Giuliano

One of the new Intel Core Duo boards on the market these days is the Kontron 986LCD Mini ITX board, which is listed in the sticky Mini ITX thread.

Kontron's 986LCD page:
http://us.kontron.com/index.php?id=2...productid=1336


I contacted Kontron USA this afternoon to find out two things:

1. Retail price and availability.
2. Whether Kontron could create a custom BIOS with native support for LVDS and VGA support for 800x480.

The 986LCD appeals to me for a number of reasons, but primarily:

• Very good software API support for low level hardware functions.
• Full fan speed control and monitoring.
• Hardware and software support for LVDS LCD backlight brightness control!
• Both a 16x PCI Epress slot, a PCI slot w/2-slot riser support, and a PCI Express Mini slot underneath.
• 8x USB 2.0, 4x RS232 Serial, 2x 1394 Firewire, 4x SATA300 (including RAID)

The LCD backlight brightness control is a unique feature - no other board that I have investigated provides this support, not Commell, VIA, etc.

Not only that, but they provide a very good API programming interface to control it, and even a usable application as an example.


Now, the board won't do me (or others) very much good if it doesn't support 800x480 for LVDS, so I contacted Kontron and asked what it would take to get a custom BIOS to enable those features..


They said they could do it with a minimum batch of 25.

The boards retail for $395.. 25 would be about $10k.. not quite ideal.


However, they did refer me to a local integrator in Atlanta that might be able to do the job in smaller bunches.


The question now is, how many others would be interested in a board like this, with a customization for 800x480 support via LVDS or Analog VGA or DVI?

If we can reach a certain threshold, we might be able to get a customized board made for us.


Please announce your interest by participating in the attached poll, and any comments to the thread.


Thanks,

Giuliano

MP3Car.com

 

Bugbyte

It is fine to poll people on their interest in a custom board but forum rules prevent arranging a group buy via mp3car.com.

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Giuliano

Sorry, the poll was to gauge interest only, not to form a group buy.

It looks like Kontron may not be able to modify the bios for short runs, so this thread may be a moot point.

However, Commell has said that they could modify their bios for the LV-675 or LV-677, so I may be reconsidering those boards instead. If so, it'll be in a different thread.

Giuliano

Update:

Kontron has said they're working on quoting me a cost for developing a custom BIOS for this.

Hopefully it won't cost too much, considering the board itself is $395..

Giuliano

Edit:

The charge for a custom BIOS was $0.

I posted the BIOS file on my web site - look further down in this thread for the link.

SFiorito

I'd be interested in that board as well actually. It looks like it has everything I need.

I have a Lippert Thunderbird I bought last year (then never had time to do anything with it) which was the first board compatible with the uDOC. I was in contact with them about modifying the video BIOS, but never followed through with it.

This board you posted looks great and the price isn't bad considering...Let me know how things work out. Maybe we could split the cost of the BIOS?

Can you please make sure that their BIOS support Hi-Speed USB Booting and is compatible with the M-Systems uDOC?

Giuliano

I'm glad you have the interest.. I don't know if this would apply as a prohibited group buy, but I'll send you a PM when things get rolling.


I'm fairly sure that the board will support high speed USB booting, as it uses AMI BIOS, but I'll ask my contacts to be sure.

SFiorito

Actually, looking through the manual it has the right screens in the AMI BIOS for Hi-Speed USB so I'm good.

Thanks!

MP3Car.com

 

DeltaFX

Actually, have a look there : http://www.cartft.com/catalog/item/?wm_item_id=716 (bottom of the page)

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Giuliano

Yeah, I think I actually saw that before...


What that is is XP drivers for supporting 800 x 480 on the Analog VGA port, which is a great confirmation for anybody who just wants the Analog VGA.

Direct driver link, including instructions:

http://www.cartft.com/support/drivers/Kontron-Series/



The BIOS still needs to be modified to support 800 x 480 on the LVDS connector, since the video BIOS needs to know exactly what type of LCD panel is attached at boot up, way before XP starts.


I've also received tenative confirmation (e.g, should work) that the on-board LVDS connector can handle two single-channel LVDS panels as seperate displays. I'm going to try to get support for that worked into the BIOS change service.

There's also a SDVO LVDS card option that goes in the PCI Express slot if you need to handle two larger dual-channel LVDS displays.. DVI is available via the PCI Express slot, too.

Giuliano

Excellent news!

They're going to customize the video BIOS free of charge.

All I have to do is send them the data sheet for the 9.0" 800x480 LVDS LCD panel that I'm getting.

Once that's done, I'll send the BIOS image to whoever wants it - just PM me if you need it.

Booger

I'm glad you're on top of this. I'm planning a very similar setup. PM sent.

Giuliano

I ordered my 986LCD yesterday, by calling Kontron directly.

Total was $487:
986LCD was $396
Accessory kit was $15 - all the cables and such.
Low profile (1U) heatsink / fan was $76.


I have a nice 24" widescreen LCD at home, which I should be able to use to test 800x480 on Analog VGA..

Of course, at that resolution, each pixel will be about 5mm in size..

SFiorito

so this video BIOS will support 800x480 on all video outputs (VGA, DVI, LVDS)? What LVDS panel you using?

Giuliano

Well, the first thing I will test will be the analog VGA, to see if it supports 800x480 with the standard BIOS.

If it does, then that helps 90% of the people here.


I can test DVI as well, but I'll need to get a SDVO PCI Express add-on card to do so.


The LVDS LCD panel will be a 9.0" Wide panel, 800x480 at 24-bit color (16M), single channel LVDS.

See my thread in LCD section for details..

Since it's single-channel, according to Kontron I should be able to connect two LCD panels to the onboard LVDS.

MP3Car.com