From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 16 12:33:20 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 858EE37B401 for ; Fri, 16 May 2003 12:33:20 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mta7.pltn13.pbi.net (mta7.pltn13.pbi.net [64.164.98.8]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 933FD43FBF for ; Fri, 16 May 2003 12:33:19 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from edhall@screech.weirdnoise.com) Received: from screech.weirdnoise.com (adsl-67-124-49-57.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net [67.124.49.57]) by mta7.pltn13.pbi.net (8.12.9/8.12.3) with ESMTP id h4GJXDp7007944; Fri, 16 May 2003 12:33:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: from screech.weirdnoise.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) h4GJVxnM023264; Fri, 16 May 2003 12:31:59 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from edhall@screech.weirdnoise.com) Message-Id: <200305161931.h4GJVxnM023264@screech.weirdnoise.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.5 07/13/2001 with nmh-1.0.4 To: Matthew Dillon In-Reply-To: Message from Matthew Dillon <200305161739.h4GHdLtK029773@apollo.backplane.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 12:31:59 -0700 From: Ed Hall cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org cc: David Raistrick Subject: Re: Via EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 19:33:20 -0000 I have an EPIA M6000 that I use for my main workstation. I think I'm using the same case as Matt (Casetronic Mini-ITX-2699R) but I've put a hard drive (Seagate Barracuda IV, among the quietest of drives) and a slim CDROM drive in it. I've never seen a HDD or network problem after four months of near-continuous use. There's no way I could disable the fans given both the fanless CPU and the disk, but I put a 47-ohm 1W resistor in series with the fans to quiet them down. It's not silent, but it has a quiet purr that just blends into any ambient sounds. (It's quieter than my wife's IMac, for instance.) The onboard sound works, but there are occasional brief dropouts (system load makes them a bit more frequent) which depending upon source material are inaudible or are heard as soft clicks. Every VIA sound chip I've used with FreeBSD does this. Since sound is very important to me, I put a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz in the single PCI slot. The case uses an L-riser for PCI cards, and space is tight in all dimensions; I had to nibble a notch to get the full-width Santa Cruz to fit. But the card works great. I've not tried USB, but Firewire works fine; I use an external DVD-RW for backups. Just as long as I remember to have the external drive power on before I connect until after I disconnect, and do a manual Firewire bus reset after connecting (or make sure that there is valid media in the drive first), things work flawlessly. Like Matt says, you'd only get such a system if power, noise, or size is a strong factor. Power here in PG&E-land is a significant cost -- I figure that my ~40W system will pay for itself in a couple of years compared to the average 200W drawn by most 2GHz+ boxes out there. But it's only a bit faster than my old 333MHz P-II -- fast enough for surfing, modest development, and as a front-end to other networked systems. -Ed