Post by thread:[EE] mini-itx, anyone?

> Does anybody here have any experiences (bad/good) to share about the > mini-itx systems out there? I'm looking at these Via Epia mini and nano > mainboards that come equipped with VIA processors. Have you evern run win > xp on one of those? I'll let you know, it's still booting up :) The processors are very slow - basically take the CPU speed and divide by 3 for a comparison to Intel processors. Other than that, they are lots of fun. Cheers, Bob

Hi Padu, I have used mini-itx boards a lot and like them very much. I run Linux on them but I think win32 will work just OK. The only problems I ever encountered is some work with X11 drivers on Linux a problem you wont have in win32. The MII with CF interface and cardbus onboard are nice and the TC variant with onboard 12V DC/DC is also useful. Beware that the EPIA 500 0 and EPIA-800 does not boot from USB stick. Need M and higher boards for that. Cheers /Ake Padu wrote: >Does anybody here have any experiences (bad/good) to share about the mini-itx systems out there? I'm looking at these Via Epia mini and nano mainboards that come equipped with VIA processors. Have you evern run win xp on one of those? > >.--. .- -.. ..- > > -- --- Ake Hedman (YAP - Yet Another Programmer) eurosource, Brattbergavägen 17, 820 50 LOS, Sweden Phone: (46) 657 413430 Cellular: (46) 73 84 84 102 Company home: http://www.eurosource.se Kryddor/Te/Kaffe: http://www.brattberg.com Personal homepage: http://www.eurosource.se/akhe Automated home: http://www.vscp.org

From: "Bob Blick" > I'll let you know, it's still booting up :) > > The processors are very slow - basically take the CPU speed and divide by > 3 for a comparison to Intel processors. > > Other than that, they are lots of fun. > > Cheers, > > Bob Which model do you have and which OS are you running? I'm thinking about getting one of their newer nano-ITX boards with 1GHz VIA EDEN-N...

On Thursday 31 March 2005 10:09 pm, Padu wrote: > Which model do you have and which OS are you running? I'm thinking about > getting one of their newer nano-ITX boards with 1GHz VIA EDEN-N... Their new dual-processor boards look pretty good as well.. Dual 1GHz EDEN on board.. d: cheers.. -- with metta, Shawn Tan.

Bob Blick writes: > > Does anybody here have any experiences (bad/good) to share about the > > mini-itx systems out there? I'm looking at these Via Epia mini and nano > > mainboards that come equipped with VIA processors. Have you evern run win > > xp on one of those? > > I'll let you know, it's still booting up :) > > The processors are very slow - basically take the CPU speed and divide by > 3 for a comparison to Intel processors. Does your board use the Eden or the C3 CPU? The C3 is quite a bit faster then the Eden... And if you do need the CPU speed, you can also get P4 boards in the mini-itx form factor. Standard P4 power, heat, and noise rules still apply... If you do need the speed and if are planning to add a hard disk and cdrom, and aren't bound by the Wintel platform, consider an iMac. By the time you add case, ps, hdd, and cdrom you'll be spending nearly as much as an iMac anyhow... -p.

> Does your board use the Eden or the C3 CPU? The C3 is quite a bit > faster then the Eden... The speed of my M10000 with the C3 is acceptable. > And if you do need the CPU speed, you can also get P4 boards in the > mini-itx form factor. Standard P4 power, heat, and noise rules still > apply... You can also get the iBase 890 which takes a Pentium M. This board is *fast*. -- D. Jay Newman ! Polititions and civilations come and spam_OUTjayTakeThisOuTsprucegrove.com ! go but the engineers and machinists http://enerd.ws/robots/ ! make progress

... > > If you do need the speed and if are planning to add a hard disk and > cdrom, and aren't bound by the Wintel platform, consider an iMac. By > the time you add case, ps, hdd, and cdrom you'll be spending nearly as > much as an iMac anyhow... Mac Mini? Bob Ammerman RAm Systems

D. Jay Newman writes: > > Does your board use the Eden or the C3 CPU? The C3 is quite a bit > > faster then the Eden... > > The speed of my M10000 with the C3 is acceptable. > > > And if you do need the CPU speed, you can also get P4 boards in the > > mini-itx form factor. Standard P4 power, heat, and noise rules still > > apply... > > You can also get the iBase 890 which takes a Pentium M. This board is > *fast*. But it sure ain't cheap! The one place I found it for sale had it going at us$309 for the MB890C and $375 for the MB890F -- and that's without CPU. -p.

