Slashdot Mirror
New Nano-ITX Boards Shown At Cebit
Subartik writes "The new nano-itx boards from Via have been shown at the CeBit show in Germany. It looks like it will be a suitable platform for all kinds of small form factor devices. See
VIA embedded and
Linux Devices for the specs and pictures"
An anonymous reader points to PC World articles about the Nano-ITX board itself as well as the first system which will include it.
Looks like the first system to be built with this chip will be precisely twice as long as the chip itself!
MODS: If you don't get it, don't mod it down.
I load up the PC World article on nano-tech and what ad do I see? That's right, an ad for ENIACS on the cheap.
hmmmm??
i can finally realise my dream of cramming a computer onto my bike!
"Man, all this biking has made me hot... AND BOTHERED! Time to crank up the ole computer..."
*switches on generator*
*begins pedalling very, very slowly*
"Ugh... all strength... in pedalling... motion. Not... enough... for hands... and wrists..."
Mini-ITX has some pictures here
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Let me get this straight. We've got ATX, Extended ATX, FlexATX, WATX, Mini ATX, microATX and now Nano-ITX? How is anyone suppose to keep this straight? What a pain in the atx. I will say this, these boards are getting pretty small. The article gave the dimensions as 3.7 inches by 5.9 inches by 6.3 inches. Nanode must have invented a debigulator.
Wow! This'll open the door for much more efficient/interoperable embedded computers! Just think about it: A more advanced Big Mouth Billy Bass!
MODS: If you don't get it, don't mod it down.
Somebody needs to write a Linux driver for that shit! That would be so badass. The Eden chip is sweet and all (low power usage, low heat emission -- so no CPU fan) but it's not nearly as computationally capable as Intel or AMD's latest and greatest. But I bet if the Linux loopback encrypted filesystem had a driver for that chip, it would fly in comparison to even the fastest PIII!
Check out www.mini-itx.com for more info on this and a soon-to-be-released Nanode design.
Oh, in anticipation of the inevitable Beowulf post, scroll down the mini-itx page a bit...
Well, mini-itx based rather than nano-itx, but still.
Nanode
Yeah - reminds me of the late past away EMachines (now Gateway) that soldered the CPU to the board.
When the boards get smaller along with PCI cards that are half-height then I'll show more interest.
A few people earlier today were wondering why anyone would need IPv6, since IPv4 "obviously has enough address space". Developments like this should pretty clearly demonstrate that that's not the case. It probably won't be too terribly long before even your fridge will need an IP so you can program your refrigerator to know when it needs to order more groceries and the like. And that's just practical applications; toy and game manufacturers are going to go nuts with this.
It does seem to have a mini-pci slot on the bottom according to this. This could make for one cool car computer for DVDs, mp3s, and GPS navigation. Low power consumption, low heat dissapation, and good performance for audio and DVDs.
As this picture shows it would be good for Suse users
Anyone know how they plan to cool the CPU? Passive or active cooling? I am not an expert on VIAs CPUs at all. Hopefully they wont be as bad as AMDs first 1GHz...
And are there any cases ready to deliver, that support this new "standard"?
Here's some pictures and specs from the Nano-ITX PC that Mini-ITX.com is selling.
I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude to these Nano-ITX boards. I think the long-term health risks of using these are unknown. There are some scientists that think inhalation of these motherboards can cross the blood-brain barrier. Remember the Slot 1 fiasco and all those babies born with appendages? Let your buddies go with the bleeding edge and if they don't sprout a third eye or six finger after a few months, you can start implementing safely (and cheaper).
Home PBX with Asterisk.
Part of a smart home security system.
DSPAM is one of these statistical filters (like spamprobe and CRM114) that can perform virtually perfect filtering of spam/non-spam you receive.
Now that you are free of spam yourself, may I suggest that you take it one step further and share your data with the anti-spam community; the WPBL project lets many users report the IPs sending them spam and non-spam in realtime using a couple simple scripts installed in procmail.
Our central database then publishes a real-time list of spam sources (the IP blocklist). Unlike spamcop, WPBL is entirely based upon automatic decisions made by statistical filters, 24/7. The resulting blocklist is already used by many ISPs; and you can also use it to block spamming IPs at your own server.
We already read the same exact thing, but in different words and headline over a week ago. This new article brings nothing new to the table except for a slightly misleading headline.
