[OT] small PC

[Roger Oberholtzer]

We are starting a partnership with a company that will embed our measurement
system into a passanger vehicle measuring things like runway friction. Our
system is small. The system already in the vehicles is not. It uses water in
the process of measuring wet friction. So, the entire inside of the car
(behind the front seat) is water tanks. We have been allocated a tiny place
above a water tank where we can place our internal electronics. The
remaining components are lasers and other transducers mounted outside the
vehicle.

As these are systems to deliver to custometrs, we are looking for a system
currently in production. The closest I have come is PogoLinux. However, it
turns out that the box they have that will really hold a full length PCI
card (despite their docs and adverts) is a dual CPU model starting at $2500,
which is outside the targeted price for this component. I have also found a
box from Kontron. The Kontron box actually advertises that it is delivered
with Caldera eDesktop 2.4. (PogoLinux are a Red Hat shop.)

I was hoping for more than one choice. Something more than a Model T in any
color...

On Fri, 30 Aug 2002 22:54:32 -0700 Bill Campbell <bill at celestial.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 30, 2002 at 11:03:16AM +0200, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
> >
> >Does anyone have any suggestions for a SMALL PC that will hold a
> >full-length (13") PCI card?
> >
> >We are looking for the smallest one that is off-the-shelf. Our preference
> >is thin, but we are not picky.
> >
> >The other requirement is that it be priced like a regular PC. It does not
> >need ISA. But place for a CD, a network and decent graphics card are also
> >needed.
> 
> We have looked at quite a number of machines like this, used some for a
> while, but largely given up on them.  The biggest reason has been problems
> with power supplies, general reliability, and problems getting replacement
> parts even when using name brand units from companies like ASUS.
> 
> We picked up some used HP Vectra desktops with small riser chassis which
> are very well built, and have been using them for routers, and other Linux
> applications where relatively low height is an advantage (they're about 3U
> high as opposed to the 4U or so for a normal desktop chassis).  These
> chassis are about the same width as a desktop PC.
> 
> We've gone to IBM ThinkPads for the applications where we need small,
> portable units because we've had far fewer problems with things shaking
> loose inside, and IBM's warranty service has been nothing short of
> amazing.
> 
> For desktop applications where small size is important, we've been
> installing the old style iMacs running OS X with XFree86 so they can be
> used effectively to run X clients on Linux servers.  They take up less
> space on the desktop than the smallest Intel PC chassis, monitor, and
> keyboard.  They require less wiring clutter even than the diskless thin
> clients from IBM and others (I haven't looked at the Oracle boxes).  The
> old style iMacs are still available new for under $700US, and the hardware
> quality is much better than the commodity PCs in that price range.
> 
> Bill
> --
> INTERNET:   bill at Celestial.COM  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
> UUCP:               camco!bill  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
> FAX:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206)
> 236-1676 URL: http://www.celestial.com/
> 
> ``Liberty don't work as good in practice as it does in speeches.''
>     Will Rogers
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| Roger Oberholtzer          |   E-mail:        roger at opq.se |
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