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The Mini-ITX Project Revisited
An anonymous reader writes "From the article: "Once my original Mini-ITX project was completed I finally had a chance to sit back and use the computer. After a couple weeks of general internet browsing, emailing, and so forth, I was able to get a better understanding of the system and a feel for its design. Knowing how simple my needs were, the Mini-ITX project computer was orginally designed to be as basic and quiet as possible. This meant no hard drive, no extra accessories- just a stripped down system. While this suited my needs well at the time, its lack of versatility soon became an issue. This meant it was back to the drawing board for a retooling of the Mini-ITX project computer. The changes include a new case, operating system and boot device, along with improved cooling. The new system was tested using Slax and then MEPISLite." Even better link is the site itself which regularly carries mods.
Lame.
M0571y H@rml355.
Article goes on about NEXT >>
Showing off his awesome NEXT >>
Mini ITX NEXT >>
Computer NEXT >>
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Has anyone been using them for any length of time? The one in the article is 60W, I've been using a few rated at 200W without problems in some of our boxes - but the longevity is always in the back of my mind.
We've put together a few dozen silent boxes based off of compact flash / IDE adapters and have been VERY pleased with the results.
..don't panic
Seriously, until mini-itx motherboards come down in price there doesn't seem to be any advantage, imnsho, over a MAC-Mini. Factor in the time you spend dorking around with the miniitx and it gets worse. Oh, and just about every case I've seen is just plain ugly. Modded cases are like ringtones, even if you think yours is an exception, it isn't, they all suck.
Wanted: Clever sig, top $ paid, all offers considered.
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And here is how i put my mini-itx motherboard into a NEW case designed for it *BUY HERE*
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This is news if you consider me taking a dump new...because its in a different toilet than usual.
[I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
Step 1: Buy computer parts.
Step 2: Assemble computer.
I have three of these things (silent, flashboot, netboot - the whole bit). Can I get a frontpage article for assembling commodity parts as well?
It only took him a couple of weeks to realized that a PC with no hard drive and no CD was "limited".
He also invented Basebale and then he hit the first Homerun! Yeah, that's the ticket!
I remember seeing cabinets, motherboards, etc. even partially assembled ones for sale at a local shop, a couple years ago. This may be interesting to anyone who hasn't built or bought one and is thinking about doing that. As for me I use my Big PC (Tiamat) to cool the apartment in the summer, with it's massive fans, and heat it in the winter, by disconnecting a few.
What I really want to know, however, is why a Mini ITX article, now, without a Pumpkin wrapped around it?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Disclaimer: I'm in the business.
One BIG advantage to mini-ITX is that they are easily put into functional, solid enclosures with additional power supply protection you don't find in the mini. The boards themselves support booting off of flash, and it's very easy to purpose-build them with no hard drive attached.
You're not going to run a piece of industrial automation equipment off a mac mini. There's no reason you couldn't, I guess, but it's much easier to purpose-build something around the VIA board. A lot of the time, these things end up running DOS. There's no RTOS available for the mini I am aware of.
We've done a lot of work replacing old tower PC's with things that can bolt into telco utility closets next to the PBX. With the via board, these are just drop in replacements.
For the consumer that just wants a computer, the mac mini is very attractive. There's lots of other applications - like bolting a computer to a wall - where it doesn't make a lot of sense.
YMMV, of course.
..don't panic
I can only speak for the M10000. Mine has been up since powered on, serving files and mail under moderate load. 458 days uptime and counting. The only stability issue I know of for this motherboard is it locks up under extended DMA (i.e. simultaneously record & playback for 1/2 hour in MythTV). Apparently there's finally a a fix for this. The tiny power draw is just fantastic; low power bills and it stays up for hours even on my crappy UPS.
I'm installing one with a DC-DC converter in my car this week. It looks high quality. We'll see...
I have to agree with the other comments about how Mac minis are killing mini-ITX. I'm just waiting for a Pentium-M Mac mini so I can install Linux and use WINE. It'll make a great PVR/game console.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Why don't you grow up and just buy a dual core server and stop trying to use Most-Inefficient-Means? Mini ITX server farm, that's a laugh...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...he was going to run his website off it. Nice user experience, click, click, crash.
l [linuxdevices.com]LinuxDevices is miles better, 64-way Linux mini-ITX cluster... and it's silent(ish) too!