The's forum.**
** - Not that a 15 year old is less intelligent than anyone else, just young people tend to not have their heads glued on straight when it comes to business and law. Wisdom takes time to build.
That seemed like an odd comment, certainly they are doing this with permission from the record companies, much as iTunes did.
Of course it depends which way your head is up, or down - sometimes they go sideways in both directions.
Give MS a frickin' break....MS said there is going to be something like 40 *million* lines of code...
Just out of curiosity, I counted the lines of code (both c & assembler, all processors) of the 2.6.4 kernel. It is less than 5.5 million.
40 million lines of code. There's all the reason I ever need to not use it.
With 40 million lines of code, you never fix bugs, the best you can hope for is to relocate them to a really obscure place.
I had a problem with my '99 cavalier; the engine would drop it's RPMs by several hundred every once in a while; almost, but not quite, enough to stall.
Took it in to the dealer, they said 'is the check engine light on?'
'Nope,' I replied, 'but here's what it's doing...'
'Sorry,' came the reply. 'If the check light's not on, there's no diagnostic codes for us to look up. We can't fix it unless we know what's wrong.'
Something to consider about Japan and their rise in technology, is that since the end of WWII, they haven't had a military to take up financing, (or resources, or R&D, etc..) thus leaving the government, and the culture as a whole, to focus on something else...like business and technology.
"Why is slashdot determined to report every single trivial detail when it comes to Microsoft?"
They're trying to prove to the world that Microsoft is incompetent and evil. Those of us that use Windows must all be real morons who don't know shit, so they're hoping that by pointing out that Steve Ballmer double-parked we'll finally "see the light!" It wouldn't bother me except that it is generally assumed that my choice to use Windows 2000 wasn't voluntary. Slashbots think that Microsoft's monopoly put a Windows box on my desk at both home and at work. Yeah, there might be some truth to it. But seriously, if Windows was the big lump of shit that the people stuck in the past imagine it to be, I wouldn't be able to do 3D rendering on it.
I agree with you that the petty "anything that can be spun against Microsoft" campaign is childish and obnoxious, but in this case, it was nice to find out why Hotmail was down. It's also nice to know when the next big worm breaks. Slashdot's helped me stay protected for years now.
I just hope one day Slashdot will take Microsoft a little more seriously instead of the righetous BS that I need to be running GNAA/Linux even though my work software isn't running on it.
*sigh* This post isn't going to be visible for very long. Pity. At least it felt good to let it out.
... was mentioned a few months back in one of the magazines I pick up almost monthly (forget which one out of the several it was).
I think the shell was called dsh. I believe this is the project site: http://dsh.sourceforge.net/
Are the aims of this fault tolerant shell and dsh the same? I'm not a programmer, but I'm trying to teach myself *nix system administration.
Eventually I'm hoping to cluster some older x86 systems I'm going to get at auction together for a Beowulf cluster. It sounds to me like one if not both of these two shells might come in handy!
IIRC, that's basically what the Commission said - right after RealNetworks demonstrated how to strip WMP from the OS. I'm amazed MS even bothered claiming it - I can only surmise that (a) they have non-geek lawyers or, (b) "we tried that lie with IE, and the dumb judge bought it, so let's try it again and see if we befuddle those dumb Euros".
Microsoft (circa 2001): "With this new licensing model, you buy "software assurance" so if a new version is released in the next two years, you're entitled to a free upgrade"
Uh huh...I see that's working out nicely...
useless to me. No PCI, PCMCIA, or ISA slots? Seems like just a toy.
With built-in IDE, USB, sound, ethernet, and video, what do you need a PCI slot for? And considering the trend micro-ATX boards took, you can expect to see dual or quad ethernet and SCSI support within a few months.
Yes, I realize devices other than those three exist, but if you need them, you've probably missed the point of such a small board... Low power, passive cooling, quiet, small and portable... Loading it up with other toys (such as throwing in a high-end (and hot, and power-sucking) video card for gaming) kinda removes most of the advantages. If you want a "real" high-end desktop-class machine, you still need to get a standard ATX board.
And if you really need some expansion capabilities, you always have USB - You can get just about anything in a USB form these days.
I think the best answer the 'If nobody would by this stuff...' argument was:
Spam works on the level of 1 in 10,000. The general population contains a far higher rate of mental illness, senility, and retardation.
