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New Nano-ITX 12cm Motherboards

Posted by michael on from the cute-and-cuddly dept.

Kris_J writes "mini-itx.com have exclusive pictures of VIA's new 12cm x 12cm motherboard standard they're terming 'Nano-ITX'. VIA have removed the legacy ports, moved to mini-PCI and SODIMMs and now a new batch of custom PC projects can be produced where previously there wasn't quite enough room for the motherboard. I already have an idea..."

13 of 439 comments (clear)

  1. Government doing the right thing for once... by Bame+Flait · · Score: 5, Funny

    VIA have removed the legacy ports, moved to mini-PCI and SODIMMs

    Good thing Sodimmy is no longer illegal.

  2. Photos? Don't bother. by zedmelon · · Score: 5, Informative

    The idea is pretty interesting. I can only hope that it turns out better than this article suggests.

    The pics are arranged in a three by three grid, but don't bother. Pics one and two are decent, three is okay, and nine is passable, but the rest are so blurry that once you've heard the board is 120 mm square, they're nothing you can't get from just viewing the thumbnails.

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    Mom says my .sig can beat up your .sig.
  3. Ah-ha! by tds67 · · Score: 5, Funny
    VIA have removed the legacy ports, moved to mini-PCI and SODIMMs...

    So that's where Sodimm Hussein has been hiding! It's now the mother of all boards!

  4. So please please can we have.. by adeyadey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Genuine cheap DIY clone portables/laptops with interchangable parts - if a component fails, you dont have pay the earth to replace it? Anyone have good links/experience on that? :-)

    --
    "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
  5. Woohoo! by CausticWindow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I can make that ammo canister pc come true. I could even make Linux run on my MP5!.

    Or what about using a US marines trooper helmet as a webserver! Or maybe I can equip a clip with a fileserver.

    W00t. My Death/Linux dreams have finally come true.

    --
    How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
    1. Re:Woohoo! by LookSharp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Roll your own notebooks!

      Where is the power circuitry? To run from/charge a battery?

      The controller to run a native LCD?

      Be sure to include some room for converters to step down the big IDE down to notebook harddrives and optical drives.

      Oh and that "1 GHz C3?" It has roughly the computational power of a Celeron 600.

      Feel free to invest $1200 in making one of these into a notebook with an LCD, but I'd just assume spend $1000 on a Dell 2GHz and plenty more expansion and connectivity options.

  6. Mirror here! by bazik · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mirror!

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    One by one the penguins steal my sanity...
  7. Re:Bring back the serial port! by capsteve · · Score: 5, Informative

    use a keyspan usb-to-serial adapter.
    that's what mac users have been doing for years...

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    three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
  8. Size by Txurlo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, that's exactly the size of a CD jewel case.

    Pretty nifty, huh?

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    Txurlo
  9. Better pictures here by EriktheGreen · · Score: 5, Informative
    Better pics of a nano-itx board from VIA

    Google - it's not just for breakfast any more.

    Erik

  10. More more info - Re:more info by bazik · · Score: 5, Informative


    According to this page, the shown Nano-ITX board got the following details:

    - VIA CN400 Chipsatz (FSB 200 Support)
    - 1 GHz VIA C3
    - VIA VT8237 Southbridge (support for S-ATA)
    - Mini-PCI on the back (maybe for WLAN)
    - 1x SODIMM RAM Slot
    - 1x S-ATA (one Channel)
    - 2x IDE (ATA 133)
    - TV-Out
    - 6-Channel Sound
    - DOC (disk-on-chip)
    - Size: 12x12 cm
    - CPU-Size: 15x15 mm

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    One by one the penguins steal my sanity...
  11. Slashdotted... by jargoone · · Score: 5, Funny

    I got a connection refused when trying to connect. Here's an ASCII-art mirror of the motherboard:


    []

    Man, that's small!

  12. Worst legacy PC item is still there. by Cheetahfeathers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They haven't removed the worst offender of the old legacy PC, however. The BIOS is still there. PCs need to ditch BIOS and go with something decent like openboot. Also, console on an out of band management line needs to be stardand, so you can administer things remotely or when the network is down.

    It doesn't need to be legacy serial, though that's what everything else uses. Put it on USB for all I care. Just make sure I can get to the system outside the network, and boot/reset/configure it from there.