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Hardware Hacking Hardware

The Mini-ITX Project Revisited 117

Posted by Hemos from the coming-back-to-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "From the article: "Once my original Mini-ITX project was completed I finally had a chance to sit back and use the computer. After a couple weeks of general internet browsing, emailing, and so forth, I was able to get a better understanding of the system and a feel for its design. Knowing how simple my needs were, the Mini-ITX project computer was orginally designed to be as basic and quiet as possible. This meant no hard drive, no extra accessories- just a stripped down system. While this suited my needs well at the time, its lack of versatility soon became an issue. This meant it was back to the drawing board for a retooling of the Mini-ITX project computer. The changes include a new case, operating system and boot device, along with improved cooling. The new system was tested using Slax and then MEPISLite." Even better link is the site itself which regularly carries mods.
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The Mini-ITX Project Revisited More

The Mini-ITX Project Revisited

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  • slashdot SPAM! (Score:5, Informative)

    by BLAG-blast ( 302533 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:34PM (#13864658)
    This is just spam. Some how somebody tricked the /. editors (I imagine it's not hard) to link to a page full of advertising links.

    Lame.

    • This is just spam. Some how somebody tricked the /. editors (I imagine it's not hard) to link to a page full of advertising links.

      I agree with you and feel your pain.

      Now, send $5 to:

      Sorry Guy
      PO Box 1485
      Santa Cruz, CA 95061
    • I thought maybe Adblock was working better than I imagined, so I turned it off to see what you were talking about. Just a few ads on the side. Nothing obnoxious. What are you talking about?

      -matthew
      • Nothing obnoxious. What are you talking about?

        Layover/popup ads, which I find very obnoxious since they obscure part of the article. These are not popup windows, but some javascript/css over lays. They popup with an ad in them every time you move the mouse pointer over a link in the article. I guess it's possible your web browser doesn't support or has turned off the feature require for those obnoxious fuckers to work. Or maybe ads popping on text you are reading doesn't count as obnoxious to you - eac

        • I use Firefox with no features turned off (except for Adblock which, as I said, I disabled to see what the fuss was about). I saw nothing at all like what you describe. Just your average PC review type site with some banner ads. We are talking about the "retooling of the Mini-ITX" link right? I'm only pushing this because I am curious about the technology used to push ads.

          -matthew
          • We are talking about the "retooling of the Mini-ITX" link right?

            No, there are links embedded in content, dragging the mouse of those causes a overlay/popup. There are some other posts below complaining about the same thing. There where around a dozen of these links.

            I'm only pushing this because I am curious about the technology used to push ads.

            If you seriously can't see those really annoying ads, then maybe there are doing it to some people and not others. I got no enjoyment or information out of t

  • I really like how this NEXT (Score:5, Funny)

    by ciroknight ( 601098 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:36PM (#13864676)
    Article goes on about NEXT >>

    Showing off his awesome NEXT >>

    Mini ITX NEXT >>

    Computer NEXT >>

    • True, and it's even worse than that...

      Article [buy cloges at the gap!!] goes on about [you need cologne!!] NEXT >>

      Showing [buy movies at tower!!] off his awesome [buy toyota!!] NEXT >>

      Mini ITX [buy a motherboard!!] NEXT >>

      Computer [buy HP servers!!] NEXT >>

      • Nothing peaves me off more about advertising on the Internet than thoses horrible inline ads.

        That is until I found that the AdBlock extension for Firefox can block them. All you have to do is look at the HTML code for the page (usually at the bottom) and add a blocking rule for the ad service they are using.

  • Those dc/dc converter boards (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xtal ( 49134 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:37PM (#13864686)
    Has anyone been using them for any length of time? The one in the article is 60W, I've been using a few rated at 200W without problems in some of our boxes - but the longevity is always in the back of my mind.

    We've put together a few dozen silent boxes based off of compact flash / IDE adapters and have been VERY pleased with the results.
    • I've been using a 60W one (can't remember who made it) with my EPIA 8000 in my car for about 2.5 years. No problems whatsoever.

