Mini PC onboard

whipper_snapper

whipper_snapper

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Following a previous post on this subject and advice from forumites, I am about to place an order with mini-itx.com for the following:

PSU: M1-ATX 90W (£35)
M/board: J7F2 1.2GHz fanless (£99)
4 x serial port expansion module (£25)
RAM: 1Gb DDR2 553 (£39)
SSD: 8Gb IDE FMM (£159)
Case: Voom PC (£55)
Total £412 plus VAT

I hope this will give me an entirely fanless, solid state PC with a 1.2GHz processor, 1Gb RAM and an 8Gb solid state drive in a robust Al case. Power supply will be the ship’s 12V, but it can tolerate 6V-24V and transients. It will have 4 x serial ports for SSB, Pactor, AIS in and NMEA out. GPS input will be by USB.

This should be very robust and low power device. Mini-itx do not build, but assure me that it will be very easy to assemble. It will obviously need an external CD drive to install software, but I chose not to build one in to avoid a power penalty, and it would have required a slightly bigger case.

If I need more disk space I can plug in a USB flash drive, or even a USB hard drive.

If anyone thinks I have forgotten something important, please let me know! It will be a while before I can build and test it, but I will post my experiences if there is interest.

Next – 12V monitor....
 
I'm watching this with interest. I'm particularly interested in likely RF noise level: last year I abandoned an attempt to decode SSB weatherfax because the laptop swamped everything with the most appalling RF interference. I also like in principle the idea of a robust box, direct power connection, etc.

I am sure I am not alone, so do, please, let us know how you get on. (Possible article for PBO too if you take piccies as you go along?)
 
I've just got my mini-ITX running on the bench - yet to work out the housing. I've used the Intel D201GLY board which does have a small fan but I'm looking at different heatsinking for the final version. I've used two 4Gb CF cards rather than one 8Gb - what operating system are you using to make most effective use of the space? I'm currently trying various flavours of Linux but I believe you can strip down XP to take up minimal space.

Are you considering Wi-Fi connectivity - if so will you build in?

I've not looked at monitors yet - I'd be interested to see what you come up with.
 
You will find that actually fitting the gear in the box, however small the parts are, a bit of a challenge. Well, when I build me two years ago, it was. Google for ITX PROJECT or similar; a number of hobbyists have put photo series on line, with their experience. It might save a bit of time and frustration.
 
I used a Pack box with a heat transfer block, that transfered the heat from the CPU to the case and used that as the heat sink. No fans, only moving part is the HD. Runs off 12volts. Works wonderfully well as my PABX and would definitely be my choice for a boat installation.

Rick
 
Do keep us informed. I am contemplating installing a mini pc on board as well, so am very interested in your experiences. How will you go about internet access for e-mail and grib files?
 
I bullt myself a mini-itx PC about 3 years ago (I'm a Microsoft PC engineer with 20 years experience) to run Seapro 2000 on with XP.

Good spec, good processor, plenty of ram and....it ran like a dog with two wooden legs!

Seapro is a little demanding on the PCs graphics card but not overly so.

I now run it on a 5 year old laptop with no problems, and at least 5 times faster.

Beware...
 
Thanks for these comments, exactly the feedback I was hoping for.

Shrek's comments on expected performance: I found that especially worrying. Perhaps I am being naive but I had imagined that a spec like that would fly. I presently run Maxsea on a 6 year old 1GHz intel-based laptop with 0.5Gb RAM. Why would not a 1.2GHz processor with 1Gb RAM be faster?

RF noise: I plan to use it with Seatty for WxFAX (the spec includes good sound). If it turns out to be very RF noisy, that will be a disaster and I think there is no way of knowing in advance. BUT in my experience RF noise is generated by the screen not the box. I can also ground the metal case and put ferrites on every wire if necessary. So I am optimistic that this will not be an issue but only time will tell.

Nigel_Hudson: I plan to use winXP. It should comfortably fit. For internet connection there is an ethernet port. I expect to use that from home for OS patches etc. I have not planned to build in a wireless network card for simplicity, it would be of no use to me in the sailing that I do. It could easily be added if needed. At sea I will use SSB and Pactor for gribs and email.

rickp: Thanks, I had not seen the Pack Box. The vroom case actually looks rather better. I was planning to look at thermally linking the heat sinks on the PSU and CPU with the case so that I could seal it totally. But I want to be careful about transmitting vibration onto the boards. By "heat transfer block" do you mean something intended for that purpose ?

gianenrico : No argument that is a simpler option! The reason for doing it this way is about hoped for robustness with fewer bits to go wrong, especially in the power supply. It also allowed me to spec lots of serial ports without the horrible USB-serial converters. Time will tell!

I am not sure how crazy I am to go for solid state drive rather than a much bigger and much cheaper conventional drive. My laptop has survived extreme abuse at sea, including being thrown from the chart table across the cabin and onto the floor!
 
