VIA release ARTiGO A1100 tiny desktop PC Kit | Hacker News Reader

VIA release ARTiGO A1100 tiny desktop PC Kit

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32 pointsukdm15 comments

Does the 1.2 ghz VIA Nano have enough "oomph" to decompress streaming video? With an HDMI port and at <$300 I can see one of these in my living room with my TV plugged into it for watching Hulu. With cable/satellite >$50 a month you'd pay it off pretty quick if you dropped paying for TV and stuck with Netflix and Hulu.

Media playback is offloaded to a "VX855 Media System Processor" which handles 1080p video.

I hope it has good Linux support.

You'd have to install a Windows on it to get the Flash hardware acceleration then, I'd assume.

Upon further research, it appears that it will be unable to stream Netflix (which actually uses Silverlight) or Hulu at full 1080p. It is possible to watch some files that are encoded in the proper formats, but streaming seems to be out of the question even on Windows (and I'd much rather have Linux on this).

I don't think it supports hulu, but the roku is much cheaper and is designed to stream netflix..

Yea, but you can stream Netflix on an Xbox 360 so I'm really looking for a way to stream Hulu which Boxee and Roku can't. There are some other things that a full PC is more useful for than a Roku, but if I didn't have an xbox and was looking for the cheapest way to get some streaming to my TV the roku is the way to go.

FWIW you can get a Asus Aspire Revo for $199 which seems to be able to do this. I bought one but haven't hooked it up yet.

I have a Revo and it's pretty nice for streaming video from a server but it's pretty sluggish for Flash content even with the newest Flash beta running under windows.

I love it as a XBMC front-end to my UPNP linux server; it is super quiet and uses very little energy when it's sleeping, and works fine on HD content. As far as Hulu goes though, it just doesn't cut it (YMMV, I didn't try very hard).

What are you running on it? Is it an Ion-based machine (are all of them?)

I'm still hoping for a return of the thin-client model, but with rich media. 99% of the time my desktop is running at 10% CPU load or less. When I want to do something that requires a lot of processing power, I usually log into a remote server with more than I'd like to stuff into a desktop. However, I do want enough power to watch video occasionally and manage graphical applications (such as simple photo editing) when necessary. A small system would also have the benefit of lower power usage, smaller footprint, and less noise.

The major thing that prevents me from switching to a tiny PC in the office is lack of dual-monitor support. Screen real-estate is something I just can't sacrifice.

In the long run, I look forward to a silent office instead of the constant noise of fans and hard disks.

Portwell offers a system too.

http://www.portwell.com/products/detail.asp?CUSTCHAR1=WEBS-1...

Do you have any pricing on the Portwell system?

The Portwell site requires the user to request a quote which almost guarantees it's more than $199. I'm guessing somewhere in the $399 range but I could be wrong.

I bought a pico-itx board two years ago from Logic Supply with the intention of building an embedded robotics system. Cool stuff. Worked too. But the add-ons get pricey and it was difficult finding a case for it. Started to fab a case but ran out of time.

Logic Supply's price is still the same as it was two years ago.

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/px10000g

I was just looking at this stuff this morning. This system looks a little better to me than the one featured. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119...

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