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These and Centrury Sytems' FutureNet products have been around for quite a while in Japan, and they appear smaller than the micro computer in the original article. (But then these are server devices and don't have monitor or keyboard controllers.)

As even those of you who can't read Japanese can get from the comparison page, OpenBlocks comes with the Linux 2.4 kernel and FutureNet come with the Linux 2.4.10 kernel. (If they had a FreeBSD version, I'd retire the old laptop I'm using as a router to my cable modem. The price certainly isn't a problem.)

These and Centrury Sytems' FutureNet products have been around for quite a while in Japan, and they appear smaller than the micro computer in the original article. (But then these are server devices and don't have monitor or keyboard controllers.)

As even those of you who can't read Japanese can get from the comparison page, OpenBlocks comes with the Linux 2.4 kernel and FutureNet come with the Linux 2.4.10 kernel. (If they had a FreeBSD version, I'd retire the old laptop I'm using as a router to my cable modem. The price certainly isn't a problem.)

These and Centrury Sytems' FutureNet products have been around for quite a while in Japan, and they appear smaller than the micro computer in the original article. (But then these are server devices and don't have monitor or keyboard controllers.)

As even those of you who can't read Japanese can get from the comparison page, OpenBlocks comes with the Linux 2.4 kernel and FutureNet come with the Linux 2.4.10 kernel. (If they had a FreeBSD version, I'd retire the old laptop I'm using as a router to my cable modem. The price certainly isn't a problem.)

These and Centrury Sytems' FutureNet products have been around for quite a while in Japan, and they appear smaller than the micro computer in the original article. (But then these are server devices and don't have monitor or keyboard controllers.)

As even those of you who can't read Japanese can get from the comparison page, OpenBlocks comes with the Linux 2.4 kernel and FutureNet come with the Linux 2.4.10 kernel. (If they had a FreeBSD version, I'd retire the old laptop I'm using as a router to my cable modem. The price certainly isn't a problem.)

These and Centrury Sytems' FutureNet products have been around for quite a while in Japan, and they appear smaller than the micro computer in the original article. (But then these are server devices and don't have monitor or keyboard controllers.)

As even those of you who can't read Japanese can get from the comparison page, OpenBlocks comes with the Linux 2.4 kernel and FutureNet come with the Linux 2.4.10 kernel. (If they had a FreeBSD version, I'd retire the old laptop I'm using as a router to my cable modem. The price certainly isn't a problem.)

Names are pretty similar, but these are definitely better for use as a firewall - dual Ethernet for a start, and they run a lot cooler. A 200MHz PPC405 is enough for most network applications, and you can install a 2.5" HDD if you need one.

If you can read Japanese (and if you can't just look at the pictures), how about OpenBlockS?

It's tiny (look at the picture about halfway down the page to get an idea of how small it really is - those are RJ-45 ports), runs Linux, and you can fit it with a HD if you really want to (although I don't see why you would).

My favorite place for risers is Barada In Canada. The seem to have a fairly large selection of pci and isa risers. However, I didn't see any ISA risers under 2.4 inches tall, but some of the PCI risers (even old Pentium boards should support these) are very small.

Of course, if your case doesn't like side-ways cards, you will need to take your Dremel to it or come up with some other way to hack it together.

All of this is assuming that you are going to need the video output from your low profile setup. If you don't need a direct monitor feed from the box, I would highly recommend The Weasel and an extra serial port on another machine. If you read Japanese and have a currency converter handy, you can check out the product page on their distributor's site.

Perhaps you could share your design with use (the case in particular) so that we don't have to guess at your setup?

On June 29th, FreeBSD Services Ltd. announced release of a bootable DVD containing FreeBSD. You can buy the 9GB DVD at http://www.freebsd-services.com/. There has also been some discussion of selling a FreeBSD DVD at FreeBSD Mall. A Japan retailer is offering NetBSD on DVD. When will OpenBSD follow? I expect there will be difficulties, as Theo copyrighted the CD layout - that's why you won't find it on Linuxiso.org. That's too bad, as an OpenBSD DVD would be quite convenient.

Check out www.plathome.co.jp/rare/rare.html