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 <ma...@mohawksoft.com> wrote: > On 06/12/2011 10:31 AM, Chris O'Connell wrote: > >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Chris O'Connell<omegah...@gmail.com> >> Date: Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 11:49 PM >> Subject: Small Form Factor PCs >> To: blu<discuss@blu.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 > > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
