Fiire Station specs anyone looked inside

[tzinternet]

I understand that the Fiire Station is a custom box, but I would like to know if anyone has opened one up and looked at the guts.  I am especially interested in the motherboard, and cards.  Anyone have one that they would be willing to open up and post?

Thanks

[webpaul1]

I opened em up.  They're based on the Via cx700m ultra low voltage platform for embedded systems.  But it's a custom board afaik with lots of media connnectors on it.  The one in that 1" thin client is actually a tiny motherboard.  Those 4 screw holes do not go through the motherboard.  The motherboard is entirely inside those 4 screws.  It's like 4" square.

[tzinternet]

Interesting to know.  I was hoping to build one that worked just as well but didn't cost so much.  I need the Fiire Station and Fiire Engine.  I have emailed them and asked about bundling but have not heard anything back. 

[PeteK]

So it seems like the Via Unichrome Pro II drivers used on the fiire station will support the compositing extensions and alpha blending that the Nvidia drivers support.  I noticed on the web site that they list the drivers as fully licensed.  I'm guessing that these are binary (closed source) third party drivers.  Does anyone know where they are getting their video drivers?

[Zaerc]

Did you just say "closed source drivers"?  That would be a bit of a disappointment, I was considering to maybe buy one.  I hope someone can clear this up.

[PeteK]

I'm just speculating based on what I've read about the units, but it wouldn't surprise me.  After all, the ATI and Nvidia drivers that most Linux users have to install to get 3D acceleration (including LMCE) are closed source.

[Zaerc]

Good point.  I guess I should just go look whether there are alternative drivers for these chipsets available as well.

[totallymaxed]

Interesting to know.  I was hoping to build one that worked just as well but didn't cost so much.  I need the Fiire Station and Fiire Engine.  I have emailed them and asked about bundling but have not heard anything back. 

This motherboard looks to match the spec of the FiireStation if you are looking to build your own MD box;

http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=252

The Unichrome Pro II drivers are obtainable from Via or you can use Openchrome but then you loose the ability to run UI2.

[PeteK]

Just out of curiosity, are the via Unichrome drivers part of the Ubuntu install?  Will LinuxMCE automatically install these when it detects a via MD? If not, how is fiire using them?

[DeadPenguin]

I was looking to try to build my own. I ran across this looking for a vesa mount pc case.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Trident-Presents-the-Invisible-PC-Case-55987.shtml http://www.trident-uk.co.uk/flat_panel_pc/vesa_pc.html looks a lot like the 1" fiire pc.

Regards,
Blair

[sharlee_angelo]

Just out of curiosity, are the via Unichrome drivers part of the Ubuntu install?  Will LinuxMCE automatically install these when it detects a via MD? If not, how is fiire using them?

fiire uses for via station a licensed driver specially built for fiire. and it is not based on unichorme or via drivers

[totallymaxed]

Just out of curiosity, are the via Unichrome drivers part of the Ubuntu install?  Will LinuxMCE automatically install these when it detects a via MD? If not, how is fiire using them?

The Unichrome drivers are not part of the standard Kubuntu install. You need to download a binary from Via or compile them yourself.

[teedge77]

Last night i noticed in the admin page for LinuxMCE that there was a dropdown box for the video drivers that had two Fiire drivers in it. Is that just informational? I honestly don't remember where it was and I went to bed soon after. Not being at home i can't look again right now but thought I would mention it and see what it meant. Since they are some sortof licensed driver i figured it was just for informational purposes of what was installed.

[schaferj]

hello,

http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Fiire_Station

has fs specs.
joseph

[schaferj]

Is this it?

http://e-itx.com/via-epia-ex-2677.html
http://e-itx.com/via-epia-nx-nx12000eg-nano-itx.html

joseph