A while back, I aquired a Termtek TK-3350 thin-client for next to nothing. The computer came with a version of windows CE on a CF-card, which was mounted on a IDE-adapter card.
I wanted to see I could make a low-cost, low-power and silent server for simple stuff like game-serving and voice-chat.
Swapping the 64mb RAM with a roomy 512mb module, I did experiment with putting Linux onto a bigger 1gb CF-card I had, but eventually gave up. I did succesfully install a few light-weight distros onto it, but none that I liked. The ones I like wouldn't run, probably because of the odd hardware (a VIA C3-533MHz CPU and VIA chipset).
I needed more storrage, so I installed a 30 gb 2.5" HDD, drawing power direclty from a 5V rail I found. The yellow tape is Capton tape, heat-resistant and so on.
I installed MS Windows 2000 this last time, It worked out quite allright. I've ran it for several hours, and it gets no warmer than 48C. Since then, I've drilled two wholes in the chassy, and permanently mounted the HDD.
At maximum load it draws 25W, which i mainly the HDD. If I'd kept the CF rather than installing an HDD, it would probably have drawn less than 10W.
