Mobo for Vertically Challenged Devices 197
An anonymous reader writes "VIA is shipping an ultra-low profile mini-ITX mainboard suitable for flat TVs, LCD-panel computers, and other vertically challenged devices. The Epia MS uses a minimalistic I/O backplate and SODIMM memory for a slimmer form-factor, and is VIA's first mini-ITX board available with a fanless 1GHz Eden embedded processor. The board has several processor options, but they all include the PadLock Ace hardware RNG and AES encrypt/decrypt features that are now supported by the Linux and BSD kernels."
Oh no not in there!? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh no not in there!? (Score:5, Funny)
now we can install computers in the most ungodly places!
What, like in the back of a Volkswagen?
Re:Oh no not in there!? (Score:2, Redundant)
Or is the new model different?
Re:Oh no not in there!? (Score:2)
Sounds like the mean horizontally chalenged (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sounds like the mean horizontally chalenged (Score:5, Funny)
Theres plenty of room in a flat screen TV if you place the card verticly, am I missing something??
Yeup. The "al" in "vertically".
Re:Sounds like the mean horizontally chalenged (Score:2, Informative)
Words, lingo. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Words, lingo. (Score:2)
Re:Words, lingo. (Score:2)
Re:Words, lingo. (Score:2)
Thickness??! (Score:5, Informative)
Visually, i'm guessing that it is thicker than the 0.75" base of my PowerBook, but I'd like to know the real size...
Re:Thickness??! (Score:2)
ATX Connector (Score:4, Insightful)
Surely they could have come up with some means of side-mounting the ATX connector?
Re:Thickness??! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Thickness??! (Score:2, Interesting)
What perfect timing! I had a Netgear modem gateway die on me and its metal case is small (7" x 10")and sturdy. However, it's a skosh too shallow to fit an Epia 800 because of the serial and parallel ports (stupid legacy ports!!!!).
Screed
ummm.......? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:ummm.......? (Score:3, Funny)
[puts on his leisure suit]
Re:ummm.......? (Score:2)
You couldn't pay me enough to sleep under one of those. I met the guy who installed one like that for Shaquille O'Neil, and although he claimed it was mounted good n' solid, I noticed that the man never had his shoes tied. I'd never hang a 300 pound flat screen over my head in earthquake country, trusting that the guy assembling 500 TV mounts an hour for ten cents a day was doing a good job, and trusting that a guy who can't figure out simple shoelace
Re:ummm.......? (Score:5, Funny)
Very PC of you, /. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Very PC of you, /. (Score:3)
Damn misleading title
Yay! (Score:2, Interesting)
Nice little board (Score:5, Informative)
Could this lead (Score:5, Interesting)
Making a cheap version of this could definatly have market potential(esp. since you can control the hardware, it makes plug and play linux even easier)
Re:Could this lead (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Could this lead (Score:2)
I'm not sure that you know what an iMac is...an iMac has a lcd arm that is attatched to the computer WITHOUT cables(it is also adjustable). All you need to plug in 1 power cord(optionally keyboard, mouse and ethernet but you can get those wireless.) It also makes it very easy to transport between rooms or to put into a kitchen etc. The small form factors are nice, but lack
Re:Could this lead (Score:2)
Re:Could this lead (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Could this lead (Score:2)
I should have qualified that by saying a cheap linux iMac type device. Though the rumored G5 iMacs may be worth the money.
IE is certainly not small (Score:2, Funny)
and it doesn't run on linux either
Re:Could this lead (Score:5, Funny)
You just listed three things that are not true about Linux.
Re:Could this lead (Score:2)
While I completely agree with you, the biggest draw of the iMac to me is OS X. But I'd have to say that it would be cool to have an all-in-one machine with an LCD that was cheap, linux or OS X. The iMac is not cheap at 1200 dollars. The flat screen accounts for just 300-ish dollars of the price.
