David Carrington

The Aim

To create a low power PC to download overnight when bandwidth is less restricted by my ISP. Ideally able to function as a desktop PC with audio and video playback support.

Mini-ITX

I’ve played around with the idea of building a Mini-ITX machine for about 2 years but never gone ahead with it. Upon deciding that “this week” would be the week I bought a motherboard for it, I went ahead and did it. Luckily - a guy at work found a better offer, about 5 minutes before I went ahead with my order.

Here’s what I got in my “DIY kit” from the mini-itx store:

• VIA EPIA SP 8000 Motherboard
• 512MB Kingston DDR400 RAM
• 120W Power Supply Kit
• 60GB SATA 2.5in HDD (Fujitsu)
• WinTV PVR-150 PCI Card
• PCI Riser Card
• Data and Power Cables
• UK Power Cord

Construction

I created a set of photos on Flickr of the construction process - most of which was uneventful. There were a few things that stumped me:

1. I couldn’t get the machine to turn off! The ATX power switch I’d taken from another machine didn’t work at all. I ended up using a screwdriver until I find a replacement.
2. The riser card included in the kit does not fit in the board when the SATA cable for the HDD is in the way - doh!
3. The motherboard is fanless - but the power brick has a small fan, which whirs away constantly.

Ubuntu Install

The first time I tried installing things, I went straight for Ubuntu Linux (7.04 / Feisty Fawn). I’ve already had about a month’s general use experience on my main desktop using Ubuntu, so I was comfortable putting it on my new machine.

I had trouble with no sound and tried some drivers off of the Via Arena forums - but that didn’t help at all. It turns out all I had to do was go to Administration > Sounds and change a dropdown.

And then I decided to go from scratch - dual boot XP.

XP and Dual Boot

XP went on first, as this is a bit easier. I allowed it 10Gb of space on the HDD, and used a handful of drivers from the Via website (USB 2.0, Integrated VGA, and Audio).

Sound worked and, much more importantly, TV-Out worked fine with a couple of videos.

So back went in the Ubuntu CD, with 5Gb for the OS, 1.5Gb swap, and the rest of the HDD assigned to /home.

And all is well!

The TV Card

I wasn’t all that interested in the TV card. I tried it on Ubuntu and managed to pick up about 10 channels, but it couldn’t display them and I’m not all that interested in trying to get it to work.

I may connect it to a spare windows desktop PC, but it’s currently lying on a desk feeling lonely.

Conclusion

My new PC has a double life. By day, it’s an XP machine for watching films, and by night it’s a Ubuntu box slowly chugging away downloading the internet.

Next up I’d like a case - which looks like it’s going to be a biscuit tin at this rate.