fanless, Debian, experience?

[Andrew Porter <app@jedp.com>]

Have any on the list had experience with 
fanless PCs running Linux, more especially Debian? 

Here are some advertising URLs, 
but google doesn't turn up many reviews:


http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=874
	hush technologies, a fanless PC

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=286
silent fan-less PC 

http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/mini_itx.jsp

http://www.logicsupply.com/popup_matrix.php
	EPIA TC looks interesting: 600 MHz, no chip cooling fan,
		external 12V DC power-supply 
		the other amenities are all OK

http://www.hushtechnologies.net/start.html
** www.hushtechnologies.net ** 

http://www.stealthcomputer.com/pricelists/littlepc_fanless_pricelist.htm
http://www.stealthcomputer.com/littlepc_fanless.htm
These folks are in Toronto, much more expensive than Polywell,
and interestingly, the only picture of their place of business
was taken in twilight in the rain.  ?!  


http://www.polywell.com/us/desktop/poly_mini_itx_1100.asp
Polywell is close to me, on the SF Peninsula.

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5992810746.html
Axiomtek, with pictures 
http://www.axiomtek.com/company/contact.php?doc_name=contact-us

And just for kicks, 
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/05/05/11/1242234.shtml?tid=174
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/02/13/1640211.shtml?tid=90
debian on a Mac mini 


I went to the local Mac store at the mall, 
and asked to see a terminal window on their mini on display,
and was told, ``we don't intall terminals on display models,
because people can screw up the machine from a terminal.''

I said I was coming from Linux, not Windows
[visiting from Linux would have been more truthful;
I didn't tell him you can run Debian on a mini],
and he replied, ``We're not really focussing on that 
part of the market right now.''

I.e., Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor was right:
there is a huge market for magic, mystery, and authority,
especially nicely packaged magic etc. that just works. 

You can make quite enough money 
without going beyond that clientelle 
to sell to those who want to see how things work.  

I didn't ask whether the sales person knew the difference
between root and ordinary user's privileges.  

----------------

Any experience, tales, warnings, pointers would be appreciated.
I have a Shuttle running Debian Sarge, which is nice, 
but still not silent.  My antec mid-tower is supposedly quiet, 
but it can howl like a banshee. 

In the old days, I had a single-board running CPM+,
zero cooling fans, and it was heavenly.  

Some of these take A/C current, 
some presuppose an external D/C converter (also silent).  

My applications are emacs, formatters, X-windows, gcc, and browsers.
No games; multi-media stuff is nice but not necessary. 

I don't need speed, but do need a working xconfig file,
plus drivers for USB, sound, and the other i-o devices.  

Debian and fvwm would be nice.  


- Andrew Porter, app@jedp.com