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RE: Finaly a cheap possible wearable solution?

I looked at this exact board... (saw it on sale at newegg.com) I pondered it
and kind of
figured it would: A) be a power hog and B) be hard to find a power supply
for. I guess
I was wrong on part B. Heck I might even buy one now. Its a bit bigger 7" by
7" or so, but
I don't care.

EPIA 800 - 800 mhz: $102.00 + free shipping (of course the 5000 model is
fanless.. might be
better)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&manufactory=151
7&catalog=355&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

"This Kit is used to convert a 2.5" IDE hard drive 44 Pin used in many
laptops to
a 3.5" hard drive with standard power and 40 pin IDE connections"
http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&partno=00504&rsi
te=http://www.iconmedia.com

Linux on itx site:
http://linitx.org/forum/

power consumption is a definate worry.

-----Original Message-----
From: Konstantin V. [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 2:23 PM
To: 
Subject: Finaly a cheap possible wearable solution?

Hi guys/gals. Im very interested in the wearable computing and for some time
I was interested in reading about it, because pc104 parts are kind of costy
and unavailable were I live (Mexico).
I kind of interested in building a wearable for myself but it needs to be a
cheap solution or mid range. Interestingly enough EPIA's mothereboards and
particulary the Eden 5000 model looks kind of apealing for a wearable, with
footprint of 170x170 mm it is very small and its sells for a merely 100 USD,
Integrating 500 MHz Cyrix CPU VGA/TV-OUT/LAN/Sound/USB and more. I think
Linux runs well enough on this mobo but Im not totaly shure, the main
website is offline and I cant access it www.viavpsd.com , there is other
sites like http://www.viaarena.com which discusses Via's Mini-ITX plataform.
One link to Epia M series which is not the EPIA 5000 that I'm talking about
but you can apritiate the size of Mini-ITX format
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=187
I mean compare the functionality of EPIA 5000 board to an existing PC104 or
SBC board and then compare prices. Im not into embedded and dont need a
watchdog or data adquisition, just a fun little system to carry around with
PIM/Word processing/maybe video capture(but that later)
Now the TV-out NTSC/PAL is important because a cheap Head Mounted Display
could be a Kopin CyberDisplay320, a monocolor 320x240 display costing about
60 USD wich could be driven by a Motorola chip part number MCVVQ111, the
documentation for the this display driver is explains how to build a
prototype board and this way integrating it into a very nice and cheap Head
Mounted Display. Here is a link to a MageForge article about a covert
CyberDisplay in sunglasses , courtecy of Mircea

https://securehost34.hrwebservices.net/~magefor/cgi-bin/view/Main/SunGlasses
(The issue here is to get the MCVVQ111, I havent seen it on sale anywhere)
I know it is low resolution and monocolor but I think it is a viabe solution
and it will be light and cheap, also low power consuming, and at last but
not least it is very very covertable.
Thiking about power consuming, here is a mini power supply from
http://www.mini-box.com/pw-60.htm wich is a very small power supply unit
that fits directly in EPIA motherboard (u can download a video of the
mounting process wich is simple but ilustrative), the supply uses 12 DC
input and regulates the normal ATX psu outputs, proving 1 connector for a HD
+ 1 connector for Floppy and a small 5 volts connector.
Now if anyone would calculate the amount of power drained by this
motherboard +  (put usual hardware that goes in the mobo like notebook HD +
Memstick ) +  HMD + Input devices (Twiddler or mouse or maybe a PDA
keyboard)  and evaluate how many battery packs (Li-Ion) would be needed to
power the whole system for a reasonable amount of time, dont know, maybe 5
hours continuosly.
Would it be 'wearable' ?
What do you think about it?

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