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If 8 watts is still too highIf 8 watts is still too highPosted Feb 5, 2009 12:38 UTC (Thu) by pjm (subscriber, #2080)Parent article: Aleutia E2: low power to the people
People who really need low power consumption (e.g. the OLPC people say that their target is 2W for computer+display combined) might consider looking for or waiting for non-x86 systems. The Beagle Board claims to draw up to 2W and to offer very roughly the same CPU speed. Nokia Internet Tablets typically use less than 2W [ref] including wireless and I believe including their display (though have slower CPUs). I'm not saying that either of these are direct competitors to the E2, but they do suggest that one can get better than 8W if power consumption is very important and one is prepared to work on it and/or wait a while. (And if Aleutia are reading this, something you might look into.)
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beagle board a brilliant idea Posted Feb 16, 2009 12:22 UTC (Mon) by aleutia (guest, #56538) [Link]
Aleutia is reading this and thanks for pointing me towards the Beagle Board. I'd come across it before but seeing Ubuntu ARM running on it has re-ignited my interest. USB-power means we can offer a single AC (possibly 12V DC) USB power hub to run a classroom of them.
Ordering one and will comment if we commercialize it.
beagle boards and other low-power systems Posted Feb 16, 2009 23:10 UTC (Mon) by pjm (subscriber, #2080) [Link]
http://elinux.org/BeagleBoard has lots of useful information. In particular, note the differences between the currently-available revision B, and revision C2 due "end of March", such as USB HOST (EHCI) issue.
The display is typically a significant drawer of power, so note a couple of issues relevant to output: the Beagle Board has HDMI and S-Video output but not VGA. See also the above page's comments on interfacing to raw LCD panels.
Also of interest is http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS7369895239.html (which would be a competitor for Aleutia) and related products such as the eBox systems (note there are both DX and earlier SX versions) and their associated underlying systems-on-chip. (Note that it's the system-on-chip that has the low power consumption; I haven't found any claims as to how much power the computer as a whole uses, making me suspect that the system as a whole doesn't have so impressive a number.)
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