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Date:      Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:54:39 +0100 (CET)
From:      Juergen Lock <nox@jelal.kn-bremen.de>
To:        olli@lurza.secnetix.de
Cc:        freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org, freebsd-x11@freebsd.org
Subject:   Low-power HTPC etc (was: Re: AMD E-350)
Message-ID:  <201103171854.p2HIsdbV038834@triton8.kn-bremen.de>
In-Reply-To: <201103142030.p2EKU6rv087366@lurza.secnetix.de>
References:  <19838.28706.591314.928087@gossamer.timing.com>

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In article <201103142030.p2EKU6rv087366@lurza.secnetix.de> you write:
>John Hein wrote:
> > Some of this definitely pushing the envelope right now, so atom is
> > likely more right for you.  But using arm for this space (and low
> > single digit W instead of 10-ish) seems not that far away.
>
>Well, the Atom N330 has a TDP of only 8 W, which isn't
>that bad for a 1.6 GHz 64bit 4-way processor (2 cores +
>hyperthreading).
>
>Of course, ARM processors may certainly have even better
>performance/watt ratio.  But I think I stay with i386-
>compatible hardware for my particular case.

Btw there's also the Celeron SU2300 which has a TDP of 10 W and is
about twice as fast as the N330 Atom as you can see e.g. here:

	http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

(even tho it only runs at 1.2 GHz.)

 I know this because I had a similar problem as you and now I'm in
the process of setting up this little box called "ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ND22":

	http://pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=275&category_id=118&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

It was about EUR 200 without disk/RAM, and the only drawbacks I found
so far are:

a) its not fanless (although pretty silent),

b) it only supports usb keyboards/mice,

c) the bios seems to be a little buggy when booting from the internal
   disk using FreeBSD's bootcode/loader (there's a long-ish delay
   before loading each bootcode/kernel/kld and the usb keyboard
   doesn't work in that case either until the kernel is started)
   booting the install image from an usb flashkey was much faster
   and the keyboard worked too.  I have yet to try putting grub2
   on the internal disk and booting FreeBSD using that, or if that
   doesn't improve things putting the boocode/kernel on a flashkey
   - and

d) at least 8.2 doesn't know the onboard Ralink RT2860/RT2890 wifi,
   (I wanted wired anyway and the onboard nfe(4) seems to work)

e) it doesn't have audio line in, only line/spdif out and mic in.
   (of course you could connect an usb soundcard.)

BUT:

- vdpau with xbmc etc works pretty well including for 1080i with
  half temporal deinterlacing (no temporal spatial tho since this
  seems to be the `old' ION),

- unlike on miwi's box the amd64 nvidia driver _does_ work with
  8 GB RAM,

- the cpu has vmx too so if you want you can even run vbox with
  amd64 guests, and

- after some patching (more on that later, I mainly wanted to let
  you know about the SU2300 before it's too late :) I now also
  got vdr working pretty well on the box using vdpau and/or vaapi
  and a "Technotrend TT-connect S2-3600" usb dvb-s2 tuner.

 HTH,
	Juergen

PS:  pciconf -lv:

hostb0@pci0:0:0:0:	class=0x060000 card=0xcb7910de chip=0x0a8210de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
none0@pci0:0:0:1:	class=0x050000 card=0xcb7910de chip=0x0a8810de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = memory
    subclass   = RAM
isab0@pci0:0:3:0:	class=0x060100 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aae10de rev=0xb3 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
none1@pci0:0:3:1:	class=0x050000 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa410de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = memory
    subclass   = RAM
none2@pci0:0:3:2:	class=0x0c0500 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa210de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = SMBus
none3@pci0:0:3:3:	class=0x050000 card=0xcb7910de chip=0x0a8910de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = memory
    subclass   = RAM
none4@pci0:0:3:5:	class=0x0b4000 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa310de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    device     = 'nForce 730i SMBus Controller (MCP7A)'
    class      = processor
ohci0@pci0:0:4:0:	class=0x0c0310 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa510de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ehci0@pci0:0:4:1:	class=0x0c0320 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa610de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ohci1@pci0:0:6:0:	class=0x0c0310 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa710de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ehci1@pci0:0:6:1:	class=0x0c0320 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa910de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
hdac0@pci0:0:8:0:	class=0x040300 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ac010de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
pcib1@pci0:0:9:0:	class=0x060401 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aab10de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
nfe0@pci0:0:10:0:	class=0x020000 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ab010de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    device     = 'ID0A80 (NForce 9300)'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
ahci0@pci0:0:11:0:	class=0x010185 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ab410de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
pcib2@pci0:0:12:0:	class=0x060400 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ac410de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:0:16:0:	class=0x060400 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0aa010de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib4@pci0:0:21:0:	class=0x060400 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ac610de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib5@pci0:0:22:0:	class=0x060400 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ac710de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib6@pci0:0:23:0:	class=0x060400 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ac710de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib7@pci0:0:24:0:	class=0x060400 card=0xa14719da chip=0x0ac710de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
vgapci0@pci0:3:0:0:	class=0x030000 card=0xa14719da chip=0x087410de rev=0xb1 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA
none5@pci0:4:0:0:	class=0x028000 card=0x10591a3b chip=0x07811814 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Ralink Technology, Corp.'
    device     = 'Wireless (RT2860/RT2890)'
    class      = network



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