A unique daughter-card approach, developed by Liantec, now allows the addition of 16x and 1x PCI-Express, AGP, and PCI expansion function cards to mini-ITX motherboards. It allows the mini-mobos to be used in I/O-intensive graphics, storage, and networking applications.

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The “Tiny-Bus” daughtercard interface appears to be based on four high-density connectors. The daughtercards measure 2.9 x 3.6 inches.

Typical Liantec Tiny-Bus daughtercard
(Click to enlarge)
Tiny-Bus daughtercards currently available from Liantec include:

• 16xPCI-EG graphics card based on NVidia MXM chipset, with LVDS, DVI, component, and VGA pin header outs (pictured at right)
• Intel SDVO (Serial Digital Video Output) 1080i HDTV module
• 4xPCI-E SATA RAID module
• PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet module
• PCI-E ExpressCard module
• AGP-based VGA module
• Intel DVI
• VIA DVP
• SiS VB based graphics expansion module
• PCI-based PCMCIA
• Video capture card
• Switch hub
• Multiple Ethernet and mini-PCI modules

Typical Tiny-Bus equipped mini-ITX board

Available Liantec mini-ITX boards equipped with the Tiny-Bus include:

• ITX-6900 — based on Intel embedded 915GM express platform, with 16xPCI-EG, Intel SDVO, PCI-E, PCI Tiny-Bus expandability
• ITX-6800 — based on Intel embedded Centrino Pentium M chipset, with 4xAGP, Intel DVO, PCI Tiny-Bus expandibility
• ITX-6700 — based on AMD Embedded Geode NX chipset, with 4/8xAGP, SiS VB, and PCI Tiny-Bus expandability

Additionally, Liantec offers a slim, short 1U mini-ITX case (pictured at right) that measures 15 x 7.7 x 1.75 inches (380 x 195 x 44mm), and houses a power supply, 3.5-inch hard drive, board, and daughtercard.

Availability

Liantec's Tiny-Bus daughtercards and Tiny-Bus equipped mini-ITX boards appear to be available now to OEMs. Pricing was not disclosed.

Additionally, Liantec offers custom development services around the Tiny-Bus, such as custom peripherals and system integration, it says.

The company's website does not currently appear to host a specification for the new daughtercard format.

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