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Forgot to link http://pcengines.ch/apu.htm

I can highly recommend apu1d based system with pfSense. I've had it about 6 months now and it's been great.

I bought mine from UK based vendor LinITX.

Before that I had about 10 years Soekris net1408, which was fine until pfSense 2.00 came out since then it still worked but when you needeg to access WebGUI then it was dog-slow.

The last time I bought a dedicated device like this, I got a PC Engines WRAP, which is similar to the boards that Soekris sells. For about £100, I got a 266MHz AMD Geode (x86) CPU, a board that could boot from a CF card, and had 3 wired sockets and 2 miniPCI slots (with an 802.11g card in one), a metal case and a couple of antennae. That was quite a few (actually, almost ten) years ago.

The first search result has a similar kit for £139, which is a bit more, but if you shop around you can probably get it for cheaper. That includes a 500MHz x86 CPU and 256MB of RAM, so it will happily run most stock *NIX distributions, or something firewall-centric like pfSense.

I've used MikroTik hardware in the past to build wifi hotspots for customers. It's pretty easy to use, very friendly command line. You want something like this in an enclosure something like this. They're reasonably robust, and once configured properly, will do what you want (and a whole lot more should you want to change the setup in future) for a good long time.

Personally I've had huge success with pfSense running on either cheap Dell servers for high WAN throughput or embedded devices for lower requirements. The hardware is dirt cheap, the software free, and for me it has a far better feature set than any of the router firmwares you mentioned. It is FreeBSD based and absolutely rock solid in my experience (I've never had to reboot one in over 3 years). The out-of-the-box feature set is incredibly impressive but this can be supplemented by a huge choice of plugins too. Example hardware: http://linitx.com/product/12647 pfSense: http://www.pfsense.org/

I expect a netbook to be more expensive than a bare motherboard+CPU, there are batteries,PSU, screen, disk/ssd, ram, charging circuit etc...., all built in, and all of which cost extra. I don't expect to find a netbook that cheap

I grant you that. I just thought you implied you could get netbooks that cheap, but not the bare hardware.

That Atom motherboard sounds good, but what is it's power draw like? I heard that it's chipset draws loads of power. Would it really provide a benefit to a PIII motherboard? How does it compare?

To be frank. I do not know. I still have one P-III server running at my parents and we never measured the power draw. A quick Google gave me a review for the linked Atom board reporting 45W for the whole system. Most likely the Atom will be more powerful than a P-III system, but I won't really vouch for it. As said, I have an Atom 330 ION board, but under Ubuntu it performed horribly. I still need to try Windows XP to see if it's due to the software (drivers) or the hardware. Power draw seems better too.

Anyway, you might want to look around on this site a bit. I've never bought anything on it because the shipping cost are not in my favour. Since you're talking about pounds, it might be interesting for you.

I picked £100 because that is 3 times the cost of the current motherboard (were I to buy a PIII board+CPU new from storage stock) at my local.

Why would anyone do that? Take any cheap chip/motherboard combo and underclock the hell out of it. I did that with an AMD64 chip taken from a dumpster. Underclocked it to the lowest I could and the fan could be removed. Instant fanless system.

Yup +1 for pfSense it really is great. Run it on an embedded ALIX board like this http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12270 and for £100 (plus ~30 for compact flash and enclosure) you have firewall/router that would cost... well far more than £100 from Cisco or any other name-brand lock-in. I'm pretty sure an embedded chipset like the ALIX (500mhz AMD Geode) will do 100mbit full duplex without problems.

It is still a bit expensive to use CF, but CF usually comes with higher performance than most USB sticks.

There are DC converter board PSUs that fit into an ATX plug. http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_55&pro ducts_id=1101. No real problem here. I am actually more concerned about via spec-ing yet another quiet/compact motherboard without a mandatory thermals/airflow spec. As a result the first generation of cases will most likely be a set of completely horrid noisy boxes.

If you want freeview going through a pc (the DIY part) then get a freeview pci card or usb box and plug it in. You can use Myth on Linux, or various solutions on Windows XP such MS Media centre, Media Portal, (I was going to add Meedio, but it seems they've been bought out by Yahoo), Snapstreams "Beyond TV".

If you're on linux, then you could use the Hardware compatibility list at LinuxQuestions to help in choosing a card.

There is a nice selection of DVB-T cards available at DVBSHOP in Germany, which I have used, and they are pretty good with quick orders. They also sell Common Interfaces for some of the DVB-T cards so you can add a TopUp TV CAM and smart card and get subscriber stuff.

Ok, so you have to build the box yourself, but that's DIY for ya !

If you can be bothered, here's a list of my media centre related bookmarks -

Bookmarks

media centre

If you want freeview going through a pc (the DIY part) then get a freeview pci card or usb box and plug it in. You can use Myth on Linux, or various solutions on Windows XP such MS Media centre, Media Portal, (I was going to add Meedio, but it seems they've been bought out by Yahoo), Snapstreams "Beyond TV".

