Quiet computer

> Very cool looking computer!  But, with a Duo core in
it, it HAS to  
> create
> some heat, thus some fans.

My MacBook Pro gets pretty hot, but runs fanless most of the
time.  
It's a Core Duo.

> The only things I've seen that run fanless are Via
based, fast  
> enough for
> email-web etc. but probably not much of a game machine.

Yes, the Via's aren't the most performant, though. They
would be fine  
for my purposes if they were slow but dual-core,
unfortunately they  
are just slow. I'm not looking for a game machine, though,
I'm  
looking for a quiet server for a home-office that can
witstand a long- 
running single-threaded process that sucks up most of the
CPU, hence  
the call for dual-core (since then it will only be able to
suck up  
one CPU). It's replacing a single 350 MHz
"server," so even dual-core  
600 MHz would be a step up.

> I've been toying with the idea of building one of
those for our home
> computer.

Let me know if you get something quiet and acceptably
performant, I  
might ask for advice or your services 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org] On Behalf Of
David King
> Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 10:13 PM
> To: freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org
> Subject: Re: Quiet computer
>
>>> I am looking for a small computer that is
silent or very quiet to  
>>> sit
>>> in a home office.
>> I think you might want to wait a month or two until
Intel Core 2
>> "Conroe" and "Allendale"
become more readily available.
>
> Indeed (less than a month later), a vendor called
Shuttle just  
> released this
> machine: <http://sys.us
.shuttle.com/X100.aspx>
>
> They call it their X100 and it's just smaller than a
cereal box. It  
> has an
> Intel Core Duo in it.
>
> Does anyone have one of these by chance? Can anyone
attest to the  
> noise that
> it makes?
>
> Thanks for any information
_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

> Yes, the Via's aren't the most performant, though.
They would be fine  
> for my purposes if they were slow but dual-core,
unfortunately they  
> are just slow. I'm not looking for a game machine,
though, I'm  

There is a dual-core version as well. I already mentioned
that, AFAIR.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini
_itx/vt_310dp/

[SorAlx]  ridin' VN1500-B2
_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

>> Yes, the Via's aren't the most performant,
though. They would be fine
>> for my purposes if they were slow but dual-core,
unfortunately they
>> are just slow. I'm not looking for a game machine,
though, I'm
> There is a dual-core version as well. I already
mentioned that, AFAIR.
> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini
_itx/vt_310dp/

Ah, I must have missed that. Now I'm all excited 

_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

>> Yes, the Via's aren't the most performant,
though. They would be fine
>> for my purposes if they were slow but dual-core,
unfortunately they
>> are just slow. I'm not looking for a game machine,
though, I'm
> There is a dual-core version as well. I already
mentioned that, AFAIR.
> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini
_itx/vt_310dp/

Would you happen to know of anyone shipping systems with
these boards?
I can build one but it would be nice to pay someone else to
do it  
instead 

_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

> > http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini
_itx/vt_310dp/
> Ah, I must have missed that. Now I'm all excited 

I wouldn't get too excited just now, but wait 'till VIA
release something
similar, only with their newest, bestest, better-than-ever
CPU cores 
Check out the 'Processors' section of their site.

> Would you happen to know of anyone shipping systems
with these boards?
> I can build one but it would be nice to pay someone
else to do it  
> instead 

You mean, you have a job for fellow BSD'ers? ;) No, I
don't know who
builds complete systems, but seems like this board is
available on
an auction (eBay). And it is expensive (however, considering
it's
got everything integrated, + some nice, original CPU
features
which are quite useful for a server -- such as true RNG, and
hw
crypto engine that can run at 25 Gbit/s (!) max -- not to
bad, IMO).

If you want to run the chips at > ~1GHz, you either need
to put
a bigger radiator (much bigger! 20W is no joke {2GHz VIA
C7}) or
keep the fan. The Eden chips, which are on the dual-core
board,
dissipate 7.5W max, so you also may need bigger heatsink, or
run them underclocked, or avoid 100% load (idle heat
dissipation
is only 500mW -- unbelievable!).

I have not tested any VIA processors myself yet, and I'm
waiting
for someone to try them out with FBSD and post results :p
I also heard rumors (can't remember on which maillist) that
CPU's
RNG and crypto engine work with FreeBSD rather well...