Re:Could this lead (Score:2)
You mean the Eye-Opener? (Score:2)
Firewall? Please? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:3, Insightful)
the fan on 10000 was quite loud until I used a resistor
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_cl_spec.jsp? motherboardId=181
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:5, Informative)
Epia CL [viavpsd.com]
I think they do listen.
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:2)
I could use a case large enough to fit a PCI wireless card, or I've noticed that some of VIA's boards have a Cardbus slot, although I can't help thinking that it isn't a good idea to have the 802.11b/g card inside the metal case.
I'm aware of the nice Soekris boards, but they are much more expensive that VIA's. It's just a shame VIA don
USB wireless adapter (Score:2)
Re:Firewall? Please? (Score:2)
Use a PCMCIA card with an external antenna.
You'd probably want an ext antenna anyway, for a base station.
Vertically challenged? (Score:2, Insightful)
Offended with "Vertically Challenged" (Score:2, Funny)
I'm a dwarf you insensitive clod!
Cool, but... (Score:5, Funny)
oh, you can put it sideways (as if the electrons would fall out)?
So it's a lap-side?
Am I missing something here?
Re:Cool, but... (Score:3, Funny)
My personal theory...
The layout and orientation of the computer can affect the speed of same. If the drives are above the processor the electrons going to the drives have gravity assist, so the processor reads faster (or is it the opposite? depending on the flow of electricity), of course when writing to the drive this is the opposite effect, so depending on the type of operation you're performing it'd be cool to see a computer that can ro
Um ... *vertically* challenged? (Score:5, Funny)
Buyer Beware (Score:4, Informative)
The CPU is barely equivalent to a Celeron 600, the video quality (s-video) is quite low, the control panel (Windows, sorry) for the surround sound is brain-damaged, and the tiny fan is much noiser than one would expect.
That board does not come with any sort of hardware monitor app, and I had to replace the CPU fan with a larger, slower one to cut down the noise to the originally promised "whisper" level.
Not a bad board, but if fails to meet any of the expectations it sets in its specs. Make sure to read the hardware reviews, and buy from a seller with a money-back guarantee.
Re:Buyer Beware (Score:2, Informative)
I bought the M10000 to build a small, quiet, reasonably powerful machine. Instead the box is big, loud, expensive, and doesn't support vsync! Grrrr!
Methinks these smaller boards just aren't quite there yet.
Re:Buyer Beware (Score:2)
unichrome.sf.net has the 2d driver (sources, and binary snapshots) and is much more up-to-date than what VIA distributes.
The 3d bits source is floating around for, but I've not attempted to build - the via_dri.o as shipped works fine with the unichrome 2d driver and the DRI-trunk modules.
Unfortunately getting all this checked in seems to have gotten
Money back gunarantee? (Score:2)
Re:Money back gunarantee? (Score:2)
Manufacturer warranty is fine, but the warehouse was one who sold YOU the product and it's they you are doing the business with. Warehouse can then deal with the people who sold them the faulty thing (manufacturer, or import company) and ask for compensation or whatever.
Every mail-order company (and yes, that includes
Hardware RNG and AES, huh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hardware RNG and AES, huh? (Score:2)
A firewall with one built-in nic??? I'd rather use a soekris board [soekris.com]. http://www.soekris.com/
Looks too familiar (Score:2)
Fanless? As in no fan? (Score:5, Interesting)
While there are indeed fanless mini-ITX systems, this ain't one of them.
Re:Fanless? As in no fan? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Fanless? As in no fan? (Score:2)
Re:Fanless? As in no fan? (Score:2)
Shame, onboard connectors... (Score:5, Interesting)
Via needs to get rid of all onboard connectors and replace them all with handy-dandy pinouts on the mainboard instead. Would make for some WAY easier modifications, as you can mount the connectors wherever the hell you want them and then wire them to the mainboard, instead of trying to force the mainboard into some awkward angle just so you can plug in the mouse and keyboard...
