Win a Green Gadgets LP-170 Pico-ITX OEM kit
Can you turn this dinky bit of kit into a desirable piece of modding handiwork?
The kit includes a tiny Pico-ITX Commell LP-170 motherboard, which packs an Intel Atom D525 processor and all the wires and cables needed to wire up the board. To see exactly what comes in the kit, check out the video at the bottom of this post.
So what do you have to do to win this compact piece of kit? Well, we’re looking for a modder to take this dinky board and do something creative with it. The rest is up to you; the only limitation is that whoever wins the board must agree to post a project log of the resulting mod in our own modding forums.
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning the board is simply tell us, in 50 words or less, what you would do with the board if you won and how the resulting mod would be used. To enter, send your entries to modding@bit-tech.net and we’ll pick a winner in due course. You can take your time to think up an idea, though, as the competition doesn’t close until midnight on Tuesday 12 April.
Bear in mind that it won’t necessarily be the most outlandish or ridiculous suggestion that gets the nod; we’ll also be looking for practicality and suitability when picking through your ideas. If you say you’re going to send it to the moon, you'd better hope you can convince us it’s possible in 50 words or less. You're also free to provide mock ups or CAD sketches with your entry, although they're not essential.
Meanwhile, for those of you wondering just what’s possible with a Pico-ITX motherboard, we’ve included a couple of shots of the beautifully formed Level Eleven Pico-ITX produced by our very own Jeffrey Stephenson (slipperyskip on the forums).
Are you up for the challenge? Have you wanted to experiment with a Pico-ITX build for a while now? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyLink to manufacturer's Support page (you can find User Manual, drivers, BIOS updates there): http://www.commell.com.tw/Support/Product%20Technical%20Support/LP-170.htm
Hope that helps to everyone who is willing to participate in the contest. Sorry for the unclear speech as I have a small speech defect and could not find anybody else to take the video yesterday :o
EXTREMELY difficult trying to describe what you want to do in 50 words though makes everything sound alot more bland and unintresting and forgot to mention and important bit that if i said now would make it sound even more unintresting and boring
I would wallmount it :/
Could then be used for some kind of house automation project or a sneaky storage point : )
I'll mock up my ideas tonight, i have had something nice in my mind for a long while! :)
I'm guessing "put it in a case" doesn't really count, does it? That's about the limit of my modding capabilities :D
However, the rules Paul came up with seem very fair to me, as:
1) If they allow for longer e-mails, they might not have the time to read everything or might not have the time to read all contest entries.
2) You can send a drawing instead of typing text. The drawing will tell it all.
3) Just consider it as a job interview. You want a job, the HR person tells you, describe why you suit our company in 50 words. You answer - hey, I cannot, it's too short. The HR person says - sorry, you are not qualified then. I know it's harsh, but there is nothing wrong in it. The hiring party (Bit-Tech in this case) can choose the rules.
(Fools stick together)
In terms of cooling, size, intrusiveness and just about everything else, that would be using a nuclear missile to crack a nut.
What I would do, is hit two flies with one hit.
Firstly, build my first ever case mod or even scratch case from wood and therefore make my long-waited dream come true. Secondly, as I'm moving out of town, my parents are left without any PC. This way, I'd get to build my first ever (serious) case mod and then donate it for my parents for web browsing! Idea of the case plan itself remains secret.. :)
And it hardly wouldn't be fair to win on the idea and then wait to start the worklog up in september..
That's why I gotta wait. :)
My idea was to take a full atx case with at least 4 (preferably more) 5.25" drive bays. The front of these bays should be a mesh material, just like this case. Zoom in to see the texture. All slots would consist of one the LP-170s. Behind each one I would mount fans that would suck in air. Each LP-170 would have it's ports facing out the front of the computer. If you don't want people having access to the LP-170s, just stick the mesh 5.25" cover over it.
Then, I would put in any generic motherboard in the main tray of the tower, with several PCI or PCI-e 1x slots. Each slot would have an Ethernet adapter in it. This is so each of the LP-170s can connect as a cluster computer. The built-in Ethernet port in the motherboard would be the main Internet or LAN connection.
Next I would put in at least 2 hard drives. One would be for the main motherboard, the other would be for the cluster of LP-170s, which would do a network boot.
After, I would take each of the Molex and floppy power connectors, cut off the ends, and solder the proper end for the LP-170. Obviously I would add whatever components I need to make sure the voltage is correct.
As the final touch, the main power button of the tower would be used to power the main motherboard, and I would solder the reset button to turn on all of the LP-170s at the same time.
An external DVD drive would be needed to install the OSes.
Basically, my idea is to create a low-power cluster server inside of a desktop computer. Of course, you could just get an 8-core Xeon which would probably be faster, but also tremendously more expensive.
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=145093
The cooling solution I used makes it impossible to overheat because the CPU heatsink protrudes outside of the case. Good luck to all!
