VIA Mini-ITX Mainboard
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1. Introduction
This document defines Mini-ITX, the IT industry’s smallest form factor mainboard
specification, developed by VIA Technologies, Inc. As part of the company’s open industry-
wide Total Connectivity initiative, the new VIA Mini-ITX mainboard enables the creation of an
exciting new generation of small, ergonomic, innovative and affordable embedded systems
through its high level of integration and vastly reduced size of less than 33% the size of the
FlexATX mainboard form factor. The new Mini-ITX mainboard comes with an onboard VIA
Eden™ Embedded System Platform or a VIA C3™ E-series processor, boasting high levels of
integration, ultra low power consumption and cool, quiet operation providing a noiseless and
more ergonomic system.
A platform for innovation due to its small size and onboard VIA Eden™ Platform, the Mini-ITX
is fully compatible with Microsoft
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Windows
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XP and a full range of Embedded Windows,
Windows CE, and the latest Linux operating systems and applications. Compatibility is further
enhanced with its support for all the most popular Internet programs and plug-ins.
The new VIA Eden™ Embedded System Platform is spurring the further development of the
emerging new generation of quiet running, low profile small factor designs that are being
adopted for a myriad of connected information and entertainment systems – ranging from
home entertainment devices such as Set Top Boxes, Game Consoles, Personal Video
Recorders and Broadband Gateways to commercial applications such as Thin Clients, LCD
Web Based Terminals, POS Terminals, and Network Attached Servers.
These new designs not only leverage the fundamental strengths of the x86 platform –
namely, its software resources, its Internet compatibility, its rapid product innovation cycles,
its massive economies of scale and its open architecture. They also extend the capabilities of
the PC and the Internet by allowing people to connect to information and entertainment in an
easier, more convenient, and more affordable way.
Compact, stylish, reliable, fanless, and energy efficient, these new devices are already
beginning appearing in homes, workplaces, and public places such as airports and coffee
shops, and are set to further proliferate as more compelling digital multimedia applications
and services are developed and delivered over the Internet, home and corporate networks
through fixed and wired broadband technologies such as cable modems, ADSL, 802.11a, and
satellite.
In addition to describing the main features and applications for Mini-ITX form factor
motherboards, this document also includes information about the low power, fan less VIA
Eden™ Platform to enable developers to fully evaluate the benefits of adopting this
innovative new form factor.
