thing is turned on, it does give a huge WHOOOSH you described - but it's not anything on the motherboard. The hideous noise comes from CD-ROM drive that spins to its full speed and maintains that until the boot-sequence has gone far enough. Then it slows down and stays silent.

      Who boots their wo

      • Granted, when the thing is turned on, it does give a huge WHOOOSH you described - but it's not anything on the motherboard. The hideous noise comes from CD-ROM drive that spins to its full speed and maintains that until the boot-sequence has gone far enough.

        That is incorrect. You can plainly hear it's the power supply/heat pipe fan. My unit doesn't even have a CDROM and still makes the whoosh.
    • the older sv24 was indeed like a 747 on approach.
      i have an SB51G that is very quiet, and i recently
      got an SB65G2 that is also very quiet, altho i haven't had it fired up much, yet.
      the heat-pipe tech thing uses a single fan for the
      case and CPU, and seems to work rather well, at
      least for me.
      i have been very happy with them and would recommend
      them.

    • Anyone have experience with the SX270 noise levels, P4 vs. Celeron fex.

      TIA.
    • Just for another data point, I have the Shuttle SS40G and it's silent. The heat pipe sees to that. It's in my home theater setup creating no noise issues whatsoever.

    • I know some people who have Shuttle XPCs.

      I have a Shuttle XPC. SN45G to be precise.

      Then they turn it on. WHOOOOOOOOOSH like a jet turbine.

      After flicking the power switch, mine makes a 2 to 3 second noise that one could, if they really wanted to stretch to prove a point, call it loud. I don't. That sound fades and then the HD spins up and thereafter, the only noise I hear is the drive. It is really a quiet system- I think too many people hear the old anecdotes and perpetuate it to sound knowledgable.

  • Good chart... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) * on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:22PM (#7718115)
    I'll throw in a good word for the Biostar IDEQ 200N. I purchased one of them recently - my desktop has gone from a mess of wires with a big annoying tower underneath to a sleek, modern looking area with plenty of leg room, much less noise and less clutter. I realized that you can be a power user and you don't necessarily need 10 PCI slots and 5 5.25" drives. One DVD/CD-R/RW drive does the trick nicely.


    The IDEQ has nicely situation USB ports (2 in the front, and 2 or more in the rear - I don't even remember, more than I need). SP/DIF optical audio out, firewire out, again ports in front and rear. Everything you need is integrated, ethernet, pretty decent audio, even dual head-capable GeForce 4MX (I have an AGP GeForce4 Ti4200 card in here myself, since I do some real 3D work, and some gaming).


    It's worth giving a thought to. Will you really miss all that other stuff? If you live in a city apartment where your floor space costs hundreds of dollars a square foot like I do, and your desk size is limited by your small apartment, going SFF is definitely worth consideration. If you have a big house, lotsa room, or need to swap in and out hard drives and are the kinda person who leaves your case open for easy access, then it's probably the wrong move, since it's quite crowded in a little SFF case.

  • Sort by Volume Needed (Score:2, Insightful)

    by olddoc ( 152678 )
    I thank the site for their good work.
    My future SFF will go in a den where I want to keep the noise level down. Too bad there isn't a sound rating on these boxes. I do hear the shuttles are pretty quiet if you use a quiet HD and video card.
    • Saddly getting db levels for all the units is next to impossible. Very few review sites can measure it, and they wouldn't measure it in the same manner anyway. Same with manufacturers. I would love to have it in there though. If they all want to send me a test unit I could do it, but I don't think that's going to happen.
      • The SFFTech.com ST61G4 Review [sfftech.com] has noise levels from a few different SFF boxes, loaded with the same components.

        I do challenge the silent claim, and I own a Shuttle myself. It is quiet, but nowhere near silent. My G4 Cube with a liquid ball bearing hard drive, now thats silent. Of course my Shuttle does have a Radeon 9700 Pro making a decent amount of noise.

  • The Subject of the article... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stimpleton ( 732392 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:25PM (#7718134)
    is small form factor. Yet the whole chart gives no indication of size. Just features. If one is to say, find the smallest case, one must click on the detail matrix to drill down. A timely task At least replace one category for a one look size comparison, perhaps the number of floppy bays can go, as this is down on my list of 'must have' case design.

