[Leaplist] Different netbooks ... CPU and GPU limitations (or not) ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

The cost is in the form-factor.

Instead of going Mini-ITX, I just go out and buy used P3 systems in
the FlexATX form-factor "small pizza box" (12"x12"x2.7").  Here in Maryland,
there is a local reseller had them (old Dell OptiPlex) for $35 with a P3-933,
256MiB RAM, 10GiB disk, CD-ROM drive, floppy, etc...  Coast Memory boosted
that to 512MiB with another 256MiB stick for $12 shipped.  It'll perform with an
Atom (maybe a dual-core Atom will best the P3) while not using that much more
power (Kill-A-Watt is showing sub-40W -- remember, this is P3, not P4 -- and I'm
sure I can cut that to 30W with CFlash and/or 2.5" drives).

If you already have a Quad-NIC, you're golden.  For me, I put in two (2)
dual-NIC Tulip (10/100) cards for five (5) ports total (including the 10/100
on-board).  I don't care about GbE on this type of system anyway, and use a
GbE switch.  I'm using a VPN from the WLAN to LAN side (c/o IPCop + Zerina
OpenVPN add-on), so it's not going to flood beyond Fast Ethernet speed
anyway (let alone when talking to/from the Internet).



----- Original Message ----
From: Jason Boxman <jasonb at edseek.com>

I've been thinking about something like that for ages.  How much did it cost?  Been
using an old Celeron 333MHz box with an Adaptec Quad NIC. (Yes, this is sexy.)

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