VIA CN700 Mini-ITX and Winuae.

ElectroBlaster · 15 March 2012, 22:00

I wondering if one of those small mini itx boards would be ok for running winuae or aros. I have aquired a Via Epia CN700 that has a 1ghz cpu on it. I have made sure it is all working but thats about it. It has been running XP Pro SP2 and from what little testing I did, it seemed quite nippy for what it is.

So an idea has hatched! I take an old empty Amiga 500 case, stuff in an a1200 keyboard, a keyrah and this mini itx board. Worth it? Or should I get a more powerfull board?

Thanx

fishyfish · 16 March 2012, 04:31

Ive never used a cn700 based machine, but based on my experiences with a 1ghz pentium3 (which is probably a little faster) (win)uae will be a little hit and miss. You can tune it to work a bit better on lower spec hardware, but at a compromise to compatibility. There's definately some fun to be had with uae on such a machine, but it'll require some juggling of config files for different softwre so probably not a great choice if you want to create an "all in one" amiga type system.
Assuming it works at all AROS should be ok on such a machine, but you'll have to make a few compromises with what you do (720x576 or thereabout max video playback, same boat as winuae for 68k amiga software (only a little slower again than winuae) and so on and so forth). Id personally probably chose a different hardware platform for such a project, but it should be an okay-ish, experience. Depends on what you want to do exactly.

ElectroBlaster · 16 March 2012, 12:55

Hmmm ok I thinking about getting one of these instead: Gigabyte D525TUD

johnim · 17 March 2012, 10:42

hi

i have a
ASUS AT3N7A-I ITX nVidia ION Intel Atom Motherboard

[ Show youtube player ]

and it works great

ElectroBlaster · 19 March 2012, 15:42

Smart, just got to find one of those boards or find another board based on the atom chipset. I was also looking at amd based boards with fairly decent built-in radeon's.

Also I spent a few hours fettling the bottom half of the a500 so the mini itx board is now mounted solid. I even went as far as to counter sink the screw heads lol. Everything using recycled bits scavenged.

I have plans:

Pico psu and 20pin atx wire extension
Internal kryoflux board
A500 disk drive
320gb 2.5 sata drive
4gb Compact flash
Keyrah interface
A1200 keyboard
A500 Keytops
Leds (when I suss out how to mount them)

I know it wont be a true amiga but I did the amiga-in-pc tower thing back in 1997 and never dreamed of doing it the other way, should be interesting for myself and my kids

johnim · 19 March 2012, 23:31

hi how will you use the 500 disk drive

prowler · 19 March 2012, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnim

hi how will you use the 500 disk drive

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=63582

spannernick · 19 March 2012, 23:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectroBlaster

Smart, just got to find one of those boards or find another board based on the atom chipset. I was also looking at amd based boards with fairly decent built-in radeon's.

Also I spent a few hours fettling the bottom half of the a500 so the mini itx board is now mounted solid. I even went as far as to counter sink the screw heads lol. Everything using recycled bits scavenged.

I have plans:

Pico psu and 20pin atx wire extension
Internal kryoflux board
A500 disk drive
320gb 2.5 sata drive
4gb Compact flash
Keyrah interface
A1200 keyboard
A500 Keytops
Leds (when I suss out how to mount them)

I know it wont be a true amiga but I did the amiga-in-pc tower thing back in 1997 and never dreamed of doing it the other way, should be interesting for myself and my kids

Sounds nice..

What OS are you going to put on it,I would love to see if my version of COS32bit works on it..

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=63252

johnim · 19 March 2012, 23:50

@spannernick i have used the normal 64bit version on mine and works great

@prowler thanks i missed the Internal kryoflux board

ElectroBlaster · 20 March 2012, 00:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by spannernick

Sounds nice..

What OS are you going to put on it,I would love to see if my version of COS32bit works on it..

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=63252

I was looking at your thread the other day and I shall defo give cos32bit a shot. Im thinking about something linux based at least, I will be wanting to run it from the 4gb cf card.

spannernick · 20 March 2012, 01:41

So would this fit in a c64 old style case and how mush is the board..?

ElectroBlaster · 20 March 2012, 15:26

I would hazard a guess that a c64 is alot better suited to this mini itx lark. Seeing as there has been some really nice mods done and the fact that CUSA (spit lol) has made their own remake which costs way too much!

I even have an old c64 breadbin here but it works so I wont be hacking that one up.

Price on the board? Mine was second hand and only cost me £25 but it came with a touchscreen lcd, gprs wireless, 40gb laptop drive and a pico-psu. The only thing I cannot confirm working is the touchscreen lcd. Just havent looked at it properly yet.

fishyfish · 21 March 2012, 03:20

Not sure if this is of interest to you, but ReactOS now runs Winuae nicely since v 0.34.
If youre interested in having the system boot straight into amiga os it's probably not a bad option. I had a quick play with it and managed to strip it back to about 70meg, and that was just by deleteing stuff from an install. It's entirely possible to shrink that considerably still when tackled from the source level.
Ive even been considering doing a custom Reactos build based around the idea of using it as a tiny host for Winuae and an amiga "distro".
Not sure if I ever will though, both 'cos Im a physical classic and amithlon guy, and 'cos Ive got about a billion other things Id like to do 1st (and another reason I wont reveal yet 'cos I dont want the developer hassled), but nonetheless I think it'd be something that might be fairly readily accepted and used if anyone wants to beat me to the punch

ElectroBlaster · 27 March 2012, 20:30

Plans are changing! Im about to pick up an Atom based intel board which should be much more suited to what I want

Also picked up an atx power extension to address the pico psu being too high and fowling the keyboard. Also picked up a 1gb low profile ddr2 memory stick and I have the chance to grab an 8gb CF card. Too many plans lol.

