just discovered the VIA PC-1 dev board, 60 bucks shipped.  super low power consumption.  C7-D CPU and CN700 and VT8237R Plus chipset, so supposedly that supports SATA2. 

so processor is most likely supported, chipset should be, how about the LAN?  Has anybody tried this

I'm really looking for low-cost, low power.  Not concerned with speed since it's typically supporting one client at a time for backups or serving dvd library.  I just want some storage redundancy at a low price and low power consumption.

The VIA PC1 is not mini-ITX.  It is micro-ATX.

OK

so I guess I'll post in another thread.  Just figured since we were on the topic of C7.

I am running it at the moment (just to play around) on a Mini-ITX VIA C7, it recognizes both ethernet interfaces and my SATA disks and my compact flash card on the back of the motherboard.

 

I actually have copied the (trial) unRAId over to my compactflash/ubuntu install, and was able to boot it, and then remount it later. it didn't want to boot directly from the flash, but I might have done something wrong.

 

Anyway, I'm sure with some tweaking it could be setup to run entirely off the compactflash card (well, I don't know, the serial number stuff might mess with it) - I haven't really tried anything else other than messing around with adding drives and stuff. I'm trying to see the performance I get over SMB too once I setup a share.

I scored and setup the following for a mini / itx unraid system.

 

JetWay J7F3E-PB A (462) SiS 741CX Mini ITX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813153052  ($129 w Rebate)

 

Chenbro ES34069 Mini-ITX Home Server/NAS Chassis ($300)

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/es34069

 

The AMD Geode is a hell of a performer for the price I got ($129/W CPU).

The Chenbro chassis was a bit expensive,

I did have to add a Promise TX4, PCI Riser card and card reader (from min-itx.com)

it's perfect for what I need however..

The embedded network adapter uses the sis900 module.

So right now I can not use it.

 

I plan to compile my own kernel eventually and include it.

 

Also purchased a daughter board that adds 3 gigabit interfaces.

 

I'm considering the use of NDAS drives for additional external storage should the need arise.