You'll never cure spam by 'education' of any sort. There are some people who are just too crazy or too stupid to learn.
how is this a problem? Everything is integrated. It would make a great car computer!
:(){
Thunderbird's latest builds have an improved spam filter using some ideas from SpamBayes, it's substantially improved from the older filter.
Exactly.
I am not a Nerd. I am a "digitician":)
What's the legality of An Anti-DoS Tool That Returns Fire? It sounds pretty vigilante to me, but what sort of laws would be applicable to it?
Merely my brief experience with Gentoo, when they first upgraded glibc (from 2.2 to 2.3 iirc) and broke half the packages, then downgraded it again and broke everything else. This is really a pet peeve: aren't minor versions supposed to be compatible? And a zillion similar but smaller-scale annoyances, well expressed by Bill Paul many years ago and the years haven't eased the pain all that much.
And BSDs are more likely to introduce binary incompatibilities
Clearly you haven't used the BSDs. You may have library incompatibilities between major versions, but just install the earlier "compat libraries" and you're set. I upgraded from FreeBSD 4 to FreeBSD 5 -- a huge upgrade, over 2 years in the making -- and all my software just worked, even complex stuff like KDE and Mozilla that had been compiled under 4.x.
I don't know what it's like in the US, but here in the UK, the cost of new PCs is making PC "repairs" uneconomic if the repairer wants to charge rates similar to those of plumbers and the like (to put some numbers on that, a typical rate for a plumber is 60GBP per hour, and a new PC costs from 300GBP, with monitor and preloaded copy of whatever the latest flavour of Windows is; how much work do you reckon can do in under 5 hours?)
Of course, this does discount the stupid and the penny-wise-pound-foolish, whom are probably the best cash cows out there for any business.
--
... Territo said. "It's like the difference between an Apple microprocessor and an IBM microprocessor."
Hmmh, and I thought Apples G5 Microprocessors come from IBM...
What about a Soekris ? It has mini-PCI.
No GNU has been Hurd during the making of this comment.
Seems a little techie for the cool, grungy Boehemians, reading their Kerouac. Where will they go?
Ah!!!!! Pictures. More pictures. I've been looking at pictures of these since NOVEMBER 2003. The puddle of drool on the floor is already deep enough to support a diverse ecosystem of fish. STOP TEASING US. When will these things be shipping so we can play?
A few people earlier today were wondering why anyone would need IPv6, since IPv4 "obviously has enough address space". Developments like this should pretty clearly demonstrate that that's not the case. It probably won't be too terribly long before even your fridge will need an IP so you can program your refrigerator to know when it needs to order more groceries and the like.
Absolutely. In fact, your fridge might demand an entire subnet. Smaller, cheaper boards drive appliance makers to a federated, modular architectures in which every new function has its own CPU. Your fridge might need range of IPs addys if it has an ice maker, RFID-reading intelli-chiller, home-message center, Kalory-Kounter terahertz sensor array, Phreshness Gas Sensor, Open-Door SMS alert sender, remote shopping list VPN website, etc.
Its just much easier to make a bunch of modules that sit on a network than create a bloatware central system that has wires for every conceivable add-on function.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
it would fill up all of soviet russia!
Here's some ideas:
-Homebrew $200 firewalls (routers, gateways, etc) with much, much greater capabilities than those little D-Link units.
-Personal NAS devices that, again, are mega-cheap and tiny
-home automation devices: c'mon, who hasn't dreamed of fully automating their house?
-motorcycle-based GPS system anyone?
-cheapass public terminal systems: incorporate one of these into an LCD screen?
-smaller tablets, laptops with longer battery life? Sure there's not much computational power, but if you're just doing surfing or doing office chores...
-add a single wifi chip/small antenna and you have instant access point. I bet Starbucks would love this idea. Instant, easy, cheap wireless internet.
Now, personally, I think these things could be great building blocks for doing distributed computing research. You could build a rather large network of these tiny things into a standard ATX tower, and have yourself a portable beowulf cluster, or hell, nice little units to experiment with distributed computing ideas. I can see it now: a couple of 8-drive HDD external bays, with each slot housing full systems!
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
Didnt see it mentioned how much these things will be.
If they are more then 100 bucks or so, they wont be too useful for the 'embedded market' they are trying to enter. ( plus they are still a tad too big and power hungry for that.. )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
As long as someone has the brains to slap two ethernet ports in it it'd make a handy firewall/router in a convenient itty bitty size. The box I have currently doing routing is an old IBM PC Server and it's so big I have to keep all my stuff away from it in case it undergoes gravitational collapse . . .