> D. Jay Newman writes: > > You can also get the iBase 890 which takes a Pentium M. This board is > > *fast*. > > But it sure ain't cheap! The one place I found it for sale had it > going at us$309 for the MB890C and $375 for the MB890F -- and that's > without CPU. No, it isn't cheap, but my robot has the second most powerful CPU in the house. My laptop only beats it by a small fraction. -- D. Jay Newman ! Polititions and civilations come and .....jayKILLspam@spam@sprucegrove.com ! go but the engineers and machinists http://enerd.ws/robots/ ! make progress

On Apr 2, 2005, at 12:11 PM, Peter Johansson wrote: > If you do need the speed and if are planning to add a hard disk and > cdrom, and aren't bound by the Wintel platform, consider an iMac. You mean the mini-mac, I assume? Yeah, it has interesting possibilities as an "embedded" computer... BillW

It's a recent article on LinuxDevices about that. /Ake William Chops Westfield wrote: {Quote hidden}> > On Apr 2, 2005, at 12:11 PM, Peter Johansson wrote: > >> If you do need the speed and if are planning to add a hard disk and >> cdrom, and aren't bound by the Wintel platform, consider an iMac. > > > You mean the mini-mac, I assume? Yeah, it has interesting possibilities > as an "embedded" computer... > > BillW > -- --- Ake Hedman (YAP - Yet Another Programmer) eurosource, Brattbergavägen 17, 820 50 LOS, Sweden Phone: (46) 657 413430 Cellular: (46) 73 84 84 102 Company home: http://www.eurosource.se Kryddor/Te/Kaffe: http://www.brattberg.com Personal homepage: http://www.eurosource.se/akhe Automated home: http://www.vscp.org

Forgot the link... http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6905201557.html Ake Hedman wrote: {Quote hidden}> It's a recent article on LinuxDevices about that. > > /Ake > > > William Chops Westfield wrote: > >> >> On Apr 2, 2005, at 12:11 PM, Peter Johansson wrote: >> >>> If you do need the speed and if are planning to add a hard disk and >>> cdrom, and aren't bound by the Wintel platform, consider an iMac. >> >> >> >> You mean the mini-mac, I assume? Yeah, it has interesting >> possibilities >> as an "embedded" computer... >> >> BillW >> > > -- --- Ake Hedman (YAP - Yet Another Programmer) eurosource, Brattbergavägen 17, 820 50 LOS, Sweden Phone: (46) 657 413430 Cellular: (46) 73 84 84 102 Company home: http://www.eurosource.se Kryddor/Te/Kaffe: http://www.brattberg.com Personal homepage: http://www.eurosource.se/akhe Automated home: http://www.vscp.org

>Subject: [EE] mini-itx, anyone? > > >Does anybody here have any experiences (bad/good) to share about the >mini-itx systems out there? I'm looking at these Via Epia mini and >nano mainboards that come equipped with VIA processors. Have you >evern run win xp on one of those? The latest Amiga boards are sized are (mini?:micro?)ATX. Many folks have been building their own systems with various cases. The biggest issue so far is good power regulation at very light loads. Because the AmigaOne boards require a lot less power than most systems, some boards are either getting unstable or even damaged due to poor regulation. I suspect this would be less of a problem with mainstream systems, but beware that these little power supplies may not be as reliable as you think. I'm even considering a PIC based voltage monitor. I wonder what the best alert method might be? Lyle

At 11.08 2005.04.04 -0400, you wrote: {Quote hidden}> >>Subject: [EE] mini-itx, anyone? >> >> >>Does anybody here have any experiences (bad/good) to share about the >>mini-itx systems out there? I'm looking at these Via Epia mini and >>nano mainboards that come equipped with VIA processors. Have you >>evern run win xp on one of those? > >The latest Amiga boards are sized are (mini?:micro?)ATX. Many folks have been >building their own systems with various cases. The biggest issue so far is >good power regulation at very light loads. Because the AmigaOne boards >require a lot >less power than most systems, some boards are either getting unstable or >even damaged due to poor regulation. I suspect this would be less of a >problem with mainstream systems, but beware that these little power supplies >may not be as >reliable as you think. > >I'm even considering a PIC based voltage monitor. I wonder what the best alert >method might be? Shutting down the computer? ;-) > >Lyle > >-

