Hi all
I have been waiting for this as the ION plattform should combine the Atom processor with the Nvidia chipset for low power consumption and good video output capability. I hope to get as much input on this as possible as soon as the product will be availabele cause it looks like a interesting board for MD's and might get one for my self for testing if it look generally promising to who ever will read this.
What do you think?
Here is the link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/zotac-ion-atom,2300.html
Cheers
Roberto
dupe
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8104
match point for you ;-)
Quote from: roberto99 on May 14, 2009, 01:13:29 PM
Hi all
I have been waiting for this as the ION plattform should combine the Atom processor with the Nvidia chipset for low power consumption and good video output capability. I hope to get as much input on this as possible as soon as the product will be availabele cause it looks like a interesting board for MD's and might get one for my self for testing if it look generally promising to who ever will read this.
What do you think?
Here is the link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/zotac-ion-atom,2300.html
Cheers
Roberto
Well we got our fanless Zotac 230 Ion board today and we are really very impressed indeed. As its Ion based it really is as compatible as the Revo...so we just added it to a Core and it just worked. As you can see from the psecs/pic the Zotac has an incredible array of I/O fro such a tiny little mobo...and its BIOS is also equally well equipped with a very rich set of features & capabilities. As with the Revo we have both PCM & Dolby Digital/DTS working over the HDMI port very nicely...on the Zotac of course you have the option of S/pdif (Coax/Optical) too. The Zotac has VGA, DVI & HDMI and the picture quality out of each is excellent.
Performance wise it was impossible to say whether the Revo or Zotac performed better or worse than one another...they were equally good in this respect.
All the best
Andrew
Andrew,
Thanks for posting your review on this. Looks like a motherboard that ticks every box for an MD.
Perhaps a sticky posting with this will answer the endless questions of what MD motherboard to get.
Regards
Darren
Andrew,
I started researching these little guys a few days ago. I'm certainly excited about them. The Atom 230s are available here now. Do you think it's worth waiting/paying for the 330s?
Also, an odd question but how high is the board including the exposed part of the mounting screws and ram? It looks like the heatsink is nearly as high as the IO panel but not quite there. I'm thinking of squeezing one into one of these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FGYTC/ (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FGYTC/).
Quote from: castlec on June 01, 2009, 05:21:56 AM
Andrew,
I started researching these little guys a few days ago. I'm certainly excited about them. The Atom 230s are available here now. Do you think it's worth waiting/paying for the 330s?
Also, an odd question but how high is the board including the exposed part of the mounting screws and ram? It looks like the heatsink is nearly as high as the IO panel but not quite there. I'm thinking of squeezing one into one of these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FGYTC/ (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FGYTC/).
Hmmm...even though the Zotac 230 is fanless and passively cooled...it does still need ventilation. Locking it inside that steel case will secure it for sure but will also fry it pretty quickly!!! Lol! The integral passively cooled heatsink needs to be convection cooled and therefore should be used in a ventilated case design.
Andrew
How did it perform at 1080p???
Thanks
Quote from: Anthony_Molg on June 03, 2009, 03:01:27 PM
How did it perform at 1080p???
Thanks
1080p is supported and works fine in testing so far.
Andrew
Sweet thanks. I think i am going to be getting a new MD :)
Quote from: totallymaxed on June 03, 2009, 12:52:58 AM
Hmmm...even though the Zotac 230 is fanless and passively cooled...it does still need ventilation. Locking it inside that steel case will secure it for sure but will also fry it pretty quickly!!! Lol! The integral passively cooled heatsink needs to be convection cooled and therefore should be used in a ventilated case design.
Andrew
Thanks for the warning.
The only idea was to give it a place to live. I have no issue with cutting vent/fan holes into the box. It was already on my mind. I'll have to decide exactly how I want to ventilate it when I have the board and can verify that it can in fact live in the tiny cash box. I really can't imagine it needing much more than a small fan though. I'm not even sure said fan would need to be moving at full power.
I wish I had real info to report..... stupid pre-order.
The real issue to me is that ITX cases are either not suited to diskless MDs or are overpriced or both. I'm willing to have an adventure to save that money. If you have better suggestions, speak :)
Quote from: castlec on June 04, 2009, 10:24:54 PM
Quote from: totallymaxed on June 03, 2009, 12:52:58 AM
Hmmm...even though the Zotac 230 is fanless and passively cooled...it does still need ventilation. Locking it inside that steel case will secure it for sure but will also fry it pretty quickly!!! Lol! The integral passively cooled heatsink needs to be convection cooled and therefore should be used in a ventilated case design.
Andrew
Thanks for the warning.
The only idea was to give it a place to live. I have no issue with cutting vent/fan holes into the box. It was already on my mind. I'll have to decide exactly how I want to ventilate it when I have the board and can verify that it can in fact live in the tiny cash box. I really can't imagine it needing much more than a small fan though. I'm not even sure said fan would need to be moving at full power.
