I'm looking for some small computer systems for a project I'm working on and thought someone here may have some suggestions. The basic requirements would be...

TV out
802.11g capability (PCMCIA slot is adequate)
Fast enough to decode mpeg 4 video in software at standard TV resolutions (probably 600Mhz+)
At least 128Megs RAM
A couple hundred megs of bootable flash memory would be nice
Ability to run linux and support all of the above
Ability to run a JVM
Small
Cheap

Basically the end result is a wifi enabled set top box running my own software with some special features. Something like EPIA MII is pretty close. The downside is that the compact flash slot on it isn't bootable and by the time you add case, memory, 802.11 card, etc it get pretty pricey. It also has a lot of peripheral support that I don't need. Finally, I was hoping for a fully assembled solution so that I don't have to do a lot of hunting for parts. I'm capable of assembling it myself, but if I end up needing more than a couple of these I don't want to have to spend the time.

So, any suggestions? I know that to some of you this may sound a lot like a hacked XBox with a wifi adapter, but it needs to be something a bit more professional (and re-sellable) than that.

Thanks
-Mike

I've got no idea about cheap, but it seems to hit a bunch of you bullet points:

Arcom Olympus

-Zeke

How about small (micro-atx?) Socket A (Athlon) motherboards. Low power wasn't one of your requirements and small is relative. I doubt your get much cheaper than that- Flash memory could be accomplished with a disk-on-chip of some sort. Real Embedded systems in my experience aren't chip unless you are going to order 10,000+ units or something.

I've got no idea about cheap

Yeah, thats the same issue I had. I found several boards similar to the ones you linked, but not much info on pricing or availability as a complete system. Of course I just started looking this evening. Anyway, thanks for the link.

-Mike

How about small (micro-atx?) Socket A (Athlon) motherboards. Low power wasn't one of your requirements and small is relative.

Thats a bit bigger than I was hoping for (your right about power not being an issue, though). Unless you happen to have a pointer to a real low profile case. I'm not looking for something like a Shuttle system which is still to big. Ideally I am trying to hit a form factor about the same size as an empeg.

Real Embedded systems in my experience aren't chip unless you are going to order 10,000+ units or something.

Yeah, I am definitely not looking for that kind of volume. I was hoping that there was something out there "off the shelf" that would meet my needs.

-Mike

http://www.hushtechnologies.com/

It's gonna be pretty hard to hit the form factor of the empeg for cheap. This may be a little underpowered (CPU-wise) but these are the cheapest embedded motherboards I've ever found ($238 in quantity 1). It supports PCI cards (3.3V only though hmm...) so you could get one of those DivX accerlators cards to handle the Mpeg-4 and video-out. It does have a respectable amount of bootable flash at least and a pcmcia slot for good measure.

I sympathize with your quest. I've spend a good deal of time trying to locate small boards for a CE project my company's doing. No fun. I've gotten in a few development kits (quarter VGA, OS already loaded, touchscreen & various needed bits all in a box). They've been about $1500 each.

The boards I'm looking at are about $350-$450 in single piece quantity, but the processors (300Mhz Geode & 400 Mhz XScale ARM) are too slow for what you want to do (to the best of my knowledge) w/o a separate decoder board.

You might take a look over at PC104.org, there's a good number of companies that are making small form factor stuff linked from that site.

'Luck!

-Zeke

The Tranquil T3 Mini PC:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/product.asp?sid=T3

Would appear to meet almost all of your requirements. The one it falls down on is 802.11g as the PCI that they say fits the slot only does 802.11a

It has bootable CF though, thanks to the bootable CF reader on the PCI riser card.

Also check out:

mini-box.com

Google for "openbrick" and "openbrick e".

I see you've been busy!

-Zeke

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Nothing quite perfect, but lots of good starting points. Mark, do you know if those openbrick systems are actually be fast enough to decode video? The 'E' systems don't seem to have a tvout and the regular ones use a 300Mhz Geode processor which seems pretty slow although I am not familiar with that processor family.

-Mike