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No, you get the little AC adaptor power bricks like laptops have and plug into that. http://www.logicsupply.com/index.php/cPath/40_64

I don't want a big, noisy computer next to my TV. I've priced out the components for making low noise small form factor rigs, but it seems that a Mac Mini is cheaper. Could it be used?

I haven't purchased from this store, but http://www.logicsupply.com/ carries pretty much the entire line of fanless x86 motherboards. I've been reading reviews for a while, and most of them recommend going with the actual VIA motherboard rather than third part brands with the VIA processor. If you already have a noisy envirionment, you can save a few dollars or get a few hundred extra mhz by getting a MB with a fan. The boards are still low power, but do require a fan that as far as i can tell is similar to what we had on 386s. This would be a reasonable option for a car PC where the car would produce more noise than the fan. They also sell car power supplies for the VIA motherboards. These will send a soft shutdown when the engine turns off. The will also do a hard power down if the sytstem hangs.

These guys are good.

Here's another 2.5" adapter@ $18. Most of the pcb on these adapters is to make them mount hole compatible with a standard 2.5" laptop hdd. I've seen and own smaller adapters, but if I were to mount them in an hdd slot/laptop, they'd rattle around in the dead space.

To my knowledge, CF is IDE:
"That is, it appears to the host device as if it were a hard disk of some defined size and has a tiny IDE controller onboard the CF device itself. " -from wiki of course. Since you're interested, know that CF cards have a limited write cycle. Unless something has changed recently using them as a r/w filsystem ensures they die earlier than they were intended.

A quick google tells me the Sharp Actius MM10 was a fanless crusoe based laptop. Here's one on eBay, currently $182 If memory serves, a 1ghz crusoe is akin to a 700-850mhz p3. The Crusoe was a sippin' chip, and that lcd is fairly small. Combined with a solid state disk I bet the battery life would be great. Also consider used fujitsu lifebooks and toshiba librettos.

-e

The VIA C7 does have NX-bit support. So a VIA C7 mini-itx fanless motherboard is almost what I need. Only question left is if I can put it in a case with no vents.

In stock at Logic Supply. In the UK, Mini-ITX.com claims to have limited supplies on hand.

  -Charles

You shouldn't have to wait for the drives to come out. Laptop drive controllers can address a master and a slave, they just don't have a slave drive connected in normal usage. I was just looking for an adapter to let me put a pair of CF cards in place of a 2.5" hard drive. (I can only find the single-card version in a 2.5" form factor, all the dual-card ones are for 3.5" mounting.) I figure, put a solid-state card in one slot and a microdrive in the other, and I've got a hybrid-drive laptop, right?

I just got rid of an old toughbook cf-25 that would've been perfect for this, as the drive mounting is gel and would easily accomodate an oddly shaped adapter instead of a regular drive. Or for the truly insane, a CF card piggybacked on a regular 2.5" drive! All I need is the ability to home-brew those little flex cables, and I'd be in business.

Five years ago I build my car mp3 player using a fanless 500Mhz Via C3 with a casetronic case. The really nice thing about the casetronics is that they have an external brick power supply that provides 12V DC to the casetronic. The casetronic itself does all the DC to DC conversions and unlike this new tiny DC to DC converter the casetronic is designed for 12 car operation. When I go out on the road, I simply unplug the brick from the jack in the back, mount my casetronic in the truck and plug it into the car's 12 volt system. You can find more about casetronic cases here:
http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/produc ts_id/416
One other note, an external timer circuit is also availble. When the ignition is turned off, the system is notified via the serial port that the power is going down. This allows my Linux car mp3 player to initiate a shutdown. After 60 seconds the timer circut automatically turns of the power to the casetronic.

There is a dual processor Mini-ITX motherboard 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. 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 their site recently. I'm pretty happy with them so far, but if anyone knows of good US Mini-ITX retailers I'd be interested to know who they are.

There is a dual processor Mini-ITX motherboard 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. 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 their site recently. I'm pretty happy with them so far, but if anyone knows of good US Mini-ITX retailers I'd be interested to know who they are.