    • Epia Stability (Score:5, Informative)

      by dozer ( 30790 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:03PM (#13864896)
      I can only speak for the M10000. Mine has been up since powered on, serving files and mail under moderate load. 458 days uptime and counting. The only stability issue I know of for this motherboard is it locks up under extended DMA (i.e. simultaneously record & playback for 1/2 hour in MythTV). Apparently there's finally a a fix [viaarena.com] for this. The tiny power draw is just fantastic; low power bills and it stays up for hours even on my crappy UPS.

      I'm installing one with a DC-DC converter in my car this week. It looks high quality. We'll see...
      • I concur. The problem with the mini-itx is definately not with the DC-DC convertor boards. My 53 Wat power supply is not a problem either. It is running in server mode with a WD 250 GB HDD attached, no problem. I could use it with an additional CD-ROM as well, but I don't know what happens if I would use that combination for too long. Anyway, 15 + 20 is 35 W, so it would have some room left for a DVD-ROM drive.

        Now I am going to get one without a fan, because fans *are* a pain in the butt. You can easilly ru
    • Can these be used to replace the power supply on any desktop computer? I have a Shuttle PC where I'd like to try moving the PS external to get rid of that fan. 200W you say? Any recommendations?

      -matthew
    • Two years long enough? On 24/24.
    • I had to replace about 10 bulging or leaking capacitors when my M10000 stopped working after a year, and I am not the only one. So if prepared to do some soldering, you don't mind if your computer is down for some days while you search for possible solutions on various discussion forums, and you don't mind bying stuff from a company that tries to quiet down their quality problems, it could be a good choice. But I would rather buy a mini-mac.

  • Buy a MAC-Mini, call it good! (Score:5, Informative)

    by ankarbass ( 882629 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:37PM (#13864687)
    Seriously, until mini-itx motherboards come down in price there doesn't seem to be any advantage, imnsho, over a MAC-Mini. Factor in the time you spend dorking around with the miniitx and it gets worse. Oh, and just about every case I've seen is just plain ugly. Modded cases are like ringtones, even if you think yours is an exception, it isn't, they all suck.
    • Blue Plate, over at mini-itx.com, is one example of a tasteful (but large) Mini-ITX case.

      I agree that many ARE just plain ugly (yet, with Mini-ITX, they've usually still got some element that makes them interesting). However, some do look good.

    • Re:Buy a MAC-Mini, call it good! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MsGeek ( 162936 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:49PM (#13864792) Homepage Journal
      Yes, the Mac mini seems to have killed all the incentive to build VIA EPIA-platform mini boxen. They are small, they are quiet, and they have a lot more capability than your average EPIA Mini-ITX box. They're a little more expensive but they are less hassle. And hey, you get Mac OS X with it! I like Linux, I use it all the time, but it doesn't have the same kind of polish that Mac OS X has.
    • I bought all the accessories for a mini (monitor, PS/2 to USB mouse and keyboard converter, etc), but I never bought the mini (yet anyway). But, for a living room coputer, isn't a laptop with wireless the ultimate solution, unless you're doing some media center thing? Frankly, even then, I'd like to be able to google and imdb stuff on one screen, while watching another.
      • But, for a living room coputer, isn't a laptop with wireless the ultimate solution, unless you're doing some media center thing?

        I use a 1,6GHz centrino-based laptop & port replicator that I bought on eBay as a media center, with a Dazzle DVC 150 for video capturing. It is fanless 99% of the time, uses very little power, has its own backup battery and screen, can be used as a laptop after switching hardware config and taking it out of the port replicator, and it is fast enough. The only shortcoming of th

    • Re:Buy a MAC-Mini, call it good! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by User 956 ( 568564 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:53PM (#13864827) Homepage
      Here's the thing. My server at home, which sits on a static IP address, is a mini-itx based machine. It provides me with: web hosting, email hosting, storage, inside network services and firewalls outside access to my TiVo. Why did I do this with a mini-itx instead of a Mac mini? Well, there are several disadvantages to the Mac Mini over Mini-itx:

      • Noise. The mac mini will produce a lot [russellbeattie.com]. The only moving part on my server is the hard drive platters, and they are hermetically sealed and use fluid dynamic bearings. As hard drives go, they are whisper quiet. I've bought a lot of fans in my time, even some rather expensive ultra-quiet ones. Given enough time, all of them eventually get dust in the bearings and start making a racket.
      • Size. The Mac mini is small, this thing is smaller.
      • Heat. There is not a single fan running on my server. The hottest component by far is the hard drives.
      • Power. This goes along with heat. The power supply's peak sustained output is 60W. I'd be suprised if the unit consumed more than 25W except during hard drive spin up.
      • Battery back up lifetime. This goes along with power. A standard consumer UPS will run this thing for many hours. It has survived 3 hour power outages.


