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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.
i can finally realise my dream of cramming a computer onto my bike!
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!
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.
I'm sorry, RTFA!
"None of these processors require a cooling fan, which means that the PC can be substantially quieter than other computers based on processors requiring cooling fans."
Bah.
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.
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.
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" ----------
It doesn't need DVI as it has 2 LVDS ports on the board itself.
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" ----------
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.
You do realize that many people find the dead space left from the ad more anoying then the ad itself. Ad blockers are for people who are really crazed, for most it's just pop ups that bother them. Normal ads are fine, aside from the ocasional super flashy one. And sometimes you might find them useful. Also I prefer to still have ads make websites money. I don't want to have to start paying to visit every website out there because everyone has ad blockers so sites need new money streams.