"If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
Would you rather plow the same area (an full ATX box) with one strong ox (a fast CPU) or 1024 chickens (these units) pulling the load?
I love the form factor but when will motherboard manufacturers as a whole produce something with integrated video that supports DVI for flat-panel displays? Integrated video sucks for games of course but it's fine for office work, and that's exactly where the sharp text from an LCD screen is needed most. The DVI port supports analog screens too, so why isn't it being used?
"Studies have shown that people who eat peanuts live longer than those who do not eat."
Oh, via USB (using a 4801 or a PCCARD in the 45x1 series) gives me digital audio out (thank you mr edirol)
Why would I want a PCI slot that was designed for rather large desktops anyway? It seems like a toy.
Were the nano-ITX to have a slot, perhaps somehting a tad more robust than PCI would be good. VME boards used to take quite a bit of industrial shaking. ISA would pop out at the least vibration.
USB looks like a grand interface - I can read lots of IO, A/D and IR via a festival of USB and rs232 ports all attached via one USB plug.
Not a replacement for an extra ethernet port, but one could always attach one of these
The main reason I'd want such a small board would be some sort of set-top box project involving MythTv or such like. Hence a pci slot is necessary for a tv tuner, well unless they start putting those on motherboards too (unlikely).
See here for a hi-res picture (warning, it is 600k ).
In case you were wondering, it uses laptop-style SODIMM memory.
I love when a new product is announced they get me all excited, I mean I would buy a couple of these tonight IF I COULD FIND A FRIGGIN PRICE ! People do generally like to know what something costs , unless youre buying a Bose Acoustic Wave radio, then youre better off not knowing what it costs.
I see it's got MPEG playback built in, but what's the real-world performance of these systems going to be? This is significantly smaller than anything that's gone before and it could be a pretty sweet device to sit under my TV... if it performs right.
Free iPods - now in the UK!
If you want a computer on a bike, you need not wait for nano-ITX :)
:)
Try this google search for lots of cool stuff on Steve Roberts, ueber-nomad. He has shifted a lot of effort to boats now, but I prefer Behemoth
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
ISA? C3s may not be high-end processors, but they deserve better than ISA. *laughs* ISA
So how's the Linux support for these babies? Last time I checked, Via's mini-itx boards had quite flaky Linux support, ie. binary drivers for redhat 8.0 only and other stupid shit like that.
I'm really interested in building a computer out of this, but if I can only use half of the builtin hardware due to shitty and/or non-existant Linux drivers, I'm not going to buy it.
Design a custom 4U case, and mount these blade-style in the case, each with a tiny little 2 or 4GB flash drive. I'm willing to bet that a 4U half-depth case could support 12 of these things, with a low-power redundant PSU to power the array. Get a 72U rack, fill it with these things, and you have 216 systems on a single half-depth rack, consuming ~600 watts of power.
Oh god, would I love to build such an array...oh baby...
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
I blew out my onboard video port once on a motherboard with no ISA, PCI, or AGP slots. Video cards aren't available as USB devices yet, IIRC. What would you do with a probably $100-$150 paperweight with just Ethernet/serial port connectivity?
Don't mention diskless terminals - how am I supposed to play any good game (except NetHack) on an 80x25 screen?
Because if any free Unix (sue me SCO!) will do OpenBSD already supports that (since 3.4, and way faster support coming in 3.5).
Here is an example.. www.tecel.com
PIC Boards are cheap too...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It has a mini pci on the bottom. I'm wanting to use one as a movix box - it's perfect with it's SVideo out, probably digital audio and - **WHAT I MOST LIKE** - Serial ATA which I've got on my other PCs and works like a dream. None of the Mini-ITX's seem to have Serial ATA yet.
Uh oh... now you've got me worried. What happens when a script kiddie hacks into my fridge and orders a million gallons of ice cream in my name? I suppose if it's a Microsoft Fridge (tm), it's going to need frequent patching. Or I could use an Apple Macintosh Fridge, which will be more secure but hold only a few kinds of food.
I had trouble finding this from the supplied link, this one works much better:
Nanode Computer
I can see getting one of these. Finally a PC with the slickitude of the Apple iCube, and NO FAN!