I wish I had real info to report..... stupid pre-order.
The real issue to me is that ITX cases are either not suited to diskless MDs or are overpriced or both. I'm willing to have an adventure to save that money. If you have better suggestions, speak :)
I'm certainly not saying it will need a fan... if you go for the fanless model. But what it will need is ventilation slots to allow for convective cooling.
Andrew
Quote from: totallymaxed on June 04, 2009, 10:53:39 PM
I'm certainly not saying it will need a fan... if you go for the fanless model. But what it will need is ventilation slots to allow for convective cooling.
Andrew
Agreed. I could see it being possible that it would need a small fan. I don't think it would though. All the same, dremel to the rescue ;D
Instead of a small fan you might want to consider a big one and have it run slowly, that will be more quiet.
Quote from: Zaerc on June 05, 2009, 01:04:53 AM
Instead of a small fan you might want to consider a big one and have it run slowly, that will be more quiet.
You're right. It all depends on the layout and what's actually necessary. We'll see :o).
Quote from: totallymaxed on May 28, 2009, 01:52:00 AM
Well we got our fanless Zotac 230 Ion board today and we are really very impressed indeed. As its Ion based it really is as compatible as the Revo...so we just added it to a Core and it just worked. As you can see from the psecs/pic the Zotac has an incredible array of I/O fro such a tiny little mobo...and its BIOS is also equally well equipped with a very rich set of features & capabilities. As with the Revo we have both PCM & Dolby Digital/DTS working over the HDMI port very nicely...on the Zotac of course you have the option of S/pdif (Coax/Optical) too. The Zotac has VGA, DVI & HDMI and the picture quality out of each is excellent.
Performance wise it was impossible to say whether the Revo or Zotac performed better or worse than one another...they were equally good in this respect.
All the best
Andrew
Has there been any changes since the above quoted statement? I'm looking to order one. Can you please tell me your exact model of success since there are several variations of this board?
Regards,
Charles
Quote from: rocketlynx on June 23, 2009, 07:11:06 PM
Quote from: totallymaxed on May 28, 2009, 01:52:00 AM
Well we got our fanless Zotac 230 Ion board today and we are really very impressed indeed. As its Ion based it really is as compatible as the Revo...so we just added it to a Core and it just worked. As you can see from the psecs/pic the Zotac has an incredible array of I/O fro such a tiny little mobo...and its BIOS is also equally well equipped with a very rich set of features & capabilities. As with the Revo we have both PCM & Dolby Digital/DTS working over the HDMI port very nicely...on the Zotac of course you have the option of S/pdif (Coax/Optical) too. The Zotac has VGA, DVI & HDMI and the picture quality out of each is excellent.
Performance wise it was impossible to say whether the Revo or Zotac performed better or worse than one another...they were equally good in this respect.
All the best
Andrew
Has there been any changes since the above quoted statement? I'm looking to order one. Can you please tell me your exact model of success since there are several variations of this board?
Regards,
Charles
Both the Zotac-230 and the Zotac-330 motherboards work well. You will have to do the usual NIC fixes in initramfs and upgrade to to the nVidia 180.51 and alsa 1.0.19 drivers etc. In fact all the Ion motherboards tested so far work excellently.
Look for Zotac ION-ITX-A & Zotac ION-ITX-B boards.
Andrew
Quote from: castlec on June 04, 2009, 10:24:54 PM
The real issue to me is that ITX cases are either not suited to diskless MDs or are overpriced or both. I'm willing to have an adventure to save that money. If you have better suggestions, speak :)
I like the look of http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=54 (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=54)
Reasonable price, VESA mounting if you want, all the connections hidden away (again, if you want) so good looking.
HTH
Quote from: wierdbeard65 on June 23, 2009, 07:20:24 PM
Quote from: castlec on June 04, 2009, 10:24:54 PM
The real issue to me is that ITX cases are either not suited to diskless MDs or are overpriced or both. I'm willing to have an adventure to save that money. If you have better suggestions, speak :)
I like the look of http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=54 (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=54)
Reasonable price, VESA mounting if you want, all the connections hidden away (again, if you want) so good looking.
HTH
Thanks wierdbeard65, I also like that enclosure the best. I was really talking about the specific model of the Motherboard.
Thanks
Quote from: rocketlynx on June 23, 2009, 07:46:11 PM
Thanks wierdbeard65, I also like that enclosure the best. I was really talking about the specific model of the Motherboard.
I accept that and it's available bundled http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=53#ION-ITX-B-may-2009-bundle (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=53#ION-ITX-B-may-2009-bundle)
I was, however, actually responding to the guy who wanted to cut up a cash-box to make a case because he wasn't keen on the cases available... ;D
Quote from: wierdbeard65 on June 23, 2009, 07:59:50 PM
Quote from: rocketlynx on June 23, 2009, 07:46:11 PM
Thanks wierdbeard65, I also like that enclosure the best. I was really talking about the specific model of the Motherboard.
