I'm looking for some advice guys.. I want to build a HTTPd machine with the lowest possible power requirements. I'm assuming this will be rather low spec, probably using CF card or SSD ? I don't really know low-power kit very well, as I normally stick with big-a$$ computers with lots of draw. All advice appreciated. ^_^
To be honest your best bet is Ion, especially if you're after low power draw, it's something like 27W for Ion and a dual core Atom together (though you'd have to factor in the draw for the wireless card)
I have read articles on the Atom/Ion platform.. and that's still drawing 30W max. Ok, more info now I've had time to think about my post. I'm looking at powering this unit from free source.. solar/wind/water. The cheapest solar panels in Maplin are £59.99 for only 5W or a B Grade 10W Solar Panel Kit for £69.99 Batteries aren't too bad.. Also, no wifi.. I have a 16-port switch, so I'm good for internets. ^_^
Additional.. O_O http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=223250 Erm.. If only I could afford that.
Have a look around on www.linitx.com - I've had my eye on one of these little boards for a while: http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12319 - ALIX single-board computer, with built-in 500MHz AMD Geode and boots from CompactFlash. It's certainly not powerful, but there is awesome potential in a complete computer with such a small footprint. Crucially though, according to the manual, the power drain on the ALIX 3D3 is 2.5-3.5w idle, and 5w under full load (without USB & MiniPCI).
Thanks BLC.. great link. That seems like just the job. It doesn't need huge amounts of CPU power & RAM to run a basic HTML site or even LAMP. The cost is a slightly different matter.. To generate about 30W to charge 2 batteries will cost over £250. I'm hoping to get a sponsor on board very soon.. hopefully they will cover the build cost.
I would really love one of those ALIX boards... There are so many possibilities for such a small system - the low power isn't a problem as there are Linux distributions configured to work with these boards out of the box (iMedia ALIX Linux). There are only two on LinITX.com which support a VGA output, but the 3D3 is most definitely the smaller and more power efficient of the two. All the others don't have a VGA connection.
I definately need the VGA port.. I'll have to do the majority of the install locally, as I don't want to mess about with console, if I can avoid it. I'm not so sure about the 500MHz CPU though.. I'll have to see what kind of CPU power is required for a full feature LAMP server.
