Anyone know what the Thin Client in the Google Video is?

[shanethorp]

&pI'm wondering about the make/model of the Thin Client used in the Google Video.; I am also wondering about other models that are similar that will mount to the back of an LCD monitor in the same way and work with LinuxMCE.

[teedge77]

its from fiire.com and i havent ever seen another one that uses vesa mounts. there is a post somewhere that had a link to the case itself but theres a lot of proprietary stuff that goes with it to make it work with linuxmce.

[shanethorp]

Does that mean that it won't just boot PXE or something out of box as described in the video?

[teedge77]

the one they use, is the one from fiire. its built by them. you can buy the case somewhere though if you just wanted that.

[shanethorp]

I just noticed how expensive it is, that's WAYYY out of my budget.  Are there less expensive thin clients that I can use that will work (fairly) easily out of the box or with little configuration?

[Fixer]

I work with thin clients and I am positive that the newer HP TC's have the same VESA mounting ability.  The 5135 being my primary experince with them to date.  As far as other TC's working with LinuxMCE...I hope to find that out soon.

[teedge77]

do teh 5135s allow you to mounth through the thin client or just mount the thin client to the back of the monitor?

[Fixer]

It has through-holes so technically you could wall-mount.  That being said I would not venture a guess as to how much weight they would bear.  That may be something I can delve into in the future.  I have a few units I can take apart and maybe take a few snaps of.

[totallymaxed]

&pI'm wondering about the make/model of the Thin Client used in the Google Video.; I am also wondering about other models that are similar that will mount to the back of an LCD monitor in the same way and work with LinuxMCE.

Hi,

The thin client shown in the video is a Fiire.com Via based unit using a Via C7/CX700M chipset integrated on a Nano-ITX motherboard. Fiire add the proprietary Via Unichrome II Pro graphics drivers to the basic Via box.

We are testing numerous Fanless Via based motherboards - we're focussed mainly on C7 processors coupled with either the CN700 or CX700M graphics engine. Performance with these motherboards is excellent when coupled with either Openchrome drivers or Via's free Unichrome drivers - although in both cases currently you cannot run UI2 as these drivers do not provide all the features neede to support the UI. However under UI1 they work excellent and in fact have some of the best Video performance metrics we have seen (beating Nvidia cards in terms of framerate etc). They also provide a lot of on-board video output options like s-video, DVI, composite etc.

Regards

Andrew

[dmit]

Any VIA mini-ITX , nano-ITX or pico-ITX board could become perfect media director due to its size, low power consumption and other neat features. The only issue is the UI2 with alpha-blending, which is written with nVidia only cards in mind. But the VIA platform itself is just the best for MD, so this UI2 issue has to be solved some day i think.

For those asking about mounting the thin-client to an LCD monitor - this is very simple as it is standard VESA mounting, which almost all LCD TVs and monitors have nowedays. For such kind of cases (USD 49 without PSU) and many others related to VA ITX platform, please check here:

http://www.idotpc.com/thestore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=8&idproduct=456

Here are some more mini-ITX systems and accessories with quite impressive features and very affordable prices:

http://www.mitxpc.com

and check their eBay shop for even better prices:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/MITXPC

Please don't think it is a kind of an AD, I just like those cases and have very good experience with the sellers.

[totallymaxed]

Any VIA mini-ITX , nano-ITX or pico-ITX board could become perfect media director due to its size, low power consumption and other neat features. The only issue is the UI2 with alpha-blending, which is written with nVidia only cards in mind. But the VIA platform itself is just the best for MD, so this UI2 issue has to be solved some day i think.

For those asking about mounting the thin-client to an LCD monitor - this is very simple as it is standard VESA mounting, which almost all LCD TVs and monitors have nowedays. For such kind of cases (USD 49 without PSU) and many others related to VA ITX platform, please check here:

http://www.idotpc.com/thestore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=8&idproduct=456

Here are some more mini-ITX systems and accessories with quite impressive features and very affordable prices:

http://www.mitxpc.com

and check their eBay shop for even better prices:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/MITXPC

Please don't think it is a kind of an AD, I just like those cases and have very good experience with the sellers.

