fit-PC2

2009/08/24 — laurent

Last year I bought a fit-PC in order to replace my old router (which was a desktop PC). This year I bought a fit-PC2 to replace my home server (which was a big fat computer).

Requirements

This time my needs were a bit different than the ones for my router. I was looking for a low power consumption device with at least 512 MB of RAM, fast enough to read videos (I may use it as a HTPC in the future), fan-less and of course, it must work with Linux.

fit-PC2 specifications

So I end up with Compulab’s fit-PC2. Here are the official specs:

  • CPU: Intel Atom Z530 1.6 GHz
  • RAM: 1 GB DDR2-533
  • HDD: 160 GB SATA 2.5”
  • 1 Gigabit ethernet port
  • 4 USB 2.0 ports
  • 2 mini-USB 2.0 ports
  • 1 mini-SD socket
  • 1 IR receiver (infra-red, for remote control)
  • DVI output (using a HDMI connector, HDMI to DVI cable provided)
  • Power consumption: 6 W idle, 7 W reading H.264 videos, 8 W at full load
  • Shipped with Ubuntu

Several flavors are available (with WiFi, without hard drive, with an Atom Z510 CPU…).

Pictures

Usage

I tried the pre-installed Ubuntu but it’s an old version (8.04). Anyway, it was working quite fine. For video playback only MPlayer was using hardware acceleration provided in fit-PC2. I played Sita Sings The Blues on it, it works wonderfully (the movie is a Full HD (1920*1080), 4.12 GB file (I was hardly able to read it on my MacBook)).

But I don’t really want to use Ubuntu. If I want a *buntu linux I would install Kubuntu instead, anyway I installed Debian. Here is the beginning of my troubles.

First, I’m using Debian’s “testing” version, which proved to be quite stable so far. Except with the new 2.6.30 Linux kernel which froze my VIA C7 powered Dedibox and is behaving weirdly on the fit-pc2. I don’t know if the problem is in linux kernel, gcc, debian… but installing 2.6.30 kernel was not a good thing on my debian boxes. I’m using the fit-pc2 remotely (ssh, music streaming, time machine backups…) and from time to time it stops to respond, but if I hit a key on the keyboard, network operations resume… very weird. A problem in power saving code? a deadlock which resolved itself when a new interruption is raised? No idea, I’m clearly not competent in that domain. Easy solution: revert to 2.6.26 kernel.

Second problem: drivers. The graphic chipset used is an Intel GMA500. Even if Intel recently helped the Open Source community by giving specifications of its chipsets, they didn’t for that one (because it’s not really an Intel one, it was developed by PowerVR (and they are much less cooperative)). Somehow Compulab/DeLL/Ubuntu managed to get a partly open source driver with hardware acceleration (that part is still proprietary), but according to various websites, the driver is crappy and not well maintained (but it looks like some people are trying to make that better). So, for now, hardware acceleration does not work easily on Debian. I hope it will work soon.

Power consumption
  • Off: 0.3 W
  • Idle: 9 W
  • H.264 playback: <10 W
  • Full load: <11 W

It seems that it consume a bit more than expected (my watt-meter is a cheap one, I’m not sure how reliable it is), or maybe figures on fit-pc2 website were given for an Atom Z510.

Note: the case can be very hot.

Conclusion

fit-PC2 is a nice bit of hardware, but if you are going to install an alternative BSD/Linux operating system, you have to know that you may get some troubles with video drivers (if you need nice graphical interface).

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D-Link DGS-1005D “Green”

2009/08/18 — laurent

Previously I was using a NetGear JGS524 switch (24 Gigabit ethernet ports) which was doing a good job for my small home network but was a bit noisy.

So I went to my local store and bought a D-Link DGS-1005D “Green” (5 gigabit ethernet ports, fanless, said to be eco-friendly).

Eco-friendly?

First, the package. At the same time I bought this switch I also bought a D-Link modem, same size, not green. Both were provided in boxes with mostly the same content but the switch’s box was smaller, with less “materials”. So yes, the packaging is a bit greener.

The switch materials: no idea. I don’t know what kind of plastic was used but it looks similar to the modem one. No more clue on the electronic parts. The power adapter is smaller than the modem one. Anyway, electronic devices in general are very energy greedy to build.

The D-Link switch is able to reduce power consumption on a port if nothing is plugged in (or if the connected device is powered off), the switch is also able to adjust the power on a port depending on cable length (plugging a 1 meter ethernet cable should consume less than a 100 meters one).

My “old” NetGear was consuming about 13 W while doing nothing (no ports connected), on constructor’s website it says to consume up to 40 W (under full load I presume).

The D-Link DGS-1005D consume 1.1 W with a bit of traffic (0 W with nothing connected to it (my watt-meter is not really done to measure power below 1 W).

So yes, it consume much less than my previous switch, but I wonder how much other small switches like this one consume.

Functional?

The question here is mostly: is it working? Well… I’m not really sure. I usually listen music streamed from my server to my MacBook, it looks like that from time to time, since I’m using this switch, iTunes stops the music and displays a “buffering” message (before resuming when data are back). At some point I was not able to backup the MacBook with TimeMachine, it failed with a network error.

To be sure about that I plugged back my NetGear switch. Same problems, but less often… (I have changed to many things in my home network recently and it looks like I have things to fix).

Conclusion

The D-Link DGS-1005D “Green” switch seems to be quite efficient (working not so bad and not using too much power).

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Getting energy from everywhere

2009/06/08 — laurent

For a long time now I have seen several “unusual” ways to produce electricity but mostly never seen them in use in real life devices.

As somebody working with a laptop, I can tell that the amount of electricity used by my computer does not allow the battery to last for a long time (maybe 4 or 5 hours if I’m doing nearly nothing with bluetooth and wifi shut down and screen backlight set to the minimum, and about 2 hours doing more CPU consuming stuff).

Computer makers are usually working a lot on:

  • making less power hungry computers,
  • making higher capacity batteries.

But I thought more stuff could be done, add electricity generators in the computer :

But then, we need to check the full energy usage here. If those generators cost more energy to produce and recycle than the “free” energy provided/saved, we should not use them.

My example was about a laptop, but those technologies can be used in lots of other devices (and several are already in use but not widely):

  • In wall clocks with thermoelectric effect (temperature gradient between the wall and the air) and solar panels.
  • In wristwatches with vibrations.
  • In cellphones with solar panels, vibrations.
  • In wireless keyboards with keystrokes.

Well, anywhere a battery is in use.

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