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Small Footprint Computers

Posted by timothy on from the cuteness dept.

Robert Cliff writes "VIA's Mini-ITX based computers have been covered in Slashdot before, but not by this company. This product is interesting because it is a SiS based, fanless 233 MHZ system measuring only 4.75 x 6.25 x 1.9 inches, and it can run off BOTH AC and DC. If you need something larger / powerful, they have other Mini-ITX based systems, which they claim is built "on same factory that builds the cases for many high-end audio products". These guys seem to be heavily promoting Linux."

7 of 297 comments (clear)

  1. SiS by Iron+Monkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    From my experience, at least with my vid card, SiS and linux don't mix all that well...

    --
    If my enemy's enemy is my friend, what happens if my enemy is his own worst enemy?
  2. Soekris by ziegast · · Score: 5, Informative

    Another company uses the same concept with more of a specialty for diskless firewall products and wireless. The have good support for OpenBSD /w hardware crypto acceleration as well as Linux and FreeBSD.

    http://soekris.com/

    -ez

  3. Advantech by pokka · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you want to build your own system, go to Advantech and choose "Biscuit SBCs". They have fanless, VIA-based 667mhz computers that are roughly the size of 3.5" Hard drives. The computers include almost everything you need: audio, ethernet, VGA, TV out, IRDA, USB, IDE, and CompactFlash support. The only things you need to do yourself would be finding/building a case and finding a stable 5VDC power supply.

  4. Re:I've been begging by i.r.id10t · · Score: 4, Informative

    Look into the PJRC MP3 board - http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/ . No need for a full computer.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
  5. 233MHz? Try 100MHz by tbase · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the "Details" Page: "For example, at 100 Mhz, the SiS 55x offers the same computational power as a 233Mhz MMX."

    --

    666-607: 6th floor apartment of the beast
  6. Re:I've been begging by throbbingbrain.com · · Score: 4, Informative
    Now all I need to tack down is the touch screen LCD interface for it
    Try a Matrix Orbital VFD. It's bright enough for viewing in direct sunlight.

    It's not touchscreen, but it works well and there's already Linux based software to drive it as an MP3 jukebox

    I used a VFD 20x4 display, an IRman IR reciever, and a credit card size remote control in my car. Works great.
  7. Re:Too bad by orpheus2000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The SiS chipset is the least of your worries for this purpose. You either need an MPEG-1/2/4 hardware decoder/encoder, or a > 1Ghz processor, either of which will throw your form factor off in various ways. 233MHz is pathetic for MPEG work (yes the TiVo has a proc about that fast, but it also has embedded encode/decode chips).

    The guys at MythTV have discussed this at length; there is just no small, quiet, cheap, Linux friendly way to make a TiVo. Sorry.