Re: [Hampshire] Mini-ITX

Bob Dunlop wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Nov 07 at 08:11, Alastair Biggs wrote:
> ...
>
>> The server needs to be small, efficent and quiet and needs to be tucked away somewhere or wall mounted so I was thinking I would go with Mini-ITX.
>>
>
> Mini-ITX is seriously over the top for the applicaion you describe unless
> you enjoy building expensive things.
>
> I'd suggest using a Linutop[1] booting from Flash. We use a number of
> these at work for various tasks and they have been rock solid. Solid
> state, fanless == silent and lowish power consumption.
>
> Only problem is that Linutop want a lot of money for it. So buy the Viglen
> MPC-L [2] and back convert to solid state by replacing the 2.5" hard drive
> with a CF module. Still cheaper than Linutop and you end up with a free
> drive. See Alan Popes mail for how to get the MPC-L even cheaper.
>
> I agree with some other comments that 2.5" drives are not great in small
> boxes and prone to overheating. A lot of the early laptop drives were
> only speced for an 8 hour out of 24 duty cycle. You can get 24/7 speced
> server grade drives these days, but your small application just crys out
> for solid state.

I started out with a mail server which then expanded out to file and
print with various small web apps, and then ended up as a 24x7 torrent
box*. To facilitate the latter I had to increase the hard drive
capacity, a task easily accomplished by adding in an extra drive where
the optical drive would normally live. My point here is that if your
needs are clear and defined then the Viglen sounds ideal (I wish I had
80 quid going spare to play with one!), but if you want to have a little
fun, build it yourself, upgrade or repair components, then mini-itx is a
better platform in many ways.

The only thing that really bothers me with mini-itx is the price of the
cases and PSUs which seems excessive when compared to micro-atx and atx.
Does anyone know if micro-atx cases are compatible with mini-itx boards
in terms of the PSU, or are you likely to do harm to a mini-itx mobo if
you hook it up to a micro-atx PSU? Cases can be physically hacked, so
that's not so much of an issue.

Sean

* legal live music downloads from dimeadozen only folks!