Home | News Archive | March 2003

Tomshardware review Mini-ITX
March 26, 2003

Tomshardware have done a brief but informative roundup and benchtest of the EPIA 5000, EPIA 800 and EPIA M9000 motherboards. They come to the same conclusion that we've known all along - "there are a lot of things that EPIA can do" - perhaps they didn't mean things like this or this...

Compact All-Rounders: VIA's Eden Mini ITX Format Boards

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"The Clock"
March 25, 2003

Jukka Talvio has built "The Clock". Not only is it a clock, but it's also the housing for his EPIA 800 motherboard. That isn't him in the picture.

"The Clock" by Jukka Talvio

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Nehemiah EPIA M at SilentPCReview
March 20, 2003

SilentPCReview have taken a thorough look at a pre-production (933Mhz) EPIA M with Nehemiah core. Regular readers will remember the EPIA M10000 was originally intended to be Nehemiah, but currently all available boards are Ezra-T. Nehemiah is VIAs new C3 core technology, designed to take the C3 beyond 1Ghz. The main differences found with the tested Nehemiah board are some speed improvements and a quieter fan (and a correspondingly larger Aluminium heatsink).

Nehemiah EPIA M Review at SilentPCReview

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VIA's 24-bit audio Mini-ITX prototype
March 18, 2003

In the third of our CeBIT show pictorials, we bring you images of VIA's prototype for an EPIA M based Mini-ITX board featuring the Envy24PT Audio Controller - the VT6026. The board dispenses with Firewire connectors and instead has two optical TOS-Link connectors and additional 3.5mm analogue audio connectors for high quality 24bit/96Khz 7.1 surround sound.

VIA's VT6026 Mini-ITX board with Envy24PT audio controller

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More Mini-ITX Goodies at CeBIT 2003
March 17, 2003

In the second of our CeBIT show pictorials, we bring you images of Casetronic's C134 Mini Checkercube, the StarHub all-in-one TV PC, Atio's CarPC, The TinyByte yacht and vehicle computer, the HedoScan K, the PandaPC and SilentServer, the Arima CP-10, the Aplux TVM2C TabletPC, VIA's Tablet PC and Web Pad, Wyse's Winterm 9450 Thin Client, VIA's Hi-Fi PC, the Hush Mini-ITX PC, Bacata's Bleur Jeur B1 and AS Server, 4MBO's DMC, ATC's VIA Slim and VIA Cubid, SIMATIC's Box PC 620, Dynavisions HomeStation ITX and i3 micro's Mood Media Streaming Server...

Pictures of all this stuff

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EPIA M2 and EPIA CL - First Pictures
March 13, 2003

In the first of our CeBIT show pictorials, we bring you exclusive images of VIA's pre-production EPIA M2 and EPIA CL, taken just before their launch.

VIA EPIA M2 and EPIA CL pictures

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The "Bubbacomp"
March 12, 2003

Jeff Dyer is Canadian. We know that because he's chosen a universal symbol of Canada - the BUBBA - to breed with his EPIA M.

The "Bubbacomp"

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Overclocking an EPIA
March 12, 2003

Here's how to do it safely in software. It works with the EPIA M too.

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VIA to demo new EPIAs at CeBIT?
March 11, 2003

At least 3 new Mini-ITX form factor boards may be showcased by VIA at the Official VIA CeBIT 2003 Press Conference on Thursday at 4pm.

The EPIA M2 looks to feature integrated LVDS and a CardBus/CF interface, along with a C3 or Eden CPU, 133MHz FSB, CLE266 graphics, one DDR266 DIMM slot, Firewire, USB 2.0, Ethernet, TV-Out and 6 channel sound. The EPIA CL is targetted more at the embedded market, with no LVDS, TV-Out, 6 channel sound or CardBus but 2 Ethernet sockets and 4 COM ports instead. Even more interesting than these are rumours of the EPIA P4 - 400/533MHz FSB, P4N266A graphics, one DDR266 DIMM slot, Firewire, USB 2.0, Ethernet, TV-Out, 6 channel sound, LVDS and Hyperthreading support. We'll try to remember to charge up our camera...

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New Mini-ITX Systems from Casetronic
March 11, 2003

Casetronic have announced two new "mini CheckerCube" systems, based on the EPIA M and standard EPIA motherboards. The C134 (pictured above) measures a tiny 51x178x254 mm (HxWxD) and manages to cram in an EPIA M motherboard, slimline CD/DVD and hard drive, powered by a seperate power supply.