I accept that and it's available bundled http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=53#ION-ITX-B-may-2009-bundle (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=53#ION-ITX-B-may-2009-bundle)
I was, however, actually responding to the guy who wanted to cut up a cash-box to make a case because he wasn't keen on the cases available... ;D
Great deal! I missed that bundle on the site. Thanks, Charles
Can this be used as a hybrid core?
I am thinking of purchasing this bundle (Zotac ION-ITX-A Wi-Fi / M350 Mini-ITX Case / RAM Offer Bundle), and am just wondering about the need for 2 NICs?
I suppose I could purchase a USB NIC.
I know this has Wi-Fi and 1 NIC, but I want to use 2 NICs and not Wireless.
I e-mailed them and asked about expansion cards. Unfortunately, that case has no room for any PCI cards, so you TV capture, 2nd NIC etc etc would all have to be USB. Also, there isn't a great deal of space for HDDs.
Personally, I reckon it'd make a great MD, but Hybrid? Hummm
hybriod shoudl be fine, as long as you have you don't want to attach to much stuff.
Whats the purpose of sth. small, when anything else is attached via USB like HD, TV etc...
Quote from: castlec on June 01, 2009, 05:21:56 AM
Andrew,
I started researching these little guys a few days ago. I'm certainly excited about them. The Atom 230s are available here now. Do you think it's worth waiting/paying for the 330s?
Also, an odd question but how high is the board including the exposed part of the mounting screws and ram? It looks like the heatsink is nearly as high as the IO panel but not quite there. I'm thinking of squeezing one into one of these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FGYTC/ (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FGYTC/).
We have just been testing the Zotac Atom330/Ion motherboard under 0810 alpha and using the nVidia vdpau api to get full HD acceleration. After some pointers to a patched MythTV 0.21 from niz23 we have it working very nicely on the Zotac330 board. We have only tested the BBC HD channel on Freesat which is broadcast in 1080i - results so far are that the 330 will deliver flawless playback of the BBC HD channel. The only limitation in MythTV currently when using vdpau is that the current version of the drive cannot handle more than a single video stream at the same time...so mythTV's PIP capability in the Live TV view or in the EPG are not available. But the actual playback performance is truly impressive and really silky smooth. In tests so far we have seen an average processor load of 22-25% when displaying the BBC HD channel stream.
Here is the url to the patched MythTV with vdpau (0804, 0810 & 0904 versions are available here) http://avenard.com/media/Ubuntu_Repository/Ubuntu_Repository.html (http://avenard.com/media/Ubuntu_Repository/Ubuntu_Repository.html)
More on this after we test a little more.
All the best
Andrew
cool, bbcHD... hum tempting next buy, What tv card you using?
Quote from: sp00nhead on July 01, 2009, 12:35:37 AM
cool, bbcHD... hum tempting next buy, What tv card you using?
The DVBworld HD-2104...see my Wiki page on it; http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/DVBworld_HD-2104-USB-S2 (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/DVBworld_HD-2104-USB-S2)
Andrew
Andrew,
Is that box similar to the HD homerun in that it sends the video feed to LMCE via ethernet? or is there an av output on it somewhere?
-Krys
Quote from: krys on July 01, 2009, 04:33:44 PM
Andrew,
Is that box similar to the HD homerun in that it sends the video feed to LinuxMCE via ethernet? or is there an av output on it somewhere?
-Krys
No the DVBworld HD-2104 is a USB based DVB-S tuner...it connects to a USB2.0 port. This isnot a devices that connects to a LAN like the HDHomerun....and no there is no AV output on this tuner.
Andrew
Quote from: totallymaxed on July 01, 2009, 06:09:17 PM
Quote from: krys on July 01, 2009, 04:33:44 PM
Andrew,
Is that box similar to the HD homerun in that it sends the video feed to LinuxMCE via ethernet? or is there an av output on it somewhere?
-Krys
No the DVBworld HD-2104 is a USB based DVB-S tuner...it connects to a USB2.0 port. This isnot a devices that connects to a LAN like the HDHomerun....and no there is no AV output on this tuner.
Andrew
With that in mind, USB uses the CPU directly, the more mb/s through the usb connection, the more the cpu works, so with a non-usb tuner, your cpu results would be lower.
Back on topic, I just ordered a Zotac Ion board from NewEgg. The board with PSU + 2x 1GB of RAM + free shipping ended up at $189.
I will post any results I have once I get to play with it im sure next week sometime.
