Fwd: Small Form Factor PCs

[Chris O'Connell]

1)  This is something I would like to productize eventually.
2)  Preferably Windows XP or Windows 7.
3)  That's what the home automation software runs on.  I didn't write it.
4)  I want something small with maybe 2GB ram, 16GB of storage, hard wired
100MB ethernet (or more).  I want something prebuilt (IE, I don't want to
have to assemble myself).

The FIT-PC seems to be pretty good, but it's price preloaded with Windows on
it ($500 is the cut off point).  This little start up project is going to
cost me at least 1,000-1,200 with all the accessories.

Chris


On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 4:06 PM, Mark Woodward <markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> On 06/12/2011 10:31 AM, Chris O'Connell wrote:
>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Chris O'Connell<omegahalo-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
>> Date: Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 11:49 PM
>> Subject: Small Form Factor PCs
>> To: blu<discuss-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
>>
>>
>> I'm looking for a very small form factor computer to install some home
>> automation software on.  The software is not very resource intensive.
>>  Here
>> are the key requirements for the system:
>> 1.  Must be able to power back up  without human intervention if power to
>> the unit is lost.
>> 2.  Should be small and less energy intensive than a regular PC.
>> 3.  I would like it to be less than $500.
>> 4.  Must be capable of running Windows (so either an AMD or INTEL cpu).
>>
>> Can anyone make any suggestions about what might work well for me?  I was
>> looking at the Dell Zino, but am unsure if a better option exists.
>>
> I know I replied once already, I want to ask a quick couple questions.
>
> (1) Is this a on-off or do you intend to productize your system?
> (2) What version of Windows? You can use Wince.
> (3) umm, why Windows?
> (4) What do you expect for $500, a full PC or just the components. $500 is,
> IMHO a very generous number.
> (5) If this is a one-off, I have a VIA-800 miniitx motherboard with 512M of
> ram and an IDE compact flash adapter that makes a neat little
>  pseudo-embedded disk-free system that was removed from my robot last year.
> I could probably let it go for $100 bucks with a standard ATX power supply.
>
>
> With regards to #1, if you are going to product-ize this, you may want to
> consider a lower cost platform such as ARM.
> With regards to #3 and maybe #1, unless there is a REALLY specific need,
> Windows is a very poor platform for this type of application.
>
> Also, take a look at www.mini-itx.com
>
>