:D
I don't think the review kit is up for grabs unless they've taken it out of the case as that's not included. I think the aim of this competition is to show cynics what can be done with such a small bit of kit.
Was thinking of doing something similar, the old artigo Pico-ITX kits used to have the mounts for the 5 1/4 bays and all...
well 2 great minds think alike. i wasn't aware of the artigo being able to mount in those drives.
My plan is basically empty out an old (spare) megadrive I have, install this in it (create holes for the USB slots for controllers to go into), then load it up with emulators and have it as a nice small, easy to transport, all-in-one retro gaming experience.
This is the kit, model before the one that BT reviewed
damn well there goes my chance of winning the contest. however, doesn't appear to have good ventilation at all if you stick it inside a computer. my idea is designed with great airflow in mind.
Here is a YouTube video of this board: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pGSb0KKDNg
Link to manufacturer's Support page (you can find User Manual, drivers, BIOS updates there): http://www.commell.com.tw/Support/Product%20Technical%20Support/LP-170.htm
Hope that helps to everyone who is willing to participate in the contest. Sorry for the unclear speech as I have a small speech defect and could not find anybody else to take the video yesterday :o
Yes, I have no good ideas...
Im not argueing about it, i think the rules are very fair and it stops people spouting BS you're trying to get in the important info while getting in details its trying to be creative with what you say aswell as what you plan to make.
Heres praying but im not sure mine is quite creative enough i look forward to seeing the winners project log however! its rare to see pico-itx mods
Then, I'd hook it up to a Vuzix-style corner-of-eye display in my skiing goggles and a wrist-mounted keyboard, and use it to tell me my speed, altitude, location, weather, ski map etc. I could even hook up my helmet cam, and then upload videos wirelessly. Then while I'm cycling back in London, I can have it play me turn-by-turn satnav directions in my sunglasses...
So it seems to have everything to make a tiny cookie of awesomeness! Already sent an email, so if I happen to catch the prize this'll be truly awesome! First serious case mod ever after years of planning under a student budget :o - and at the same time when I'm moving out of town leaving my parents without a PC. :(
I'm out. I was hoping to clear up ~4 square feet of floor space.
-Heck of a user manual, though. That's the first time I've seen LCD installation in one.
Mini PCI Express PCIe RS232 16C950 +Parallel Card
This is why USB-to-Serial and USB-to-Parallel converters are not 100% compatible with pure Serial and pure Parallel. Some people are satisfied with the compatibility level they offer, but others have issues. So it depends what is on the other side of the Parallel port today, and can it live with 90% compatibility?
With this in mind, would you be able to get an add-in ethernet card at all? If so then I know what my entry will be :)
1) Commell MPX-7202 (PCI Express mini card with 2 x USB3.0) - $64
2) Commell MPX-574D2 (PCI Express mini card with 2 x GigaBit LAN) - $67
3) Commell MPX-643 (PCI Express mini card with FireWire IEEE1394a & IEEE1394b) - $55
4) Commell MPX-954E (PCI Express mini card with RS232 *2 & RS422/485) - $61
5) Commell MPX-3132 (PCI Express mini card with 2 x SATAII (RAID 0, RAID 1)) - $40
6) Broadcom BCM70015 (PCI Express half-mini card for HD video accelerating) - $50
7) IEI LVDS-VGA-R10 (18bit LVDS to VGA converter - for 2nd VGA port) - $50
8) Patriot SODIMM DDR2 RAM 2GB @ 667MHz - $30
9) KingSpec 2.5" SSD 32GB - $70
10) KingSpec CompactFlash 32GB - $70
Your budget is $100 so you can combine anything from the above up to $100.
Number 2 (add-in ethernet) is this card: http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/Peripheral/PCI%20Express%20mini%20card/MPX-574D2.HTM
It's a deal. :D
Also figured that it could be combined to do about a million other things, like GPS mapping while walking (so you don't have to pull out a phone and wave it around) and tracking your off-road routes/bike trails etc. If you were on a velodrome the data link could send telemetry from you ride back to a laptop in real time, too. I think a bluetooth dongle would have to go in too, so you could use it with a little foldaway wireless k+m as well as a wearable 'board and ball, and appear to be typing on a keyboard that wasn't connected to anything, without a screen to look at. Combining a camera/screen on the glasses/goggles means you could actually do 'in-eye' augmented reality, too.
Now, if there's a use I can find for it while it's underwater...
[EDIT](Other than underwater music player, that is.) :)[/EDIT]
If I get it or not, you'll see my mod come in the next few weeks to the forums!
Good luck reading those thousands of emails btw :D
I'm also excited because I've been waiting for a decently powered, flexible pico-itx motherboard for ages - this one looks super.
It looks like my ripoff of the Land Warrior CSS will never be
But a worthier winner I can't imagine - get it started!
You might not win a prize last time, but here's your chance to make cheap Pico-ITX board a reality this time, and maybe win a prize in between: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=255178