My colleague in OZ, Mr Nick Hodge, has got hold of the new PICO-ITX bundle by ARTiGO. This builder kit is just superb. Giving you a full X86 PC in a 1.8 x 5.9 x5.3in box. Complete with 2.5in IDE Hard drive, 4x USB, VGA output,10/100 Ethernet and audio I/O it is apparently the smallest X86 PC in production.
I want one. You can also get one from my favourite hardware store: MINI-ITX.com However, they are showing a 6 to 10 day lead time at the moment.
Mr Hodge and I have been discussing the OS he plans to install. Given it is only a 1Ghz CPU, XP or XP Embedded seem to be the choice. I'd opt for XP Embedded as it gives me the ability to select exactly the bits I need in the OS and still exploit the Microsoft technologies via .Net managed code and Robotics Studio.
The ARTiGO bundle may well become my experimentation platform of choice. I currently use an aging EPIA TC-1000 which is comparable on spec but easily twice the size (and more).
My perpetually on Solar powered PC project would work will with the EPIA PX 10000 which in this bundle's configuration has a whole system power consumption of 15W idle or 20W under full load.
Nice.