Just placed the orders for my new thin client setup. Here’s the “skinny,” as it were:
- VIA EPIA-M10000
- 1GHz C3 Processor
- Mini-ITX form factor
- RCA/S-Video Out
- USB 2.0
- Firewire
- Better pictures
- Casetronic 2699R
- Approx. 12″ x 11″ x 2.5″
- Front USB/Firewire/Audio
- External power supply (fanless chassis)
- Kingston 256MB PC2100 RAM
- Note to self: next time, buy the PC2700 for $3 more
- Linksys 10/100 Ethernet Card
- LNE100TX Boot ROM
- Allows for diskless booting over Ethernet
- Happy Hacking Keyboard
- 60 key layout
- Approx. 12″ x 4″
Notice that there’s no mention of an optical or hard drive. I’m going to attempt a netboot setup, which would give me a super-small, super-quiet diskless workstation. One can only hope
I decided go the route of a boot ROM behind a dual-NIC machine. I mulled over a flash disk module, but I’m more likely to encounter boot ROMs in the future, so I thought it best to try one now. (Though I think in practice they’re pretty much the same. I may use one later to regain the single PCI slot.)
I’ll probably blog any interesting updates, as well as revising my Linux Netboot project page.