Portwell has announced an “embedded industrial” motherboard that uses the micro-ATX form factor and supports Core Duo or Core Solo CPUs. The RUBY-9713VG2A features dual gigabit Ethernet ports, PCI and PCI Express expansion, RAID support, and up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM.

The RUBY-9713VG2A offers a 533MHz or 667MHz frontside bus, and supports Core Solo and Core Duo processors with an unspecified range of clock speeds. It employs Intel's 945GM chipset and ICH7 southbridge, while its two SODIMM sockets accept up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM.

Portwell's RUBY-9713VG2A
(Click to enlarge)
Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator 950, part of the 945GM chipset, shares system memory dynamically up to 224MB, and statically up to 128MB. Resolution is up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, via either TV-out or an LVDS flat-panel interface.

Portwell says the board's dual gigabit Ethernet interfaces are based on a one-lane PCI Express interface, which does not share bandwidth with the device's other PCI interfaces. The RUBY-9713VG2A has a 32-bit PCI expansion slot, which can be turned into four slots via an optional riser card.

The board's four-lane PCI Express slot also supports an optional riser, through which it can offer four one-lane slots if desired. Additionally, the RUBY-9713VG2A offers a separate 16-lane PCI Express slot.

For storage, the RUBY-9713VG2A supports two EIDE devices with Ultra DMA 100/66/33, or two SATA 300 drives. RAID 0 and 1 are standard. An additional two SATA 300 ports are optional, in which case RAID levels 5 and 10 can also be employed, according to Portwell.

Other interfaces include eight USB ports (four external, four internal), GPIO, floppy, parallel, and dual serial ports. Dual mini-DIN connectors permit connection of a PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

Features and specifications listed by Portwell for the RUBY-9713VG2A include:

• Processor — Core Solo and Core Duo processors with 533MHz or 667MHz frontside bus
  
• Memory — up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM
  
• Display — supports VGA or LVDS output with resolution up to 2048 x 1536 pixels
  
• Networking — dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
  
• Other I/O:
  • 8 USB ports (four external, four internal)
    
  • 1 x RS232, 1 x RS232/RS422/RS485
    
  • 1 x parallel
    
  • 1 x floppy
    
  • IrDA 1.0
    
  • GPIO (8 ports)
    
  • VGA port
    
  • LVDS connector
    
  • TV output

• Expansion:
  • 1 x 32-bit PCI expansion slot, or 4 x 32-bit PCI expansion slots via riser
    
  • 1 x 4-lane PCI Express slot, or 4 x 1-lane PCI Express slots via riser
    
  • 2 x PS/2 connectors

• Operating temperature — 0 to 55 deg. C
  
• Dimensions — 9.6 x 9.6 inches (244 x 244 mm)

Portwell did not cite pricing or operating system support for the RUBY-9713VG2A. However, its use of standard Intel chipsets suggests that it should be compatible with Linux, Windows XP Embedded, and Windows XP.

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