Home | News Archive | August 2003

EPIA CL - Further Details
August 29, 2003

VIA's new EPIA CL, first spotted by us at CeBIT back in March, is almost with us. The EPIA CL has different connectivity options than current EPIAs, with 4 x USB 2.0 ports and 2 x 10/100 LAN ports (with independent network controllers) on the back panel - but no Firewire or TV-out ports. The same CLE266 chipset as used in the EPIA M is present, though only 2 channel audio is possible through the VT1612A AC’97 Codec. There is one DDR266 DIMM socket supporting up to 1GB, as with the EPIA M. The CL is targetted at the networking market, and those twin LAN ports will certainly come in useful for such applications. There will be two EPIA CLs - the EPIA CL10000 (1Ghz Nehemiah) and the EPIA CL6000 (600Mhz Eden).

VIA's EPIA CL Specification Page

VIA's Press Release (added Sep 2, 2003)

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Morex Cubid 3688 Mini-ITX Case Review
August 27, 2003

Morex Information Ent., Co., Ltd, based in Taipei, Taiwan have been manufacturing and marketing PC cases since 1986. The 3677 and 3688 are new additions to the range, sharing the same chassis, but with different front panels. We looked at the Cubid 3688, which comes in two colours - silver with a clear perspex front, and black with blue perspex.

Morex Cubid 3688 Mini-ITX Case Review

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The "IcqMp3 Player"
August 26, 2003

IcqMp3 is a Mini-ITX based MP3 Player located in the livingroom of Carl Nordlund. It runs Debian Linux to perform all manner of scripting trickery, and is constructed from an old IKEA Cupboard no less. Check it out at epiacenter.com. We think Carl's technical drawings are cool.

Carl Nordlund's IcqMP3 Player at epiacenter.com

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The "RadioSphere"
August 25, 2003

From the first time Audun Lindbraaten saw the projects here on this site back in summer 2002 he wanted to do one himself. He stumbled upon the inspiration for his project at a flea market...

Audun Lindbraaten's RadioSphere

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The "I.C.E. Unit"
August 22, 2003

Kurt Kressin installed a Nehemiah M10000 into the glovebox of his car, added a touch screen and microphone for voice control and created -
The Integrated Car Entertainment Unit... Act a Fool!

Kurt Kressin's "I.C.E. Unit"

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The "Hirschmann Server"
August 21, 2003

Take a look back in time twenty years at what Ethernet Hubs used to look like. Fred Pacquier wasn't happy that the Germanic beauty of this Hirschmann was going to be destroyed, so he installed Gentoo Linux on it.

Fred Pacquier's "Hirschmann Server"

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VIA unveils first Nehemiah core Eden CPU
August 20, 2003

VIA have unveiled the first Eden CPU with Nehemiah core (existing Edens are Ezra-T based). The Nehemiah core offers a number of advantages over the Ezra-T architecture, namely: Full-speed FPU; 64K L2 cache; SSE instruction set support and a hardware based random number generator (useful for encryption). Eden is VIA's version of their C3 CPU, in a very low power package. The first version (already available in volume in some products) - the ESP7000 - consumes typically just 1W, up to around 6W maximum, and runs at 733MHz. We would expect to see an ESP7000 in a passively cooled EPIA M board at some point in the future.

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Submitting Projects to Mini-ITX.com
August 19, 2003

We've collected a large number of Mini-ITX Projects over the past year, each taking a unique shape and approach - Robots, Toasters, Cuddly Toys, Memorabilia, the list goes on. But there's plenty more things left for us to create and mutilate! We've produced a guide to assist future alumni to the Mini-ITX Project Hall of Fame publishing their works of genius on the site...

How to submit a Project to Mini-ITX.com

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VIA Extend Eden Lifecycle to 5 years
August 14, 2003

VIA have announced they are in for the long haul with their low-power Eden CPU, committing to a 5 year lifecycle support programme. The x86 compatible Eden CPUs are used in a wide range of embedded devices, thin clients, industrial PCs, point of sales systems etc. You'll probably find a few examples on these news pages without too much effort. This is good news for us too, as where there's an Eden, a Mini-ITX isn't far behind...

