Case mod memory lane#3: The iGrill

Continuing on with the kitchen theme, this week we take a look at the George Forman grill that was turned into a PC back in 2005 by James Goldsmith.

James actually bought the grill new and what's the first crazy thing you have to do with a mod like this?

"Of course, the first thing to do when a new toy arrives is to completely take it apart. So 5 minutes with philips-head and pro-drive screwdrivers later, it was down to the bare components. With hindsight, I probably should have done this with some kind of due care and attention, as it took me as long again to figure out which bits belonged where. I had intended to use the original power cabling, and mod the psu to use them, but this proved unfeasible, as I had to slice the cabling in two just to open the damn thing up."

Yes, the VIA Mini-ITX platform has been the cause for parts of many machines to be strewn across people's living rooms in pursuit of the ultimate case mod. You can read more about this mod on Mini-ITX.com.

The VX11H debuts quietly

Blink and you will have missed the new VIA chip on the EPIA M-920 released last month. The new chip features on VIA's latest Mini-ITX board, but it didn't garner its own Press Release. Let's take a look at the new chip.

Oh, wait, that's kind of hard to do since the chip doesn't even have a page to itself on VIA's website.

The VX11H is presumably an upgrade from the VX11, which is a media system processor with DirectX11 capability. The key features of the VX11 are:

• High Performance Hardware HD Video Decoder: Smooth hardware acceleration for MPEG-4, H.264, MPEG-2, and VC-1 for advanced browser streamed video technologies
• Advanced Display Connectivity: Supports the latest display standards including DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI and VGA in multi-display configurations
• DX11 Graphics Performance: The VIA Chrome 640/645 integrated graphics processor is fully DirectX 11 certified and includes a 128-bit 2D engine
• SuperSpeed USB Certification: Has received SuperSpeed USB certification form the USB-IF and supports up to 3 USB 3.0 ports
• HD Audio support: VIA Vinyl HD Audio controller supports up to eight high definition channels with a 192kHz sampling rate, delivering a richer all-round digital media experience
• Memory Support: Memory controller technology supports the lower power, high-bandwidth DDR3 memory modules with speeds up to 1600MHz
• Fully Integrated technology support: Supports the low power device interfaces of SDIO 3.0, UART, SPI, LPC as well as six USB 2.0 ports

It's not clear what the difference is between the VX11 and the VX11H.

VIA upgrades an EPIA board; a clever way to retain customer designs

VIA has been manufacturing their own branded embedded boards for ... let me think ... it must be close to a decade now? Many embedded designs have a long shelf life, but in the end all things need a replacement or upgrade. The VIA EPIA-LN design from 2007 has been upgraded to include the VIA VX900 media system processor, this upgrading several key features of the board. Re-named the EPIA-M720, this is a smart move by VIA, allowing embedded system designers to easily upgrade their EPIA-LN machines very easily.

"Combining a VIA 1.0GHz C7 processor with the VIA VX900 unified all-in-one media system processor, the VIA EPIA-M720 delivers a highly optimized platform that boasts comprehensive HD video performance, HD audio and HDMI support in a compact, power-efficient package to meet the broader scope of needs for today's advanced digital signage, POS, Kiosk, ATM, home automation, healthcare and media client system design applications."

More from the official Press Release.

New VIA VB8004 offers mutliplicity of display options

VIA has announced a new Mini-ITX board targetting the digital signage segment. The VB8004 can support up to four displays, but with all different sorts of connections if need be. This makes it super-adaptable.

To get the full four display support you actually need to add an S3 graphics 5400E module, and then you can hook up HDMI, LVDS and DVI.

The VX900 chipset on the board supports 1080p and DirectX10.1. - Press Release.