If you're on linux, then you could use the Hardware compatibility list at LinuxQuestions to help in choosing a card.

There is a nice selection of DVB-T cards available at DVBSHOP in Germany, which I have used, and they are pretty good with quick orders. They also sell Common Interfaces for some of the DVB-T cards so you can add a TopUp TV CAM and smart card and get subscriber stuff.

Ok, so you have to build the box yourself, but that's DIY for ya !

If you can be bothered, here's a list of my media centre related bookmarks -

Bookmarks

media centre

OK, fine, when it will hit http://www.linitx.com/ or http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/ or some other place where I can actually buy it. Or this is expoware same as their SMP Eden platform. I have been waiting for them to ship it for god knows how long now as it is exactly what I need to build a cost/power effective SMP development/testing rig for the developers where I work now.

The main appeal to me was that with the e-Otonashi case, I can run the system completely fanless. I was originally planning to tear out the HD and replace it with a 512MB compact flash, but after hearing (or rather not hearing) the system in action I decided to use the compact flash for my digital camera instead - I can barely notice the HD when the disk is heavily trashing and I'm reasonably close to the machine, but even then it's quieter than my old Sony DVD player.

Word of warning though: Setting up Linux on the VIA Mini-ITX boards can be a real pain. Getting the basic stuff up and running is trivial (For people in the UK I can recommend LinItx.com - they delivered my system quickly and with Fedora Core 1 pre-installed, but getting the best out of the TV out and hardware MPEG2 decoder was painful (thanks to VIA not being particularly forthcoming with specs) when I did it a few months ago.

has low MHz rating - needs less power

has no fan - is silent

takes a flash memory - no need for hard disk (yet more silent and low power)

There are also models with more than 1 NIC - great for firewalls

Also see here. Or here.

has low MHz rating - needs less power

has no fan - is silent

takes a flash memory - no need for hard disk (yet more silent and low power)

There are also models with more than 1 NIC - great for firewalls

Also see here. Or here.

Go buy 4 QUAD NICs like the D-Link DFE-580TX. Then you have 16 NICs in 4 slots...

Those in Northern Ireland will know that the biggest problem for us is pp charges. To help with this i've compiled a wee list of shops and charges usually for something small and light like an ethernet card. Sorry if any of it is wrong - if so please contact the site and let them know that they need to make it clearer.

• CCL Computers Online 10 extra. 3.95 for small order 7.50 large all + VAT
• Insight Direct 19.99
• MicroWarehouse claim they don't ship outside uk mainland
• SavaStore 15 + VAT extra
• Scan Computers UK citylink so expensive - they quote 7 + VAT for non-NI will contact you for exact pricing
• Simply Computers 12.95 + VAT
• Overclockers UK 3.48 + VAT 2nd class recorded
• ebuyer 15 surcharge on NI p&p
• Komplett.co.uk approx 10 p&p
• aria .co. uk 11.95 + VAT for under 8KG
• Novatech 15 extra p&p
• Kustom PCs
• Tekheads.co.uk RM Recorded from 2.85
• mini-itx.com 8 - 12 +VAT
• LinITX.com 2.39 recorded or 6.05 next day special (+ VAT i think)
• TheCoolingShop.com free delivery on orders over 4 but under 2KG - over 2KG = 20
• PC Nextday 17.61 inc. VAT next day
• Leapfrog Computers Ltd 6.90 + VAT
• Chillblast 1.18 inc VAT recorded 5.29 special
• Stuff-uk.net under 100g 3.75, under 500g 4.05, under 1KG 5.25, under 3KG 6.60, large over 1KG 10.50, all + VAT
• CaseTech.co.uk from 2.95 based on weight for 3-4 day courier. guess + VAT
• Crucial UK over 25 free p&p. under 25 2.95
• Over-Clock UK from 1.42 2nd class post to 4.59 citylink
• Micro Direct Ltd. 17.63 inc. VAT
• Carrera SSC 64 for complete system
• MESH Computers 20 inc. VAT
• dabs.com 5.88 inc. VAT extra

Up to 4 pcs in a *single* 1U rack for a sensible price. Yes, you read right. And they're a UK outfit which should help. Linitx.com

Well, racks of PCs are heavy, and noisy, and it's going to cost you a packet to ship them to the states (make sure you take the HDs out first, and package them up properly).
If you can get away with it, you should consider using something like these:
http://linitx.com/index.php?cPath=14
If not, then the only rack-mount machines that are worth purchasing IMHO are these:
http://www.rackable.com
I've deployed about 35 of these, and they do nearly everything right - price, performance, remote management, footprint, service. I've used Dell, HP, IBM, Gigabyte and others, but only Rackable seem to really know what they are doing at a decent price. Highly recomended.

you mean like this??

The answer to this is...

