[Eug-lug] very small form factor PC (fits in a wall jack)

[T. Joseph Carter]

On Thu, Jun 01, 2006 at 02:06:41PM -0700, Ben Barrett wrote:
> Wha?  With 500Mhz and 128MB RAM, dual DVI and 16-bit stereo I/O, I would see
> this as aa really nice addition in say a straw-bale house -- put in PoE, and
> a combo of HD monitor & ~10-inch touchscreen, and audio, and a wireless
> keyboard and mouse.... vogue home entertainment PC, streaming from the
> fanless mini-itx behind the scenes.  Sure the high-end systeem is almost
> 700USD, and it does not have surround sound.

Specs for the high-end model are 1600x1200 DVI.  Meh.  I use nearly that
now, and I have been looking to upgrade to 1920x1200.  It wouldn't do for
my purposes even for streaming.

Actually, I think I have more interest in all of the ports on the low-end
model being internal to a double-width standard wall box.  Connect some
small USB peripherals to the thing--some of them on the standard consumer
market and some of them reserved for more interesting applications, and
you have yourself a nice home management device.

Actually, I am sortof doing this with or without wall jack PC.  One of the
things I need though is a low-speed serial protocol that is robust over
about ethernet distance without lots of signal termination issues.  I have
seen a few such things in catalogs and the like, but none with information
enough that I could make an informed choice.

The non-computer endpoints tend to provide things like wire terminals for
connecting to relays and sensors and the like.  Lots more and more varied
applications than x10/insteon arrangements, and probably more reliable at
doing what those things do.  It's also a lot cheaper than the more
high-end things intended for building management and automation, most of
which are amusingly still using powerline protocols.