portable computer II

[FDSMAN]

ok, this comp is not going to be a gaming one, becuase I realized that it will bebigger than I thought so I will update this thread as soon as the parts come in, here is what I am expecting so far

Mini-its motherboard
1gb stick of ram
2.0 ghz pentium 4
Small LCD
Laptop pencil eracer mouse and click buttons
laptop keyboard

[daguuy]

cool, good luck with it . don't forget the hard drive. 2 ghz might be a bit of a power hog though

[soundwave]

You know you have to make a decoder for the laptop keyboard, right?

[Sparkfist]

You'll want to go for a VIA or Celeron chip for the CPU. The Pentium 4 is a real power hog and will suck your batteries dry in a couple hours if that. You might also think of getting one of those optical trackball mice. Their very good to use I have one for you desktop is will be better then a standard mouse and cheaper then getting a touch pad.

[tom61]

Don't just factor in the processor for power consumption, you need to factor in the motherboard as well. Compare different boards for there power draw (most list it in their manuals). I'd consider getting a Pentium M, if you want something fairly powerfull, nice, low powerdraw, with higher performance than a P4 clocked at the same speed.

If you're looking to buy a trackpoint "pencil eracer mouse", LMK. I have one with interface (serial or PS/2) that'd part with for $10+shipping.

[Sparkfist]

He said he wants a mini itx motherboard. Their low power draw, I said the P4 is bad as its a desktop cpu and is not designed to use less power or conserve it.

[cennar]

yeah and i dont think to many pen Ms are avalible...

[usbcd36]

If you're looking for something fairly power conservative, you don't want a CISC processor (all Intel processors are CISC). They became outdated in 1993 (and Intel is stupidly making them still) and must run at breakneck speed to get anything done. This makes them real power hogs. IBM came out with the PowerPC at the same time and any RISC processor like it takes less power because it runs at a lower speed and does more things in each clock cycle. Go RISC!

[Foxx373]

Ive been working on a portable PC. I havent really cared to finish it, but im working on it!... How do you plan to power a standard motherboard? I have some extra bateries for my laptop which are BAD ASS! The again, i have ZERO dollars for this project, so I need to use things that are allready sitting in my pile o' crap.

Also, why the hell do you want a 2Ghz p4? WTF do you need all that power for? Im going to use a Celeron 400Mhz machine, or a MMX 266Mhz if i can make a PCI 90 degree angle adapter for the video...

[Unidentified Assilant]

Did you finish your first one? I'm not bothering, I'm just going to buy a laptop when I'm older

[tom61]

If you're looking for something fairly power conservative, you don't want a CISC processor (all Intel processors are CISC). They became outdated in 1993 (and Intel is stupidly making them still) and must run at breakneck speed to get anything done. This makes them real power hogs. IBM came out with the PowerPC at the same time and any RISC processor like it takes less power because it runs at a lower speed and does more things in each clock cycle. Go RISC!

Bah. Intel and AMD chips haven't been pure CISC the Pentium, everything not SIMD (MMX, SSE, 3DNow, etc.) is translated to RISC-like op codes in modern 'x86' processors. Calling Power PC 'RISC' is a bit of mis-nomer too, as it has more transistors than the orginal Pentium.

If you want either a pure RISC, or pure CISC in a modern processor, you have to go to the embedded world.

He said he wants a mini itx motherboard. Their low power draw, I said the P4 is bad as its a desktop cpu and is not designed to use less power or conserve it.

Only compared to desktop boards, and I agree the P4 should be tossed for a more power-effient processor. Mini-ITX is a bit big for this project, and embedded-style board would work a lot better.

yeah and i dont think to many pen Ms are avalible...

They are hard to find, and expensive, but they're well worth it for a project like this, if you can afford it.

[teraflop122]

I feel an urge to keep all PCp threads alive and up-to-date.

FDSMAN, if you haven't yet purchased a motherboard, might I recommend this: http://www.bwi.com/product/13565 You can pick up a decent Celeron M on eBay for about 78 dollars (sometimes). The Intel Extreme Graphics are quite good for an integrated solution. With some tinkering, you could probably get such games as Unreal Tournament 2003 running, etc etc. It runs on just a 12volt input instead of an ATX power supply, which is nice: you can solder directly from the battery to the connector.

The only obstacle to these 3.5 x 5.7 inch boards is the slightly steep price.

[usbcd36]

Oy vey, you people have gone too far with these PCp projects. My design would be simple: analog stick for mouse (second one for scrolling, D-Pad for arrow keys, 2 other triggers as modifiers, L and R ?), PSone screen by S-Video or RGB (or because of one little detail coming up), either the PSone screen speakers or a hacked in JBL OnStage (or maybe the Small Dog Power Cube, though it doesn't sound as good), a built-in dual-layer DVD burner and 60 GB-100 GB hard drive. A full compliment of ports, including Firewire, iPod dock connector (via the second Firewire bus), USB 2.0, DVI out, plus wireless connectivity through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The "little detail" is that it would be a Mac mini, which is smaller than the smallest (complete) nano-ITX computer. If you took out the optical drive, it would be smaller, but it is probably necessary anyway. The only problem I see here is the amount of li-poly batteries that would be required to run it, as a Mac mini without a DVD drive takes a fair amount of power to run.

[G-Prime]

1gb stick of ram

I wouldn't try to use a data stick for a HD, Windows (or other opp system) might use up all that space itself. You should get a laptop HD, or...if you need somthing super small (and your rich) you can use an Ipod HD.

[usbcd36]

iPod HDs are standard 1.8" drives, no need to rip apart a perfectly good iPod for one.