a $72 pc easy to upgrade

[badshot359]

hey another cool project from Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/157a2ea4fc033110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

[Trumpkin]

I have already seen that I looked up the parts and it's more than $72.

[Admin]

It claims it can be done in four hours . . . definitely deceptive . . . I'd say more like 15+ . . .

Still, its another way of putting a cheap/small computer power processor on your bot . . .

[badshot359]

i've done it in less than 2 hours. then again i had a relative with all the parts on hand already. the thing that took the longest was making a case for it.

[ddemarco5]

hey, i made one of those, loaded MAME on it and made it a awsome reto arcade machine with 100 or more games!

[jklv]

This looks good, it can be gifted for Christmas =D
Or as the post above, make arcade machines and rent 'em

[Caduscus]

oooooooo! I love Popsci! I was subscribed a couple years ago and I think i'm going to renew it sometime soon, but yeah I saw that too very cool, I think it'll cost more than 72 dollars...

[maverick monk]

i wanna make one... i read that recently and thaught "hey, look, 72$ high qual robot brains..."

[Caduscus]

good idea maverick...*starting building GLaDos from Portal* who's secreting deadly nuerotoxins now!?!

[Fredrik Andersson]

How much power does such a thing draw?

Could it be powered with a relatively small battery?

[dunk]

How much power does such a thing draw?

Could it be powered with a relatively small battery?

no.
specialist low power x86 PC motherboards start at around 10Watts before you add things like hard disks, etc.
these cost a lot of money.

if you intend to use an old 2nd hand motherboard then expect to burn 50Watts minimum with a small HDD and minimal memory.

a 2nd hand laptop is a far better low power option but expect one of those to still draw around 20Watts. (although the battery problem is already solved.)


dunk.

[Fredrik Andersson]

How much power does such a thing draw?

Could it be powered with a relatively small battery?

no.
specialist low power x86 PC motherboards start at around 10Watts before you add things like hard disks, etc.
these cost a lot of money.

if you intend to use an old 2nd hand motherboard then expect to burn 50Watts minimum with a small HDD and minimal memory.

a 2nd hand laptop is a far better low power option but expect one of those to still draw around 20Watts. (although the battery problem is already solved.)


dunk.

You wouldn't necessarily need a HDD. You could use a usb stick memory. But as you said, one would probably get off much better with a laptop.