A French company has recently introduced the OpenBrick, a compact (7.1 x 4.6 x 1.6 in.) , fanless system targeted toward Open Source and Free Software applications based on Linux and FreeBSD. The device is being sold by StoreOver Online, a subsidiary of Nexedi SAR. Its internal electronics consists of a PC/104-expandable single-board computer based on a 300 MHz Geode (x86 compatible) system-on-chip processor, with an SODIMM SDRAM slot for up to 128MB of internal system memory.

The system provides a long list of external expansion interfaces, including PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, parallel port, dual-USB ports, serial port, SVGA and TV video, Ethernet, and both CompactFlash and PCMCIA expansion slots. An ATA/33 IDE interface can accommodate an internal 2.5-inch hard drive, which currently supports up to 60 GB capacity.

System setup is stored on an internal CompactFlash card, making the OpenBrick “as easy to use as a videogame station”, according to StoreOver. Preconfigured CompactFlash images designed by the 'OpenBrick community' can be downloaded for free on the OpenBrick.org website.

 
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