      Put all this together, and I can hide the server in a closet and forget about it. Just need a power drop and two network connections.



    • Industrial / automotive + mac mini == broken mini (Score:5, Insightful)

      by xtal ( 49134 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:00PM (#13864873)
      Disclaimer: I'm in the business.

      One BIG advantage to mini-ITX is that they are easily put into functional, solid enclosures with additional power supply protection you don't find in the mini. The boards themselves support booting off of flash, and it's very easy to purpose-build them with no hard drive attached.

      You're not going to run a piece of industrial automation equipment off a mac mini. There's no reason you couldn't, I guess, but it's much easier to purpose-build something around the VIA board. A lot of the time, these things end up running DOS. There's no RTOS available for the mini I am aware of.

      We've done a lot of work replacing old tower PC's with things that can bolt into telco utility closets next to the PBX. With the via board, these are just drop in replacements.

      For the consumer that just wants a computer, the mac mini is very attractive. There's lots of other applications - like bolting a computer to a wall - where it doesn't make a lot of sense.

      YMMV, of course.
      • There's no reason you couldn't take a automotive-spec power supply and attach it to the mini. Now you won't have a broken mini.

        It's just amazing to me that somone "in the business" would miss this.

        Note to other posters below, yes, any Mac can be made to power up upon application of power. It's in the Energy Saver preferences panel, called "Restart automatically after a power failure."

        I do wish the Mac mini had a Pentium-M in it instead of a G4. It'd be a lot faster than the current Mac mini or a VIA Mini-IT
      • RTLinux doesn't count? Chorus runs on the PPC too.
    • Can I get two MacMinis into 1U of rack space? No? Then how does it serve my neads for low cost high density server farms?

      • Server farms? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by ackthpt ( 218170 ) *
        Can I get two MacMinis into 1U of rack space? No? Then how does it serve my neads for low cost high density server farms?

        Why don't you grow up and just buy a dual core server and stop trying to use Most-Inefficient-Means? Mini ITX server farm, that's a laugh...

        • I concur.
          While I have a cluster of 10 24" rack mount units (each 2U, each holding two PCs) that are older than dirt, I cluster them for the sake of learning how. It's far cheaper than buying 10 xeon systems or what-not. In my case space is a non-issue, nor is performance. If you are serious about cluster computing then maybe you should consider something purpose built? As I see it, the mini-ITX is only good for front-ends to any given system.
          -nB
    • Good God.

      Why do you Mac shills have to tout a Mac product for every slashdot story not matter how tangentally related?

      The Mini-ITX is vastly more flexible then a Mac mini - and hence targets a different market.

      Want to run a Mac Mini off DC? Sure, buy an inverter and hope to god it doesn't max out its 240W PSU.

      Want to run a mini-ITX off DC? Sure! No problem, buy a carkit [elx.com.au] and away you go. 60W. No inverter needed. Power consumption more controllable.

      I'm not saying the mac-minis are worse then a mini-itx (they'
      • Not that I have an opinion here, but the Mac Mini's maximum power draw is 85 watts. Also, the unit itself runs on DC only. The power input is some nonstandard connector but I imagine there's nothing special about it.
    • Mini-ITX Boards are available with Dual CPU, HW random number generator, AES & 3des acceleration, dual fast NICs, and multiple SATA connectors....

      I can think of a few applications where this combination would roxor a Mac-Mini, even if the 2 CPUs together have slightly lower flops than the Mac-mini's single CPU.

      I was thinking of starting a company building special application machines based on these, but life got in the way.

    • Re:Buy a MAC-Mini, call it good! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by RAMMS+EIN ( 578166 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:11PM (#13864955) Homepage Journal
      I don't think it's the boards that are expensive. At least, I don't have a problem paying ~ $ 100 for a board that includes CPU, NIC, video card, sound card, tv out, and support for hardware encryption, random number generation, and maybe MPEG decoding.

