Re: HomeSeer Pro-100 is not a mini-ITX ;-) Re: Mini-ITX PC's a the future of HA (was Re: X-10 Mister House Motion sensor problems)

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>http://www.lex.com.tw:8080/product/spec/NEO.doc
On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 13:51:55 -0400, Marc F Hult
<MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
<b5r2a29mfpeqlclicji21lur1926sft14h@xxxxxxx>:

>On Fri, 9 Jun 2006 23:59:52 -0400, "Robert Green"
><ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
><XPOdnUYmqbRM2RfZnZ2dnUVZ_qadnZ2d@xxxxxxx>:
>
>
>>However, I do agree with their choice of a Mini-ITX as perhaps the
>>perfect home automation controller, which supports my contention that PC
>>based HA specifically in the mini-ITX format, will eventually outperform
>>hardwired panels.  Even Homeseer agrees.   Get it?  :-)
>
>No, I [Marc] don't. Nor apparently does HomeSeer.
>
>Turns out that the Pro-100 controller sold by HomeSeer is a
>*not* the 170mmx 170mm mini-ITX form factor with which Bobby is so
>infatuated.
>
>It is a 200 x 150mm motherboard  made by LEX COMPUTECH CO aka Lex System
>
>http://www.lex.com.tw:8080/product/MV823A.htm
>
>who also manufactures of the PRO-100 case
>http://www.lex.com.tw:8080/product/spec/NEO.doc

Folks who have VIA mini-ITX boards may already have discovered that VIA
chip sets are on the known-incompatible list of several
manufacturers/sources of add-in video input boards. ABIK, none of the
current VIA-made  mini-ITX boards are available with (useable) on-board
video input.

The Lex product solves this problem by incorporating video input on the
motherboard itself which is likely part of the reason it was chosen by
Homeseer.

http://www.lex.com.tw:8080/product/spec/SV823A.doc
http://www.lex.com.tw:8080/product/spec/MV823A.doc

The fact that these are non-standard boards (1.e., oddball size from an
obscure manufacturer with no obvious retail source)  may also be
attractive to Homeseer because it makes it harder to make illegal clones.

These observations would seem to be at odds with the original assertion
that the and "the future of HA"  (Homeseer's and others) lies in
_standardization_, especially with the 17cmx 17cm mini-ITX format.

++++++++++++++

Interestingly, the VIA VX700 product announced in March 2006 as the "First
Single-Chipset Solution for [ Ultra Mobile PC's] UMPCs' that began
sampling last week.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/2006_archive/pr060706VX700.jsp

eliminates the video compatibility problem by incorporating that function
in the 1-chip + CPU solution.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/v-series/vx700/

Intended for Ultra Mobile PC's such as Samsung's Q1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060707/bs_nf/44328

and is apparently  used in the DualCor cPC  which can run WinXP Tablet
http://www.dualcor.com/umpc.php.


The VX700 has support for four PCI cards, which implies intended
applications physically larger than UMPC. Significantly, the chip uses
only 3.5 watts which makes Power Over Ethernet applications practical when
combined with low-power CPUs.

... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org