Here is my first froogle hit but many others exist. Many modern laptops can boot from a cheaper USB flash device too, but an external gizmo may be undesirable.

We're using a bunch of hush mini-itx systems as firewalls/vpn gateways. Probably not the best systems for gamers, but for everything else, INCLUDING multimedia, these are sweet:

http://www.logicsupply.com/default.php/cPath/49

That is an awesome board. But where can you buy it? Found nothing on pricewatch.

http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/ 55/products_id/409

$325, though. Ouch.

You know, when I think "rackmount Mini-ITX", I think something like this.

I did this for several months, but the sound of the PC's fans in many cases interfered with the overall quality of the 5.1 theater. To really do this properly, you'd need a watercooled system, or one of these: http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/ 49/products_id/166?referrer=googleAd

Other factors to consider:

1. Running a PC 24x7x365 adds to the cost of the solution, as PVRs consume a far less power.
2. The sound of the PC's fan in ones family room 24x7 can grow tiresome quickly.
3. The inconvenient lack of a proper remote control cannot be understated.

1. About the same size as a mini-ITX PC.
2. Cheaper than a comparable mini-ITX PC.
3. More powerful than a comparable mini-ITX PC.
4. Prettier than a comparable mini-ITX PC.

That's pretty fucking impressive. It makes the Mac mini a very attractive choice for those who want a Linux-running server or media-center PC.

http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/produc ts_id/292

What about this .... direct from the site you linked to.

Hush MCE Fanless Media Center Edition 2005

Definitely a case designed for media center applications. Too bad about the price I guess ($2,600).

As for the SFF PC's aside from the Shuttle ones the concentration was on the tiny boxes for corporate use.

Here's a mini-ITX system that comes pretty close. info

Hush MCE Fanless Media Center Edition 2005

Definitely a case designed for media center applications. Too bad about the price I guess ($2,600).

As for the SFF PC's aside from the Shuttle ones the concentration was on the tiny boxes for corporate use.

Here's a mini-ITX system that comes pretty close. info

i priced a Mac Mini with all the upgrades, it came out to $1222.

i priced this at logic Supply:

Morex 3677 mini-ITX case Silver $85.00
VIA EPIA MII12000 Mini-ITX Motherboard $214.00
Notebook 2.5" Hard Drive 80GB $175.00
Panasonic Slot Loading CD-RW / DVD $99.00
PC2100 / DDR266 memory 1024MB $290.00
Microsoft Windows XP Pro with SP2 $175.00
Netgear WG511 54 Mbps Wireless PCMCIA Card $49.00
Combo Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers $21.00
Sub-Total: $1,108.00

note that the Mac mini has a slightly faster CPU (and i'm willing to bet the G4 will out-perform the Via Eden in most cases). the Mini has a DVD burner as opposed to a DVD-ROM/CD-RW. the Mini has Apple's wireless keyboard.

so, the Mac Mini price is at least competitive with other small form factor computers, if not regular full size computers.

in order to get something of the same size, you're going to have to go mini itx. the majority of the mobos in that form factor will be hovering at or below 1ghz.

if you want something that will perform similarly, you'd have to go for something like this. that's $175 for the motherboard alone, and you're stuck with intel "extreme" gfx and the p4m processor that you'll have to buy separately.

your best shot might be the pentium-m (not p4m) mini-itx combos. those are quite a bit more expensive though (i can't find it on froogle, but the company's site says 674 euros if you buy 100 of them).

with the via mini-itx solutions, you'll get good price/size. with the p-m you'll get good performance/size. as far as i can tell, the mini is the only one where you'll get price/performance/size, which is why i pounced on it right as jobs announced it.

This $500 Apple is still insanely overpriced.

GotApex? has a "headless Dell" on their site for $449.

This is not really a reasonable comparison. This Mac Mini is a super small form-factor PC. Try this:
Mini-itx system with Morex case

After I added the optical drive, upgraded to the 1200 processor/motherboard, upgraded hard disk to match apple, etc, I came in around $730. And that's for a PC with shared video (unichrome) that is still over twice the size of the Mac Mini, running WinXP, and looking about as attractive as a big warm turd. The Cappuccinopc web site has some PCs that may be a closer comparison, but they are also more expensive and include Intel Extreme video.

