where to buy cheap, low power, small, diskless systems for thin clients and network appliances?

From: Tim Wilfong (nospam_at_techslinger.com)
Date: 10/19/04

  • Next message: Paul E. Bennett: "Re: where to buy cheap, low power, small, diskless systems for thin clients and network appliances?" 
    Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 04:32:12 -0700

    (long post warning: only read if you are a vendor that sells low power,
    small footprint, mini PC or thin client systems or are like me and are
    searching for good places to buy them at decent prices)

    I am looking for sources to buy low-power (as in watts consumed)
    small-footprint systems based on processors like the Geode GX1, Via C3,
    SiS55x LV, Transmeta Crusoe, and STPC. I would like to find a single vendor
    or at least a small number of vendors that I can either 1) buy whole systems
    from, or 2) buy the parts to assemble my own systems, preferably #1. My
    goal is to standardize on a single system or small set of systems that can
    be very flexible in their applications and used for various thin client and
    other low-power network applications. Vendors, please feel free to reply to
    the post or email me, but only if you can meet all of the requirements
    outlined below.

    All systems should use less than 20 watts of power and be under $250 per
    unit (purchased one unit at a time,) including shipping and everything the
    system needs to work other than a monitor, keyboard and mouse -- no hidden
    costs. If they are cheap enough then they can consume a bit more power,
    maybe as much as 25W, but they ought to be fanless (if possible) and very
    quiet. Quantity discounts would be nice but I won't be buying more than
    10-20 at a time. They should be small -- no more than about 1/3 cubic foot
    (9 liters) and hopefully much smaller. Need to have connections for at
    least: keyboard, mouse (except system 3), ethernet (10/100bT), VGA monitor,
    and at least one printer, serial, or USB port. They should all be capable of
    booting via PXE or have a bootable flash drive with at least 32MB that
    emulates an IDE hard drive, or both, and in all ways emulate the PC
    architecture so that x86 Linux distributions and other x86 OSes will run
    with little or no modification (except system #3.)

    Price is a big factor in deciding which systems and/or parts I go with, and
    no system over $250 will be considered. But, so long as the system is under
    that price point, then factors such as small size, low power consumption,
    low noise, extra features (more RAM, more connectors, external audio
    connectors, etc.) will matter as much as price.

    Requirements for 3 different systems I'm looking for:

    System 1:
    under $250
    128MB RAM
    32MB Flash drive (bootable, emulates IDE hard drive)
    10/100 Ethernet port (PXE bootable)
    VGA port with accelerated 2D/3D engine
    Audio output
    PS/2 or USB Keyboard and Mouse ports
    at least 1 each of USB, RS232 serial, and parallel or extra USB
    fanless or very low power fan and some extra features to make up for it

    System 2: same as system #1, but under $200 and with no flash drive and no
    need to be fanless.

    System 3: is a color text ethernet terminal supporting at least one printer
    that it makes available to a unix host via lpd protocol.
    under $150 (hopefully much less, at least in large quantities)
    supports color text and at least 25x80/132 and 43x80/132 resolutions
    VGA port that supports color CRT and LCD monitors
    emulates at least vt100/102, ANSI, and PC TERM
    supports telnet/ssh via 10bT ethernet port
    at least one parallel, serial, or USB port for a printer and LPD (RFC 1179)
    support

    Complete system solutions I have found so far, for those that are looking
    for the same:

    http://www.channel.com.tw/eng/tcs-533.shtml

    Seems to support all requirements for either #1 or #2, depending on
    configuration, but I don't know about power requirements or size.

    http://www.norhtec.com/products/mc/index.html

    Again, seems to support all requirements for either #1 or #2, depending on
    config. I haven't verified pricing yet, but website suggests system
    configured for #2 would be $195.

    http://www.norhtec.com/products/mcr/index.html

    looks really slick (very small and low power,) but is priced at least $30
    more than their other product above (so might not meet my price
    requirements,) doesn't have external RS232 and parallel, and may have less
    computational power (as little as half, but that might not matter.)

    http://www.solarpc.com/

    their SB150 looks like it might meet all the requirements for system #2, but
    I can't tell for sure, and haven't had a response to my emails.

    http://www.ntavo.com/ntaterminal.php

    The NTAVO 6010A looks like it might meet all requirements for system #3 and
    only lacks RAM to meet reqs for #2, but it looks like it might be a
    proprietary solution that only works with their server hardware and not with
    open standards. Anyone know?

    http://idotpc.com/TheStore/minibook/default_itx.asp?Cate.id=19

    has iBox slim and deck mini-PCs. I think an iBox Slim PC could meet the
    requirements for system #1 (at $209 plus shipping,) coupled with an IDE
    flash drive (around $30-$40, I think) or bootable USB drive ($20 or so, but
    the bios might not support booting from USB even if the pen drive does.) It
    might run a tiny bit over the $250 limit, I don't know how much power it
    consumes, and it has fans. The iBox Deck PC has no fans but is $10 more.

    Build my own:

    I've searched around and found a couple places where I could buy VIA
    EPIA/Eden motherboards and mini-itx cases at decent prices. It's just
    amazing how many places there are that have outrageous pricing -- like more
    than double the lowest dealers. The best price I've found so far is at
    http://directron.com/. I can put a mini-itx system together with case,
    motherboard, and 128MB RAM for $186 (including UPS ground shipping) that
    looks like it will meet system #2 requirements, and I could use a USB or IDE
    flash drive to make into a system #1. But, looks like I'd have to assemble
    this myself as I don't see an option for them to assemble and test. If
    anyone knows other places to buy VIA EPIA motherboards, cases, etc, at
    prices less than or equal to directron.com, especially places that will
    assemble the system, please let me know. Keep in mind I have looked at about
    40 sites so far (including mini-itx.com) and while there are lots of places
    to buy mini-itx hardware, directron.com was the only one I found where I
    could build a complete system for under $200 including shipping -- most were
    over $300.

    -Tim Wilfong
    nospam@techslinger.com

  • Next message: Paul E. Bennett: "Re: where to buy cheap, low power, small, diskless systems for thin clients and network appliances?"

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