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Small Form Factor PCs
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Jan 24, 2007 03:12 PM
from the build-it-small dept.
from the build-it-small dept.
JoshuaBenuck writes "Make Projects: Small Form Factor PCs provides detailed step-by-step instructions on building a variety of small form factor systems, starting from the larger ones (about the size of a shoe box) and working its way down to the smallest (which is about the size of a pack of gum). It includes instructions on creating a digital audio jukebox, digital video recorder, wireless network range extender, home network gateway, network monitor, portable firewall, cheap Wi-Fi SSH client, and a Bluetooth LED sign." Read on for the rest of Joshua's review.
First off, this is a PDF that, as far as I can tell, is only available from oreilly's website. Most of the projects in the book will require at least $300 dollars to complete.
If you who don't know why you would want to use a small form factor PC there is a good discussion of why you might want to consider using one in the introduction along with a list of some of the currently available small form factor PCs. You'll need to keep in mind that some of the systems mentioned would be more commonly referred to as embedded systems so the authors have expanded the definition of what 'small form factor PC' means. Not all of the systems mentioned are used in one of the projects in the book so if you get bored or are looking for another small system to play with, this may be a good resource.
The remaining chapters deal with projects that each use one of the systems mentioned in the introduction. The chapter headings show a picture of the finished product, a list of needed components, a bar showing the time it will take, and a rating of difficulty from 'easy' to 'difficult'. The bars and pictures provide a quick indication of what you are getting yourself into with one glaring exception; they do not tell you how much money you'll need to sink into the project. In order to find this information you'll need to go back to the introduction and read through the paragraph that tells you about the system used in the chapter.
This is followed by an overview of what is going to be built and which system was chosen for the implementation along with a description of its unique characteristics that made it a good fit for the project. A lot of emphasis is put on the power consumption of the various components. They even measure it at startup, shutdown, and during normal operations. This is used to make a couple of power and cooling design decisions.
If you're like me, you don't like when your systems makes a lot of noise (Especially ones that aren't supposed to look like they have a computer in them). This book gives a good overview on what to look for when building a system that you want to be as quiet as possible. They mention whether the system can get away with passive cooling (e.g. no fans) and they show some very non-conventional ways to reduce the noise production of a system (such as hanging a hard drive from wires within an enclosure).
The step-by-step instructions on assembling the hardware components of the systems include plenty of good quality pictures that should make it easy to follow along with the various projects. The pictures are about a third the width of the page which I feel is a good size. They are crisp, clear, and add to the discussion of the topic at hand.
If you are an experienced Linux or BSD user you'll probably be able to skim most of the step-by-step operating system installation instructions. If you are new to Linux and BSD the steps should help you find your way to project completion. Just don't expect the book to have all of the answers all of the time. I feel it is impossible for one book to contain the answers to all the questions that someone new to this area may have. That said, I think this book does an admirable job at giving you what you need to succeed.
Littered throughout the text are various warnings, other options, and lessons learned which I found to be valuable. Some of these include mistakes the authors made (such as using a WinTV-Go card instead of a higher model with a built-in MPEG decoder), using a CF Card Reader if you are unable to use NFS to transfer files to a system that uses a Compact Flash card, and numerous other practical tidbits that should serve to save you some frustration when trying to do the projects on your own.
You don't have to use the hardware platforms or components recommended in this book to gain benefit from its contents. I've used the instructions on setting up the Linux Infrared Remote Control (lirc) project to help with an Iguanaworks USB Infrared Transceiver (a device that sends and receives infrared signals) while the authors used an Irman receiver. The MythTV box I've setup uses Ubuntu Linux instead of Gentoo Linux and uses a spare system instead of the Shuttle XPC used in the book. I found the instructions in the book to be indispensable as I worked through this.
I've never done a case mod before, but I like the idea of being able to hide away a computer in something that looks like a decoration. There is a detailed explanation of how the authors used an old antique radio as a cover for their digital jukebox. I enjoyed the discussion of the various places they could put the power supply, infrared receiver, and other design considerations. It really gave me a feel for what types of questions I'll need to answer as I do a case mod myself.
That leads me to what I think is the biggest strength of this book. It is the very conversational way in which the authors tell you what they did, why they did it, and what they could have done. Along the way they provide links for further information, and search terms that can help you learn more about the topic at hand. The book is packed with information that is up-to-date, accurate, valuable, and easy-to-read.
That said, some of the information will lose value over time. For example, the specific gumstix computer that was used does not appear to be available anymore. This is probably a good thing since the authors had to make some adjustments to get the 200 Mhz Bluetooth enabled version to work. I mention it only to point out that the information on the specific systems and the other instructions will lose value over time. It is impossible to future proof a work likes this.
