On Tue, Jan 01, 2002 at 11:35:19PM +0200, Official Flamer/Cabal NON-Leader wrote:
> Plan A - PC/104+. Cons - small, most have very low equipment count.
> Pros - low power consumption (some), low equipment count.
> Examples: http://www.lippert-at.com (Cool Runner II).
Rehello, my children. After some more research, I am more or less
concentrated on the options presented below. Note that these touch
only the machine, at least for now.
What I am looking is for mitlauferen - people who would go the distance
with me to purchase a machine. Note this is especially important in
option C.
Options:
Option A: Lippert Cool Roadrunner II.
http://www.lipper-at.com
PC-104+ format
NatSemi Geode 200-300MHz with 16KB cache
SODIMM RAM socket 16-128MB
CF socket
C&T 69000 SVGA/TFT controller with 2MB SGRAM
EEPro 100, SuperIO, Audio (PCI), WDT, TV In/Out, USB
Single voltage (5V), Low power (4-6W)
Pros: Lots of I/O, low power, has CF on board, has PCI, available in
Israel (RAPAC, Ltd), CF storage is cheap (e.g. $85 for 128MB
card, less on eBay), good performance, possible multiple
boot operating systems via CF
Cons: Very expensive (800 Euro, without cables or ram)
Option B: BWI PC104-586V
http://www.bwi.com
PC-104 format
NatSemi GXLV or NatSemi GX1 166-300MHz with 16KB cache
SODIMM RAM socket 8-128MB
Cyrix (embedded) SVGA/TFT controller
SuperIO, IrDA, USB, WDT, DoM support
Single or dual voltage (5V, 5V and 12V), Low Power: (3-7W)
Pros: Fairly inexpensive ($415), has reasonable IO, good
performance
Cons: Not available in Israel - must be ordered abroad,
PC-104 (no PCI) and therefore difficult to expand, DoM storage
is expensive (e.g. $215 for 128MB), requires a PCMCIA module
for other wireless, GSM modem, etc (~$150)
Option C: Compulab 586CORE/586BASE
http://www.compulab.co.il
Mezzanine card riding a PC-104/PC-104+ base (see below)
AMD Elan SC520 100-133MHz with 16KB cache
Onboard 16-64MB fixed at purchase time
NOR Flash 1-4MB fixed at purchase time
NAND Flash 1-136MB fixed at purchase time
C&T 69000 SVGA/TFT controller with 2MG SGRAM
SuperIO, USB, EEPro100, Audio, USB fixed at purchase time
IrDA, PCMCIA, EEPro100 (another one) fixed at purchase time
Pros: Lots of options, flexible, available in Israel, PCI, PCMCIA,
lots of I/O
Cons: Medium performance, fixed onboard storage, sound is very
weak (Crystal Sound 432x), weird collection of options
makes hard quantification decisions.
Price: The price of a 586CORE/586BASE depends on two factors -
the exact option count and quantity.
The following configuration:
SC520/133MHz, 64MB RAM, 2MB NOR Flash, No NAND Flash,
PCI, SuperIO, USB, VGA, PCMCIA, 2*RS232, 1*TTL, 1*RS422,
1*WDT is translated into Compulabish thus:
586CORE-D64-N2-C133-N0-P-S-U-G
$110+10+3+7+4+9+10+47=200
586BASE-K-P-V-L-U-C2-Y2-Z4
$42+1+6+1+3+2+29+3+3=90
Total=$290 BASE PRICE
if ONE is bought, each costs $464 (60% markup)
if TEN are bought, each costs $406 (40% markup)
if ONE HUNDRED are bought, each costs $348 (20% markup)
Since the markups are high, I am willing to drop certain bits:
Dropping Y2 and Z4 (1*RS232 and 1*422) on the 586BASE saves $6
base price.
Maybe dropping the VGA card ($47 on the CORE, $1 on the BASE)
and using the PCMCIA for display is also possible but not
convenient... Note that there is no sound...
Well, if you read this far, you must be interested... ;-)
So - here's the rub... To make this thing reasonable, I need at least
NINE more people to buy this SPECIFIC bugger to play ball. Who would like
a similar creature? I am willing to negotiate the exact breakdown of
the bugger for a common cause...
Anyone for the game?
=================================================================
To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command
echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
