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Via Debuts Smallest PC Mobo Format Yet
An anonymous reader writes "Via is readying a media-oriented motherboard in what could be the next popular size for small form-factor PCs: Pico-ITX. The 'Epia PX' board measures 3.9 x 2.8 inches and features a 1GHz C7 processor, along with rich audio/video I/O, albeit mostly on pin headers. Pico-ITX measures 3.9 x 2.8 inches (10 x 7.2 cm) — exactly half the surface area of Via's already small 4.7 x 4.7-inch (12 x 12cm) Nano-ITX standard, and considerably smaller than the original 6.7-inch square (17 x 17cm) mini-ITX standard."
Via seems to have a problem delivering what they promise - at least in any reasonable amount of time. Anyone remember the Nano-ITX boards? What did that take, 2 years or so before you could buy one?
If this isn't released to OEMs only I'd be surprised if mere mortals such as you and I will be able to purchase this anytime before 2009. Seriously.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
This baords will run windows and Quicktime, I note that the Norweigans banned aipods because they claimed there were no portable players for Fairplay other than ipods. Well this system will play fairplay. So will the OQO and other pocket system, as will even tinier battery powered systems. Why do they say that Fairplay is ipod only?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
No seriously... I couldn't see it in the article as spec'ed on board and I certainly couldn't see a socket for it?? So where is it?? Did I miss something obvious? (I will admit its only 9am and I am running low on coffee today)
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yeah i don't get what the problem is. dc->ac converter, then transform 12V down to 3 and 5. put a voltage regulator/surge protector between the power conversion circuit and the motherboard and voila, solar powered (or car powered) computing. perhaps there is a paucity of people who know how simple power regulation circuitry works. it's really not that big and if fans are an issue immerse it in oil and put some nice fins near a good airflow area.
size issues are more to do with wattage than voltage. if the wattage on a pico atx board is the same as a standard atx or micro-atx then perhaps there is a point here but i'm pretty sure these boxes are designed to run via C3 which copes with passive cooling and no-fan heatsinks. they only run 1.something ghz but who needs more than a gigahertz to play a dvd or decode mp3 and run a gps mapping program anyway. being that integrating gpus and video decoders and physics coprocessors is becoming a new norm for cpu manufacturers in a year's time via will have a box that can play doom 3 without a fan. ok, two years. still, considering you could run that in your car...
atx power supply usually means a minimum of 250W. does this board need 250W (including hdd and dvd drive?)
When are these going to go away? Nobody I know uses a CRT any more. Why not include a DVI connector on the back instead? For that matter, why do all graphics cards and many low-end LCD screens employ these old VGA interfaces?
I know of many people who still use CRT. I still use CRT. CRT is where it's at as far as peformance, versaltility, sharpness, and clarity. On my old sony 20seII s, I can do 720p or 1080p if I wanted, and these are 10+ year old monitors. LCDs are stuck at a set resolution. Many plasma TVs do come stock with VGA connectors. For 20 inches and above CRTs actually seem to cost more. While "old" it's more than adquate for it's purpose, unless you are talking LCD which does benifit from a digital signal.
Aside from that, you are probally right, a DVI port can at least be adapted to VGA. If you are going to have one port, might as well be DVI.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
The motherboard's size really isn't the constraining factor in mini systems.
The reason people use micro-ATX systems is because they can still use (at least one of) their regular PCI cards in it. Without that, you could just as well load up any really tiny, oddball embedded system that has video-outs.
The size of a PCI card, perpendicular to a motherboard, will continue to constrain the minimum case size. Until some company gets the bright idea to bring risers back from the dead.
I can't help but wonder why 1U and 2U rack server designs haven't been repurposed into cheap, consumer-level DVRs.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
spent almost a man year in total on trying to fix our software. It turns out that the south bridge is the problem.
and
We still picked a VIA one though (with a C7 and a 8237) because frankly, their prices are hard to beat.
Are mutually exclusive in my book, unless you are talking about a large volume of machines (~50+ something well beyond one or two).
Personally, I've been interested in getting a small computer for years, but I can't justify the price/performance + my time factor, so I just havn't bothered. Whenever I go to mini-itx.com and price something together, I scratch my head and ask why would I get something in about the Mac mini form factor with less capabilities than a mini that costs the same as a mini?
Granted, I havn't bought a mini either. I guess I'm just a glorified window shopper.
I've had zero problems with my M10000, running it on Linux using the standard open source drivers, which incidentally VIA helped by releasing source for.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak