Mini-ITX system integrator Mini-box.com has updated its Linux-compatible car PC, adding room for a slim ATAPI drive, and a pudgier, more futuristic faceplate. The revised VoomPC-2 also comes standard with a more powerful mini-ITX motherboard, based on a 1.5GHz Via C7 processor.

Original Voom PC (Click for info)

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Mini-box teamed with with chipmaker Via in designing the original Voom car PC (pictured at left). That system came with one of Via's most powerful boards of the time — the MII-1200 — and a media-oriented embedded Linux operating system.

When purchased as a barebones PC, the new VoomPC-2 comes with a Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D, a mini-ITX board based on a 1.5GHz version of Via's newer C7 processor. The C7 improves upon Via's C3 by adding a full- rather than half-speed FPU (floating point unit), and by supporting faster memory, among other improvements.

Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D
The Jetway board offers an impressive array of onboard I/O ports, including VGA, S-Video, USB 2.0, Firewire, Ethernet, and “smart 5+1” audio.

Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D
The Jetway board supplied with the VoomPC-2 comes with a daughtercard (photo) that adds PCMCIA and CompactFlash Type-I/II slots, presumably for the addition of WiFi and cellular data modem cards. Mini-box.com also offers various other Jetway daughter cards separately, including cards with one or three 10/100 or GigE ports, and cards with two or four additional serial ports.

The basic VoomPC-2 barebones PC also includes an “M1-ATX intelligent vehicle car PC PSU,” the same DC-DC converter supplied with the original Voom (read more about the M1-ATX here). A 180-Watt M2-ATX supply is also available, for users wishing to use the VoomPC-2 with more powerful boards — for example, how about Acrosser's recently announced AR-B1892, based on an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 667MHz FSB, and featuring 16x PCIe expansion?

The M1-ATX power integrates with auto ignition and stereo systems

Despite its bristling, heat-sink-encrusted appearance, the VoomPC-2 case does not appear to use heat pipe technology, unlike the recently announced passively cooled Serener GS-L05 case. Nevertheless, Mini-box.com says the VoomPC-2 has been tested for continuous operation at 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Celsius), as well as cold start-up at temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius).

Availability

The Mini-box.com VoomPC-2 case is available now, priced at $120. The Mini-box.com M1-ATX and M2-ATX DC-DC converters are also available now, priced at $80 and $90, respectively. The VoomPC-2 barebones system is priced at $400, including the VoomPC-2 case, M1-ATX power supply, and a Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D board with CompactFlash and PCMCIA daughtercard, cable harness, and a slim CD-ROM to 2.5″ IDE adapter.

Mini-box.com also offers several small LCD displays, a wide range of mini-ITX boards and components, and several free and commercial Linux distributions that should work fine with the VoomPC-2.

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