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Mini-ITX board has HDMI port

Nov 18, 2008 — by LinuxDevices Staff — from the LinuxDevices Archive — 2 views

Advantech has introduced a mini-ITX motherboard that targets embedded information and entertainment applications, such as information station kiosks and lottery machines. The AIMB-221 supports single- or dual-core AMD processors, and offers an HDMI A/V port, for connection to multimedia displays such as… high-definition televisions.

(Click here for a larger view of Advantech's AIMB-221)

The AIMB-221 is offered with a five- to seven-year product life. Besides, HDMI, there's a VGA connector at the board's edge, while internal headers provide access to DVI and LVDS video signals. Possible dual-display configurations include CRT with LVDS, CRT with HDMI, or HDMI with LVDS, Advantech says.


A block diagram of Advantech's AIMB-221
(Click to enlarge)

The AIMB-221 uses AMD's 21mm x 21mm M690E northbridge and 23mm x 23mm SB600 southbridge, and is designed to use a range of the chipmaker's 65nm processors. Possible CPUs are said to include the dual-core AMD Turion 64X2 clocked at either 1.8GHz or 2.1GHz, or the single-core AMD Sempron clocked at 2.0GHz or 1.0GHz. In the last of these instances, the board can run fanlessly, the company adds.

Dual SODIMM slots allow the AIMB-221 to accept a total of 4GB of DDR2 RAM. As for mass storage, four SATA ports accept multiple disk drives, which may be configured as RAID 0 or RAID 1 arrays via software. Expansion capabilities on this board include one Mini PCI slot, one PCI slot, and a Type 2/3 CompactFlash slot, according to Advantech.


Advantech AIMB-221 ports

In addition to the VGA and HDMI connectors already mentioned, the edge of the AIMB-221 includes dual RJ45 connectors for gigabit Ethernet connections, four USB 2.0 ports, two serial ports, two PS/2 ports, and audio I/O. Internal connectors provide four additional USB ports, four more serial ports, plus parallel and IDE ports.

Finally, the AIMB-221 includes 8-bit GPIO, a watchdog timer, and an optional TPM (trusted platform module).

Features and specifications listed by Advantech for the AIMB-221 include:

  • Processor — AMD Turion 64X2 clocked at 2.1GHz or 1.8GHz, AMD Sempron clocked at 2.0GHz or 1.0GHz
  • Memory — Up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, via dual SODIMM slots
  • Networking — 2 gigabit Ethernet ports
  • Other I/O:
    • 1 x VGA
    • 1 x HDMI
    • 1 x LVDS (internal header)
    • 1 x DVI (optional; internal header)
    • 8 x USB 2.0 (4 internal via headers, 4 external)
    • 6 x RS232 (2 external, 4 internal via headers)
    • 4 x SATA
    • 2 x PS/2 (for keyboard and mouse)
    • 1 x IDE
    • 1 x parallel
    • 8-bit GPIO
    • Audio line in and line out

  • Expansion:
    • Type 2/3 CompactFlash socket
    • PCI slot
    • Mini PCI slot

  • Operating temperature — 0 to 0 deg. C (32 to 140 deg. F)
  • Dimensions — 6.7 x 6.7 inches (170 x 170mm)

According to Advantech, the AIMB-221 supports Linux, Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows CE 6.0.

Pricing was not released, but the AIMB-221 appears to be available now. More information may appear on Advantech's website, here.


 
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.



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