Oh, come on, get real! PCI is only a small part of the problem. I need an ISA slot for my EGA card. And no MCA slots either! Where the fuck will my token ring card go without Microchannel???
Next thing I'll hear is that it doesn't even have a way to attach it to my cassette drive.
I have been planning a tiny box since I first saw the specs on the nano-itx, back in September.
There is a proprietary mini-pci tuner card out, but it only works with another set top box.
There are USB TV tuners. I have seen mixed reviews of them. Seems the ATI one is best, but some people have issues with them.
I like having all the addons via USB. I can make the base box (MB, laptop HD and slim DVD) very small. If I need a tuner, plug one in. If I need another device, plug it in too. As long as it comes in USB...
Ahh, a pc the size of a large paperback.
Hmmm, maybe a new motherboard would be the right answer. Sounds like it was a cheapo to begin with.
I'm glad that 802.11 is becoming closer to a standard option on (esp. portable) hardware. The lack of external antenna options when it's built in is a pain, though: my fancy new wireless card with antenna jacks is cool so long as there's a PCMCIA slot to stick it into, but I can't use it in my iBook, only my x86 laptop.
I used to care about having a slot (or a serial port) for a modem, but nowadays, wireless and ethernet takes care of that even if it's a modem the data is eventually going over, because an external modem hooked to a base station is a more flexible solution anyhow.
What I would like to see in these things though is 1) a PCMCIA slot (or two); despite what I just said about modems, I have a couple of PCMCIA modems and ethernet cards, would be nice to be able to use them to extend a system and 2) CF card slot (or two), likewise, so I could use the CF 802.11 card from my Zaurus, could dump in digital photos without a dangling reader, etc.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
good excuse for me to setup an obsd box :-)
I, for one, welcome our new tiny form factor Overlords.
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
Throw it away and buy a new one. Did you just wake up and discover we've gone to a disposable consumer electronics society? If your TV dies you buy a new one. If your radio dies you buy a new one. If your motherboard dies you buy a new one. Be glad you can still replace the motherboard as a component instead of the entire computer being tied to it as a disposable item. Besides, $100-$150 isn't really a lot of money anymore
Any one know what size hard drive this thing will use? If it is a standard 3.5", they could drastically shrink it if they went with those Toshiba hard drives that are 0.85". Would also decrease power consumption too.
I see a market for these as portable testing tools. Like a FLUKE or something similar. Especially if they add a laptop battery to it.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Uh oh... now you've got me worried. What happens when a script kiddie hacks into my fridge and orders a million gallons of ice cream in my name? I suppose if it's a Microsoft Fridge (tm), it's going to need frequent patching. Or I could use an Apple Macintosh Fridge, which will be more secure but hold only a few kinds of food.
LOL! And perhaps Linux fridge would only accept plain-text standardized food found for free on the road side?
But the script kiddie/Home appliance problem might be worse than you think. What happens when a script kiddie turns the oven on to 500 degrees (remote controlled for warming food) while you are out. Wiping out the home directory is one thing, burning down the home is another.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Just what is available in mini-PCI format?
I haven't found more that wireless and lan cards.
Would be nice to see one of these boards with dual on-board NICS. Combined with a CD-ROM or Flash memory storage, would make a nice small Firewall system.
How about booting one of these off a CF card and running it as a silent Network based DivX player? No fans or hard-disk and it has a TV-Out! :D
*This isn't my idea. I just took it from Jonty, thanks mate.
Besides, $100-$150 isn't really a lot of money anymore
It is if you're a student, or unemployed.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Yes, it is. Some people aren't as well off as you seem to be. Consider the average wage in India - less than $5 (Am) per day.
PCI?!? ISA?!?! do you realize tjose slots are longer than the board?!?!? and your PCMCIA slot would take up most of the space on the board... What on earth is it really missing.. Its aimed at a multimedia device and seems to have most everything you would need to do its job... They have totally hit the mark of what the needs of the masses are.. But it does seem to be missing a game port :) but the kb/ms can do with some tweaking :)
But the real question is can it save you money on your car insurance!
Who needs WiFi when we can have Packet Over Sheep! http://datacomm.org/PoS-InternetDraft.txt
I once had the DMA controller on a motherboard go bad on me. Do you think that I've stopped buying motherboards without replaceable DMA controllers?
