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PC/104 Linux Minicluster - miniHowTo
coldfire writes: "At LISA2001 there was a neat presentation on a PC104 based mini-parallel computer. It seems that the how-to has now been posted, for the world to behold." From last year or not, this has some great pictures.
It sure stacks up pretty nice, I am just wondering if there is any heat dissapation issues when you have so much processing in so little space... lucky it's not running AMD.
First post.. mandatory w00t
geek page at KY speaks
What Is PC/104?
PC/104 (IEEE P996.1) was developed to fill the need for an embedded platform, which was compliant with standardized hardware and software of the PC architecture. Mechanically quite different from the PC form factor, PC/104 modules are 3.6 X 3.8 inches in size. A self-stacking bus is implemented with pin-and-socket connectors composed of 64- and 40- contact male/female headers, which replace the card edge connectors used in standard PC hardware. Virtually anything that is available for a standard PC is available in the PC/104 form factor. PC/104 components are designed to be stacked together to create a complete embedded solution. Normally there will be a single CPU board and several peripheral boards connected by the PC/104 (ISA) system bus. Often there will be a PCI bus provided by the CPU board that will accommodate PCI peripheral boards (this standard is called PC/104+). Overall the price point for a highly integrated PC/104 CPU module is lower than for a comparable IBM-compatible PC. However, due to the power dissipation constraints typically found in embedded applications, CPU horsepower is generally lower. For more look at the PC/104 consortium site.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
From the site:
Welcome to ERI, Embedded Reasoning Institute. ERI is a research facility in Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA. We explore Machine Intelligence applied to embedded processors and sensors in a network.
Can we call it "minix"?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Here's a similar project I did a couple years ago in case anyone's interested. It's a do-it-yourself backplane for those highly integrated full-length single board computers. I was able to make a pretty cost-effective high density cluser using a single case with nine PCs inside - eight single cpu celerons and a dual PII. There was even some room left over for laptop hard drives between the cards. Total rack space: 6U. You could also fit this in a deep 4U chassis.