A friend of mine runs a stripped-down version of XP called "Tinyxp" on an old 500 Mhz machine, and the result is amazing. I think it would be -apart from the legality issue - ideal for a setup like this. The stripdown means less drivers for peripheral equipment (keep your driver disks handy).
On my ITX 400 Mzh (!) is Win 2000, and it happily runs OZI Explorer and Garmin bluecharts. As wel as Office 2003, and it it even runs DVD's, albeit not always smoothly.
 
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rickp: Thanks, I had not seen the Pack Box. The vroom case actually looks rather better. I was planning to look at thermally linking the heat sinks on the PSU and CPU with the case so that I could seal it totally. But I want to be careful about transmitting vibration onto the boards. By "heat transfer block" do you mean something intended for that purpose ?

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Yes - it was designed to fit onto the 'VIA EPIA M10000 Nehemiah' board and for that case specifically. Seems its not available anymore which is a shame.

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I am not sure how crazy I am to go for solid state drive rather than a much bigger and much cheaper conventional drive. My laptop has survived extreme abuse at sea, including being thrown from the chart table across the cabin and onto the floor!

[/ QUOTE ]

Hard drives suffer if you move them a lot when they're spinning, but are pretty strong these days. My concern about solid-state would be wether the device (or OS) does some form of wear leveling. It helps if the OS turns off updating file access times and the like - which really does help. In reality though - I suspect that even without that, a solid state disk would last many years of normal use.

Rick
 
Hi
I have been using a mini-itx on my yacht for 4 years. Very easy to build and had no problems with compatibility. I use c-map for navigation with pc-planner for planning and SOB to show current position using a serial connection to my GPS. For wi-fi last year I used a Belkin USB wi-fi with 6 metres of extension cable and had no problems in my Marina. (I have purchased an outdoor 8db aerial for 2008). I have a Trident 12" monitor that works directly on 12volts. Current consumption is less than 2 amps when running Nav programmes or playing DVD. Remote keyboard and mouse mean I will not damage my PC if I get water in them. For me it was the only sensible approach as the mini-itx uses standard parts (disc, dvd drive, memory, screen etc.)so if I need to upgrade or repair I can easily find parts at a sensible price, not like a laptop where parts are silly prices IF they can be obtained. Runs directly from 12volts and uses very little power.
 
Thanks, that is encouraging! And thanks for the pointer to Trident (even if their site is full of dead links!). Which model monitor do you have ? 12" seems the right size.
 
What about the Asus Eee 4G? Under 900g, runs on 9.5v, you can dual boot with Windows if you insist on using it. Otherwise, you can use apps like SeaClear using Wine. Oh, and it is £219.
 
I recommend adding a Bluetooth USB adaptor (aka 'dongle'). I use this to link my GPS and infact all instruments to a lap-top, and it also, and simultaneously, allows me to use a Bluetooth wireless mouse and keyboard, for instance from Logitech. The standard Microsoft Bluetooth 'stack' distributed with XP is fine, don't be conned into installing the software which will come on a disc with the dongle - this only enables loads of useless aplications you definately dont need (making phone calls using skype etc ect).

You can get adaptors between NMEA and Bluetooth, or you can buy GPS receivers with integrated Bluetooth, either would work.

I have to declare a commercial interest since I manufacture Bluetooth devices, but I can assure you that it does work, at least on my boat. As to why one might chose to have wireless, that depends on your preference. I like the ability to take the lap-top anywhere, eg the cockpit, and still have the moving map. this doesn't apply to you, but a wireless keyboard / track-pad seems more robust to me than a cable.
 
Hi
The monitor I use is a "Vibrant" but I am not certain that they still supply it. Only 0.6 amps at 12 volts. It is (was) a point of sale monitor. Last time I was at PC World there was a 12volt 14" monitor that looked good. Can't remember the make. Sorry
 
I looked seriously at the Asus Eee, decided against for a number of reasons. Most important was simply that I don't want a laptop format, I also do want serial ports. I also gain flexibility to change the specs in the future.

(I do not insist on windows, I would love not to have to use it. I use OSX and/or Linux in almost everything else I do. But nav, charts, radio, weather etc software is much easier to find for windows.)
 
I am taking the easy route of replacing the mains psu with a DC-DC ATX converter on an old desktop. Yes lots of moving bits to rust and fall off, but if it lasts a year I will be happy. I will then replace it with my current desktop. The converter has a filter to clean up the 12DC output.
Perfect low cost solution for me as old pc's have virtually no resale value and would otherwise end up in a skip somewhere
My monitor is a Toshiba 15VL63, TV that has pc input and runs on 12V. About £100 new off Ebay. has the advantage of access to Eastenders to keep my GF happy on the boat. The monitor will be mounted on a swivel bracket to be visible from the cockpit, and swung round as a TV in the evenings. not yet figured out what happens if we are sailing and Eastenders is on!!
 
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