Want low-power, fanless, computer to drive automation software and touchscreens

politics123

Active Member
Hi --

I have a couple touchscreens that I haven't hooked up yet, and while I'm still experimenting with the HS, CQC, ML, mControl (and hopefully, soon, the Johhnynine's and 123's control sets, etc), I know I want to do the following:

1) Drive 2 touchscreen monitors (likely via USB and a VGA video splitter-- running the VGA over cat5 directly)
2) Perform 1-wire tasks (reading temperatures, creating graphs, and uploading data to a hosted site)
3) Perform automation tasks (essentially, controlling the ELK, but letting the ELK rule's focus on security-related items) using automation software

In terms of computing, I want the lowest cost (but not necessarily smallest form-factor), lowest power consumption possible.

Are micro-ATX computers powerful enough to do these three tasks reliably? Are there any prebuilt micro-ATX computers, or is it essentially a home-built market? How much power savings can one really expect out of the micro-ATX boxes? Anyone figure out a way to get a normal ATX computer to consume about the same amount of power?

On a related note, I have 3 older laptops (2 P3s -- one running 2000 the other XP, and 1 P4 running XP). Anyone try driving the automation software from an older laptop? The advantage of the laptops is that they have power-saving built-in (eg: they can automatically reduce CPU speed). Anyone want to guess whether a laptop would consume more power than a micro-ATX? Which would win on performance?

Thanks!
Michael

PS -- if I were to go micro-ATX, can someone recommend a good place to shop?
 
I have been looking for something like this for awhile but still not found a satisfactory solution. Problems are:

Most fanless systems are DIY to a greater degree than I am interested in. (If I have to spend mare than an hour setting it up it is not a good solution for me).

Most pre-built fanless systems are either way too expensive or way too limited (no DVD drive for loading new apps, funky OS, etc.)

I would like to find a pre-built fanless Windows XP system with with 2G RAM, moderate HD, a DVD drive, and a 100M network port for under $500.
 
Not sure how small you're looking for, but most MicroATX systems aren't that small.

We use these with good luck:
http://minipc.aopen.com/us/


Not fanless, but quiet. You can probably get a barebones for $400 or maybe slightly under. Just add CPU, RAM, 2.5" SATA hard disk.
 
Thanks for the nano and pico-ITX link @ logic supply.

So do you run a flavor of windows on the nano-ITX or something like linux? Do you feel that the CPU could handle automation tasks in addition to the touchscreen? (I'm assuming you have something like a 1ghz VIA processor?)

I am tempted to go solid-state (eg: use an IDE to compact flash adapter... perhaps with some sort of RAM cache), too... thoughts?
 
Thanks for the nano and pico-ITX link @ logic supply.

So do you run a flavor of windows on the nano-ITX or something like linux? Do you feel that the CPU could handle automation tasks in addition to the touchscreen? (I'm assuming you have something like a 1ghz VIA processor?)

I am tempted to go solid-state (eg: use an IDE to compact flash adapter... perhaps with some sort of RAM cache), too... thoughts?

I am using a 800mhz fanless Nano-ITX for the touchscreen, it has a cut down (nLite http://www.nliteos.com/) version of XP running on a Sandisk Extreme III CF card.

My H/A server is a Via Epia M1000 1ghz, It is pulling about 44 watts but I could lower it quite a bit by using a 2.5' Hard drive and a more efficient power supply instead of the standard ATX I am using now. If I were to do it again(and I will) I would have used a faster cpu version. The Intel based cheap board that I hear a lot of people using now looks like a good choice. http://www.logicsupply.com/products/d201gly2a

I am thinking of building another touchscreen PC using a Geode LX800 board, I have seen the specs on some higher end Touchscreens that were based on this cpu, it uses very little power. http://www.logicsupply.com/products/ms_9801
 
I'd strongly recommend a DIY. By doing so, you get the best bang for your buck.

AMD Athlon X2 4200+ Brisbane
Foxconn A6VMX AM2+/AM2 AMD 690V ATX AMD Motherboard
Kingston 2GB DDR2 Memory
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB Hard Drive
SeaSonic SS-300ES Power Supply
LIAN LI PC-A05B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Lite-On DVD Burner

All this for $357.93. This is without the cost of an OS, software, keyboard/mouse, etc.

You'll have to put it together.

I do undervolt/underclock my processor to run at 4x (800MHz) o/c to 250MHz at 0.9 volts with my Sempron 3400+ and I get a power consumption of 30-35 watts. However, you might want to wait and pay about $50 more for AMD Brisbane 4850e, which has a TDP of 45w and you can probably undervolt/underclock to get as low as 30 watts, although I can't be sure, as I'll grab the 4850e when it becomes available.
 
Try the Intel D201GLY2 mini-ITX form factor motherboard + CPU (~$70). It's fanless, all you need is add a DDR2-667 RAM and a HD. I have this setup with the picoPSU 60w power supply, it's noiseless and it's currently my homeseer2 machine.

Another solution is to get the MacMini, of course, it will cost more (more than $400 for used ones).

Shuttle is also coming out with another SFF platform called kPC, supposed to be under $199.
 
Why not an EEE PC?

$299 over at Newegg.com, that's an entire system OS, etc.

You can upgrade to Xp on your own

You can add in a touchscreen if you want.

--Dan
 
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