>>I'm even considering a PIC based voltage monitor. I wonder >>what the best alert method might be? > >Shutting down the computer? ;-) >From a "protect the hardware" point of view, you are absolutely correct. But it does create a problem if people don't know why they are shutting down. I'm also considering how best to connect this thing.. I could read +5 and +12 from a drive connector, but reading the 3.3V will require a flying lead spliced into something, or a (bulky,expensive) male/female pair where the power supply plugs into the motherboard. I don't mind splicing a lead in MY computer, but it's certainly not an ideal installation for the general public. Hmm, maybe I'll just stick with software this week. :-) Lyle

> I don't mind splicing a lead in MY computer, but it's certainly not an > ideal installation for the general public. > > Hmm, maybe I'll just stick with software this week. :-) > > Lyle > There are very nice insulation displacement connectors that you just crimp on (using an ordinary pliers). On one side it takes a through wire, and on the other it takes the end of another conductor. I think you can get these things at a car parts store. Bob Ammerman RAm Systems

Bob, On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 12:29:05 -0400, Bob Ammerman wrote: > here are very nice insulation displacement connectors that you just crimp > on (using an ordinary pliers). On one side it takes a through wire, and on > the other it takes the end of another conductor. I think you can get these > things at a car parts store. They're known as "Scotchlock" connectors over here. Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England

>>They're known as "Scotchlock" connectors over here. > > The guys I know who do car alarms have another name for them, but I > won't repeat it in a family forum. > They work fine for a while, then get flaky. I especially hate it when they heat up and melt all your nicely bundled wires together, shorting them. They are connectors for "a perfect world". Which world do you live in? -Bob

Hazelwood Lyle wrote: >>Subject: [EE] mini-itx, anyone? >> >> >>Does anybody here have any experiences (bad/good) to share about the >>mini-itx systems out there? I'm looking at these Via Epia mini and >>nano mainboards that come equipped with VIA processors. Have you >>evern run win xp on one of those? > > > The latest Amiga boards are sized are (mini?:micro?)ATX. Many folks have been > building their own systems with various cases. The biggest issue so far is good power regulation at very light loads. Because the AmigaOne boards require a lot > less power than most systems, some boards are either getting unstable or even damaged due to poor regulation. I suspect this would be less of a problem with mainstream systems, but beware that these little power supplies may not be as > reliable as you think. > > I'm even considering a PIC based voltage monitor. I wonder what the best alert > method might be? > > Lyle > IMO if the power supply is having problems regulating, you should get a smaller supply that is intended to run in that power range. You'd get better efficiency, too. -- Martin K http://wwia.org/sgroup/biofuel/

From: "Hazelwood Lyle" wrote: > > >>I'm even considering a PIC based voltage monitor. I wonder > >>what the best alert method might be? > > > >Shutting down the computer? ;-) > > > From a "protect the hardware" point of view, you are absolutely correct. > But it does create a problem if people don't know why they are shutting down. > > I'm also considering how best to connect this thing.. I could read +5 and > +12 from a drive connector, but reading the 3.3V will require a flying > lead spliced into something, or a (bulky,expensive) male/female pair where > the power supply plugs into the motherboard. > > I don't mind splicing a lead in MY computer, but it's certainly not an > ideal installation for the general public. > > Hmm, maybe I'll just stick with software this week. :-) Why monitor the internal voltages? Once you detect something is wrong, it's basically too late to do anything that isn't drastic. ;-) I suggest powering the whole thing from a smallish 12V sealed battery. You can then monitor the charging voltage coming to the battery and disconnect it by switching a MOSFET or something if it gets to dangerous conditions. The battery and internal PS of the mini-itx system would act as a nice buffer from the outside world keeping the computer going under virtually any conditions.

At 11.51 2005.04.04 -0400, you wrote: {Quote hidden}> >>>I'm even considering a PIC based voltage monitor. I wonder >>>what the best alert method might be? >> >>Shutting down the computer? ;-) > > >>From a "protect the hardware" point of view, you are absolutely correct. >But it does create a problem if people don't know why they are shutting down. > >I'm also considering how best to connect this thing.. I could read +5 and >+12 from a drive connector, but reading the 3.3V will require a flying >lead spliced into something, or a (bulky,expensive) male/female pair where >the power supply plugs into the motherboard. > >I don't mind splicing a lead in MY computer, but it's certainly not an >ideal installation for the general public. > >Hmm, maybe I'll just stick with software this week. :-) > >Lyle For the health of the mobo, have you considered adding a Transil diode? I use one to protect my carputer, hasn't ever died so far. O:D