[SorAlx]  ridin' VN1500-B2
_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

>>> Yes, the Via's aren't the most performant,
though. They would be  
>>> fine
>>> for my purposes if they were slow but
dual-core, unfortunately they
>>> are just slow. I'm not looking for a game
machine, though, I'm
>> There is a dual-core version as well. I already
mentioned that,  
>> AFAIR.
>> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini
_itx/vt_310dp/
> Would you happen to know of anyone shipping systems
with these boards?
> I can build one but it would be nice to pay someone
else to do it  
> instead 

So I broke down and bought one of those boards. Does anyone
on the  
list own one? Were there any initial setup difficulties with
it? Does  
FreeBSD pick up the crypto hardware and second processor
without any  
trouble?

_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

>>>> Yes, the Via's aren't the most performant,
though. They would be  
>>>> fine
>>>> for my purposes if they were slow but
dual-core, unfortunately they
>>>> are just slow. I'm not looking for a game
machine, though, I'm
>>> There is a dual-core version as well. I already
mentioned that,  
>>> AFAIR.
>>> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini
_itx/vt_310dp/
>> Would you happen to know of anyone shipping systems
with these  
>> boards?
>> I can build one but it would be nice to pay someone
else to do it  
>> instead 
> So I broke down and bought one of those boards. Does
anyone on the  
> list own one? Were there any initial setup difficulties
with it?  
> Does FreeBSD pick up the crypto hardware and second
processor  
> without any trouble?

For the archives, the VIA EPIA VT-310DP (<http://www.via.com.tw/en/ 
products/mainboards/mini_itx/vt_310dp/>) works *great*
with FreeBSD  
6.1. It's a dual-1GHz Via motherboard. The second processor
is picked  
up without trouble, and its padlock cryptography
acceleration works,  
or at least /dev/crypto is created with "device
crypto" and "device  
cryptodev" in the kernel config.

I didn't have to do anything special to get these things
detected  
except for the kernel config. In fact, I pulled a hard drive
out of  
another system and put it in here and it booted right up.

My dmesg is below.

FreeBSD 6.1-RELEASE-p7 #3: Fri Sep 29 21:45:34 PDT 2006
     root<censored>:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/<censored>
;
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: VIA C3 Nehemiah+RNG+ACE (997.17-MHz 686-class CPU)
   Origin = "CentaurHauls"  Id = 0x69a  Stepping =
10
    
Features=0x381ba3f<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,APIC,SEP,MTRR,P
GE,CMOV,PAT,MMX 
,FXSR,SSE>
real memory  = 1054736384 (1005 MB)
avail memory = 1023025152 (975 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <CN400  AWRDACPI>
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID:  1
ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 2
ioapic0 <Version 0.3> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
kbd1 at kbdmux0
acpi0: <CN400 AWRDACPI> on motherboard
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz
quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port
0x408-0x40b on acpi0
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu1: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on
acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
agp0: <VIA PM800/PN800/PM880/PN880 host to PCI bridge>
mem  
0xe8000000-0xefffffff at device 0.0 on pci0
pcib1: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <PCI bus> on pcib1
pci1: <display, VGA> at device 0.0 (no driver
attached)
wi0: <Intersil Prism2.5> mem 0xf6021000-0xf6021fff irq
16 at device  
8.0 on pci0
wi0: using RF:PRISM2.5 MAC:ISL3874A(Mini-PCI)
wi0: Intersil Firmware: Primary (1.0.7), Station (1.3.6)
wi0: Ethernet address: 00:09:5b:40:b2:9f
fxp0: <Intel 82551 Pro/100 Ethernet> port
0xe000-0xe03f mem  
0xf6020000-0xf6020fff,0xf6000000-0xf601ffff irq 17 at device
9.0 on pci0
miibus0: <MII bus> on fxp0
inphy0: <i82555 10/100 media interface> on miibus0
inphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX,
auto
fxp0: Ethernet address: 00:e0:81:59:a3:1c
vge0: <VIA Networking Gigabit Ethernet> port
0xd000-0xd0ff mem  
0xf6022000-0xf60220ff irq 18 at device 10.0 on pci0
miibus1: <MII bus> on vge0
ciphy0: <Cicada CS8201 10/100/1000TX PHY> on miibus1
ciphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX,
1000baseT,  
1000baseT-FDX, auto
vge0: Ethernet address: 00:e0:81:59:a3:1a
atapci0: <VIA 8237 UDMA133 controller> port  
0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xe100-0xe10f at device
15.0 on pci0
ata0: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata1: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
uhci0: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xdc00-0xdc1f
irq 21 at  
device 16.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb0: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xdd00-0xdd1f
irq 21 at  
device 16.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb1: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xde00-0xde1f
irq 21 at  
device 16.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb2: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci3: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xdf00-0xdf1f
irq 21 at  
device 16.3 on pci0
uhci3: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb3: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> on uhci3
usb3: USB revision 1.0
uhub3: VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <VIA VT6202 USB 2.0 controller> mem
0xf6023000-0xf60230ff irq  
21 at device 16.4 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb4: waiting for BIOS to give up control
usb4: timed out waiting for BIOS
usb4: EHCI version 1.0
usb4: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2
usb3
usb4: <VIA VT6202 USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb4: USB revision 2.0
uhub4: VIA EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub4: 8 ports with 8 removable, self powered
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 17.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
pci0: <multimedia, audio> at device 17.5 (no driver
attached)
vr0: <VIA VT6102 Rhine II 10/100BaseTX> port
0xd800-0xd8ff mem  
0xf6024000-0xf60240ff irq 23 at device 18.0 on pci0
miibus2: <MII bus> on vr0
ukphy0: <Generic IEEE 802.3u media interface> on
miibus2
ukphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX,
auto
vr0: Ethernet address: 00:e0:81:59:a3:1b
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff
irq 4 flags 0x10  
on acpi0
sio0: type 16550A
sio1: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x2f8-0x2ff
irq 3 on acpi0
sio1: type 16550A
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64
irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem
0xc0000-0xc7fff,0xef000-0xeffff on isa0
sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem
0xa0000-0xbffff on  
isa0
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
Fast IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
ipfw2 (+ipv6) initialized, divert loadable, rule-based
forwarding  
enabled, default to deny, logging limited to 10
packets/entry by default
ad0: 19569MB <WDC WD205AA-00BAA0 10.09K11> at
ata0-master UDMA66
ad1: 152627MB <WDC WD1600JB-00GVA0 08.02D08> at
ata0-slave UDMA100
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a
vge0: link state changed to UP