Yes! (2) and Yes! (4)

The answer to this is...

Yes! (2) and Yes! (4)

http://linitx.com/index.php?cPath=12_41

worldwide shipping

Not really.

Not really what?

Even one of those el-cheapo $199 things from Walmart or an old Celeron or P3 would give this thing a run for its money.

Understandable. And at $1,150 (I couldn't get to the site to the see the price) - it's not worth it. But the small size interests me. I don't want to have another Desktop case or Mid Tower in my house. I have enough of them already.

Check out the LIGHT book size PC - can get it fanless, can use DOC or compact flash, has option of three Realtek 10/100 or two Intel 10/100 and one Intel 10/100/1000 ethernet ports.

clicky

I believe you can even get them with DSL modems or 802.11b wireless inside.

I just built my first Mini-ITX based system this past weekend. I didn't go for a custom case-mod, though. Got a nice 1U Mini-ITX rackmount case that fits a laptop CDROM and a 120GB WD Caviar Special Edition hard disk just perfectly. Since this one will probably be co-located (once I get FreeBSD running properly on it) it will make a great fileserver. You don't need good onboard sound or video if you're running headless, and mine is an EPIA V8000 with an 800mhz processor and it handles FTP and Samba with ease. Nice and inexpensive to build the whole thing, too, the case was a bit pricey (overseas shipping, ouch!) and I had the hard disk and memory already. It's not a custom case-mod, so it's not much to brag about, but the Mini-ITX serves its purpose well.

The so-called Mini-ITX servers, which have possibly already been mentioned on Slashdot, are one way to go if this is what you're looking for.

They're like a regular PC, but in a much smaller box (perhaps the size of two 5.25" CD-ROM drives stacked on top of each other), and are often fanless (no, that doesn't mean they overheat, it means they're designed not to need one...), resulting in much less noise and much less power consumption. Many are cheap, and they make ideal Linux/BSD boxes for all kinds of things - web/mail/dns/anything server, backing up your data (or each other), monitoring security cameras for movement, etc. Here's a few examples for more information:

Here, here, here, here, here.

Some of them do actually officially support Linux/BSD AFAIK, such as the OpenBrick and LinITX.com.

-Andrew

As far as the computer is concerned it is just another IDE device and will boot from it as normal. Even in the over-priced UK this comes in at under forty pounds. Less money and much less hassle than trying to boot from a USB drive.

I have the EPIA-600 /proc/cpuinfo says I'm a CentaurHauls at 599.723 MHz, and is quite nice. No fan, and plays MP3s like nobody's business. Don't know about video or X, see linitx or miniitx for more info!

http://www.linitx.com

Roll your own Mini box. Choose your own Distro. Install your own choice of DVD player.

I like the Idea of a Newb proof linux, and a Newb HTPC, but why is Joe Consumer getting sold short, because he isn't Joe Geek.

Doesn't happen in most home stuff.
Go into a HiFi or Audio Video shop, and they will try to sell you up to the best, even though the budget stuff is available.
In most computer shops they try to sell you the garbage at only marginally lower prices than the good stuff.
Or maybe that is just the UK

Although I can see that it has the same pinouts, how do you connect it exactly? I mean, the connector on the CF card is smaller than the connector on a regular IDE cable and I am not sure where should the power go and what voltage.

But connecting my CFs to the IDE bus sounds cool, so I would be glad if you could give some details :)

Use one of these to connect it to a spare IDE connector. The adaptor also needs power.

Unfortunately, I have not seen any similar adaptors that connect to a laptop style connector (with power) because if there where it would make a cool direct HD replacement for an older laptop.

I value very quiet computers so I use a 533Mhz EPIA (passively cooled) as my main workstation.

The case is a Chyang Fun cube, with the power supply replaced with a 60W DC->DC one. Instead of a hard drive I use a compact flash to boot an OpenBSD diskless kernel and then onwards everything is over the network to my disk server in the other room. Since the compact flash is only read for the kernel and never written to it shoulnd't die too quickly.

Result? No moving parts and therefore dead silent. It's very nice. All works fine under OpenBSD although I'm using a Matrox G200 for the graphics rather than what's on-board so I can't comment on that.

In the UK you can get this stuff from Ultim8PC and LinITX.

You didn't mention how powerful a PC you were trying to make. Mini-ITX (more here) exists for making a silent PC.

I'm assuming because you are running this at night it will be a server. If you're talking about a small load server you could even go with one of the Eden based EPIA boards. There isn't even a fan on the processor.

As for the power supply, the morex 55W at either of the aforementioned sites will power most EPIA systems. Rumour is there will be a more powerful Morex-like PSU coming out soon.

-> Fritz

Also linked from the Inquirer, these make use of the cheap and highly integrated mini-itx motherboards from Via Technologies. The case is a bit wacky but the motherboards are great for making little silent boxes for use as a firewall or low-end desktop machine.