Difference between revisions of "Solid State Computer Systems"

Revision as of 17:51, 20 February 2008

A "Solid State" computer is one with little or no moving parts; a fanless system using flash storage or an EPROM based solution as opposed to a typical spinning platter type hard drive. Moving parts have the highest likelihood of failure, due to friction, which also produces heat. Moving parts tend to consume more energy, and make noise. A motionless solid-state computer can be completely silent and highly energy efficient.

Another advantage to solid state computing is that of durability. Solid-state computer systems tend to be far more rugged and tolerant of environmental conditions that would damage or destroy conventional systems. It comes as no surprise that the most significant initial interest in solid state computing came from the military and NASA.

Part of the key to solid state computing is in the non-volatile storage medium. A traditional spinning platter hard drive, such as what is in your common personal computer, has moving parts, which wear down and eventually fail. Solid-state storage utilizes a type of memory with the advantages of RAM, yet without the read only pitfall of ROM.

A company called MSystems invented the first flash memory in 1995. Their NOR flash memory was cost prohibitive and was not nearly as fast as RAM or ROM. They made storage drives using their NOR flash memory that far exceeded the reliability of conventional spinning platter hard drives.

USB thumb drives and compact flash memory was introduced utilizing a less expensive type of flash memory called NAND flash. NAND flash memory is cheaper to produce and has ushered in what will soon be the age of affordable solid-state storage, the end to the old spinning platter hard drive.

NAND based flash memory does have a limitation in the number of times that data can be erased and written. The limitation in today's flash memory is typically around one million writes or more.

Replacing the spinning platter hard drive with a flash drive is only part of constructing a solid-state computer. Advanced cooling with heat sinks and a well designed enclosure facilitating passive air flow also go into the design of a completely friction free no-moving-parts computer system.

There are many examples of solid-state computing devices already widely used in the market today. However, they are specialized devices and not exactly an example of a "personal computer." When people think of a PC, they are usually looking for something to put on the desk and hook up a monitor and keyboard to, or flip open to expose the keyboard and LCD screen in the portable version.

See our guide to Solid State Removable Storage.

Solid State Computer Suppliers and Manufacturers

This list tries to focus on PC's for personal or business use and not as much on industrial embedded systems unless the industrial system could also possibly be used as a personal computer. Strictly industrial systems are not included.

Axiomtek Embedded Systems

(industrial)

Axiomtek has introduced a compact, rugged, fanless computer packaged in a heavy-duty, aluminum and stainless steel housing. The eBox746-FL runs an ultra low-power Via Eden processor at clock rates up to 1 GHz, and supports both Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded. They offer a line of embedded systems.

• Link: Axiomtek Pre-configured Systems

AXIOMTEK is one of the major design and manufacturing companies in the Industrial PC field. The company is based in Taiwan. Contact information:

AXIOMTEK Co., Ltd.

8F , No.4, Lane 235, Pao Chiao Rd.

Hsin Tien, Taipei

Taiwan

Tel: +886-2-2917-4550

Fax: +886-2-2917-3200

URL: www.axiomtek.com

Please send your comments or inquiries to E-mail: info@axiomtek.com.tw

Data Evolution Corp decTOP PC

(consumer)

The decTOP (originally created by AMD) is marketed as a personal internet communicator made specifically for browsing the web. In actuality, decTOP is a fanless personal computer that weighs in at three pounds and runs off of eight watts of power. DecTOP comes without an operating system (though it supports Windows CE and Linux) and although it comes with low level specs (128 MB RAM, 10 GB hard drive, 366 MHz processor), its hard drive and RAM are both upgradeable. DecTOP sells for $100 and includes a mouse and keyboard.

Buy the 128MB / 10GB / No Operating System Included / 30 Warranty here

HowTo Install Ubuntu on the decTOP

Damn Small Linux Mini-ITX Computer Supplies

(consumer)

Why is there a mini-itx computer store here on the Damn Small Linux website you may ask? Well to put it bluntly, there is nothing the developers of DSL would rather do than to hack at this little distro all day long, but we can't right now because earning a living has a way of eating at development time. So we started this store in hopes of earning enough money so that we can eventually quit our jobs and do what we love to do.

That's not to say that this is charity, we are offering real products at real prices, including mini-itx DC to DC power supplies, motherboards such as EPIA-800, IDE to Compact Flash adaptors, cases.

DSL Store

Example Fanless IDE-CF Mini-ITX Silent Computer System

If you want to check the status of your order, please email Antonina _AT_ damnsmalllinux.org. She will usually respond in within a few days.

Stealth Computer Corporation

(consumer)

Orders can be placed directly to Littlepc.com (a division of Stealth Computer Corporation) by any of the following methods:

1. Phone: Sales Representatives can take your order from 8:30am to 6:00pm EST, Monday to Friday

• Toll Free: 1-888-STEALTH (1-888-783-2584) Local: (905) 264-9000

2. Fax: Orders can be faxed 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week to: (905) 264-7440

3. E-mail: Click here to Email Us

4. Mail Your Order To: STEALTH COMPUTER CORPORATION

4-530 Rowntree Dairy Road

Woodbridge, ON L4L 8H2