On 4/13/07, Douglas Allan Tutty <dtutty@porchlight.ca> wrote:
> I'm going to be traveling and would like to have a computer with me.
>
> I used to use an old Thinkpad but the tent I was using it in got hit by
> lightening and the screen and HD got fried.  I can still use an external
> screen but I'm told by two local vendors that new hard drives won't be
> recognized by the BIOS to be bootable; a designed-obsolecence feature.
>
> I don't need a true laptop.  I would like something that fit in a
> briefcase, text screen (although basic X would be nice for light
> browsing), keyboard, and some disk space.  My 486 does everything I need
> except I don't get USB since it has ISA bus.
>
> Hard drives seem to be what dies on a computer so the ability to use new
> drives with old hardware would be good, just like I can put an 8 GB
> drive in my 486 box.
>
> Short of building my 486 main board (with on-board S3 video) right into
> a briefcase, what have others used for small boxes?
>
> Ideally, the box would have built-in basic video, USB, serial port (so I
> can attach my Courier modem), CD drive, hard drive, and be silent.  As
> much as possible, I want to be able to use off-the-shelf components like
> drives (so that means 3.5" SATA), standard LCD monitor, standard (mini?)
> keyboard, mouse, etc.
>
> Finally, I want it to be chaaper than a used laptop.
>
> Does anyone have any links to such a beast?

Look up "mini itx". They have whole i386 based machines that fit into
something the size of a cdrom drive. Has all the features you list.
Some don't need fans at all for the machine itself. Power supply is
something else.

Andy