-Krys
Quote from: Pnuts on July 01, 2009, 06:58:36 PM
Quote from: totallymaxed on July 01, 2009, 06:09:17 PM
Quote from: krys on July 01, 2009, 04:33:44 PM
Andrew,
Is that box similar to the HD homerun in that it sends the video feed to LinuxMCE via ethernet? or is there an av output on it somewhere?
-Krys
No the DVBworld HD-2104 is a USB based DVB-S tuner...it connects to a USB2.0 port. This isnot a devices that connects to a LAN like the HDHomerun....and no there is no AV output on this tuner.
Andrew
With that in mind, USB uses the CPU directly, the more mb/s through the usb connection, the more the cpu works, so with a non-usb tuner, your cpu results would be lower.
Well 'real world' experience with the the 2104 tells us that this is not a significant factor...even when receiving and streaming several 1080i HD streams. We also have experience with system that have upto 6 USB DVB-T tuners (DVB-T is currently only SD here in the UK on the 6 'free to air' multiplexes).
The problem of power usage and Motherboard damage is a real one once you get to 3+ non-usb Sat tuners. So we tend to use non-usb tuners mainly for capture of analog sources.
All the best
Andrew
i'll just want to order one but how mush ram shut i put on it? 2 or 4 GB?
I'll thinking to pix boot the thing and i'll hok it up to the TV and HI-FI
unless your using it for something other then a MD, 2gb is fine, if not overkill for an MD.
Quote from: dizmoduck on July 04, 2009, 07:09:05 PM
i'll just want to order one but how mush ram shut i put on it? 2 or 4 GB?
I'll thinking to pix boot the thing and i'll hok it up to the TV and HI-FI
All our Zotac's have 2gig...go with that its more than enough for anything.
Andrew
thanks
Woo hoo, I just checked and it looks like my Zotac Ion board should be waiting for me when I get home today, I hope to get this thing up and running ASAP and I will report the details back here.
-Krys
Quote
Both the Zotac-230 and the Zotac-330 motherboards work well. You will have to do the usual NIC fixes in initramfs and upgrade to to the nVidia 180.51 and alsa 1.0.19 drivers etc. In fact all the Ion motherboards tested so far work excellently.
Look for Zotac ION-ITX-A & Zotac ION-ITX-B boards.
Andrew
Hi Andrew
Finally recived my copy of the board. I guess with "usual NIC fixes in initramfs" you meand this guide: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC
Tried to install today but had no luck with 'kernel module' & RTL8211CL on google. What did you use as 'kernel module' ?
NB: Does this still apply? --> Caveat: Whenever you click Regenerate this media director, you have to redo the step for the initial ramdisk of the media director.
Also I never upgradet alsa drivers --> is there a guide as I did not find any?
Appreciate any help
Thanks
Roberto
On 8.10 after enabling boot from network in the BIOS, my diskless ION-ITX is booting from the hybrid/core without requiring any updates for the NIC.
I have run the AV Setup and the video tests don't appear to be doing the blending correctly. (As an aside the Dolby Digital and DTS appear to be working correctly out of the box).
After all the Orbiter screens are generated and the MD is setup however, it boots to an error of "Orbiter failed to setup transparency. Please check if transparency...", then after a period it displays a gray screen w/ cursor, then returns to the error screen again.
I am assuming that the configuration for this diskless MD needs to have the Nvidia drivers updated as I had done with my hybrid core - but am not sure how to do this for a diskless node.
I can't seem to drop to the KDE desktop on the Diskless MD nor VNC into it - but can SSH to it where I could run an apt command .... any and all suggestions greatly appreciated for the appropriate wa to do this.
Jayson
try searching the forum for a thread called..... zotac ion board. It has a link to a wiki (that you can also search) that tells you in detail what needs to happen.
-Krys
Thanks Krys - I appreciate the suggestion.
I tried the steps you outlined on http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/ZOTAC_ION on the device - I had already installed with UI2, but this didn't eliminate the "Unable to start transparency service" error. (I presume you meant to execute these steps from a CTL-ALT-F2 login on the diskless MD Zotac - though I also applied them on my hybrid core as well, to no avail.)
I then deleted the device and attempted to re-add it using UI1 - then my errors changed to "Orbiter failed to start OpenGL".
Still scratching my head...
You only want to do these steps for the Zotac MD. I personally did them using ssh, instead of CTL-ALT-F2.
To use ssh:
Get on your core, and open a terminal.
sudo ssh moonXX (where "XX" is the MD's device number)
Once you are ssh'd into your MD just copy/paste the commands from that wiki and you should be set, it has worked for me multiple times now.
-Krys
You are correct Krys - your procedure does work for UI1. Thank you.
My mistakes were in trying to get either form of UI2 to work.
Now just need to get Andrew to help us figure out what he did to get this running...
My method worked for UI2, I just started in the Basic UI so that the MD would complete install, then after I updated the drivers I switched into UI2.
-Krys