Bare Bone Systems
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- What is a bare bone system?
- Why is metal preferable over plastic as a
housing material?
- How do you judge the quality of a systems
housing?
- How do you judge the quality of the system
power supply?
- What is an ATX and its' benefits?
- Why is the NLX specification needed?
- Is NLX a replacement for other board
form-factors?
- What are the benefits of NLX?
- What does "Novell Ready" mean?
What is a bare bone system?
The term "bare bone" originally referred to system housing alone, but has
come to mean a bare system. A "bare bone" system usually includes a system
housing, drive bays, a power supply, a motherboard and a shipping container that
can be used to deliver the finished system to the end user.
Why is metal preferable over plastic as a housing material?
Metal provides strength over plastic, thus metal housing offers greater
durability than plastic housings. Metal is also better at controlling EMI
emissions, so it’s easier to get a system with a metal chassis through the FCC
approval process. The lower cost of metal housing also makes the chassis
desirable for system integrators.
How do you judge the quality of system housing?
The quality of system housing is judged by these criteria:
- The thickness (1mm) of the steel plate
- The grooveless edges
- The condition of the paint both in and outside the top cover
- Precision of the mechanism and openings of the top cover, the base stand
and the front panel
- Precise fittings for the I/O ports
- Adequate grounding for the motherboard
- Ample ventilation throughout the system housing
How do you judge the quality of the system power supply?
- Safety certifications: UL, CSA and tougher European standards TUV, S, N,
D, FI approvals.
- EMI: If a power supply has an EMI filter, normally it will have passed
FCC/DoC/CE/VCC1 regulations regarding EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference).
- Reliability: A test report shows MTBF, burn-in results and other common
industry reliability measures.
What is an ATX and its’ benefits?
The ATX specification has been written as a specification for the PC industry
designed to add value to the PC. It defines a new PC form-factor that will allow
PC manufacturers to build products more cheaply, improve ease of use and
serviceability, and incorporate new and exciting I/O feature with ease. The ATX
form factor is essentially a Baby-AT baseboard rotated 90 degrees within the
chassis enclosure and a new mounting configuration for the power supply. In this
way, the processor is relocated away from the expansion slots, allowing them all
to hold full-length add-in cards. ATX defines a double height aperture to the
rear of the chassis, which can be used to host a wide range of on-board I/O.
Only the size and position of this aperture is defined, allowing PC
manufacturers to add new I/O features to systems that will help them
differentiate their products in the marketplace, and better meet the needs of
end users.
A change to the system form-factor is ultimately of little benefit if it does
not reduce overall system cost. ATX achieves this in a number of ways.
- By integrating more I/O down onto the board and better positioning the
hard drive and floppy connector’s material cost of cables and add-in cards
is reduced.
- By reducing the number of cables and components in the system,
manufacturing time and inventory holding costs are reduced and reliability
will increase.
- By using an optimized power supply, it’s possible to reduce cooling costs
and lower acoustical noise. An ATX power supply, which has a side-mounted
fan, allows direct cooling of the processor and add-in cards making a
secondary fan or active heat sink unnecessary in most system applications.
ATX is a specification that is freely available to the whole industry. The
current version (2.0) incorporates feedback from the many chassis and power
supply vendors making ATX products.
Release 2.01 of the ATX Specification makes minor adjustments to Release 2.0,
which incorporated a number of new features, additional requirements, and
clarifications. These changes take into account support for the next generation
of ATX motherboards, while maintaining compatibility with the first generation.
Readers should examine their combination of motherboard, power supply and
chassis needs to determine whether they require the additional features found in
Release 2.01.
Why is the NLX specification needed?
Many PC vendors saw a need for new features in form-factors that can
accommodate low profile system designs. Intel and most OEMs recognize the
benefit a common design within the industry lowering overall cost while enabling
innovation and time-to-market solutions. One of the reasons NLX is attractive is
because it offers a foundation for system design that is available to the whole
industry.
Is NLX a replacement for other board form-factors?
We expect the NLX to eventually replace LPX, and ATX to eventually replace
Baby AT. NLX is the likely preferred form-factor for low profile needs or
versatile product line needs, while ATX will be the preferred low cost
mini-tower form-factor. NLX and ATX will be two great choices for new products.
What are the benefits of NLX?
The NLX motherboard specification offers benefits over many current low
profile form-factors.
- The goal is a well defined, widely distributed specification and broad
industry support that facilitates interoperability and gives consumers a
wider choice of product options.
- Improves Access to Components- NLX provides better accessibility to
upgrade components, such as graphics solution and graphics memory, system
memory, CPU and motherboards. Accessibility comes by enhancing usable
motherboard and system space and improving size and location of the
component placement zones on the motherboard when compared to existing low
profile form-factors.
- Support New Technology-NLX specification will support current and future
processor and PC technologies such as chip sets, graphics solutions and
memory technologies.
- Lowers Total cost of Ownership-NLX provides a stackable motherboard, which
can be easily installed and removed, and better accessibility to upgradeable
components, which enhance serviceability to reduce cost of ownership.
What does "Novell® Ready" mean?
Novell® certification of their systems is very important for system
integrators and resellers. The term "Novell® Ready" means that the components
delivered in the bare bone system can be integrated into a finished system that
will pass the certification tests of Novell® and therefore can be used in any
system where Novell® compatibility is crucial.
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