Kontron announced a new module in its compact ETX single-board computer form-factor based on Intel's Pentium M processor. According to Kontron, the 3.74 x 4.5 inch “ETX-PM” module is currently “the most compact board to host a Pentium M processor.”

The… module offers 1.1 GHz CPU clock rate, and includes up to 1 GByte of onboard DDR RAM (with ECC). Although the performance of a 1.1 GHz Pentium M processor is similar to that of a 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, its power consumption is comparable to that of a 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium III processor, the company said. Other features of the module include a 10/100BaseT Ethernet controller, four USB 2.0 ports, sound, 2xEIDE (UDMA-33), keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive or parallel port, watchdog timer, and a PCI expansion bus.

Front and back views of the ETX-PM

From the embedded software perspective, the ETX-PM runs Linux, as well as VxWorks and Microsoft's Windows XP Embedded, Windows CE .NET, and Windows, according to Kontron spokesperson Bruce Boyer.

According to Kontron, ETX modules can be installed on an application specific baseboard much like an integrated circuit component, in a “host” site comprised of four low profile, surface mount connectors. The baseboard provides the drive electronics and physical connectors for the I/O originating on the ETX. Additional I/O and application-specific subsystems can be integrated on the baseboard designed as PCI or ISA bus peripherals.

Kontron's ETX product family currently includes ETX processor modules based on AMD's Geode, Intel's Celeron and Pentium III-M processors, and VIA's Eden and C3.

Pre-production quantities of the ETX-PM will be available in October 2003 and full production is scheduled for the first quarter of 2004, the company said.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.