Nice case for building a fat client

[Todd O'Bryan]

I've actually had the thing running and my students can't wait until
we get more. The difference in speed between this and a thin client is
beyond noticeable.

Here are the parts I used:

Foxconn A74ML-K 3.0 Socket AM3/ AMD 740G/ A&V&GbE/ MATX
Motherboard	MB-A74MLK3	$43.99
Evercase E0526-S15 150W Mini-ITX Case (Black)	CA-0526S15	$45.90	$45.90	
AMD Athlon II X2 Processor 250 (3.0 GHz) AM3, Retail	ADX250OCBX	$62.99	$62.99	
Super Talent DDR3-1333 2GB Original Memory	D32G1333SP	$18.98	$18.98	
Sub Total
$171.86

I ordered from SuperBiiz, but you could probably get similar pricing
from NewEgg or TigerDirect. Last I checked, those two didn't carry the
case, however, and the case is a really nice, small case for a client.
With a micro-ATX mobo, there's only room for a slim optical drive and
a 2.5 inch hard drive, so if you're not using either of those, you're
not wasting a lot of room. Also, there's a vent just over the location
of the CPU, so the CPU fan blows right out of the case. Since there's
no case fan, that's a pretty good thing.

There are still a couple of things I'm not sure about with using a fat
client with Ubuntu LTSP. I changed /etc/environment, but it doesn't
seem to show up when people log in, and I did have to create a way for
network traffic to get forwarded, but other than that, the set-up is
very nice. It's not super low power, but the CPU is about 65 watts and
the motherboard doesn't use much more. Obviously, you could get a nice
thin client that uses much less power, but I don't think it would be
as fast, and it might not be much smaller.

Todd



On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 10:45 PM, Todd O'Bryan <toddobryan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just got one of these cases. A MicroATX motherboard fits into it
> very snugly, but it's a very nice overall size:
>
> http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-0526S15&title=Evercase-E0526-S15-150W-Mini-ITX-Case-Black
>
> The power supply is above part of the motherboard, so you might want
> to try your parts before buying a bunch, but if you want something
> that's not much bigger than a typical thin client, I think this fits
> the bill. Add an inexpensive mobo, a CPU, and RAM, and it's all less
> than $200 for a pretty powerful machine.
>
> I've been creating my fat-client image to try to get it running and
> will report back once everything is installed and working.
>
> Todd
>