Question: SBC computers.

**Genesisfactor** · 03-28-2007, 04:28 PM

lol its not, i did not intend to make it that way. to me. however, it is a better interface than DOMs because it is cheaper per gb. Honestly, it doesn't matter how or wear its put, its just nice to have it on board, like if you're buying a mobo, its nice to have Firewire or SATA on board instead of buying an add on card. Just giving him his options, like a board with PC104, completely unneccessary, IMO, unless you find a use for it, like a mini pci slot or something. Then its useful and there, ya know. Curious, do you use the DOM for your swap files or your 8GB CF card?

Regardless, Punky, you buy the SBC that fits your needs.

. If you do embedded (CF/DOM) remember, you have to have soemthign to handly the swapfiles that windows uses, or else you will drastically shorten the life of your flash memory

**Punky** · 03-28-2007, 08:08 PM

Thanks guys,
I've been getting replies back from these companies, some are fair, others are outragous. right now i'm running from my mAtx board, which is significantly bigger and a celeron 2ghz which is a lot hotter, but she works like a charm. I'm worrying about summer, i dunno how she'll handle it when its +30*C outside.
I'm going to do some more research on this, i've found some that are powered by the 4-pin p4 connector, but almost all of them are powered by molex connector.
Eventually i'd like to have a small system, running off a laptop hd, with perhaps a CF card as extra. I'm not going to bother booting with CF card, because its seems very troublesome plus the fact that the CF is limited in life time. I'm waiting for SSD Hard drive to come out within the next year or so.
As for DOM, i love them, except they are so limited in space and are quite expensive. I'm really leaning towards the LS-371 but depends on what the final price might be after the cpus/ram. I ran through all the specs of the ls-371 and its probally too good to be true for a sbc that small. I guess we'll wait and see!

**Rob Withey** · 03-29-2007, 01:14 AM

Originally Posted by Genesisfactor

Curious, do you use the DOM for your swap files or your 8GB CF card?

Neither. I have no swap file. My Windows setup is zipped on the DOM. It gets unzipped to a RAM drive and booted from there. All Windows related writes (registry, etc) then happen to the boot drive (which is the ram drive).
I find it faster to boot this way. See this for more info : digital-car.co.uk

**Punky** · 03-29-2007, 10:46 AM

DOM are so expensive and so hard to come by, with such little memory. I wish they're as widely available as regular HD.
I found a flash SSD HD on ebay for 200 USD, but i didn't buy it, because it'll be cheaper soon.

**Rob Withey** · 03-29-2007, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by Punky

DOM are so expensive

Really? Inexpensive DOM supplier

And they have USB, SATA, fast, wide temp versions too.

**Punky** · 03-29-2007, 07:52 PM

You are right those are a lot more reasonable than those on ebay.
Still though, a little expensive for 1.5gb, not to mention if i was to install you windows xp i'd need about 2 to be spacious.
Just out of curiousity, does you PCM9373 board run windows xp?
I was looking at the advantech website, and their drivers does not state which OS it's for.

Originally Posted by Rob Withey

Really? Inexpensive DOM supplier

And they have USB, SATA, fast, wide temp versions too.

**Rob Withey** · 03-30-2007, 01:14 AM

Originally Posted by Punky

Just out of curiousity, does you PCM9373 board run windows xp?

It doesn't atm but it can do. IIRC the disk includes drivers for XP.

**Genesisfactor** · 03-30-2007, 02:25 AM

Use CF. You can't go wrong with CF

**Punky** · 03-30-2007, 10:35 AM

You seem to be a big supporter of the CF + windows boot.
I've been reading around, and it seems quite difficult to prevent windows from write/rewrite often. And how is performance of windows affected without swap files?
Personally i have no problem with running a full size or 2.5" hard drive.
They're pretty cheap nowadays. only problem is the heat dissipation and vibration,
which i had no problem with in my car. BUT it freeze up when i use a laptop hard drive in the winter.
I've been looking at the LE-370 from commell, but they seem to run off the 4pins p4 connector, and the M1-ATX does not have this at all (any suggestion? opus is too large for my application). Secondly, if i was to run to intel Celeron M 320 processor, it'll take about 50wish WATT from extreme power calculator, but i'm a bit worry that's not enuff through the 12v rails. Should i be worried?

Thanks, it's good to know i have another option.

Originally Posted by Rob Withey

It doesn't atm but it can do. IIRC the disk includes drivers for XP.

**Genesisfactor** · 04-08-2007, 04:14 PM

where have been a few great write ups on how to accomplish a cf boot without minimal rewriting to the card. You have 10,000 writes, so it won't be for a few years before you have to replace the card. thing is, as prices drop and capacities double, you can spend $20-$40 on a mid sized card and when it dies, expect to find it for almost free (look at 1GB cards).

IM me, we can talk