UI2 works fine on any Via C7/CX700M Mboards but you need the Unichrome Pro II commercial drivers from Via to exploit the chipset features needed by UI2 to do so. Fiire have bundled these drivers with Via's DS700 Vesa mount unit. Thats it. If you want UI2 on this type of device then currently Fiire have the only solution.

Any C7 based CN700 or CX700 based motherboard will run lmce-0704 UI1 superbly when married to the freely available Unichrome Pro drivers though.

[bulek]

UI2 works fine on any Via C7/CX700M Mboards but you need the Unichrome Pro II commercial drivers from Via to exploit the chipset features needed by UI2 to do so. Fiire have bundled these drivers with Via's DS700 Vesa mount unit. Thats it. If you want UI2 on this type of device then currently Fiire have the only solution.

Any C7 based CN700 or CX700 based motherboard will run lmce-0704 UI1 superbly when married to the freely available Unichrome Pro drivers though.

Do I understand correctly? You cannot buy commercial drivers from Via - Fiire is currently only solution for PRO II commercial drivers ?

Thanks in advance,

regards,

Bulek.

[totallymaxed]

UI2 works fine on any Via C7/CX700M Mboards but you need the Unichrome Pro II commercial drivers from Via to exploit the chipset features needed by UI2 to do so. Fiire have bundled these drivers with Via's DS700 Vesa mount unit. Thats it. If you want UI2 on this type of device then currently Fiire have the only solution.

Any C7 based CN700 or CX700 based motherboard will run lmce-0704 UI1 superbly when married to the freely available Unichrome Pro drivers though.

Do I understand correctly? You cannot buy commercial drivers from Via - Fiire is currently only solution for PRO II commercial drivers ?

Thanks in advance,

regards,

Bulek.

Hi Bulek,

As far as we know Via will only license the Unichrome Pro II commercial drivers to system integrators and not to end users. Fiire are an integrator and bundle the Unichrome Pro II drivers with their Vesa mount Via boxes.

[atomiktiger]

If you buy one of these thin client/mini-ITX systems for a MD, do you need a Hard Drive in it?  I noticed they sell without them, but also sell the 2.5" HD's on their sites as well.  I want to keep my total cost down, so my current idea is to put the $ in the Core and hopefully get MD's for less than the $500 that Fiire is offering (but still get decent output).  Is that feasible?  Also, it looks like from the thread that currently the only way to get UI2 and UI2 with Alpha Blending on MD's IS to buy the Fiire MD's (Fiire Station).  Is that correct?  And it looks like lesser-than-Fiire MD's probably won't play High-Def content well.  Is that also correct?

Thanks!   

[totallymaxed]

If you buy one of these thin client/mini-ITX systems for a MD, do you need a Hard Drive in it?  I noticed they sell without them, but also sell the 2.5" HD's on their sites as well.  I want to keep my total cost down, so my current idea is to put the $ in the Core and hopefully get MD's for less than the $500 that Fiire is offering (but still get decent output).  Is that feasible?  Also, it looks like from the thread that currently the only way to get UI2 and UI2 with Alpha Blending on MD's IS to buy the Fiire MD's (Fiire Station).  Is that correct?  And it looks like lesser-than-Fiire MD's probably won't play High-Def content well.  Is that also correct?

Thanks!   

You don't need a HD in any MD... but if you do have an HD in an MD then it will be detected by the Core and you will be asked if you would like to add it as storage for your system.

If you want to run UI2 on a Via based MD then Fiire currently have the only solution. However if you are happy to run UI1 on your Via based MD then you can use the Unichrome Pro drivers from Via (see other threads here for info on these drivers and how to get them) and buy a C7/CN700 or CX700 based MB and suitable case for less than half the cost of Fiire's product.