:)
Just because you once blew out the onboard video doesn't mean that every motherboard will have that happen, or even any more than a very few motherboards.
Besides, you're just as likely to blow a regular video card as you are to blow the VGA on this board - and that regular video card might just cost *more* to replace than this entire mortherboard!
If anything, I've found most computer hardware to be much more resiliant and hard to "blow" than I would have imagined. I've hot-(un)plugged just about every type of PC interface there is without damaging the computer (sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident). And if I went into the stories of things I've seen people do without damaging a computer, your eyes would probably pop out of your head.
The only thing I've had damaged by hot-(un)plugging was one particular model of monitor from one particular vendor. They weren't designed well, and they'd go "pop" quite often if you plugged them in to a running computer. However, that hasn't stopped me from doing it with some uncountable number of monitors, and no others have ever given me any problem.
Besides, don't tell me that you'd never buy an Opteron for fear that the memory controller in it would get blown, rendering the rest of the CPU useless....
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Cool! Now I can strip out some of my old laptops (like, say, the Itronix XC6250 with a tamper proof screw driver) and fit this nifty mobo inside. If I can just figure out how to interface the LCD display, I'm set. No longer will I deal with trying to conform linux to Itronix's slow board when I can get something else to run in their rugged casing. :)
Unless...you guys know of someone who sells rugged laptop chassis parts?
One more thing... whatever gave you the idea that diskless terminals were stuck on an 80x25 screen?
If you're thinking of a "dumb terminal", that's one thing - but "diskless" and "dumb" are two different things. There's nothing stopping you from booting into your full-fledged GUI on a diskless terminal.
Look more into the client-server model of X-windows. You'll find that you can even run your GUI very nicely on a relatively dumb terminal
Shoot, if these things are cheap enough, I've already given a good bit of thought to buying several to use as diskless terminals in my home. I could always buy some $50 clunkers from the thrift store, but they're big, noisy, and use a lot of power. These would be much cooler, in several different senses.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
>With built-in IDE, USB, sound, ethernet, and video, what do you need a PCI slot for? And considering the trend micro-ATX boards took, you can expect to see dual or quad ethernet and SCSI support within a few months.
I'd need a PCI slot for a Hauppauge PVR-350 card for a MythTV (http://www.mythtv.org). Small size, no fan, this board would be great otherwise for building a PVR.
I was going to put a sig here, but I had already submitted the message.
Q1: Can any of the via eden cpus handle a myth TV type of workload
Q2: Can any of these systems handle a decent SVCD and VCD mpeg2 hardware encoder board/usb plugin?
Q3: How noisy is the system (cpu fan, power supply fan, etc)
Q4: Any limitations on putting it into a standard audio/video cabinet - (heat dissapation)
Q5: Can a myth tv system be built with this for $500.00?
Q6:
And if you really need some expansion capabilities, you always have USB - You can get just about anything in a USB form these days.
Yes, and those "just about anything"s only work under Windows XP.
As other people have posted elsewhere, until these manufacturers start publishing complete specs or sticking to standards, they're pretty much useless for Linux and BSD users.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I'd need a PCI slot for a Hauppauge PVR-350 card for a MythTV (http://www.mythtv.org).
Well, technically, yes, you would.
However, USB and ethernet TV-tuner hardware exists.
Additionally, for your particular use, you need to consider the power supply... At least with micro-ATX, you usually also get a very weak power supply, on the order of 80W (though you can certainly get a bigger one, you'll start needing active cooling on the PS, and if you use more, you'll need active cooling in the case, too). Throw in a pair of monster HDDs, and watch the PS die.
I would also question why you need a tiny board for such a use - A pizza-box style ATX case fits in (physically and thematically) just fine in a typical AV setup.
So, I consider yours a valid point (I'd like to do the same, eventually), but I'd have to say that the combinations of non-motherboard harware available still make a plain ol' ATX board more suitable for use in a home-brew PVR.
Doesn't look 1 billionth the size of a normal ITX board to me. Should be about the size of a very small dust speck.
Apart from the possibility that the current production run is committed to the Phantom Game console (and hence no commercial pressure on VIA to sell to anyone else) this is getting annoying.
Run the box headless as a server. I did that with my SFF box. I installed linux on it, removed the monitor, and soley accessed it via my LAN.
not by the size of the Nanode or the nano-itx board but by the lack of Beowulf/Xgrid comments.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
What would you do with a probably $100-$150 paperweight with just Ethernet/serial port connectivity?