Re:Shame, onboard connectors... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Shame, onboard connectors... (Score:2)
I know, I know... But that's still two rather vital connectors. I want to be able to wire something as I please, which includes pinouts for both the VGA signal and the NIC. Granted, VGA pinout will be a nasty mess of 15 pins, but a NIC pinout would be only 8 pins... Maybe even 4 pins.
Re:Shame, onboard connectors... (Score:2)
The two on-board connectors are "high speed" devices, which don't like to be transported by a cheap cable/connector. Don't think about connecting a monitor via a flat ribbon cable to a VGA header as the signal will be messy. The only way to get a descent signal quality, it to use a solid connector and a good cable. Both of them are way more expensive than an on-board VGA plug.
I personally think their choice is well chosen. VGA/network is something you want on the back as it's ugly, but needed. Anything els
Re:Shame, onboard connectors... (Score:2)
it's been around for over 20 years now.
Fanless? Thin? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Fanless? Sometimes (Score:3, Informative)
See either chapter 2 of the manual [viavpsd.com] or the paragraph below the second photo of the motherboard on the Linuxdevices article: The Epia MS is the first VIA mainboard available with the fanless 1GHz VIA Eden ESP processor announced last February. The board is also available with a fanless 800MHz VIA Eden ESP processor, or wit
What ever happened to Padlock SL WASTE? (Score:2)
darn it has the CLE266 northbridge (Score:3, Insightful)
e.
Great Idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe it they removed the PCI slot and put some of the other interfaces along that side of the board they could truly make it an expandable thin system? Also if they upgraded to the CN400 chipset in addition...
* reasonably happy owner of a VIA Epia800 - mainly because I got it 20 months ago and it hasn't depreciated one bit since *
Proving Randomness (Score:3, Interesting)
Has someone really proven that the apparent quantum randomness is really random?
-Mike
Re:Proving Randomness (Score:4, Insightful)
The heisenberg uncertainty principle (which can be proved if you accept the postulates of quantum mechanics) means you cannot observe both position and momentum (velocity) of a particle exactly. If there are small errors in any measurement, it will be impossible to make a perfect prediction of the future motion - no matter how expensive your equipment is.
However, even if quantum mechanics is somedays proven wrong, statistical mechanics saves you, and this relies on basic mathematical properties rather than physical models: If you consider the 10^23 atoms in a gram of matter and take millions of random samples of their thermal noise (velocities) I think you'll agree that it's perfectly random for all intents and purposes - much more so than throwing a dice, which is considered random in normal life.
Nevertheless, in contrast to mathematics physics relies on models that might be incorrect, so you can never really "prove" anything in physics (apart from within the scope of a certain theory, like quantum mechanics).
Cheers,
Erik
The quiet and small PC movement (Score:5, Informative)
1U (Score:2)
'Padlock' -- Quantum RNG??! (Score:3, Informative)
Great idea, but I'd want to see some serious validation of the claim that their RNG is 'quantum' based.
In fact, looking at the report on the RNG operation (Paid for by Via) here's how it works:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/viac3/via_c3_padlock_eval uation.pdf "3.1. Entropy Source
The RNG hardware comprises two parts: a raw-bit generator that serves as an entropy
source and digital post-processing circuitry. The raw-bit generator produces somewhat
random bits which the design assumes will have imperfect statistical properties. The
post-processing circuitry then uses .whitening. and bit discarding to improve the
statistical properties of the imperfect random bits. .... "
The paper concludes that the VIA RNG is well suited, but says *nothing* about it's being 'quantum' based.
Sounds like some marketdroid really didn't talk to the engineering people before writing the ad copy for this puppy.
Yes 'Quantum' (Score:3, Informative)
Quantum Mechanism
The only truly random generator is a mechanism that detects quantum behavior at the sub-atomic level. This is because randomness is inherent in the behavior of sub-atomic particles.