  • Other sites with SFF lists (Score:5, Informative)

    by armando_wall ( 714879 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:26PM (#7718141) Homepage

    Here are other sites offering Small Form Factor listings:

    SSF at HardwareCentral [dealtime.com].

    Shuttle PCs at PCs For Everyone [pcsforeveryone.com].

    And just in case you don't know, here this guy explains what a Small Form Factor PC [cubeowner.com] is.

  • Is this really a true statement? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Liquidrage ( 640463 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:26PM (#7718143)
    "With small form factor PCs, such as the Shuttle XPC line, becoming all the rage these days for office and gamer use"

    I got to LAN parties, work in IT, and I don't see anyone looking for smaller form fctors for gaming.
    Bringing a full size ATX tower to a LAN party just ins't that hard. Maybe if you're trying to take it on an airplane I could see the need. But otherwise, with all the heat and the size of video cards, I don't see small form factor being the rage in gaming. In fact I see the opposite. People wanting lots of room in their case.

    I dont go to big name contests or national LAN parties, so maybe I've just lost touch.
    • I got to LAN parties, work in IT, and I don't see anyone looking for smaller form fctors for gaming.

      It is possible you are just overlooking the systems at LAN parties. Last one I went to, people only really noticed when my friend and I stacked our Shuttles on top of each other. Then they were almost as tall as a mid sized case.

      But otherwise, with all the heat and the size of video cards, I don't see small form factor being the rage in gaming. In fact I see the opposite. People wanting lots of room in

  • needs USB type info (Score:5, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:26PM (#7718144)
    The Matrix shows a number for USB ports, but it needs to break down which devices have USB 1.1 and which have USB 2. This is extremely important, since you're not likely to have the space to add a USB 2 card.

  • non x86 small format machines. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by questamor ( 653018 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:28PM (#7718156)
    Anyone know much of the non x86 small machines or boards? I know of pegasosppc [pegasosppc.com] and their micro-ATX boards, and an upcoming (hopefully) AmigaOne that's a full G3 or G4 Mini-ITX board, and rumours of ARM Mini-ITX.

    Any PPC Mini-ITX boards that won't be lumbered with Amiga licensing fees?

  • Selection? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by JamesTRexx ( 675890 )
    All those boxes I've seen lately are just like the original(?) Shuttle cube. I don't call this a big selection, even if the innards are different.
    I'm still looking for something in the form of a slim rectangle (think of the shape, and colour, of the monolith from 2001).
    With mini-itx and slimline dvd players that should be possible.
    (and yes, I can't build it myself. :-P)

  • What about openbrick? (Score:5, Informative)

    by /.Rooster ( 54989 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:33PM (#7718208)
    Seems someone has not been doing their homework properly. Can't be an accurate matrix with products missing :( For those who are curious curious. OpenBrick Website [openbrick.org]

  • lots of missing info (Score:5, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:39PM (#7718263)
    To be really useful, this matrix needs a lot of additional information. I was looking a a small form factor case at tiger a couple of weeks ago, and there were a number of suprises you wouldn't realize just by looking at a chart. For example, while the tiger box has a PCI slot and an AGP slot, the positions were reversed. That maters, if you had intended to use a Nvidia card with the fan that takes up the PCI space (wouldn't work in this space). However, the tiger box did have an option (availability unknown) for a printer port connector, which is not mentioned here. And while everyone seems to be doing 6 channel audio (I find that hard to believe for these small boxes) I would like to know if any have game connectors, which have a serial connector, if the keyboard and mouse must be USB, and if any have a DVI connector for a LCD or if all just use an old VGA connector.
    • Many of the units have pictures of the back panel, that would show all the rear ports. Many of them also have pictures showing the motherboard layout, where you could see if the AGP is on the inside or outside. Yes, I know it requires a few more clicks, but it is a lot better then pouring around the web for hours looking for that info, isn't it?
      • Perhaps, but in some cases pictures are just not enough. With the Tiger box, for example, I looked at it and the mother board and never realized there was a parallel port option. I only found that by reading the literature. The port connects to a row of header pins on the board and goes to a unlabeled knock out on the back panel. You never even notice these unless you read the literature.