Ummm.... VNC?
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
The board is still 12cm by 12cm, the same size as the Mini-ITX form factor. The board is the thing carrying the "nano" designation.
Kriston
i can not wait till they release a version of these with 2x nic's, and preferably a real PCI slot.
i want to make an uber NAS/Firewall/Gateway which will be more friendly toward power consumption (and ears) vs my p2 system.
i am half tempted to just get the mini-itx CL, and buy a hardware crypto card, and take my chances and see if one of the PCI riser cards with 2 slots will work, so i can throw in a wi-fi connection as well... or sped half as much and get the original mini-itx board, and due w/o hardware crypto.
Troll, Troll, go away and flame again some other day
You wouldn't even need a game port, there are plenty of joysticks with USB connectors on them. In fact, I'd guess that almost all joysticks are USB now.
Dude! Why don't you just read the specs ?
It's got an MPEG2/MPEG4 chip, okay ?!
Q1: Yes
All C3 "Nehemiah" CPUs starting at 1GHz can do this. I assume, since I do not use MythTV. I use the C3 on a full-fledged server and used it for KDE/Desktop work for months. I had no problems replaying standard MPEG2/MPEG4. The EPIA boards have an MPEG2 decoder, the new ones will have MPEG4 in addition. The new CPU will be faster then the one I use.
Q2: Yes. Many people use a TV card with MPEG2 encoder on their EPIA systems
Q3: Noiseless if you cool it passive
Q4: No, people have done it with the even larger EPIAs
Q5: That depends on your skills and desired features. The Nano-ITX board *might* cost around USD200-250 at introduction. Got this from a sales-guy at a Mini-ITX shop I know.
Hello?? Fred?! Is this you?
No. You missed the point. Sorry!
The Nano-ITX is no match!
As for portable: It is too large
As for SFF: It is too small, useless in most occasions.
Nano-ITX is too large for portables. In fact, all this buzz about this board leaves me cold. Several companies in the IPC business do PIII based systems with all the interfaces of a generic ATX, plus two PCMCIA, plus dual LAN, incl. Mini-PCI for years. They are even smaller as this one, but not aimed at the mass-market. Sadly.
I am currently running a low-power, passive cooled qiuet and small system on a VIA C3 "Nehemiah". The availability of three PCI on the VIA C3M266-L ATX board (no AGP) allows for:
This is my "workgroup" server in my living room. Thus I built the case myself. I get a fax-printer-file-mail-web-etcetera-server with a seperate firewall and WLAN access-point plus fast and secure RAID-5 and the option to hotswap the fourth S-ATA disk (use it for backup), thanks to VIAs efforts in the low-power market. I cool it passive. It's noiseless ! I modded the PSU.
However, while I do not consider this system (NanoITX) as useless "noiseless" and "low power" won't be the features to sell this. Where I see it being adopted is in cars or boats.
As for noiseless: I am wondering where VIA keeps its C5P hidden. That is the same CPU core as on the NanoITX but was planned for So370 and SMP. I would love to exchange my current Mobo/CPU against a similare mobo with dual C5P for this application.
.Hello?? Fred?! Is this you?
Why don't you get an EPIA (same manufacturer) ? They can be passiveley cooled and come with 1x PCI. Price is a little higher, of course (includes CPU).
Hello?? Fred?! Is this you?
If you do not click on the adds, you are not doing anyone any favors either.
I do not own a credit card as a matter of principle. For this reason, products sold online are useless to me beyond brand recognition.
I have never purchased a product that I saw in an unsolicited internet ad.
Show me new razors, new toothpaste, new food, or something, and it might influence my purchasing decisions.
But beyond the essentials I simply do not make purchases.
Why don't you folks, who need a PCI just get an EPIA ? NanoITX is 120mm x 120mm in size. EPIA is 170mm x 170mm, can be cooled passively (most, some reuqire a little modding) and feature one PCI.
Hello?? Fred?! Is this you?
If I read the articles correctly, it has a mini-PCI slot on the underside.
What concerns me is that hardware manufactures add in special features, e.g., a mpeg4 decoder chip, that do not work well or only work in limited situations.
Is there any mpeg2 hardware encoder card that can do 30fps at 480 x 480 or higher that works with this motherboard?
