[SC.LUG] Re: mini-ITX

[Ewan Leith]

If what you want is simply a tiny little server, I can't speak highly
enough of the Linksys NSLU2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FLinksys-NSLU2UK-Storage-Disk-Drives%2Fdp%2FB0002ZDQLI%2Fsr%3D1-1%2Fqid%3D1162843193%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Delectronics&tag=buttonbashers-21&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738

it's the size of a walkman, runs debian linux once you've flashed it,
and boots off an external usb device. it's not as flexible as the itx
machines, and has nothing like the power (32mb of ram, mips
processor), but my one runs samba, lighttpd, etc, without any issues.

There's lots of information on it here

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

you put debian on it by flashing it with a firmware file onto it's
internal memory, then it boots up off the external hard drive with a
suprisingly complete debian distribution, including the ability to
install all sorts of software using apt

if you want a mysql database server, the 32mb of ram will obviously
cause issues, but things like berkeleydb and sqlite run fine on it.
I'm using a 250GB external usb disk as it's hard drive, and use it for
storing my music, movies, etc.

amazon sell it for about £60, then you can get an external usb cabinet
and a 250GB disk for another £60 or so from them, and of course the
power usage will be much lower than even the itx machines

Ewan



On 11/6/06, Geoff <geoff at osbaldestin.net> wrote:
> To be honest, it is just for a low power server, so I can keep files
> central, and also maybe run apache, mysql & php type of stuff, so the
> performance does not matter to me much.
>
> I have already looked at the stuff at mini-itx.com store and have
> decided that case design is not one of the things the small form factor
> is good for. Though may be I should make my own. Mmmm, maybe one like this:
> http://mini-itx.com/projects/ammobox/ or maybe this:
> http://mini-itx.com/projects/ammotux/
>
> Geoff
>
> Ewan Leith wrote:
> > I've had a couple of mini-itx boxes over the years, and like richard
> > I've found the driver support is ok, but you often need binary
> > drivers, and the performance can be quite poor.
> >
> > the intel based mini-itx motherboards give much better performance,
> > but cost quite a bit more, see this link for some prices
> >
> > http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=29
> >
> > it really depends what you want it for, if you're looking for a media
> > centre like a lot of people are, then it's not really suitable to go
> > for the via systems
> >
> > On 11/3/06, Richard Smedley <smedley358 at btinternet.com> wrote:
> >> On Friday 03 November 2006 20:21, Geoff wrote:
> >> > Has anyone looked at/bought a mini-ITX board?
> >> > Not currently sure about driver support
> >>
> >> Hello Geoff,
> >>
> >> I tried one of my own, and one on review from UKLinux.net,
> >> about 3 years ago - at that time Debian was fine with all
> >> of the chip sets out of the box, but - as in the case of
> >> nVidia and ATI today - accelerated hardware video (eg to
> >> tuen the box into a PVR) was only available as a BLOB
> >> (proprietary plug-in to the kernel).
> >> I don't know how much it has changed - but UKLinux are
> >> still selling pre-installed ITX boxen - although they are moving
> >> to Intel for more graphics power, and faster processors as VIA
> >> boards are not increasing their speed as much each year.
> >> We had an ITX at work a few weeks ago, I think it was fine,
> >> though I couldn't necessarily tell you which BSD or GNU
> >> was put on it.
> >>
> >> http://www.linitx.org/ is probably still the best source of info.
> >>
> >> HTH,
> >>
> >>  - Richard
> >>
> >> --
> >> Richard Smedley,
> >> Richard at sc.lug.org.uk
> >> Sustainable IT Consultant,
> >>                                  ``Software Freedom for the Voluntary
> >> Sector''
> >>
> >>
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