Very, very cool. Dell better get on the stick – with energy prices the way they are, these will be full mainstream in a couple of years.
We’re using the ALIX.3C2 for mesh network nodes. It draws a little too much power to run off a reasonably sized solar panel, but for our situation (a city with plenty of power) it works great. And if we get sick of the hardware, we can switch to another x86 board with little or no changes to the software!
I’m excited that x86 is making its way into the embedded market. It just brings us closer to the day when your fridge is running Linux, Zero-config’ing with the toaster.
I think I’d build my own portable computer. Maybe something like a laptop, but more modular–or a backpack (fanny pack?) computer that delivers news/email/penny arcade comics to my 80’s chic VR headset while I walk around town bumping into telephone poles, etc. God, I’m going to be so cool.
Jeff,
I have been running OpenDomain for a few years to help out open source projects and we were recently featured on Linux.com . If you or anyone here want to use the domain http://0pc.com - please contact me.
Of course we also have http://Free.TV if anyone want to chase down the Media center angle
the website is terrible, but this company also has a couple cool ideas:
http://www.kohltek.com/html/dfi_technology.html
I like the 15 touchscreen using a P4 chip, or the wall mount. I can see several of those around my (future) smart-home.
Jeff,
Leopard was my idea just before I read your initial comment. That is too cool…
Now, all is needed would be the touch interface and a cellular module. It’s not iPhone, it’s myPhone!
Maybe that’s the direction Apple is heading: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/22/business/apple.php
In the article there is mention of:
Apple is widely expected to be getting ready to refresh its line of notebook computers, and there is some speculation that it may introduce a new kind of device that is smaller than a laptop but larger than an iPhone. In several ways, Apple executives hinted that this new product would compete aggressively on price with rival devices.
Who knows, only Apple does.
I discovered Mini-ITX a few years back, and back then for 200 I managed to build a mini server for my house. It consists of:
-Mini ITX Motherboard with 500Mhz VIA processor
-512MB RAM
-Full-size HDD, 320GB
-Slimline CD drive (always disconnected)
It struggles a bit when I’m trying to update software on it, but it does its job admirably. The power supply for the unit provides 60W MAX.
Maybe one day an upgrade will be in order for something tiny like this, a few years back my box was mid-range in the Mini-ITX market and Nano-ITX was off in the distance.
I can’t wait to see what’s coming.
I have always been a fan of Soekris Engineering (http://www.soekris.com/) hardware which is great for router/firewall/wifi hotspot applications.
I’d probably combine it with an old laptop screen to make my own digital picture frame that would automatically update itself with the latest pictures from my friend’s accounts on flickr and Picasa Web Albums.
I’ve been looking for an extremely low power desktop or laptop than can still do programming (especially java and flash). Will this run those without trouble?
Someone mentioned it’s just for geekiness, not true! My search is because I will be living in an off-grid area. I would truly appreciate another article further researching this subject as it is near and dear to my heart 
I come to expect better from you. Hey, theres this cool hardware, that I’ve never tried… No insights, no review, waste of time. You could repeat this post on about 20 different kinds of hardware and it would all be the same.
If this could do 1080p HD Video streamed over a wired network, I’d be sold. Alas, I’m still waiting for the sub $200 micro PC that can do that, is 100% hackable, and has no freaking fans.
While it’s not a nani-ITX, I use one of Jetway’s Mini-ITX machines (J7F3E-PB) as a carputer. The power consumption was something I worried about before I installed the system (could put a strain on the alternator) but it’s run without a hitch for almost a year now.
I would combine it with a touchscreen to create a nice wall calendar that you can write notes on that it backs up to some central server. You could have multiple calendars all around the house and at your office that contain all the same information, synced in a central location.
Just a slight issue with one of your comments, Jeff:
You could pick up a laptop hard drive, but another clever thing about this board is that it allows you to use a cheap CompactFlash card as your storage medium – for the optimal low power, no moving parts install.
Thats not actually correct. On paper, yes an SSD seems lower power than a laptop HDD, however thats comparing maximum power states to each other. HDD vary there power using, and in practice almost never even reach peak power. However, SSD’s have basically two modes, on and off, so it is always consuming its max power, which is much higher than even a desktop’s hard drive at idle to mid power. So in practice SSD’s use more juice than HDD’s, though this could change with advances in tech of course.
Awesome.
Useful for making toy robots perhaps?
a complete windows xp auto-formats auto-partition auto-install quiet mode that lets you just plug in to a friend’s ethernet slot and say go watch a movie while it does just that over network boot.
I used a mini-ITX based PC in my Carputer (http://www.strifestrips.com/MavLab/index.aspx) back when I was actively working on it (2002 - 2005)
The size and power usage are perfect for building into your car! Imagine voice command for navigation, playing music, automatically recording fuel usage for each trip (tied into GPS tracking)
It was a fun project to work on - but I just don’t have the spare time or drive (pun not itended) to develop it any further now.
More so related to an HTPC, but the AppleTV is worth mentioning. It doesn’t serve all purposes, but when the power consumption it’s quite incredible. During general use and idle it consumes around 15watts, and when playing a 720p video over a wired network (wifi off) it uses around 17watts. It’s a great price if you can deal with the limitations (no 1080p) and you don’t mind a little bit of a hack (simple as a USB thumb drive that automatically installs what you need).
I’m certainly not saying it’s a replacement for a more general purpose system, but for an off the shelf solution it’s a great deal.