Bet the guy is using IIS too.
Definitely a spam-tastic link btw, much as I like Mini-ITX stuff, if you we're going to link to an interesting recent mini-itx article, this one at http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3032138730.htm
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Mac fanboy or anything, but doesn't it strike anyone as odd that this computer is still more than 3x times larger than a Mac Mini? And it is probably slower with worse video as well. Why can't we make a PC that compares to the Mac mini? Is it because of the assembled nature and not having specially designed parts?
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Does it run Minix?
Why wasn't he able to install the flash card? Seeing as it was an IDE-to-CF interface, Linux should have seen it as the boot device, no?
...an old junker VCR case might be nice, pizza box form factor (set screen on top in other words), available free or for 1$ at most thrift shops. Take where the slot for the old tape was and use that for the optical drive access. I like the mini itx idea, just don't like those cubicle form factor boxes. They don't really fit anyplace that looks "right" to me, and I just as soon as not don't care if the power supply is inside the case, one less do-dad with wires hanging out of it to stare at on the desktop.
Ya, I know, taste. Right now I just crammed mine (bought used so it was cheap, hear ya on the prices) in an old AT case just to get it booted up, I plan on doing the briefcase type install sometime once I find the right briefcase. One of those long term, one stage at a time projects...I just want a pure low power 12 VDC machine for extended power outtages when they occur.
And with that said,for anyone who might be interested, Beatrix linux was designed for mini itx and Via boards/CPUs from the get-go.
I built three Mini-ITX systems, only one of which is still in use. I built a 533Mhz goof-off machine fo rthe living room, a 800Mhz server and a 1Ghz unit for my wife. The server and good-off machines were chosen due to noise considerations. The wife needed a new MB anyway. The server was woefully underpowered and has been replaced by an old 866Mhz Del Opitiplex I bought from the local government surplus and the full P3 kicks the VIA chip's butt so much it's not funny. I never did anything with the 533Mhz unit because the TV-Out is less than worthwhile. Those two units are in pieces in my closet. My wife is happy with her unit, plus the NVidia TNT2 PCI video card I tossed in, but her idea of demanding computer use is playing FreeCell.
They are not bad computers, if you realize that they are slow as all get out. When used in the right environments (embedded devices, simple robots, etc...) they probably work well. They are not good desktop machines, however. On a price to performance ratio they suck. They are absurdly expensive for what you get. Especially if you add in the tiny cases. You can easily spend as much or more than a Mac Mini would cost and still end up with a larger, noisier and less powerful computer.
If I decide to go down the tiny PC road again I'm going Mac Mini. It can sit there and stare in awe at my G5 Powermac.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Take a cheap Dell (or any) commonly available notebook machine. Break it open. Remove the keyboard, powersupply and battery. Remove the screen being careful to replace the ribbon cable or at least not break it. Take the now free main planar stick it in any random 1337 shell - toaster oven, fishtank, DVD player, retro 8-track, whatever you want. Stick the LCD display on that shell or something else. Attach a USB keyboard and mouse. Plug in.
That's pretty much it for a 1.0 version. Later revs can include a DVD drive or any other peripheral that was in the original notebook. If you don't like the LCD screen just go out and buy the big screen you want and plug it into the SVGA port you already have on your anchovy-can PC.
Remember all the ports and connectors are already there and if you want to move or hide them you can do that with some simple extention cables inside the case. Because once you remove the keyboard, the screen, the case, the battery and the powersupply your pc is not that much bigger than 10" x 4" x 0.7" including the hard drive.
There's no reason you couldn't take a automotive-spec power supply and attach it to the mini. Now you won't have a broken mini.
It's just amazing to me that somone "in the business" would miss this.
Note to other posters below, yes, any Mac can be made to power up upon application of power. It's in the Energy Saver preferences panel, called "Restart automatically after a power failure."
I do wish the Mac mini had a Pentium-M in it instead of a G4. It'd be a lot faster than the current Mac mini or a VIA Mini-ITX system. But that doesn't mean I'm going to make up other shortcomings for the Mac mini.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95