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Hush PCs tested to ISO 7779 standards, add options, celebrate with special offer
August 13, 2003

The Acoustics & Noise Research Group of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and the excellent silentpcreview.com have conducted independent sound power tests in accordance with ISO 7779 / 3744 on behalf of the German based silent Mini-ITX PC manufacturer, Hush Technologies. The report confirms what we already knew - the Hush is very quiet indeed, measuring just 2.7 Bel sound power (or 19.3 dBA) at ISO standard operator position when idle. You can read the full report here.

As if that wasn't enough, Hush Technologies have added 2.5" hard drive options to their range of Mini-ITX PCs. Also available is a Hush with a blank panel, for users who don't require an optical drive. Hush PCs are available from the online store of course - and to celebrate we have a couple of special offer configurations for UK customers, saving a bundle of cash.

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Matsushita's TurboLinux 8 Server
August 11, 2003

Matsushita have announced the BB-G500DXL, a 533Mhz Eden powered device running TurboLinux 8 Server - to be released on 25 August. Specifications are: 128MB DDR 266 SDRAM, 20 GB HDD, 4 x USB 2.0, VGA, Serial, 10/100 WLAN port and (slurp) 4 x 10/100 LAN ports - though this may well be an internal hub or switch (still good - anyone out there read Japanese?). The snappily named BB-G500DXL measures 274 x 207 x 75 mm, and weighs 1.7 Kg. We think it looks kind of retro-cool.

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The "Micro TV"
August 07, 2003

Ingo Niestroj gave his son all the components he needed to make an EPIA project, pointed him to this website, sat back and waited for things to start cooking. Ping! Father's day arrived, and so did:

The Niestroj family's "Micro TV"

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Nimble's V5
August 06, 2003

This is Nimble Microsystems, Inc's V5 "Personal Video Conferencing Player" - a full PC running Windows XP (or CE.NET) and powered by a 733Mhz Eden CPU (in silence of course). It's also a router, KVM switch box, has a built-in speakerphone and a Type II PC Card slot - which is crying out for a Wi-Fi card. The motherboard is a custom design with 2xVGA, 4xPS/2, 4xUSB 2.0 and 2xLAN ports, and must be small to fit into the 2"x7.7"x7.7" enclosure. The V5 has the same CLE266 chipset as the EPIA Ms, and has 128MB of RAM and a 30GB drive - plenty enough for its task as a video conferencing PC. It comes bundled with Windows applications to this end, but we bet you could run Linux on it - it would make a pretty snazzy firewall...

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Bandwidth Required!
August 05, 2003

Since we started the site just over a year ago, there's been a huge increase of interest in these cunning wee devices. We now serve 200GB of project madness a month, and our costs are going up - so we're looking at alternative hosting options. If you can provide us with affordable and reliable hosting, or can exchange bandwidth for advertising, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] if you can help. We're UK based - and if you're in Canary Wharf all the better (but this is not a strict requirement by any means)...

August 7 Update: Thanks to everyone who has offered assistance so far, we've been inundated with suggestions and offers - we will reply to you all, we promise!

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Robot EPIA Army to rescue Penguin
August 04, 2003

The Centibots are a team of 100 autonomous robots designed to map, track and even guard an area in a coherent fashion. The project members are SRI International (the Stanford Research Institute), Stanford University, the University of Washington and ActivMedia. Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project has many practical applications - robots can be sent into areas that aren't safe for humans, or where humans can't see (but beady robot eyes can). The Centibots communicate amongst themselves and with a command centre to collaboratively build a map of the locality using laser range finders (Pioneers) before sending in the next wave of tracking robots (AmigoBots). Of course they are powered by Nehemiah M10000 motherboards - VIA are quite cruelly demonstrating their abilities at LinuxWorld 2003 by holding a Linux Penguin hostage, and allowing the Centibots to recapture it. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Centibots Project at SRI

VIA Hold Penguin Hostage, Centibots attempt rescue

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