On Thu, July 24, 2008 19:30, Chris Hellyar wrote: >> Cheap, fast, good. Choose any two. >> >> >> Seriously though, mini-ITX boards are a good base to build your own >> small, fanless, Linux appliance. > > Yeah, but then you've got the hassle of mini-ITX powersupply etc.
Mini-ITX is powered with a standard ATX PSU. I believe they are easily available. > ALIX boards from PC-Engines or sokeris boards are a better bet. > > > I'm considering an ALIX board from nicegear.co.nz to build some > appliance type device myself: > > http://nicegear.co.nz/single-board-computers/ Nice gear indeed! > They do one with three ethernet ports on it, and it can run an imbedded > linux like voyage linux on a CF card, or (like I want to) you can stick a > microdrive in them and run a full linux distro off a 12V wall wart and > only 5 watts rather than the 50-80 that a mini-ITX does. > > The 500Mhz ones are good, fast enough, and reasonably cheap at $240. Mini-ITX uses typically 10W (for the motherboard alone). When you add peripherals you use more. For example, my EPIA 800 server uses about 30W, but if it had a CF card instead of a hard drive it would use a lot less. Here's a handy-dandy slice-and-dice power estimation tool for mini-ITX: http://resources.mini-box.com/online/powersimulator/powersimulator.html Mini Box also do a nice ATX PSU which will run off a 12V wall wart: http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-90?sc=8&category=13 What a dilemma- which to choose? :) A
