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try www.idot.com

Well, there is a company called iDot, selling computers. Apparently, they've appended "pc" to their name, but it still looks like a misspelling of "idiot".

That's room for console access, small serial LCD & serial GPS unit. Hmmm..That's one extra serial slot! w00T. BTW, Axion is cheaper than Idot.

Having been looking to put together a HTPC, that case looked awfully familiar. My guess that it is just an EPIA (mini-ATX) system that you can buy, already assembled, for around US$400. And that is for a 1GHz C3 processor, otherwise the system would cost about US$350.

Sun Rays are nice, but you can go even cheaper if you get a low-cost PC ( A iDOT Lindows Webstation box, perhaps?), and Knoppix with the Encrypted Persistent Home Directory which you can save on a USB pen drive...

Amen and amen. This is absolutely correct: to my 70+-year-old grandmother, the Internet is not a loosely organized network of computers talking to one another via TCP/IP, it is AOL 8.0; even to my mother--who works (as a user) with mainframes every day--the Internet is being able to shop online. The only problem with your idea I see with it is exactly what you touch on: "a certain amount of customisation that isn't in the current distros." Even this is not insurmountable, if you own your own business and you're the guy doing the customization. But if you're not, what this means is that a) whoever does own the store is going to have to have somebody on staff who can do the customizations (and probably provide support, too), or b) buy them from somebody like iDot who sells hardware with a Linux OS preloaded (with what installed? does anyone know? Lindows 4.0 is all the site says on a quick search). Even in case b, you're still left with the issue of support.

Again, not insurmountable issues, but definitely ones that require answers.

"There have been similar designs in the past, but nothing with this kind of power."

Sorry, but smaller, equally powerful machines have been quite available for a while now. Notable examples include the SaintSong Latte P4 (specs here) and the Jadetec Micropc4 just to name Pentium4-capable solutions. In cases where a slower CPU will do, even smaller options are available, such as the SaintSong Cappuccino or Espresso systems (specs here and here).

The main unifying factor of all these systems is that all claim to be the world's smallest. Currently, the title of "World's Smallest Desktop Pentium4" claimed in the article title actually belongs to the Latte (above), which has a volume of about 1951 cm^3 (although the Micropc4 comes close at 1976 cm^3). The iWill ZPC in the article is comparatively huge, at over 2613 cm^3, although Shuttle's XPC systems are over 11000 cm^3, so the iWill is certainly a small system. However, while the iWill looks to have other interesting innovations as far as minimizing temperature and noise, it fails to beat the competition in both size and performance.

There is no sig.

http://www.idot.com/TheStore/Peripheral/motherboar d/default_itx1.asp?Cate.id=5

It isn't that much smaller than the iDot mini-ITX machines (I'm just a customer, I've bought a bunch for various embedded applications), which, by the time you stuff in some RAM you had lying around anyway are under $200. If you're going to spend an extra $295 for a display and a few buttons, going super small and super low power with one of the gazillion PC104 vendors seems smarter.

In my house we have two laptops with 802.11b that are almost always close at hand, so running the whole thing headless and just using one of those laptops with a web browser to control the media center seems like the obvious choice.

I need to finish up with code for the web server and media play control, but I've got some instructions on building one of these to boot off CompactFlash into stripped down Linux if anyone cares.

I installed FreeBSD 5.0 + IPFilter and I couldn't be happier. I use it to share my cable connection around the house. Best of all, it's right next to the TV and has S-Video out, so I'll be installing XWindows soon and using it to watch MPEG's, play MP3s, etc.

The best part is the thing only uses 5-15 watts, so it's super cheap to run. It's also totally fanless. Great little piece of hardware.

But from what the little blurb said, this looks like an excellent way to avoid paying for Windows and all the other bundled software that people don't want or need. Though the cost of parts and installation may offset this just a bit.

I know what you mean. I myself have been looking for how to avoid the MS tax for quite some time.

I think the best place I have found so far is called iDot

They won't sell you a machine with Linux, but you get $95 off the price of any of their machines for opting out of Windows Me (their default choice)

When I get ready to buy my new laptop (when my tax refund finally arrives) I will buy from them. Mainly because of this nifty quote in their FAQ:

Nobody said that you have to buy the OS from us with your new PC...

That is the kind of outfit I prefer to purchase from.

Not the kind (like Dell, Toshiba, IBM, et al) that ram MS down your throat whether you like it or not. Not to say that they sell bad computers. I have had a Toshiba laptop for 2.5 years (I converted to Linux only 6 mos. ago) and am very happy with the performance. But, I refuse to ever buy another computer preloaded with MS anything.

But from what the little blurb said, this looks like an excellent way to avoid paying for Windows and all the other bundled software that people don't want or need. Though the cost of parts and installation may offset this just a bit.

I know what you mean. I myself have been looking for how to avoid the MS tax for quite some time.