        In a computer that only going to ever accept one PCI add-in card, it's pretty important to determine as best you can wha

        • I'll be working on adding legacy port info this week.
  • I have an EPIA 800 mini-itx machine with all the fans removed. It doesn't get hot because it's only used as an X thin client. My laptop also netboots if it is plugged into the network and stops all fans and drives.
    Whilst in use, both systems emit a not-insignificant amount of noise from (I believe) their ethernet chips. I.E. when something happens on the screen, the network traffic seems to cause a burst of white noise.

    Does anyone know if it is possible to have a silent ethernet adapter and if so which one
    • I doubt it's the Ethernet NIC. My money would be on the screen. Both LCD adn CRT make some level of noise and that noise alters during display refreshes.
    • The noise you are hearing is almost certainly coming from your computer's speakers. What you are probably hearing is power supply noise. On the laptop, you are probably screwed (no space to fix it). On the ITX machine, you might be able to locate the power lines running to your sound card and isolate them a little better (get an EE friend to look at it).

      Mute your sound out to see if the sound persists through that.

      You might also try turning down the passthrough volume on some of your other sound inputs
      • Actually the problem could be amplified by speakers. I have just relistened to the EPIA 800 (from which I disconnected the speakers a while ago) and it does seem much quieter than the laptop. However, I can still detect a sound if I flood ping it from the server.

        > On the ITX machine, you might be able to locate the power lines running to your sound card and isolate them a little better (get an EE friend to look at it)

        My degree was EE, but mini-ITX boards have the sound hardware built in, and as I said
  • I see a computer:
    Biostar iDEQ 200V $189 Athlon XP 333 333

    It says it can take an AGP 8 card. So its good for gaming.

    What speed is it, relative to mhz? Because if its over 1ghz speed, thats all you need to game.

  • Small Form Factor - Here I Come (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mr_lithic ( 563105 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @01:52PM (#7718385) Homepage Journal
    I have been looking at one of these for a while. I make up dream configurations using the Shuttle Barebones system and then price out the components from Overclockers or TekHeads.

    They seem to solve a lot of problems that conventional systems are plagued with. Cooling a large box, noise generated by the cooling systems, space used by the server sitting under your desk. I was originally looking at rack mount systems but these Small Form Factor PC's have the added advantage of portability. Perfect for LAN Parties.

    In addition they retain standard PC components, so you are not thrust into the expensive world of laptop computing. I did that for a while and got tired of paying double for everything.

    Howver, currently I have the server under the desk. The major problem is the storage space of these boxes but if I can find an external storage system that suits, I am definitely going small form factor.

  • I'm looking for a motherboard in that size, but noone seems to sell those. Sure, I could buy a case, but it would be like buying a Ford Ka just to get your hands on the engine. Any ideas as to where one can get them?

  • Important Missing Info? (Score:3, Redundant)

    by InfiniteWisdom ( 530090 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @02:00PM (#7718440) Homepage
    I find it somewhat strange that a page about Small Form Factor PCs has no information on the DIMENSIONS!

  • matrix? (Score:4, Funny)

    by CAIMLAS ( 41445 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @02:10PM (#7718522)
    An error occured while loading http://sff.redlightning.net/:

    Timeout on server
    Connection was to sff.redlightning.net at port 80

    Must be a matrix of 0,0 then.

  • /.'ed already! (Score:4, Funny)

    by t0rnt0pieces ( 594277 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @02:12PM (#7718538)
    So which model SFF PC is their server? ;-)

  • dell optiplex (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sir_cello ( 634395 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @02:31PM (#7718687)

    Buy a commodity dell optiplex gx270 in SFF or even USFF (which mounts behind a flatscreen). As you expect with dell: very good engineering, always leading features and options, great support, etc. Buy from dell outlet and you get a reconditioned box (a couple of months old) still with complete warranty and couple of hundred dollar discount to the off-the-floor price. (Kind of equivalent to buying a car that's only 3 months old).
    • Who do I call to get great Dell support? Because I've had zero luck with those knuckleheads.

      They sent the wrong RAM stick to my sister for their own box three times. Why bother having a service tag number if it can't identify the hardware to the support rep?

  • Google Cache (Score:4, Informative)

    by theperplepigg ( 599224 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @02:35PM (#7718716)
    /.ed. Google Cache here [216.239.41.104].

  • Robotics platforms (Score:3, Interesting)

    by HeghmoH ( 13204 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @03:02PM (#7718938) Homepage Journal
    This is slightly offtopic, but not too much, so here goes.