      The real expense seems to be in the case. I can buy a decent looking ATX case for $ 20, but a real Mini-ITX case can cost a lot more. Then there's the PSU; I can get a silent ATX PSU that does the job for $ 15, but Mini-ITX fans often prefer PSUs that cost a lot more.

      Finally, last time I checked, the cheapest hard drive I could find was 60 GB for about $ 50. I'd be happy to have even a quarter of the size if I could get it at a lower price, but no such luck. Hard drives are also one component I won't buy second hand, because I'm fearful of head crashes.

      In the end, I ended up building a system with a VIA EPIA SP8000E, a nice looking black ATX case, a cheap QTec low-noise PSU, and an AOPEN DUW1608 DVD burner. It cost me about EUR 200 for the board, EUR 20 for the case, EUR 15 for the PSU, and EUR 50 for the burner. Less than EUR 300 in total; I reckon a bit over $ 300. I plugged in some old RAM I had lying around, and installed Debian over NFS.

      The system I built can't compete with a Mac Mini in terms of performance, but it's good enough for me, and it's quite a bit cheaper; and it would still be cheaper if I had bought RAM and a hard drive with it.

    • I would think... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by zogger ( 617870 )
      ...an old junker VCR case might be nice, pizza box form factor (set screen on top in other words), available free or for 1$ at most thrift shops. Take where the slot for the old tape was and use that for the optical drive access. I like the mini itx idea, just don't like those cubicle form factor boxes. They don't really fit anyplace that looks "right" to me, and I just as soon as not don't care if the power supply is inside the case, one less do-dad with wires hanging out of it to stare at on the desktop.

      Y

    • Re:Buy a MAC-Mini, call it good! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Wavicle ( 181176 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @05:21PM (#13866804)
      Factor in the time you spend dorking around with the miniitx and it gets worse.

      I don't know about other Mini-ITX modders out there, but to me if you factor in the time I spend dorking around with the mini-itx, it gets better. For me, at least, there was a positive feedback loop. I enjoyed mucking with the board. If I had the time and money right now, I'd do it again because of the recreational value I got from it. I still like to point out that my home server has a peak power draw of just under 25W - and that only occurs when the unit is powered on and the hard drives have to suck extra juice to spin up.
    • Seriously, until mini-itx motherboards come down in price there doesn't seem to be any advantage, imnsho, over a MAC-Mini. Factor in the time you spend dorking around with the miniitx and it gets worse. Oh, and just about every case I've seen is just plain ugly. Modded cases are like ringtones, even if you think yours is an exception, it isn't, they all suck.

      I disagree on the pricing. You should have no trouble putting together a complete miniITX sytem with a 1.2ghz CPU, 1gb RAM, 100gb HD, DVDROM, and cas

  • Advertisment (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mrtroy ( 640746 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:39PM (#13864705)
    Advertisement

    Another Advertisement

    More Advertisements

    And here is how i put my mini-itx motherboard into a NEW case designed for it *BUY HERE*

    ------

    This is news if you consider me taking a dump new...because its in a different toilet than usual.

  • Does this really deserve a frontpage article? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jgaynor ( 205453 ) <jon@@@gaynor...org> on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:39PM (#13864707) Homepage
    Step 1: Buy computer parts.
    Step 2: Assemble computer.

    I have three of these things (silent, flashboot, netboot - the whole bit). Can I get a frontpage article for assembling commodity parts as well?
  • Why does this get onto the front page at Slashdot? Am I missing something, or is this just another web page about building a mini-ITX system? How is this either News or Stuff That Matters?

  • amateur hour (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Wow, talk about an amateur. Here's my summary: Guy builds a small computer that runs off flash memory and uses a small footprint distro of Linux. He finds that he wants to run more programs, so he retools the machine to use a live CD. He's still limiting himself to whatever apps come with the distros he can find, rather than putting together the ideal (for his needs) combination of apps. He'll be happy for another six months until he puts out Part III of his ad-laden writeups, which will then be posted to /
  • when you can just buy a Shuttle [shuttle.com] or some other small form factor pc mostly put together already.

  • Weeks? (Score:5, Funny)

    by RapmasterT ( 787426 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @12:52PM (#13864811)
    It only took him a couple of weeks to realized that a PC with no hard drive and no CD was "limited".

