Low wattage PC for FTP/TWITTER etc

tylercollins

Hey Guys,

I have a weather station that updates my website via FTP every 10 minutes, posts to twitter every 15 minutes and UKMO every 15 minutes. I need something that is very low wattage as it will be on 24/7 and also something that can be controlled from the main desktop.

The PC must have a minimum 2 usb slots for the weather station and also for a webcam. Needs obviously an ethernet connection also.

I don't want to spend a load of money, can you recommend anything?

Cheers

pockets3d

I think i have the perfect solutions OP.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/

Not avaiable yet but worth looking in to.

testicle

A netbook. Any old cheapo will do.

tylercollins

pockets3d wrote: »

I think i have the perfect solutions OP.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/

Not avaiable yet but worth looking in to.

That look's very interesting..

testicle wrote: »

A netbook. Any old cheapo will do.

Hmm I never even thought about a netbook! What are they like on electric?

Serephucus

Item|Price
Total build cost: €131.61 (inc delivery Free!)
Best Value 723 Midi-Tower with HD Audio + 500W PSU|€26.34
ASRock S1155 Intel H61M DDR3 mATX|€50.01
Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB|€43.36
Kingston HyperX Blu 2GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM|€11.90


Something like that might be of use. You could boot from a USB stick to save on a hard drive (cheapest new is €70).

The included PSU with the case is a piece of ****, but fine for the loads that would be put on it. The whole thing should only draw about 15-20W.

Jonathan

Serephucus wrote: »

Item|Price
Total build cost: €131.61 (inc delivery Free!)
Best Value 723 Midi-Tower with HD Audio + 500W PSU|€26.34
ASRock S1155 Intel H61M DDR3 mATX|€50.01
Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB|€43.36
Kingston HyperX Blu 2GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM|€11.90

Something like that might be of use. You could boot from a USB stick to save on a hard drive (cheapest new is €70).

The included PSU with the case is a piece of ****, but fine for the loads that would be put on it. The whole thing should only draw about 15-20W.

Way over spec'd. Something like a PC-Engines board would be smaller, cheaper and more durable.

That said, I'd probably wait for a RasPi myself.

Serephucus

I realise that. The above means he can comfortably use it as a web/file server in the future as well, and it's lower power draw (and cheaper) than a netbook. As I said, just another possibility, depending on his future plans.

freelancerTax

i was looking for something similar a few months ago - couldnt find anything existing that fit my price range and requirements - net books nearly didnt but most were a bit too expensive or didnt have gigabyte lan so i built a low power and silent mini server/webserver/ftp machine...

parts

from linitx.com

1 x FSP 12V 5A 60W AC Adapter - 2.5mm x 5.5mm Jack @ £17.00 ex VAT = £17.00 ex VAT
1 x EPC-01 Case for Intel D945GSEJT Mainboard @ £20.42 ex VAT = £20.42 ex VAT
total for linitx + vat £51.01

form amazon.co.uk

Intel Desktop Board D945GSEJT With integrated Intel Atom processor N270 - Motherboard - mini ITX / micro ATX - Intel Atom N270 - i945GSE - Gigabit Eth - £80.97

1 Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 533M... £10.29 1 £10.29
total from amazon 61.30

debian installed on a micro usb pen i had from years ago that came in at 6 euro

total comes to £142.31

runs an excellent file server and draws about 12watts idle and is about the size of an external harddrive and completly silent........
also has wake on lan so i can wake remotely and dont have to go to the machine to turn on.....

MiniNukinfuts

I'd wait for the RasPi if I were you. It'd be much neater for you

tylercollins

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Great help and gives me a few possible solutions.

As the guy above has said and others the RasPi seems to be the perfect solution for me with it being so small for being put in a cupboard and also the low wattage for what I need.

Thanks!!

tylercollins

Just thought I would come back to this read after discovering that the software I use for me weather won't work in Linux (even under wine etc)

So to update this low wattage box must be able to support at least Windows XP. And again I really do want to spend the bare bare minimum and it has to be as low wattage as possible (Price of electric is scandalous!!)

Jonathan

Have you looked at wview?

freelancerTax

could you not run windows in virtualbox?
i do this myself

ft

tylercollins

Because of the price of the http://www.raspberrypi.org/ I was going to go for this, but I don't think it will be power enough to run a virtualbox.

@Jonathan, I will look at that in more details this evening when I get finished work. Thanks!