kfoss Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 It's obviously been a while since this thread started but I thought I'd add some notes based on my experient. Firstly, you can now buy the Artigo Pico-ITX kit that Via puts out for about $300. If comes with everything except the HDD and RAM. You get a 1 GHz PC that has an up-to-date chipset and features and can run Windows XP and multiple versions of Linux. It is really small. I tried one out earlier in the year but returned it since Via doesn't have "proper" Linux support for the graphics chipset. I had to use the VESA driver which meant that doing anything graphical was really slow. As well, with a limit of 1GB RAM options were limited for MS Windoze. This system did have a built in fan that cooled the CPU and case, which was a little annoying. I've also found and am still using a small embedded PC I built using using an Alix 3c3 embedded device. The board has video, audio, LAN, built-in 256MB RAM, CF-slot, Mini-PCI slot all powered by a 500MHz Geode LX processor. Now this PC isn't a power house, but it's silent. I put in a Mini-PCI Wifi card I cannibalized from an Airlink 101 AWLL3025 PCI card. I had it running XFce on MDV 2008.1 and it was able to play DivX movies without any problems. The only storage options you have are CF or USB. I'm using an 8GB Micro-drive so I'm safe for lots of writing. But this could be a great silent PC with the OS booting of a Read-only CF and using the USB as storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindwave Posted September 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 sounds pretty cool, actually I have one of the artigo kits marked in my EBAY watch. now i just need an extra $300 to fall from the sky..... since what i'm really wanting is a simplistic car PC to act as a HUGE mp3 player, it sounds like it would be perfect. I'll probably use "wolvix" as thats what I have running on my Via C3 pc now. Its the best distro I could find to run that machine. Because as you suggested, the linux/graphics issues drive me up the WALL. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfoss Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Mindwave, It's possible that generic drivers would work but at this time, no one, either Via or the Unichrome developers have a properly working driver. I think it is possible to get limited 2D support, but not 3D, XvMC, DRI, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindwave Posted September 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 i'm not really interested in 3d, i dont even use that on my desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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