mini-ITX boards

[Robert Edwards]

On Mon, 28 Oct 2002 11:11, Martin Schwenke wrote:
> Hi Bob,
>
> >>>>> "Bob" == Robert Edwards <bob at bobsdell.samba.org> writes:
>
>     Bob> First impressions: much smaller than an XBox, solid metal
>     Bob> case (XBox has a plastic case with a thin metal liner), MoBo
>     Bob> is slightly bigger than I expected.
>
>     Bob> Runs off of a 12VDC power supply (external) at 4.5A
>     Bob> (presumably including hard drive, CD/DVD ROM etc.). So you
>     Bob> could run it off your cigarette lighter.
>
> Although you've mentioned the following, they've leaked from my
> brain...  :-)
>
> So, can you please remind me/us of:
>
> * The cost of the case?
>
> * The cost of the power supply?
>
> * Where you got all of this stuff?
>
> I guess I'm wondering how much one of these would cost complete (case,
> power supply, disk, 128MB RAM, ...).
>
> Thanks...
>
> peace & happiness,
> martin
>
> p.s. Now I'll have it in writing so I can't forget...  :-)

The MoBo, case and powersupply all came as one item from a company calling 
itself XTore Australia Pty Ltd. (we ordered ours through Thunderbird in 
Toowoomba). Included in the box were the MoBo manual, a drivers CD-ROM (for 
Windoze, no doubt - I haven't even bothered to look at it yet), the PCI riser 
card so that a PCI card can be installed, some case stands to allow mounting 
the case vertically, an adaptor to allow a slim CD/DVD drive to be connected 
to the standard IDE, power, audio connections etc.

I haven't got the exact pricing available (we don't pay GST - contrary to 
some previous posting by someone on this list), but it is about $315 inc. GST 
for the 550MHz unit (two small fans for an IDE hard disk - can be 
disconnected, of course - no CPU fan) and about $349 for the 800MHz unit (has 
a CPU fan as well).

You then need to add RAM (100MHz or 133MHz) to make a working system. You may 
also want a hard disk, slim CD/DVD drive, keyboard (wireless?) and mouse, 
depending upon what you want to do with it.

Mobo includes one serial, one parallel, one 10/100MBps ethernet, 2 PS/2, 2 
USB external (and two more on the Mobo), VGA, S-video, RCA video, and three 
audio connectors (red, green and blue :-). Also has two DIMM slots and one 
PCI slot (which you need the PCI adaptor for if you leave the Mobo in this 
case as it is too slim to take a PCI card vertically). All chips are VIA 
(including the CPUs). CPUs are soldered on directly - no socket.

Still haven't gotten PXE working for it, but Tridge assures me it is a breeze.

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.