If someone out there made a 6.5 by 6.5 by 2 PC with a real video card and slot-loading dvd drive for 499, I would be all over it.

here's a few sites so far:

http://mini-itx.com/
http://damnsmallinux.org/store/
http://idotpc.com/
http://logicsupply.com/

so far, none of these sites(except maybe mini-itx.com) have a way to configure a complete system; mostly they don't stock all the necessary components.

oh, i forgot, "spcr.com" is actually http://silentpcreview.com/

Build an equivalent Windows PC. Here's the best I could do:

http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/ 29/products_id/114

Logic Supply 3688 mini-ITX System
- Power Supply Morex 60 Watt Power Supply
- Operating System Windows XP Home - English
- Motherboard EPIA MII 12000 1.2Ghz
- Memory 256MB PC2100/DDR266 RAM
- Hard Disk 2.5" 40GB Seagate 5400rpm
- Color Silver
- CD / DVD Drive Panasonic CW-8123-B Slotloading CD-RW / DVD
- Build and test Build and test this system

Total: $710

The Cupid 3688 is the closest I could come in price, size, and style. It's still bigger and slower than the Mac mini and is $210 more!

Same here. I'm very very tempted to go out and buy one right now. Sounds like a perfect portable desktop or server. It's actually cheaper than a similar mini-ITX box. I never really cared about the iPod or the big displays or the software...this is...*jaw drop*.

IBase MB860, Mini-ITX, TM8600 Efficeon.

$485 at Logic Supply

• Antec
• Silverstone - if getting an HTPC case, be careful to get one that doesn't have cooling problems with your CPU of choice. HTPC cases with higher numbers in their names are generally better at cooling.
• Travla
• Ahanix
• XOxide carries their own brand of cases, plus a lot of the other ones on this list.
• Arisetec (formerly Kanam)
• CoolerMaster
• Logic Supply

Logic Supply has these for $2,675.00. So, they're not quite so expensive... but, they are quiet (and expensive!)

Bill

I've already got a Via Epia M10000 board and memory and a seperate backend, so this is the toy I want for Christmas. Scythe e-OTONASHI Fanless Mini-ITX PC Case... mmmmm. That Nehemiah CPU fan is driving me batty because I think it's going bad, but it was way too loud to start with even with a variable resistor kicking the voltage down to slow it down. Then there's the case fan in the Morex 3677 case I have. It's a veritable noise factory. It's literally the only thing in my entire living room that makes any noise at all.

...here's one place you can buy these, as well as other low-noise/small form-factor stuff. No, I have no association with them except as a satisfied customer. (I didn't buy a Hush PC, but I got a couple of mini-ITX boxes from them that are also reasonably quiet.)

There was an article on this case/heat sink on /. a few days/weeks ago. While I think it comes with a 2.8 p4 you could upgrade if you like meat well done.

http://www.logicsupply.com/

These would make great MythTv boxes if they had more pci slots. Currently there are only two. It would be nice to have two regular tuners and a digital tuner in the box. They could also add an irda port to the front. Also the thing weighs 15kg or approx. 33 pounds; not something you want to trip over in the dark.

Logic Supply has a good selection for a few bucks less, and IMHO their site design is a lot nicer.

I was tired of all the noise from my machine and bought one of the HUSH ATX machines from Hush Technologies (from Logic Supply) and I'm very happy with it. It's extremely quiet; the only noise I can ever hear is a very slight one from the hard drive occasionaly. No fans at all.

You can get a quiet PC, you can find one here

You may want to check out the Hush-PC ATX. It's a no-fan, heat-pipe system that looks right at home on top of the TV. But it ain't cheap -- upwards of $1700.

I have no affiliation with the company, other than as a recent customer.

next? And at a massive 7.5 X 7.5, a damn-sight cheaper, apparently.

the board
power supply
ram