I think the best place I have found so far is called iDot

They won't sell you a machine with Linux, but you get $95 off the price of any of their machines for opting out of Windows Me (their default choice)

When I get ready to buy my new laptop (when my tax refund finally arrives) I will buy from them. Mainly because of this nifty quote in their FAQ:

Nobody said that you have to buy the OS from us with your new PC...

That is the kind of outfit I prefer to purchase from.

Not the kind (like Dell, Toshiba, IBM, et al) that ram MS down your throat whether you like it or not. Not to say that they sell bad computers. I have had a Toshiba laptop for 2.5 years (I converted to Linux only 6 mos. ago) and am very happy with the performance. But, I refuse to ever buy another computer preloaded with MS anything.

According to idot , you get a free dvd drive and free shipping with every notebook order. Thus I would assume because it isn't an option to add the optional dvd drive when configurating the system, that you would receive one with your order.
Or idot is BS and there is no optical drive for the Lindows Notebook.

Savage 4 16MB

From http://idot.com/TheStore/Desktop/787Spec.asp?Produ ct.id=787&Cate.id=2

Integrated Savage 4 AGP 4X graphic core (up to 16MB Video Memory)

Here is a link to the Idot website.

Here is a link to the Gearzoo website.

haven't purchased myself as they haven't released yet but the lindows subnotebook: no ms tax $799 reasonable spec check it here (no personal affiliation - just thought it looked good!)

VIA Eden my friend.

Built in TV-OUT (RCA & S-Video), Ethernet, and Line-out (converters to RCA available for ~ $5), as well as SPDIF if you don't need the RCA TV-OUT.

All available for ~ $100 w/proc. It's quiet. It's cheap. It's functional.

Throw in a couple old, otherwise useless, sticks of SDRAM... ditto on the P/S... build your own OS (it uses x86, so pick your favorite distro)... make it a seldom-write OS and put it on a compact flash card. Put a reader in it somewhere (you can get them inexpensively here)... presto chango, you have a completely solid-state computer that you paid < $200 for. It's got USB so if you want a WI-FI card, add it yourself. It even has internal headers for it so you don't have to have a dongle hanging outside your case.

FYI, I have one. I put a full hard drive in mine. Plus DVD player. Plus serial-port IR remote control receiver. Total cost was ~ $350, but a lot of the components have come down in price since then. I use Windows 98 SE with Media Player 9 and Real Networks One Player v.1 and it works great. The OS license was from an old computer that I've installed Linux on, so it was free. I even wrote a custom app to boot into in VB. It took about a day, and it lets me get to most of my common functionality easily, even when running in my car. It's also convenient (and snazzy) when I have friends over. Doesn't look like Windows, it looks like a high-end av component.

IIRC, Real Networks doesn't have a Linux driver and NFS doesn't have a Windows driver, so you may be SOL as far as compatibility on both of those counts... samba may be your answer. Or one of the unix compatibility toolkits for windows. Or if WINE is working well enough, that may be the way to go.

BTW, details and fun ideas about this form factor can be had at this link

If anyone is interested in my experiences or tips about this platform, feel free to e-mail me at the slashcode-guarded e-mail address listed above. I get lots of spam so if I don't answer within a couple days, try a resend.

Another source, which I just bought from is http://www.idot.com/TheStore/Desktop/555Spec.asp?P roduct.id=555&Cate.id=19 from www.idot.com. It showed up very quickly and I got a system with 128mb ram, 533 MHz Via board, and that nice black case. I got the ITX-PV Black ITX w/Riser Card & DC PS case. (nice black color, with external 12V DC power supply) Check out this link too, it has more pictures and a review of the case. http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/2677R/ Right now it's running ipcop (www.ipcop.org) with a second nic, as my DSL router. Soon to be reloaded and get a usb wifi card in it!

I keep debating whether or not to try one of VIA's mini-ITX systems from here: (iDOT Computers)

I've already got a micro-ATX case to accomodate a full size PCI board for capture. Odd how you can get a good micro-ATX case for $35, while the micro-ITX cases are so darned expensive.

Here is what you want VIA EPIA Mini ITX Mainboard Get the one with the Eden ESP 5000 processor, and it needs zero active cooling and pulls under 6 watts
Some people may complain about divix or DVD playback - from what I read, that is a legit gripe with the onboard video which shares main memory. It will play MP3s just fine. If you need high speed video, add in a hither end (but still passive cooling) PCI card.

It comes with onboard video, sound and networking. The video has TV-Out w/ Integrated Macro Vision 7.01, S-Video or Composite video output, Supports NTSC/PAL TV formats. Via has a link on the site to places that cary them

I haven't bought from them so YMMV; I'm looking at idot.com to get one to replace my mail file-server at home, since I hate fan noise, and burning power 24x7.

Up to 800mhz too! You can buy them here The ITX motherboard format is the way to go. Shuttle has offerings in the area too.