_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

David King wrote:

> For the archives, the VIA EPIA VT-310DP 
> (<http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/
mini_itx/vt_310dp/>) 
> works *great* with FreeBSD 6.1. It's a dual-1GHz Via
motherboard. The 
> second processor is picked up without trouble, and its
padlock 
> cryptography acceleration works, or at least
/dev/crypto is created with 
> "device crypto" and "device
cryptodev" in the kernel config.

How successfully does it meet your requirements for a quiet
system? (as I
think I read that both CPUs are actively cooled...)

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
Andrew I MacIntyre                     "These thoughts
are mine alone..."
E-mail: andymacbullseye.apana.org.au  (pref) | Snail: PO
Box 370
        andymacpcug.org.au             (alt) |       
Belconnen ACT 2616
Web:    http://www.andymac.org/  
            |        Australia
_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

>> For the archives, the VIA EPIA VT-310DP
>> (<http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/
mini_itx/vt_310dp/>)
>> works *great* with FreeBSD 6.1
> How successfully does it meet your requirements for a
quiet system?  
> (as I
> think I read that both CPUs are actively cooled...)

(moved to freebsd-hardware only)

So far, it doesn't, since the power supply fan on the case I
bought  
is pretty loud (well, quieter than the old system, but not
yet quiet  
enough). But the manual for the motherboard indicates that
it can run  
fanless, and it has temperature sensors and a BIOS feature
to shut it  
down after it hits a critical temperature, so after some
fidgeting I  
suspect that I'll be able to quiet it down completely.
_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

> >> For the archives, the VIA EPIA VT-310DP
> >> (<http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/
mini_itx/vt_310dp/>)
> >> works *great* with FreeBSD 6.1
> > How successfully does it meet your requirements
for a quiet system?  

...and performance? (i.e., `ubench`)  Also, just
curious... can you
test the speed of crypto? Yes, want to gape at some large
numbers ;)

> > (as I
> > think I read that both CPUs are actively
cooled...)
> 
> So far, it doesn't, since the power supply fan on the
case I bought  
> is pretty loud (well, quieter than the old system, but
not yet quiet  
> enough). But the manual for the motherboard indicates
that it can run  
> fanless, and it has temperature sensors and a BIOS
feature to shut it  
> down after it hits a critical temperature, so after
some fidgeting I  
> suspect that I'll be able to quiet it down completely.

You might wants to consider using a low-power 'brick'-type
AC->DC
PSU (~90W?) and a DC-DC voltage converter that plugs
directly into
a mainboard's power connector. This will be quite noiseless.

Really, I'm rather impressed with FreeBSD yet again. Such an
exotic
hardware, and all works right away. Huge kudos to the
developers 

[SorAlx]  ridin' VN1500-B2
_______________________________________________
freebsd-hardwarefreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hard
ware
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-hardware-unsubscribefreebsd.org"