looking for world's tiniest computer

B

big daddy fatsacks

2[H]4U
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Aug 10, 2001
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okay, so what i am thinking about is building a tiny computer that i can run smoothwall or clarkconnect on. the problem is that this needs to be as small as humanly possible- like the size of a netgear or only a little larger. i'm not sure which type of components would be best- via epia, microatx, mini itx, flexatx, etc? i am also not sure how to cram 3 or 4 NICs into this system while keeping it tiny. if the mobo had 2 onboard that'd be a big help. also if at all possible i'd like to stick a wireless card in there, but i can also hang a USB wireless NIC off the back so . . . . .

anyway, the big problem is finding the case to cram this into. i could do a little modding but my modding skeeelz are pretty sad. so the less modding necessary the better.

does anyone have any ideas on how i could do this?

TIA,
big boi
 
ehhh...so you want it the size of a 4 port router basicly....i know you can buy ethernet cards with 4 ports...there expensive though. you can buy "L" pci stand off's or if it doesnt position the card where you want it in that case, you could probaly have someone from [H] build you a device that plugged in to the mother board and the pci card with like a modified IDE cable between the two...dont know if this is posible or not but i assume it is. but i dont know how thats gonna work in a case that small...the pci card and mother board are never gonna fit in somthing that thin. Maybe a mother board like that, it has a very slim heatsink and this would probaly work
 
What about that one mobo thats smaller then a mini-itx? Can't think of the name but i know its got like a heatsink over the hole thing.
 
okay, well i found 2 of the vi epia boards that have 2 onboard NICs. there are some cases for them that are like the size of external CD-ROMs so that would be a good start. i can add a USB wireless NIC on there, but i'd still need at least one extra NIC in the system. that'd give me WAN, LAN, and DMZ, plus a WLAN.

i didn't realize these epia boards cost so much though. damn. $150 and up just for the board + proc. i was hoping to do this on the cheap. if i get a board, ram, and case i'm already at ~$300.

thanks for the suggestions- lots of options. i'll keep searching.
 
you can probaly find some help from these guys . The link i just gave you would probaly help you out alot, i know they have mini atx boards, and i think they might have nano atx boards...if there out yet.

They also have a ton of parts that you would need in your project, so good luck and have fun browsing there site, alot of cool stuff i think

Sam
 
okay, next question becomes- what do i load the router/firewall software onto so i don't need a hard drive? i know monowall can load onto CF cards, but could i do this with clarkconnect, IPCop, or smoothwall?
 
how small do you mean? are you looking for something pc104 / ebx -ish or gumstix sized?

lots of SBCs i've seen have been u.l.v. PCI stuff, googling by formfactor may give more specific results.
 
big daddy fatsacks said:
okay, well i found 2 of the vi epia boards that have 2 onboard NICs. there are some cases for them that are like the size of external CD-ROMs so that would be a good start. i can add a USB wireless NIC on there, but i'd still need at least one extra NIC in the system. that'd give me WAN, LAN, and DMZ, plus a WLAN.

i didn't realize these epia boards cost so much though. damn. $150 and up just for the board + proc. i was hoping to do this on the cheap. if i get a board, ram, and case i'm already at ~$300.

thanks for the suggestions- lots of options. i'll keep searching.
Click to expand...

You could use USB wired Ethernet NIC for the third wired NIC. Since you can't do full 100Mb from USB, I'd recommend using it for the WAN interface (as that probably won't go over 10Mb tops).

With that price range, I'd have to say Mini-ITX is your best bet. There are SBC boards that are smaller than Mini-ITX with 3 gigabit NICs onboard, but those cost $500+. You could try Ebay and look for SBC or PC104, you might get lucky and find something cheap.
 
big daddy fatsacks said:
okay, next question becomes- what do i load the router/firewall software onto so i don't need a hard drive? i know monowall can load onto CF cards, but could i do this with clarkconnect, IPCop, or smoothwall?
Click to expand...

You can install anything you want on a CF card, as it's pretty much a harddrive in functionality. Monowall has CF images to help when you don't have a CF to IDE adapter, only a USB reader/writer. Which helped me out, as I have an SBC with an integrated CF slot, and you can't install a distro normally to a CF card unless you have CF to IDE adapte, which I lacked.
 
Thought you might find this useful for keeping the hight down, it is a small pci card that turns the slot 90 degrees you can get left or right facing ones too.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36928&1&source=14&doy=24m5
> higher riser

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36930&1&source=14&doy=24m5
>double pci slot

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36931&1&source=14&doy=24m5
>smallest riser

not sure what it would do for cooling by putting the nic parralell with the motherboard but it would help you keep it short.
 
You can definitely install onto a CF card, given the right adapter. Just make sure you tweak whatever you install so that it doesn't do any temp files/swap space/other stuff that causes HD "grinding". CF does have the advantages of size, power use, and heat dissipation.
 
if you're looking for a mini-itx board, i'm selling an epia 5000...check out my thread in fs/ft or PM me for more details.
 
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