Building a new front end advice requested
#1
Hi so I'm planning a ambitious new xbmc frontend and I'd like some assistance/advice in the parts to use for the project.

The case is going to be (hopefully) an old n64 I found on the side of the road.

I've gutted it and as you can imagine the internal cavity is rather small, so I don't have a lot of room to play with.

I've found the EPIA-P710 motherboard, a Pico-ITX which appears to be a pretty good contender for the project

link to a video of it's capability http://gizmodo.com/5363223/via-pico+itx-...ke-a-champ

And the Via page for the board and specs

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedd...ard_id=730

I'm hoping that this uses a external power brick but am unsure if that's what powers the unit (probably on the specs page but missed.)

I've also found nvidias pico ITX board

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10861/nvid...index.html

Which would also be awesome for the project but I don't think this board is actually for sale but has all the connectors I'd need and the ION chip.

Planning on putting one small ssd drive in the system also (only a 40gb version) or even just a USB thumb drive to start with.

Think it's possible to do this. Are these boards even available to the public?

Would be an awesome case to mod and make a great addition to my home theater setup.

I plan on streaming most of my content from a server over gigabit ethernet. and just mainly the drive for the OS (linux version).

Any other problems you may envisage? or helpful advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance
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#2
I actually seen soemone do this with a Xbox360 case Smile
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#3
iluciv Wrote:Hi so I'm planning a ambitious new xbmc frontend and I'd like some assistance/advice in the parts to use for the project.

The case is going to be (hopefully) an old n64 I found on the side of the road.

I've gutted it and as you can imagine the internal cavity is rather small, so I don't have a lot of room to play with.

I've found the EPIA-P710 motherboard, a Pico-ITX which appears to be a pretty good contender for the project

link to a video of it's capability http://gizmodo.com/5363223/via-pico+itx-...ke-a-champ

And the Via page for the board and specs

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedd...ard_id=730

I'm hoping that this uses a external power brick but am unsure if that's what powers the unit (probably on the specs page but missed.)

I've also found nvidias pico ITX board

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10861/nvid...index.html

Which would also be awesome for the project but I don't think this board is actually for sale but has all the connectors I'd need and the ION chip.

Planning on putting one small ssd drive in the system also (only a 40gb version) or even just a USB thumb drive to start with.

Think it's possible to do this. Are these boards even available to the public?

Would be an awesome case to mod and make a great addition to my home theater setup.

I plan on streaming most of my content from a server over gigabit ethernet. and just mainly the drive for the OS (linux version).

Any other problems you may envisage? or helpful advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hello,

Some times ago, I asked myself the same kind of question. I had a Xbox case and wanted to put some motherboard inside. So I've searched for
- MotherBoard
- Power Supply
- HDD (a classic 5400rpm not even a SSD)
- Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
- And as an option a Mini Pex Wifi card.

I made the sum, and whoahh it was more expensive than an acer Revo 3610 on Ebay. So I bought the revo and I'm very very very happy. That setup will do exactly what you want.

Now if what you really want is creating something special and take some time to do the job, forget what I say, but be prepared to have something that cost (a little) more and depending your creative/manual skills that look not as good as a standard product.

Best luck,
Fred.
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#4
Thanks for the comments.

Yes it's going to be a labour of love more than a cheap alternative. I was going to buy a Revo but when I found the machine on the side of the road I knew instantly it would make a great addition once modded.

Also a cool project too keep me busy and learning. I'm writing it all up in a blog post and I hope I can complete the project, it's going to take an extended period of time as part's and free time for it are both hard to find.

At this stage I've pulled it apart and prepped the case of the n64 for painting. I'm searching for a flexi arm for my dremmel atm as I'm going to need to cut some of the plastic away to get the height internally for the parts. There is just the space maybe for a mini itx mobo which would be easier to purchase but I think I'll run into heat issues once everything is wired in. Pico itx boards would give my plenty of space to play with even affording me space to mount a small fan internally should heat/airflow become an issue.

I reckon a 360 case would be cool as also and would have ton of more space to play with so a mini itx mobo would fit in a lot easier but to be honest I'd rather have a working 360 lol.
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