The C136 supports the 'classic' EPIA, and is modelled here. But the most interesting thing about these cases is they are the same size as a standard European car stereo. It is unclear at present if this is a target market or simply a coincedence, and whether Casetronic will be suggesting this as a possible use. We wouldn't recommend connecting a PC directly to the 12V supply of a vehicle without regulating it first, so auxillary components may be required.

If the C-13X names don't do much for you, or you just like free stuff - why not suggest a new name over at ViaArena? They're running a competition!

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Hush Technologies to launchSilent Mini-ITX PC at CeBIT
March 10, 2003

Hush Technologies will launch their new Silent Mini-ITX PC in Hanover, Germany at CeBIT 2003 on Wednesday. The Hush Mini-ITX PC is the first of a family of products designed to solve the fundamental issue of noise.

The Hush Mini-ITX PC sports a custom built CPU & Northbridge heat-sink linked directly to the side of the finned chassis, bringing passive (and of course totally silent) cooling to all the EPIA motherboards. Hush PC Systems will be fully configurable with a choice of case colour, motherboard, memory, hard drive and several CD/DVD drive options. OEM customers will be able to further tailor their systems with custom chassis colours and front and rear panel designs.

Mini-ITX.com is proud to be the exclusive UK online retailer of the Hush Mini-ITX PC - sign up here to receive further information by email and a personal link to purchase before anyone else.

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NorhTec's PandaPC and Silent Server
March 08, 2003

The "Panda PC" is a semi-rugged EPIA M-based multimedia PC with striking design from Canadian-based NorhTec Corporation. The PC has an extra large heat sink and custom designed fanless power supply and is intended for use as a Home Theatre PC, regular desktop or even a boat or car PC.

Also from NorhTec, the "Silent Server" supports standard CD/DVD drives and is powered by an EPIA 800 motherboard. Both products are aimed at vertical markets.

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The "i64XBOX"
March 08, 2003

Jason Olmstead scored a gutted XBOX case on eBay and armed with a Dremel and EPIA, did the natural thing one does in these situations...

The "i64XBOX"

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New Mini-ITX Cases from SkyHawk
March 06, 2003

IMC-6271(RFS) - comes with amp and speakers

SkyHawk in Taiwan have added to their "IMC" range of "Mini-ATX" compatible cases with several new aluminium designs. Common features include Cubelike design, 200W PSU, CD/DVD bay, front mounting USB ports and space for a standard hard drive. Some cases feature LCD displays and others have floppy bays. The LCDs in all the cases aren't programmable - but they do show the time and temperature. At the moment we don't know much about availability and specific EPIA model compatibility, but we'll try and take a look at them in closer detail at CeBIT. Perhaps we can convince SkyHawk to give them snappier names at the same time...

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Step by Step: EPIA 5.1 Digital Audio
March 04, 2003

The EPIA 5000 and 800 motherboards come with a dual purpose RCA Out and S/PDIF socket which can be used to play AC3 5.1 digital audio to a standard Dolby Digital amplifier. Increasingly, DivX and XviD encoded content is provided with AC3 sound. Here's how to get digital sound out of those DivXes and into your amplifier using just a standard phono cable.

How to play AC3 5.1 Digital Audio on a standard EPIA

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EPIA Serial-IR and SCART Diagrams
March 04, 2003

Tobias Faust sent us two helpful circuit/wiring diagrams - one for an IR receiver that connects to the EPIA 800 serial port, and another showing how to connect an EPIA to a standard SCART socket. The more electronically inclined amongst you will find these a good starting point. Part of our Grand Plan is to re-organise the hardware section to make it easier to find stuff like this. If you have any "mini-projects" that we can use, there's a case badge bounty!

EPIA COM IR and SCART Diagrams

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Favicon Competition Update
March 04, 2003

The favicon competition is now closed. You can stop sending them to us now. We're going to allow you to judge it, once we've a) added the final entrants to the page and b) written the voting page to do it. Please bear with us, we haven't forgetten!
- April 29th (and counting) - we still haven't forgotten...

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The "Log Cabin PC"
March 03, 2003

Greg Sowell's "Log Cabin PC" is complete with a door, window and EPIA M motherboard. His project guide shows you just how he did it. Some kind of shrinking ray like Willy Wonka had we expect.

The "Log Cabin PC"

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EPIA M Colecovision
March 03, 2003

Kevin and Tony at Overclockers.com.au built this rather splendid Colecovision mod using an EPIA M 9000... You can read all about it here.

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