A quantum based hardware generator is practical, with examples that have been used including:
the way digital tv and devices should be (Score:2, Interesting)
DIY laptops for soon? (Score:3, Interesting)
The first guy who will come out with a laptop-form factor chassis for those motherboards will make a killing, a bit like the "lunchbox" chassis of yesteryear.
We'll be able to crank-out custom laptops make to suit our desires without having to contend with proprietary crap which won't properly run [insert favourite non-proprietary open-source/subversive operating system]...
Re:DIY laptops for soon? (Score:2)
I think a formfactor FOR LAPTOPS needs to be developed. Lots of technicalities though - for one, we have to pick AXIOM (ATI PCI-E mobile graphics, also accep
My god...it's full of.....heatsinks! (Score:2)
weird (Score:2)
Also - can this thing boot from that CF connector? That's the problem with several of these things lately - no bootie from CF.
I'm fully intending to make a nice MAME box out of a system like that, booting a massively stripped-down Win98/ME hybrid off a CF card.
Re:weird (Score:2)
I don't understand this product... (Score:3, Insightful)
I also don't understand the "minimalist backpanel" with only a VGA, Ethernet, and cardbus connectors. Everything else ( all the usual suspects - audio, USB, TV-out, etc ) are headers on the motherboard. I'd be much happier if they made -everything- use sockets or pin headers on the motherboard. This way you could mount the motherboard and sockets separately any way you wanted, without having to have access to the edge of the board. I ran into this problem with one of my projects where I was trying to mount a motherboard flat in the bottom of a toolbox. The motherboard fit fine, but I didn't have room to plug the cables into the motherboard backpanel. This was an unusual project that is trying to be as small and unobtrusive as possible and keep all cables hidden inside the case, which is a tupperware type storage container. I would have loved to be able to plug all of them directly into the top of the motherboard. As it is, I had to mount the motherboard on edge with the backpanel facing up, because that was the only way I could get the room to plug the cables in ( VGA, USB and network ). Made the whole thing a lot bigger than it had to be.
DVD Playback Ability? (Score:3, Interesting)
Extreme Tech was decidedly underwhelmed by the M10000 while mini-itx.com seems to think is fine [mini-itx.com]. The mini-itx review seemed a little hand-wavy though.
Re:DVD Playback Ability? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:DVD Playback Ability? (Score:2)
the M10k (and presumably the faster/better MII12000's) handles DVD's fine assuming you have a software DVD decoder/player that lets you enable "hardware assist/accelleration"
*shrug* YMMV =)
e.
New Life for old machines (Score:2)
Finally those old Emachines E-One computers [nifty.ne.jp] can get an upgrade.
What about the heatsink? (Score:2)
The only interesting thing about that mobo is the elimination of the backplane, but what difference does it make if the heatsi
Re:What about Nano-ITX? (Score:2, Interesting)
Some of us want enough power to decode MP3s.
LK
ENTIRELY OFF TOPIC (Score:2)
Re:What about Nano-ITX? (Score:2)
Re:What about Nano-ITX? (Score:2)
Re:1 ghz (Score:2, Informative)
From VIA:
PadLock ACE provides world-class performance for the US government approved Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), performing cryptographic functions for securing e-mails, personal files, online transactions, and networks, including the latest high-bandwidth 802.11g wireless networks. PadLock ACE encrypts at rates of up to 12.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) with a 1GHz VIA C3 processor, more than eight times faster than the best software AES implementation from a power hungry 3
Re:Thinner yes, but on a diet? (Score:2)
summary: small, quiet, low power comsumption, slightly underpowered compared to intel/amd, but surprisingly usable.
*shrug*
e.
Re:Thinner yes, but on a diet? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Thinner yes, but on a diet? (Score:2)
What, like the back of a Volkswagen?
Re:not good enough (Score:4, Informative)
Re:not good enough (Score:2)