    Anybody have advice for computers for robotics applications? I played around quite a bit with lego mindstorms, and I'm wondering if there's something similar but better out there.

    Here's what I'm looking for: something with enough CPU power and memory to be able to run a reasonable OS, like Linux or BSD, consume little power, and have good IO support. Bonus points if it has enough power to be able to run gcc so I don't have to compile my programs somewhere else. Some kind of wireless communications, whether 802.11b or IR serial or whatever, is a must.

    The best that I've seen so far is the stuff from Soekris, but I'd be interested to know what slashdotters think, if there are other good choices out there.
    • MIT's Handy board is fine for robotics. It is not wireless & doesn't run gcc though.
    • most people use basic stamps for their little robots. It can't run a "decent" OS, but I believe they have a module that allows them to receive radio data.
    • Look at PC104 boards.

      Most are around 5 inches square. With all basic parts there... add another card via the 104 stacking function and have Multi-port ethernet, or PCCard or or...
      • I second that recommendation. I used to be a firm believer in a combination of off-the-shelf PC for high-level functions and a low-level microcontroller for motor control, etc. PC104 combines the two, allowing you to pop on quadrature decoder, ADC/DACs, PCMCIA (for wireless cards or whatever), via either the ISA or PCI busses. The bonus is that there are also some great power modules that make it dead simple to power from batteries.

        The mini-ITX are sweet, though, and there are some good battery power so
  • Someone actually built a Windows XP box [mini-itx.com].

    Jesus, what a great time to be alive.

  • Paypal (Score:3, Insightful)

    by KidSock ( 150684 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @03:52PM (#7719288)
    I didn't realize how easy it is to actually pay someone with paypal. I have ~30 dollars languishing uselessly in my Paypal account. This guy wanted a meager 1 USD so I clicked on the little paypal icon and in literally 3 clicks the deal was done. This is how the web should work. Better yet, take 1 penny out of my Paypal account every time I visit your site 5 times in a week. After a good slashdotting that guy would get a nice bone for his work and I would make back my contribution many times in Yahoo! stock appreciation.
  • These folks [comptergeeks.com] have some as barebones systems (no CPU, RAM or HD).

    Click on the "Systems/Servers" link in the left column.

  • Nice and all but 2004 is around the corner (Score:4, Informative)

    by t0qer ( 230538 ) on Sunday December 14, 2003 @04:05PM (#7719397) Homepage Journal
    2004 PCI express will start appearing in a motherboard near you in limited quantities. As AGP is phased out (Intel and ATI will lead this initiative) PCI express will be phased in as the major video card interface on PC's.

    I have friends that come over with their shiny AGP radeon 9xxx begging me to go out and blow my money on the card. I keep repeating to them...

    No new video card till these minimum requirements are met.

    1. 64bit CPU
    2. PCI express
    3. Doom 3

    1 is here, 2 will be in 2004, and 3 according to JC will be here "when it's done".

    Are there any 64bit SFF boards?

  • I want a totally silent, small box that costs less than 200 UK pounds with just RAM and I/O ports for keyboard, mouse, and screen that will work as a thin client to a Linux server. Sound is optional.

    Does such a thing exist?

    TWW

    • Re:What about silent? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      http://www.lex.com.tw

      The 860 will boot via pxe as an x terminal
      $250 total

      gene at viewtouch.com
  • Does anybody make a small box for home router use?

    The consumer-grade DSL router appliances all seem lame. I'd like to set up a box running linux with a couple of ethernet ports, so that I can route between DSL, 801.11, and ethernet, with some of my own customizations.

    I could get an old PC, but they are large, noisy, power-hungry, and prone to failure. I just want some simple linux appliance with a couple of ethernet ports, 64 MB of RAM, and a couple hundred MHz of processor. It'd be especially nice if it
    • For $70 you can get a Linksys WRT54G and modify the open source firmware for it to add whatever feature set you would like, as many people are already doing. It runs Linux, has two ethernet ports (one with a 4 port switch), and 802.11g.
  • is a computer that fits inside of a standard keyboard (albeit slighly bigger than normal):

    http://www.cybernetman.com

    I've ordered one of these for my wife along with a wall-mountable lcd display. Given the system that was ordered, the prices weren't entirely out of line.

    When she's done, she can put the keyboard away in her cabinet (we made a model of it and tested this theory). Her desk stays clear.

    -- PhoneBoy

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