New Baby...

[MultimediaMan]

And I can tell you...it IS Small.

"Bellerophon"
VIA EPIA MII 12000 (1.2GHz)
512MB PC2100 DDR
Onboard Everything (Video, Sound, LAN, 1394, USB 2.0)
WD400JB HDD
Sony DRU-720B

It is very quiet. The case will be a challenge: I am dissatified with all that I have seen so far (and there are some nice ones...), so I am thinking of something different: made of Billet Aluminum.

Ideas are welcome.

[Tjalfe]

you did not even get the little one

http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_N_spec.jsp?motherboardId=221

12x12cm instead of 17x17cm

I have seen the key "locker" from Ikea being a perfect fit for the 17x17 board, but that requiers an ikea around, which may not be the case

[MultimediaMan]

Yes, but the Nano-ITX is still a no-show. Supposedly they will be in channel this month.

[Tjalfe]

ahh... so what are you planning on using this small computer for?

[Marshmallowman]

that is small, how about

A basket ball?
An old boom box?
Inside and old vcr/stereo?
A tree stump?

[MultimediaMan]

I think when it is finished it will be primarily a PVR. I'm using it right now (as I am typing on it) just to surf with: and why not? It only pulls about 25 watts at full load. The mATX case I have it in presently works but the PSU fan is simply terrible.

RE-Cases:

Basketball: hasn't been done (yet).

Old VCR/Reel to Reel/Commodore64/AppleII/TSR80 case: Been Done.

Wooden Mantle Radio/Humidor/Jewelry box/Pencase: Been Done.

I want to do a case out of billet/plate aluminum 1/8" (3mm) thick - at the minimum.

Wants:

12V External Power
Crystalfontz 623 Serial LCD
Hauppage PVR500 MCE
Larger Hard Disk

[MultimediaMan]

20 Day Review....

OK, after using this thing for nearly a month, I can say these things:

It is probably the most practical PC I've ever owned. It's not fast, but it's not slow, either. It plays music, DVDs, and surfs the net every bit as well as any PC out there. Office 2K3 lacks crisp response in Excel but everything else works fine. 2D is good up to 1024x768...after that, things get a little fuzzy (Reference monitors were Sony Trinitron D510 and a Mermaid Ventura 15" FP). 3D: Get Real, this thing does not do 3D well at all. Media Player can put quite a load on the CPU when you enable some of the more sophisticated Visualizations. DVD playback is HW accelerated and works extremely well.

Audio is acceptable to an AC'97 Codec: There is the occasional pop during playback of media files when the system is running multiple applications, but they are very few and far in between.

Network throughput is acceptable: not as fast as my usual (server-grade) NICs of choice, but certainly more than serviceable for internet surfing.

Stability is excellent: I have yet to crash it.

The OEM Fan for the CPU is CHEAP (40mm Arkua), and fairly noisy (25dB): I replaced it with a custom 40mm->60mm adapter and a Vantec Stealth 60mmx25mm fan: Beware: the ATX Molex is very close to the Heatsink, so a standard 40mm->60mm Fan adapter will not work. I machined mine out of Aluminum: 4 hours work on Lathe + Milling machine but the results were worth it.

I will eventually be running a DC PSU, but until that time, I have the machine in an el-cheapo mATX case: the stock 80mmmx15mm fan for the PSU was incredibly loud, so I cracked the PSU open and put in a Zalman 80mmx15mm with a FanMate2: Much better...the stock PSU barely knows there is a load on it, so I have the fan dialed all the way down to 5v. Nice and quiet and running very cool.

I have the rough idea taking shape in wood first, then on to metal....

[Kurt]

What about an old autoradio with cd loader?

[Dilitante1]

a converted 8-track player

[Nowhere]

old modem, toaster, old ps2 box (vertical stand! :> )