hi. a friend and i are doing a project which involves a computer system running linux. However, a normal desktop computer is far too bulky. Mini-ITX computers are even pushing it. However a PC104 CPU module would work fine and it would make the project much more embedded. The problem is that nobody is selling PC104 hardware to the general public! There are hundreds of retailers online but most of them dont even bother to list prices since the hardware is intended for large companies who will purchase it in bulk. Does anybody know of any good places that sell PC104 hardware to the general public? How about companies that would be willing to sell small quantities of it, if not just one.

Thanks.

Thank's for the link. I have one question though. Is an SBC (Single Board Computer) basically another name for a PC104 CPU Module or is it actually something different? Also, these SBC's are pretty slow (the fastest one is 166Mhz). My project would require at least a 500Mhz processor (it involves video). I have seen PC104 CPU modules of very high speeds (2 Ghz+) but like I said, i've only found them sold in bulk for commercial use. Does anybody know any other places that sell such hardware to the general public?

Thanks again.

Google turned up this retailer pretty fast. Looks like you can order a single one, if you want.

Thanks for that link. What surprised me about these PC104's is the price. Even a 386 PC104 far surpasses a modern mini-ITX motherboard in price. If anyone knows, I'd be interested to know why that's so.

Mini/Micro-ITX is a big demand market, and SBCs are specialized (usually geared towards instrumentation and data aquisition).

PC104 is a formfactor standard and IMO a class of SBCs. Besides market demand it is harder to engineer a smaller package.