Thursday, November 26, 2009

nanoPC: scrapped

Unfortunately, the mainboard is toast and I can't get a replacement which takes me back to the drawing board. Since getting a new nano-ITX mainboard would cost me a small fortune, I decided to go back to mini-ITX. The new HTPC will be based on Atom dual core and nVidia Ion chipset which should allow for smooth 1080p playback. Next in line is also a 32" LCD TV. Lets hope it all works out nicely.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

nanoPC: follow-up

The board turned out to be problematic (probably a bad memory slot) so I had to return it. Thankfully it was still under warranty and I'm now waiting for the replacement. I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

nanoPC: near completion

As you can see from the pictures, my nanoPC is now assembled. I still need to add a remote control and a fan controller for the CPU fan. I had a lot of problems installing the components because the case is so small. If you're using a SATA hard drive, installation will be more difficult because the SATA connector sticks out more than a flat IDE cable connector. Forget the angled connectors as there is not enough space between the bottom of the case and the hard drive so it simply won't fit. I believe the same goes for round IDE cables.

The biggest problem of all was the supplied ATX cable which comes with a full-size 20-pin ATX connector. Why they don't supply you with this cable is beyond me. It is inexpensive and clearly takes up much less space in the already crowded case. On a side note, I managed to cram an Intel miniPCI wireless card in there. In order to do that, I had to shorten the screws which stick out from the bottom of the case.

As for the OS, I'm going to give Ubuntu 9.04 a try. Hopefully, hardware is well supported. Keep your fingers crossed!



Monday, October 12, 2009

nano-ITX preview

Thursday, October 8, 2009

nano-ITX project

I now have just about everything I need to start my HTPC project:

+ Via Epia N10000E Nano-ITX
+ 1GB PC2700 Kingston SODIMM
+ Seagate 120GB SATA disk 3.5"
+ Silverstone Lascala LC08 ohišje
+ ATi Remote Wonder remote control

Still need a slim DVD-RW drive, a mini-PCI wireless card and an S-Video cable...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Price Is Right

Extreme optimism in action:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Solved: Unable to install chipset drivers

Download the latest drivers from Intel's website:
- Intel Matrix Storage Manager 32-bit XP Pro
- Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 32-bit XP Pro

Slipstream the drivers contained within the 'Storage Manager' into the SP3 installation CD using nLite. After Windows installation is complete, you should be able to install Chipset drivers (see above). I believe that the chipset driver provided by Toshiba is either corrupt or incomplete.

After the described procedure, I was able to install the rest of the drivers and finish the installation.

New laptop problems

Two days ago I successfully slipstreamed SP3 and all the available Toshiba drivers onto a Windows XP installation CD with the help of nLite. Unattended installation went by flawlessly, the problem appeared when I tried to install Intel chipset drivers. No matter what I tried, setup would inevitably get stuck in the middle. I tried downgrading BIOS but that didn't help. While googling for the answer I read that you're supposed to install the drivers in a particular order. Wtf? Well, this means another go at slipstreaming just SP3 & SATA drivers and pray that it works. If it doesn't, I might end up having to use Vista whether I like it or not...

Friday, July 17, 2009

Desktop replacement

By a sheer stroke of luck I was offered to buy a new but slightly damaged Toshiba Satellite Pro A200-1NB laptop at 50% off of the original price! I intended to spend about the same amount of money on upgrading my existing 4 year old PC to a Core 2 Duo platform. The specs are quite impressive and the only thing missing is a better graphics card. This makes is an excellent desktop replacement which it's going to become as soon as I manage to exorcise Vista Business edition that came pre-installed with the laptop. Mind you, my old Toshiba Portege M100 is now for sale.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Work in progress...

There's a number of projects I wanted to do in the past few months but never found the time:
- finish the IBM Model M mod
- Apple Newton keyboard adapter for use with HP Jornada 7xx series
- DE9 to PS/2 adapter for a great looking industrial PC keyboard
- install that 4x20 LCD screen I bought months ago
- battery rebuild for my Psion Teklogix Netbook Pro
- update retro-museum.org homepage