  • Nano-ITX (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Nasarius ( 593729 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:15PM (#13864985)
    Anyone know what happened to nano-ITX? Is it still vaporware, or is there some hope of it being released?

    I have to agree with the other comments about how Mac minis are killing mini-ITX. I'm just waiting for a Pentium-M Mac mini so I can install Linux and use WINE. It'll make a great PVR/game console.

    • Re:Nano-ITX (Score:3, Informative)

      by xtal ( 49134 )
      They exist, but there are mad cooling problems that haven't been solved completely yet. My understanding is "real soon now"..

      They're not all that much smaller actually. The big one is that they integrated the DC/DC converter, so you just need to run 12V into the board. That's a big problem with mini-ITX if you want to put it in a small box.
    • There is a dual processor Mini-ITX motherboard [logicsupply.com] that I think uses the same processors as the nano board (but is really expensive!). Based on the fact that they claim to have the dual-processor boards in-stock, I'd say the nano's have some hope. The processors are at least working to some degree...

      Also, check out these Pentium-M Mini-ITX boards [logicsupply.com]. Small form factor Pentium-M motherboards already exist!

      Note: I'm not connected with that company. I just ordered something from them, so I was looking around
    • Nano ITX board [viaembedded.com]
      • Oh...kay. You post a link that provides absolutely no information about when the boards might be commercially available. Thanks. Really.
    • I'm just waiting for a Pentium-M Mac mini so I can install Linux and use WINE. It'll make a great PVR/game console.

      If it doesn't have to be a Mac, then a Pentium M mini-clone is already available from VoodooPC [voodoopc.com] for about $900 w/o shipping (Pentium M 740, Intel 915GM chipset). Much cheaper options will be coming soon from AOpen [digitimes.com], which supplies that case/motherboard to VoodooPC.

  • ...he was going to run his website off it. Nice user experience, click, click, crash.

    Bet the guy is using IIS too.

    Definitely a spam-tastic link btw, much as I like Mini-ITX stuff, if you we're going to link to an interesting recent mini-itx article, this one at http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3032138730.html [linuxdevices.com] [linuxdevices.com]LinuxDevices is miles better, 64-way Linux mini-ITX cluster... and it's silent(ish) too!
    • As far as mini-itx articles go, that one IS more interesting.

      However, so what.

      1) You don't need the cluster to be in the classroom for people to use it to learn about clusters. That's why we have ssh.

      2) If you want to talk about installing the software to build a cluster, two to four old cpus will serve the same purpose and you can just conveniently group students up by lab tables.

      3) If you want to talk about experimenting with parallel architectures, you need more i/o capability for things like hypercubes

  • Mac Mini (Score:3, Interesting)

    by misleb ( 129952 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:24PM (#13865050)
    Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Mac fanboy or anything, but doesn't it strike anyone as odd that this computer is still more than 3x times larger than a Mac Mini? And it is probably slower with worse video as well. Why can't we make a PC that compares to the Mac mini? Is it because of the assembled nature and not having specially designed parts?

    -matthew
    • The biggest thing holding back similar sized devices is probably the lack of a similarly sized CASE.

      The mini-ITX boards are only ~6.5 inches square while the Mac mini has a 6 inch square footprint.
      A small DC->DC converter attached to the side, and a laptop style hard disk and CD/DVD drive could probably fit in not much more space than the Mac mini takes up.
      Most of the very small cases still lay the power converter parallel with the motherboard, and right behind it. So instead of the 7x7-8 or so footprin
      • Why are there no cases that assume you will be using a DC-DC converter right on the main board? At lost of small cases are made specifically for EPIA boards, why not just supply a power supply that plugs directly into the ATX power?

        Also, not only do these mini-ITX cases have a larger footprint, but they are usually much taller than a Mac mini.

        -matthew
        • well, mini-ITX doesn't specificy the power converter to be on the board, Nano-ITX will bundle the 12V DC->computer power converter and the mainboard into one board.
          The reason I think we see cables and not direct connections for the PSU is simply flexibility. If you wanted to mount the hard disk or slim line CD drive as close to the motherboard as possible (to reduce height) a 2-3 inch high PSU sticking up out of the motherboard would be an obsticle. A cable potentially gives you the flexibility to moun
    • A Mac Mini is basically the guts of an iBook without a screen or keyboard. Ok, I know it's not quite that simple, but it's laptop-style hardware repackaged into a square case. There's no reason a PC manufacturer can't repackage x86 laptop hardware into a similar case. Mini-ITX is small, but it's just not minituarized to the same degree as a laptop motherboard.

