| "3.5-inch" SBC has DVI port |
Aug. 28, 2008
 Ibase Technology announced a new SBC (single board computer) with Intel's N270 Atom processor, targeting automation, industrial control, and data acquisition. The IB883 has dual gigabit Ethernet ports, two serial ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a CompactFlash socket, and a PCI Express x1 interface.
(Click here for a larger view of Ibase's IB833)
Frankly, one has to wonder if the engineers at Ibase, based in Taipei, Taiwan, ever sleep. Just this month, the company's product announcements have included the following:- ECX810, an ECX (embedded compact extended) board using Intel's Pentium M-based EP80579 SoC (system on chip)
- IB885, a 3.5-inch board using AMD's Sempron 200U and 210U processors
Back in April, the company also announced the IB882, a 3.5-inch SBC sporting Intel's then-new, 1.1 GHz Atom Z510 processor and US15W SCH companion chip. The IB883 now presents customers with an interesting choice, because the newly announced SBC has a form factor identical to the TB882, and once again sports a Intel Atom processor.
Instead of the 14mm x 13mm Z510, with its 2-Watt TDP, the IB883 switches to the 22mm x 22mm N270, with a 2.5-Watt TDP. The 1.6GHz N270, by now familiar from a bevy of "netbooks" and other devices, is teamed with the chipmaker's 945GMS northbridge and ICH7M southbridge. These components are soldered to the back of the IB883, hence they're not visible in the photos above and below.
Choosing between the IB882 and IB883 may be less a matter of which Atom variant is on board, and more about the other attributes of each SBC. Both use the so-called 3.5-inch SBC form factor, which actually measures 5.75 x 4 inches, matching the dimension of 3.5-inch components like floppy drives and memory card readers. Historically popular with Taiwanese embedded SBC makers, the format allows a board to include a mix of standard "real world" connectors and pin headers.
Ibase's 883
(Click to enlarge)
On the IB883, the real world connectors include two gigabit Ethernet ports, a DVI port, a PS/2 connector for keyboard/mouse, and two USB ports, as shown above. Pin headers offer up two additional USB ports, two COM ports, a SATA port, digital I/O, and six-channel audio, according to Ibase. The IB883 also supports CRT and LVDS-interfaced LCD displays via pin headers. The device permits up to 224MB of RAM to be used as video memory, via Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator 950 chipset, though supported resolutions were not stated.
Finally, the IB883 has a Type II CompactFlash socket, plus a PCI Express x 1 expansion interface.
Features and specifications listed by Ibase for the IB883 include:- Processor -- Intel Atom N270, clocked at 1.6GHz
- Memory -- Up to 1GB via single SO-DIMM slot
- Storage -- Type II CompactFlash slot (plus SATA and IDE interfaces)
- Networking -- 2 x gigabit Ethernet with RJ45 connectors
- Other I/O:
- 2 x RS232 (pin headers)
- PS/2 keyboard/mouse
- 1 x DVI
- 1 x CRT (pin header)
- 1 x LVDS (pin header)
- 4 x USB (two on pin headers; two host ports)
- six-channel audio (pin header)
- 1 x SATA
- Expansion:
- Type II CompactFlash socket
- PCI Express x 1 interface
- Dimensions -- 5.8 x 4 inches
- Operating temperature -- 0 to 60 deg. C
IBase said the IB883 will be sampling in September, but did not specify pricing or operating system support. Most other Atom-based products have been said to be compatible with Windows XP Embedded, Windows CE 6.0, and Linux, however.
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