The projects in this book opened my mind to a whole new world of what is possible with small systems. I haven't had a chance to purchase of the specific systems mentioned, but the information on setting up the various software and hardware components has already proven the book's worth. I look forward to one day getting my hands on the systems mentioned so I can gain the full advantage that small form factors provide. So if you don't mind spending $300+ to play with some a small form factor PC or you love to tinker with networking, or multimedia applications then you might want to give this book a try. I certainly don't regret it.
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Save time, declare victory (Score:2, Funny)
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Er, no, it's avoiding having them in the first place. (Not to mention saving a heck of a lot of time)
(Wish there was a +1 Offtopic mod for the GP - Offtopic but still useful
Re:Save time, declare victory (Score:5, Insightful)
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Usually about this time she'll ask me a couple questions with some inquisitive looks and that's about it. Explaining this stuff to normal people usually re
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Macs do not come with BSD. They run XNU. (Score:5, Informative)
One of the many contradictions inherent in the Apple Religion is that BSD is bad, but Mac OSX is BSD in all ways that matter, and Mac OSX is good. Go read the wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] if you want to get past the religious dogma.
In reality MacOS is not BSD (BSD is tighter, faster, and uglier). It's the latest version of XNU, and XNU probably has no more BSD code in it than Solaris, linux or Windows does.
PS: I use a mac, so the faithful need not crucify me for these comments. I'm sure simple flogging will do.
Parent
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Windows 98 contained BSD code. (Score:2)
If you are on a dual-boot system, mount your windows partition and do "strings" on the files, look for something obvious like "regents"...
find
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Well, here comes your flogging. XNU == BSD kernel on top of Mach. Mach is doing practically nothing in Apple's implementation, and basically acts like a HAL. The benefit of using Mach is that someone else already had written it. The drawback is that it is a crap-ass microkernel and is basically only good for, well, what Apple is using it for.
The entire BSD userland is available on OSX. So I'd say that
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Next time, please log in, so I can friend you :D
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You might do this if you Just Don't Get It.
Re:Save time, declare victory (Score:5, Insightful)
go get a cheapo mac mini, it even comes pre-installed with BSD
That's fine if the Mac Mini is the right solution.
There are a multitude of applications for a small form factor PC in the first place. The Mac Mini's hardware is of pre-determined specification and the case leaves next to no room for expandability. Coming from the other direction, the review seems to indicate that the book contains projects more along the lines of tiny embedded computers that are substantially smaller than the Mac Mini. Couple this with the fact that just going out and buying a computer is a different experience than selecting your own configuration of components and piecing it together yourself, and you'll see that your suggestion is not an end-all/be-all solution to everybody all of the time.
Parent
Re:Save time, declare victory (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't have multiple NICs, either. If you're doing anything networking related, you kinda need more then one NIC. And no, a USB to Ethernet NIC isn't a great option when the unit costs $600 and you need a network device.
I would like to build one of these little machines some day, maybe a few of them, for various purposes. They do tend to be fairly expensive though, but still not as much as a Mac Mini. And, you can opt for solid-state disks, multiple NICs, and your choice of expandability.
I do have one of those WRT54G's (actually, it's a motorola box, but it's the same as the 4MB Linksys) with DD-WRT on it. It's really great! It's like a mini linux box that cost me $30.
Parent
Not so cheapo (Score:3, Insightful)
The most expensive Mac Mini without monitor is $1600.
Cheapo, huh? You could build three utility PC's $600.
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I'll have the Mac, please.
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new shuffle mod (Score:2, Funny)
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$300 is geek price inflation (Score:4, Interesting)
And while we're at it, why do so many mini ITX cabinets look like early '70's stereo equipment? Just give me a cheap box that's as blank as possible and mounts a CD drive horizontally. That means the case on;y has to be 6" wide, not 11".
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Just a guess, but maybe because people want to use them for various media-serving functions in the living room, so therefore they want ones that match their existing butt-ugly early 70s stereo equipment?
Or maybe they're trying too hard to be retro? Next thing you know, they'll be trying stainless steel, dark wood, and avocado green -- all in the same case.
Re:$300 is geek price inflation (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
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A more likely reason that the mini ITX form factor is expensive is that the end user market is much smaller than the one for full size ATX motherboards. If volumes are lower, prices are going to be higher.
If all you're looking for is a NAS,
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BTW did you know that most NAS devices that come with a built in installed drive become worthless if the drive has a problem? Yeah its because most of them store at least part of the OS on a partition on the hard drive. So unless you have a way to rebuild the OS image, the whole u
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The improved choice of motherboards and power supplies is also a plus.
