[OZAPRS] Igate appliance instead of a PC

[Dave Ingram]

On 20/04/2010 17:57, Michael Carey wrote:
> The VK5ZEA Igate machine does not run on DC. It has a UPS which keeps 
> things going for a little while... but this only lasts for so long.
> I've been toying with getting a 12V ATX power supply for the PC to run 
> off my 250Ah battery system, but have been wondering if there is a more 
> efficient way to run an Igate than on a PC.
> Is it possible to provide simple Igate functionality on a router like 
> device? Even a fanless 12V mini ITX machine might be better. I've only 
> had experience with using UIView as my Igate... is there a solid and 
> reliable Linux solution that just works and can work on a basic spec PC?

I run my weather station, security camera and other bits and pieces with an
Asus eeebox PC. It has a single-core Atom processor and very rarely runs it
fan (which is so quiet you'd hardly know it is there). Power consumption is
around the 8W mark.

It runs from an external PSU which supplies either 16V or 19V with a fairly
standard plug. Just for a test, I have run it using the car powersupply for my
laptop which is a switchable voltage jobby with 8 different plugs. It worked a
treat and so if I build a station battery with float charger then it will run
off that.

Some of the eeePC netbooks (esp. the early ones) ran from 12V direct (Norm's
mentioned this). Peter VK4EA runs his with a direct connection to a 12V
battery. Now that there are a 'new generation' of netbooks, some of the
original ones with the screens that are a bit small might be available for
next to nothing.

I also have a Pentium III HP eVectra that runs from 19V, but it is really more
trouble than its worth. It is noisy (even with new fans) and draws quite a lot
of power (around 45W).

Having some sort of screen and keyboard will make fault finding easier. If you
run something out of a router then it will require another machine to make the
changes.


Dave.

-- 
David Ingram (VK4TDI)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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