[geeks] Ideas

[vance at neurotica.com]

On Wed, 11 Dec 2002, Shawn Wallbridge wrote:

> >I am going to try my hand at building a silent computer.  I'm taking
> >ideas.  I need floating-point, and ethernet or PCI, and I'd like to have
> >built-in sound, and a serial console.  The system will not have a floppy,
> >CD-ROM, or HDD, and I was thinking of putting it in a 1U rackmount box.
>
> We built a nearly silent machine for my boss's kitchen. It used the VIA
> C3 processor on a mini itx board (from VIA) it has everything onboard
> (video, sound, lan, serial, video out). The board was around $200 with a
> 800MHz processor (I don't know what the FP is like on it). The 800 has a
> small fan on it, which does make a little noise, but the 533 doesn't
> have a fan, so it is silent.
>
> He also went with a 15" NEC flat panel, so it is pretty small and
> compact (it went in a prebuilt cubby-hole for a TV). He used a USB
> wireless NIC and a wireless keyboard and mouse, so it doesn't have any
> cables hanging out. It really is pretty cool.

I've read about this too.  A processor that runs at 5W nominal.  Not bad.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't have a serial console.  I'll be controlling
this from a Crestron.

Peace...  Sridhar