What is Mini-ITX?
Mini-ITX is a motherboard form factor created by VIA. Motherboards are available from « VIA »:http://www.viamainboard.com/product/epia_m_spec.jsp?motherboardId=81 under the name « EPIA ». (…)
Mini-ITX motherboards have a processor soldered to the board and a rich supporting chipset providing networking, graphics and sound. This means that by adding just some memory, a hard drive and a power supply, you have a full computer. You might want to add a case, but this is optional 😉
Mini-ITX motherboards are very cheap. But they are powerful enough to play back full screen video through their monitor or TV output.
Mini-ITX motherboards are very small. The specification requires that the boards are 170mm x 170mm (6.75″ x 6.75″)
[from the « Mini-ITX FAQ »:http://www.mini-itx.com/faq.asp]
A comprehensive study of the VIA EPIA-M [fr], can be found on x-86 secrets. Samuel D., the author, suggests Divx-car.com & JackyPC.com as further reading. [added 20041209]
Where to find mini-ITX ?
* « think-itx »:http://www.thinkitx.com/catalog/default.php
* « mini-ITX.com »:http://mini-itx.com/store/default.asp
* « mini-ITX.de »:http://www.mini-itx.de/ (in German)
* « mini-ITX.it »:http://www.mini-itx.it
* « ITX-Warehouse »:http://www.itx-warehouse.co.uk/
* « Lin-ITX.com »:http://linitx.com/
* « LDLC.com »:http://www.ldlc.fr/contacts/C000001024.html
Cases
* « Travla »:http://www.travla.com/Products/products.html
What is LIRC?
« LIRC is a package that allows you to decode and send infra-red signals of many (but not all) commonly used remote controls. »
How to build a simple but cool IR (Infra Red) receiver »
What is the LinuxBIOS Project
« LinuxBIOS is an Open Source project aimed at replacing the normal BIOS with a little bit of hardware initialization and a compressed Linux kernel that can be booted from a cold start. »
What is MPlayer
« MPlayer is a movie player for Linux (runs on many other Unices, and non-x86 CPUs, see the documentation). It plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, OGG/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5 and even WMV movies, too (without the avifile library).
Another great feature of MPlayer is the wide range of supported output drivers. It works with X11, Xv, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, AAlib, DirectFB, but you can use GGI, SDL (and this way all their drivers), VESA (on every VESA compatible card, even without X11!) and some low level card-specific drivers (for Matrox, 3Dfx and ATI), too! Most of them support software or hardware scaling, so you can enjoy movies in fullscreen. »
Check out those (15 IX 04)
Thru « mini-itx.com »:http://www.mini-itx.com/:
* « Building a solid-state mini-ITX Linux recording studio »:http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6430363948.html
* « Mini ITX Travla C138 Case »:http://www.hard-h2o.com/readreview/barebone/travla-c138.html
* « Morex Cubid 3688 Mini-ITX Case Review »:http://www.bigbruin.com/html/morex_3688.htm
* « Powerstream.com »:http://www.powerstream.com/mini-itx.htm
* « Building a Super Tiny Home Server « :http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1639182,00.asp
* « hexus.net »:http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD0yNDg=
* « Project: VIA enhanced Xine Player (VeXP) »:http://sourceforge.net/projects/viaexp/
* « linITX.org »:http://linitx.org/forum/
* « Mini-ITX madness »:http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT3470636459.html (Part 7 of the « Linux-friendly Embedded SBCs Quick Reference Guide »:http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2614444132.html)
* « Building a TiVo, a Step at a Time »:http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,59088,00.html
* ITX-France (revendeur « Travla »:http://www.travla.com/Where-to-buy/wheretobuy.html, as reviewed « here »:http://www.hard-h2o.com/readreview/barebone/travla-c138.html)
* « ExtremTech »:http://www.extremetech.com/category2/0,1556,644478,00.asp’s « Contest slideshow »:http://www.extremetech.com/slideshow/0,2394,l=&s=1005&a=130781,00.asp
[added 1 Oct 04]
* « you are tempted to build a server like « this »:http://www.plees.f2s.com/ec/mini-svr/mini-svr.htm but are put off by the price? » Then check the ideas at the bottom of « the page »:http://www.plees.f2s.com/ec/mini-svr/mini-svr.htm