  • Yeah but... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Spy der Mann ( 805235 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `todhsals.nnamredyps'> on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:30PM (#13865101) Homepage Journal
    Does it run Minix? [slashdot.org]
  • mini :P - I'll wait until they put the whole thing on a SD card.

  • I'm lost... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jav1231 ( 539129 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @01:49PM (#13865245)
    Why wasn't he able to install the flash card? Seeing as it was an IDE-to-CF interface, Linux should have seen it as the boot device, no?

  • Been there, done that, never again. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RatBastard ( 949 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @02:32PM (#13865591) Homepage
    I built three Mini-ITX systems, only one of which is still in use. I built a 533Mhz goof-off machine fo rthe living room, a 800Mhz server and a 1Ghz unit for my wife. The server and good-off machines were chosen due to noise considerations. The wife needed a new MB anyway. The server was woefully underpowered and has been replaced by an old 866Mhz Del Opitiplex I bought from the local government surplus and the full P3 kicks the VIA chip's butt so much it's not funny. I never did anything with the 533Mhz unit because the TV-Out is less than worthwhile. Those two units are in pieces in my closet. My wife is happy with her unit, plus the NVidia TNT2 PCI video card I tossed in, but her idea of demanding computer use is playing FreeCell.

    They are not bad computers, if you realize that they are slow as all get out. When used in the right environments (embedded devices, simple robots, etc...) they probably work well. They are not good desktop machines, however. On a price to performance ratio they suck. They are absurdly expensive for what you get. Especially if you add in the tiny cases. You can easily spend as much or more than a Mac Mini would cost and still end up with a larger, noisier and less powerful computer.

    If I decide to go down the tiny PC road again I'm going Mac Mini. It can sit there and stare in awe at my G5 Powermac.

  • I'm sure a cheap Dell laptop would do it. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gelfling ( 6534 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @02:35PM (#13865609) Homepage Journal
    Take a cheap Dell (or any) commonly available notebook machine. Break it open. Remove the keyboard, powersupply and battery. Remove the screen being careful to replace the ribbon cable or at least not break it. Take the now free main planar stick it in any random 1337 shell - toaster oven, fishtank, DVD player, retro 8-track, whatever you want. Stick the LCD display on that shell or something else. Attach a USB keyboard and mouse. Plug in.

    That's pretty much it for a 1.0 version. Later revs can include a DVD drive or any other peripheral that was in the original notebook. If you don't like the LCD screen just go out and buy the big screen you want and plug it into the SVGA port you already have on your anchovy-can PC.

    Remember all the ports and connectors are already there and if you want to move or hide them you can do that with some simple extention cables inside the case. Because once you remove the keyboard, the screen, the case, the battery and the powersupply your pc is not that much bigger than 10" x 4" x 0.7" including the hard drive.
  • I have been contimplating building a car-pc using mini-itx for awhile now. Does anyone know how they handle cold weather? I do not want to have to bring everything in and out all winter!! I doubt the LCD and hdd does well with major temprature shifts a few times a day!
  • I bought a Mini-ITX system a couple years ago. I think it had an 800 MHz VIA EPIA processor in it. Its primary function at the time was to play DivX movies which it did not do very well - it seemed the processor was a bit underpowered to do that.

    I would like to get another one to replace the system in my MAME cabinet. Before I subject the internet store I bought the last one from to another buy and return, can anyone tell me if an 800 MHz VIA EPIA C3 processor can play common MAME games smoothly? Woul
  • The Mini is 1/3 the size and 1/2 the cost and already runs a secure and stable UNIX based OS.
  • Queue the shameless plug.... I've been working with my advisor and a couple other students on a portable cluster [earlham.edu] of these things. We've got eight nodes in a Pelican box, and it's just small enough to be taken as airplane carry-on. We've finally worked out all the hardware issues (diskless booting, consoldiated power supplies, etc.), and now we're moving on to making the software easy to manage. Pretty sweet, over all.

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