For an art project I need to mod an old discontinued display device and add a computer inside it to make it standalone.
Because the case of that device has limited space I can’t fit a standard motherboard in it.
The Pi and Beagleboard Black seemed like good options, but the issue is this display device works by hooking into an OpenGL 1/2 executable inside a computer and accessing the geometry inside it. The device is discontinued and closed source to be able to add anything to its API.
Beagleboard is a new product and uses OpenGL ES instead.
Is there a similar project (a single board computer or just a computer with a tiny motherboard) that comes to your mind that can work with OpenGL 2? There is enough space for a standard video card as well, in best case scenario I’d like to use one.
Pi and Beagleboards use arm processors. If you have a specific closed source executable it is probably for x86 machines, so the Pi and BBoards are useless for your needs. There is also no way to attach a video card to it.
You can try for mini-itx motherboards (or smaller): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-ITX
They are often used for home theatre systems and have a more constrained form factor. They are also standard x86 processors and video slots
Hi, I would also check if Intel NUC satisfies your requirements.
Thanks. I missed the x86 architecture requirement as they couldn’t work with real OpenGL in any case.
Right, so there seem to be several options, but it will take some careful consideration and research to choose the best option.
There are single board computers like the Raspberry Pi but based on the x86 architecture and supporting Open GL 2+.
MinnowBoard MAX. minnowboard.org/meet-minnowboard-max/
Intel NUC seems to be using it or a very similar board in a pretty case.
And there’s also Gizmo 2 which seems to have a better GPU performance. gizmosphere.org/products/gizmo-2/
Both are 10x10 in size which is great.
With MinnowBoard MAX I might be able to use a PCI to USB3 adapter to connect a real GPU itself. While I might be able to fit a real GPU in the limited space I have it will need its own PSU and I haven’t been able to find a non-standard sized PC PSU for the job.
if there are other ideas please let me know.
Because the ogl 1/2 requirement, modern onboard gpus are probably powerful enough for your needs.
I’m afraid they aren’t. I will need to connect a standard Nvidia GPU to one of these single board PCs. I’m just wondering what kind of PSU I can use which is as small as possible yet can power the singleboard PC and the GPU.