In the midst of all this im restoring three old shuttle xpc computers that have one or more faults. Feels like im taking on too much

Oh and now the weather here in the uk has finally broken out in hot sunshine im also going to crack out the peroxide gel and start retrobriting parts.

It is going to be a long summer of things getting sorted if everything goes to plan

15 March 2012, 22:00	#1
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,713	VIA CN700 Mini-ITX and Winuae. I wondering if one of those small mini itx boards would be ok for running winuae or aros. I have aquired a Via Epia CN700 that has a 1ghz cpu on it. I have made sure it is all working but thats about it. It has been running XP Pro SP2 and from what little testing I did, it seemed quite nippy for what it is. So an idea has hatched! I take an old empty Amiga 500 case, stuff in an a1200 keyboard, a keyrah and this mini itx board. Worth it? Or should I get a more powerfull board? Thanx

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16 March 2012, 04:31	#2
fishyfish Banned Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 475	Ive never used a cn700 based machine, but based on my experiences with a 1ghz pentium3 (which is probably a little faster) (win)uae will be a little hit and miss. You can tune it to work a bit better on lower spec hardware, but at a compromise to compatibility. There's definately some fun to be had with uae on such a machine, but it'll require some juggling of config files for different softwre so probably not a great choice if you want to create an "all in one" amiga type system. Assuming it works at all AROS should be ok on such a machine, but you'll have to make a few compromises with what you do (720x576 or thereabout max video playback, same boat as winuae for 68k amiga software (only a little slower again than winuae) and so on and so forth). Id personally probably chose a different hardware platform for such a project, but it should be an okay-ish, experience. Depends on what you want to do exactly.

16 March 2012, 12:55	#3
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,713	Hmmm ok I thinking about getting one of these instead: Gigabyte D525TUD

17 March 2012, 10:42	#4
johnim Amibay Mod/Staff Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: birmingham uk Age: 48 Posts: 1,019	hi i have a ASUS AT3N7A-I ITX nVidia ION Intel Atom Motherboard [ Show youtube player ] and it works great

19 March 2012, 15:42	#5
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,713	Smart, just got to find one of those boards or find another board based on the atom chipset. I was also looking at amd based boards with fairly decent built-in radeon's. Also I spent a few hours fettling the bottom half of the a500 so the mini itx board is now mounted solid. I even went as far as to counter sink the screw heads lol. Everything using recycled bits scavenged. I have plans: Pico psu and 20pin atx wire extension Internal kryoflux board A500 disk drive 320gb 2.5 sata drive 4gb Compact flash Keyrah interface A1200 keyboard A500 Keytops Leds (when I suss out how to mount them) I know it wont be a true amiga but I did the amiga-in-pc tower thing back in 1997 and never dreamed of doing it the other way, should be interesting for myself and my kids

19 March 2012, 23:31	#6
johnim Amibay Mod/Staff Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: birmingham uk Age: 48 Posts: 1,019	hi how will you use the 500 disk drive

19 March 2012, 23:50	#9
johnim Amibay Mod/Staff Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: birmingham uk Age: 48 Posts: 1,019	@spannernick i have used the normal 64bit version on mine and works great @prowler thanks i missed the Internal kryoflux board

20 March 2012, 01:41	#11
spannernick Retro Nuts Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: London/UK Age: 53 Posts: 1,184	So would this fit in a c64 old style case and how mush is the board..?

20 March 2012, 15:26	#12
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,713	I would hazard a guess that a c64 is alot better suited to this mini itx lark. Seeing as there has been some really nice mods done and the fact that CUSA (spit lol) has made their own remake which costs way too much! I even have an old c64 breadbin here but it works so I wont be hacking that one up. Price on the board? Mine was second hand and only cost me £25 but it came with a touchscreen lcd, gprs wireless, 40gb laptop drive and a pico-psu. The only thing I cannot confirm working is the touchscreen lcd. Just havent looked at it properly yet.

21 March 2012, 03:20	#13
fishyfish Banned Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 475	Not sure if this is of interest to you, but ReactOS now runs Winuae nicely since v 0.34. If youre interested in having the system boot straight into amiga os it's probably not a bad option. I had a quick play with it and managed to strip it back to about 70meg, and that was just by deleteing stuff from an install. It's entirely possible to shrink that considerably still when tackled from the source level. Ive even been considering doing a custom Reactos build based around the idea of using it as a tiny host for Winuae and an amiga "distro". Not sure if I ever will though, both 'cos Im a physical classic and amithlon guy, and 'cos Ive got about a billion other things Id like to do 1st (and another reason I wont reveal yet 'cos I dont want the developer hassled), but nonetheless I think it'd be something that might be fairly readily accepted and used if anyone wants to beat me to the punch

27 March 2012, 20:30	#14
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,713	Plans are changing! Im about to pick up an Atom based intel board which should be much more suited to what I want Also picked up an atx power extension to address the pico psu being too high and fowling the keyboard. Also picked up a 1gb low profile ddr2 memory stick and I have the chance to grab an 8gb CF card. Too many plans lol. In the midst of all this im restoring three old shuttle xpc computers that have one or more faults. Feels like im taking on too much Oh and now the weather here in the uk has finally broken out in hot sunshine im also going to crack out the peroxide gel and start retrobriting parts. It is going to be a long summer of things getting sorted if everything goes to plan

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