> Has anyone got any Mini-ITX machines if so please list your specs included
> case and what the performance is like.
>
I currently run one mini-itx machine, used to run 2 but one died :(
Machines:
1) EPIA 8000, 800mhz board with a small quiet fan. Very low power but used
to work reasonably well as a simple file server and mp3 player, although
response time was pretty rubbish for apache which I used to run my mp3
player.
It sat in one of these cases underneath my mini stereo and just had the
aux input straight into the stereo system to play music:
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=10543
Only my case only had one 5.25" drive bay.
Very very low power, and this was at uni the fan noise was quiet enough to
sleep with the machine on in my room.
2) EPIA SP13000, 1.2gz via mini-itx board, which runs my media centre. But
to be honest it is very slow. Responsiveness sucks, but is is very low
power which is good for a machine that is left running 24x7.
In my experience, certainly in the past, Linux support for these via
systems has been very so-so. A lot of stuff only just hangs together and
to be honest even on my newer SP13000 board, running Fedora 7 (not
upgraded for a while, no point if it works!) a lot of things were a pain
to get working.
However the output on the board are great, S-Video runs nicely to be old
TV for display, colour isn't too bad, and accelerated MPEG2 playback means
that even though it is low power it works great for media. But is a
complete no-go for hi-def.
It also has s/pdif output on the back, which is good for media.
It also has a great case for use under a TV:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=3#media
My new file/web server:
When system 1 died (PSU went, possibly taking other parts with it, decided
it was easier to start again then buy new bits one at a time until I
figured out what was really dead) I replaced it with a brand new system
simply running in a normal small tower case, cheap AMD motherboard and
cheap duron processor. Whole new setup including case cost me something
like £80.
This system is massively quicker than my old via system, responsiveness of
apache and the file server is obviously better. It does produce more noise
but I've just stuck it in the corner of the study so it isn't too bad.
Personally I wouldn't recommend either of my systems to run a webserver
that people were going to look at ;)
Future replacement media centre:
What I am seriously looking at though, is the new intel boards that you
mentioned, specifically one of the Atom 330 boards.
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/D945GCLF2/D945GCLF2-overview.htm
These appear to be well supported in Linux (being intel kit), low (ish)
power, but still seriously quick compared with the old via gear. The
downside would appear to be that the fan on board is quite noisy (but
easily replaced with a quieter one ) and apparently capable of hi-def
video playback with latest ffmpeg etc.
I specifically want the 330 due to s-video output, and gigabit lan (hi-def
media over the network!)
The big downside is the power draw is quite large compared with some of
the very small via systems, however suspend to ram seems to be much better
supported (I've never got it working on either of my via systems), so I
hope to save power by being able to power down and wake up for recordings
etc.
It seems that the atom boards draw about 41w idle and 45w running flat
out, this is due to the old GMA950 graphics on board which isn't very
efficient, the atom CPU itself is great. Compare this with the SP1300
which appears to get about 15w idle and 35w flat out.
Of course the thing is that the intel system is much more powerful but if
power consumption is a big thing for you then via might be a better route
and take the performance hit.
Hmm, that got a bit rambling.. if you want me to clarify please let me
know. Pretty much it's all just normal PC stuff, only with a smaller
motherboard.
