$100 x86 Runs Puppy Linux, Fits On The Back Of Flat-Panel Displays

Oct. 12, 2006

Norhtec's tiny, fanless MicroClient Jr. houses a 166-MHz SiS 550 and 128 Mbytes of SDRAM. It's ideal for kiosks and embedded applications requiring a low-cost, networked processing element. The case matches the VESA FDMI mounting standard,

William G. Wong

The 100BaseT Realtek 8100B Ethernet interface has PXE diskless boot support. The system also can boot from removable CompactFlash or an optional, internal 2.5-in. hard disk. There are audio ports and a pair of USB 1.1 ports on the front panel and a single USB port on the rear, along with a VGA and PS/2 keyboard port. RS232 ports, a second Ethernet, and wireless interfaces are optional. The platform can run a range of operating systems, including Linux, BSD, Windows CE, and Windows XP Embedded. Puppy Linux is available as an installed option. And, it has an operating temperature range of 0°C to 60°C.

Quantity pricing starts at $90. Wireless support is $50.

See associated figure

Norhtec
www.norhtec.com

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

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