Hi Dan, on Sunday, 2007-10-28 at 18:30:17, you wrote: > Of course you can build a low-power system and probably get by without > any fans at all if you're clever, and if you outsource the hard drive > to another computer you get a fairly low power design that's silent. > > But not nearly as low power as an integrated device. > > Or as small.
The one that probably comes closest is a VIA Cx system. I got a Cobalt
Cube a while ago to replace my current guzzler of a server (old HPPA
workstation) and to experiment with other unusual CPUs a bit, and while
it's pretty, small, low-power and rather quiet, it's also quite slow. So
I've just ordered a passively cooled 800 MHz VIA C7 nanoITX board to
replace the MIPS hardware in there and get something that can handle HD
encryption and Samba at a decent speed on top of the routing. The plan
is to build the syatem on HD and move it to a CF card later so I can
spin down the big HD when it's not in use. If it works out it will be a
damn neat system, but anyway it's still four times the size of a WRT54
and consumes twice the power. That's the most powerful chip I've found
in the 20-30 watts-per-system range though, all the recycled stuff I've
run so far doesn't even come close.
cheers,
Matthias
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