If all else fails, there are plenty of sites with information on how to make and mod cases to get exactly what you want.
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As far as the mainboards - disagree. A Pentium motherboard which has a good quality audio (every ITX I tried had a superb one which is definitely not the case for most cheap Intel/AMD MBs where you can hear the f*** voltage regulator noise in the audio), a hardware encryption accelerator, a minimal spec video card which still has a built-in MPEG decoder (intel onboard does not have that), etc will pull a hefty 500$ at least. Compared to that the sub-200 price of a mini-ITX is qu
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For a "cheap" box, isn't that asking for a bit much? A standard slim optical drive is 5.875" wide. To get anywhere close to 6", you probably need to use a slot-loading notebook drive integrated into a case/motherboard combo with notebook parts and external power brick, whi
Sounds like it might be worthwhile. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not sure if it would be of any benefit to the more casual reader, or one on a longer time horizon. It sounds like they make specific hardware recommendations, which would be invaluable to someone building a system today, is probably just going to be a source of frustration in twelve months, when none of the stuff they recommend will be available anymore.
Their choice to produce it as an ebook is probably a smart one, for this reason. They would barely have time to get it out the door in paper format, before the recommendations were less than cutting-edge; by the time it made its way to most readers, they'd have to hunt on eBay to get the particular parts used in the articles.
I can't tell you the number of times I've read various HOWTOs and other 'How to make a...' articles, only to meet frustration when some small key part is out of production, and the currently-produced alternative creates problems that aren't addressed. That's the limitation of HOWTOs: they only tell you how to go down one particular path, not how to survive in the proverbial woods. They're a map, not a survival guide.
So I guess if you're in the market for a 'map,' getting one that's as new as possible is probably a smart idea, and one that's been written and is produced straight to PDF, without months of waiting to be printed and sold, is probably the best thing going.
Mac Minis killed modding (Score:4, Insightful)
Then along comes the Mac Mini and in the last two years I've seen lots of "We took a Mac Mini and stuck it in something bigger" and I'm like, what's the point? I've got two Minis and they're great. (Though I'll buy a Mac Pro next time they're revved because I need a little more juice (mine are G4s) and a lot more disk than these little guys can hold.) I also plan to play around with a PC mini clone I saw somewhere, or maybe one of these little guys [norhtec.com] that Cringley recently had some fun with. [pbs.org]
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Question on Purchasing the PDF ? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Question on Purchasing the PDF ? (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
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I seem to remember it's trivially easy to modify xpdf to get around the "do not print" flag in PDFs. One statement needs changing and then a recompile.
Have I just broken the DMCA?
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The main protection I've seen them use against PDF piracy is that some of their files, like chapter downloads from the Safari service, are imprinted with a light gray background watermark that contains your customer information. This works as a good deterrant f
Jukebox (Score:2)
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Shuttles! (Score:4, Interesting)
I want a satchel PC. (Score:3, Interesting)
The hard part seems to be the monitor. How to keep it safe and light weight.
Power is another problem.
Don't use a monitor.. (Score:2)
gumstix (Score:2)
I might look into this book. (Score:2)
These books don't age well (Score:3, Insightful)
I've aged as well.
Convert it to Wiki - O'Reilly - you listening?... (Score:4, Interesting)
Convert the book to a wiki.
I've already bought the book. What if I now want to upload my own storyline as well as pictures of my project to a community maintaining an on-line version of same book? A wiki would allow anyone who has bought the book (thus they have an ID/PWD for accessing the PDF originally) to use the same login to access an online wiki based version of the book. You won't lose any revenue from account sharing, since the same person sharing their login could just as easily share the PDF file. *But*, by putting it into an access controlled wiki for those of us who have bought the book, you give us the opportunity to share our stories... to make major and minor changes as necessary as we go through the different howtos and find that things have changed slightly, components have uprev'd, etc. And, if you managed the wiki properly you might even maintain a revenue stream on the publication long after it has originally published, not because techies will want to buy an old book, but because when they do they know they'll also get access to the latest updates in the "community of users" participating in the wiki. You might be able to harvest the best that the wiki has to offer and spin that back into a PDF version, then spin that back into a wiki again. And of course all this community activity on an O'Reilly hosted site means traffic, eyeballs, impressions, etc. etc....
I know this won't work for every book and every topic. But in the case of this one it seems like a no brainer to try since the book is really just a short intro followed by a bunch of essentially standalone howto chapters. Perfect for a wiki IMO...