Mini ITX case

[Peter Hewett]

Hi
I'm considering building a video / media centre based on a DN2800MT motherboard.
http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=407637

But haven't found a suitable case in NZ. Ideally needs to be small to
suit the mini ITX form, with no PSU or fans. Maybe something like
this one
http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=EKMTK1
or even ...
http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure

Is there any outlet for this sort of case in NZ, or do I need to import one?

TIA


Peter

[Damien]

I have a M350 case from www.itx.co.nz/ no fans needed, but buy the extra drive bracket so you can have two hdd's or a fan if you want it.

- Damien

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taranaki Linux Users Group" group.
To post to this group, send email to taranaki-linu...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to taranaki-linux-user...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taranaki-linux-users-group?hl=en.

[Peter Hewett]

Thanks
that looks promising
(Google hadn't found that site for me.)

[Damien]

I'll warn you ahead of time that their service can be slack, but I got what I wanted in the end.

[Graeme Jury]

Hi Peter,

I bought this one on Monday. Has a switch mode PSU with a fan but very
good value at $44.60 plus $15.00 for rural post. I think city post is $10.00

http://www.elive.co.nz/aywun-a1-1001-mini-itx-case-ac0607.php

Cheers Graeme

[Peter Hewett]

Good news: the service from itx.co.nz (aka JTSComputers) was actually
quite good!

Bad news: the Intel mobo doesn't support Linux, model DN2800MT
Despite the Intel website having Linux drivers for download and
instructions in a case study, these don't appear to actually work.
http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/enabling_hardware_accelerated_playback_ubuntu_12.pdf

[Damien]

What symptoms? nothing displayed at all after POST? installer starts but won't install? does a live CD work? are you trying to install from USB?

[Peter Hewett]

The problem is getting drivers to enable graphics hardware
acceleration. It is a rather minimal system, on board CPU and
graphics and no fans = quiet and low power consumption. All installs
below are from USB, as no disk drive.

Ubuntu 12.04.1 loads and install and offers cedarview graphics
drivers, but x crashes when trying to boot with these installed. The
Intel guide says the drivers are not compatible with pae enabled
kernel, but swapping out kernel before installing the drivers didn't
help. The Intel guide also gives some kernel options (video=LVDS-1:d
vmalloc=256MB) but these didn't change things.

Since it is a rather new board, I thought maybe newer kernel would do
it. But Ubuntu 12.10 beta 2 didn't boot (starts but crashes soon,
maybe when attempting to start X). So I installed 12.04 and dist
upgraded to 12.10 beta 2. During the upgrade, it warns against
upgrade and says that hardware is not supported. But did upgrade
anyway, with non pae kernel and with and without recommended kernel
options. Still no go. It boots but gives blank screen. Xorg log
(via ssh) says no screens found. The 12.10 repository doesn't have
any cedarview packages, which ties in with the "don't upgrade"
recommendation.

Also tried the Intel case study, which is based on Ubuntu 12 but with
a 3.1 kernel which the instructions include a kernel patch,
reconfigure and compile, plus some binaries plus several packages.
The instructions specify 3.1 kernel, but the illustrations appear to
be for a 3.0 kernel. Anyway, same results as before, it won't boot to
X.

So, Ubuntu 12.04 installs and runs, but no graphics hardware
acceleration, which makes it rather useless for displaying video.

I'm wondering if another distro might be lucky, but it is not looking
that great.

[Vince Martin-Smith]

You might find something useful from
http://www.linuxtech.net/reviews/intel_DN2800MT_cedarview_atom_power_draw.html


They have benchmarked with several linux distros.

Looks like a nice board otherwise :)

--
Vince Martin-Smith
Director
TISEC Limited
1548 Carrington Rd
RD1
New Plymouth
ph: +64 6 824 8113
mo: +64 21 0232 6846
skype: vincemartinsmith

[Peter Hewett]

Hi Vince
yes, I did come across that one in my searches. The kernel option
video=LVDS-1:d seems to help improve reliability of boots on this
mobo, but I still haven't sorted hardware accelerated graphics yet.

Currently attempting to install Arch Linux, which I haven't tried
before so it is interesting if nothing else.

From that article, maybe Meego is worth a try, although the website
says it has been discontinued.

cheers

Peter