With it small die size and ultra low power needs wouldnt the Eden CPU be perfect for a multi-core cpu? How hard would it be to modify it to do this? You could put 4 or more cpus on it and take up the die real estate of a regular cpu.
Something like a Tranquil Smooth Server perhaps? Mini-ITX based, with Smoothwall Corporate pre-installed.
Pictures
The only thing you can accurately describe as "Scotch" is a sticky tape made by 3M. And it's
Just to top people complaining, there is a Mini-PCI to PCI convertor available here combined with a flexible Mini-PCI extender then you're all set for PVR-350 and MyhtTV goodness!!
I already have a full GPS system on my motorcycle - complete with autorouting etc.
:-)
You guys are living in the past!
Just wanted to correct you on a fact that I've seen a lot of people get wrong.
..) do NOT have a mpeg2 decoder onboard !!
You mention that "The EPIA boards have an MPEG2 decoder, the new ones will have MPEG4 in addition."
The EPIA boards (and quite a few other gfx chipsets: ati, nvidia etc
What they have is "integrated hardware based MPEG-4/2 acceleration" -- taken from http://mini-itx.com/news/nanode/
Which, simple means that the card has 2 features a viable:
some sort of fast copy acceration (aka fast bitblt)
some sort of hardware scaling (like the Xv extension for X)
I haven't looked into whats diffrent with there new boards that adds MPEG4 acceration. New hardware features ? or just some MPEG4 codecs that use the acceration features ?
Boy, Glen seems to like the sound of his name, from this feedback form to your post. It has a creepy Branch Davidian feel to it. Also, I once lived near Glen Gardner New Jersey, which wins the Google popcon in a big way. Maybe that's why it creeps me out.
Intelligent Life on Earth
"Or I could use an Apple Macintosh Fridge, which will be more secure but hold only a few kinds of food."
A bowl of apples.
Morons!
OK. I'm officially tired of the
"We need more address space because my will need an ip address in the future."
Right after we scrap all the security work everyone's been doing for the last 20 years.
NEXT!?
here are the drivers.
"In case the driver binary does not work properly or contains bugs, its source code is available for users to modify and compile"
and here are the tech specs.
go knock yourself out
Obviously 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
On hunting around, I found the EPIA Linux Howto, which is a January 2004 publication (apparently), and fairly nifty. In the chapter on video support, the editor interjects with a clarifying comment about hardware MPEG support, stating, "The source code is available to large OEM customers under NDA/licensing agreements. It is not available to end-users." Strike one for open source.
The video drivers for EPIA-M boards can be downloaded from their CLE266 Linuxpage. There is a note about source code at the bottom of this page. They say the following about full source code access: "Users need to sign Binary License Agreement (BLA) and Source Code Addendum (SCABLA) to obtain the source. Typically, only requests from companies developing product for sale will be approved." Strike two for open source.
But there's a more limited source release available, apparently, and for that you need to go to the VIA Open Source Developer's Data Request Form. Here you will be warmly greeted with the following notice, accompanied by a honking great form full of mandatory personal information fields.
VIA's open source support is weak at best. Maybe there are good reasons why they are obliged to put obstacles in the way of everything, rather than just providing the damn code, but their pitch as given leaves me pretty cold. I like their stuff, but I'm sick of half-baked software support.
proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
spelled everything correctly and didn't even misspell
"a lot". Couldn't even put in one statement that
used lose. Wow. Deep cover troll for sure.
Be careful folks.
why even have a harddrive? Boot something
off the network, even a knoppix image
would work great.
From the article, it seems he's suing everyone except the people who actually created the libelous content. Anyone know why?
your engine idle was running a bit lean. :-)
If it was carby, i would have suggested you tweak the idle adjustment screw. Get the twonkers to make your idle a bit richer, another alternate is to use the idle adjustment screw and up the revs by 100-150. see if that works as a temporary measure.
that is unless you've aleready gotten it fixed.
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
Yeah, just like my computer needs a range of IP addresses to act as a web server, SMB server, FTP server, SMTP relay, DNS server and Gnutella peer.
Last time I looked, someone at VIA (or whereever) were working with the mplayer guys to allow mplayer to use the hardware accelleration. The 1Ghz chip was 'just' capable of playing a dvd without skipping, although heat became a problem.
Some info here: http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=373#libddmpeg
**TODO** Steal someone elses sig.