Re: [BLUG] How cheap can you build a box?

Perhaps a Beagle Board would be an option:

http://beagleboard.org/

I think its a bit more than $200 to build a whole system with a holding
case. But they are small and good for what you described.

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 06:33:40PM GMT, David Ernst [david.ernst@davidernst.net] said the following:
> General question, only tangentially linux related:
>
> I was talking with a colleague about the possibility of building a
> dedicated appliance for a certain application. They'd need to deploy
> a number of them, so they'd like them to be inexpensive. It would use
> a touch screen monitor, not necessarily have any networking, and not
> need impressive computing power. I thought "my netbook could do it",
> but then I thought, my netbook has all kind of things that we don't
> need, like fold-up portability, a webcam, etc. And we definitely
> wouldn't need the latest-greatest processor speed either. Although we
> wouldn't want used equipment either...
>
> So, the question basically comes down to: what's the cheapest system
> you could buy/build that would
>
> * run linux
> * attach to a monitor
> * have usb ports
>
> We really wouldn't need a Hard Drive, a 16G SD card would be fine.
>
> The simple, easy solution would be to get something like this:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ETP1602C-BK-X0163-Touch-Screen-Desktop/dp/B002VY8OS8
>
> so, if we can't significantly beat $380, there's no use. And that's
> including the touchscreen monitor, which will be at least $100, so
> with no monitor it's gotta be down well below $300, preferably below
> $200. But, couldn't you get a motherboard, a not-super-fast CPU, some
> kind of a case, and a USB Interface for less than that? Thoughts?
>
> Another option is an iPad, or preferably a iPad-like Android device,
> which seem to be "soon but not quite yet". Thoughts on those?
>
> David
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> BLUG@linuxfan.com
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>

--
Mark Krenz
Bloomington Linux Users Group
http://www.bloomingtonlinux.org/
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[BLUG] How cheap can you build a box?

General question, only tangentially linux related:

I was talking with a colleague about the possibility of building a
dedicated appliance for a certain application. They'd need to deploy
a number of them, so they'd like them to be inexpensive. It would use
a touch screen monitor, not necessarily have any networking, and not
need impressive computing power. I thought "my netbook could do it",
but then I thought, my netbook has all kind of things that we don't
need, like fold-up portability, a webcam, etc. And we definitely
wouldn't need the latest-greatest processor speed either. Although we
wouldn't want used equipment either...

So, the question basically comes down to: what's the cheapest system
you could buy/build that would

* run linux
* attach to a monitor
* have usb ports

We really wouldn't need a Hard Drive, a 16G SD card would be fine.

The simple, easy solution would be to get something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ETP1602C-BK-X0163-Touch-Screen-Desktop/dp/B002VY8OS8

so, if we can't significantly beat $380, there's no use. And that's
including the touchscreen monitor, which will be at least $100, so
with no monitor it's gotta be down well below $300, preferably below
$200. But, couldn't you get a motherboard, a not-super-fast CPU, some
kind of a case, and a USB Interface for less than that? Thoughts?

Another option is an iPad, or preferably a iPad-like Android device,
which seem to be "soon but not quite yet". Thoughts on those?

David
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BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
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