56-483: Zonbu was a technology company that marketed a computing platform which combined a web-centric service, a small form factor PC , and an open source based software architecture. Zonbu was founded by Alain Rossmann (previously founder and CEO of Openwave ) and Gregoire Gentil (previously co-founder of Twingo Systems ). The first-generation Zonbox hardware was the eBox-4854 sold by DMP Electronics of Taiwan. Called
112-514: A mass of almost exactly one kilogram , because the kilogram was originally defined in 1795 as the mass of one cubic decimetre of water at the temperature of melting ice ( 0 °C ). Subsequent redefinitions of the metre and kilogram mean that this relationship is no longer exact. A litre is a cubic decimetre , which is the volume of a cube 10 centimetres × 10 centimetres × 10 centimetres (1 L ≡ 1 dm ≡ 1000 cm ). Hence 1 L ≡ 0.001 m ≡ 1000 cm ; and 1 m (i.e.
168-704: A normative definition and is consequently open to interpretation and misuse. Manufacturers often provide definitions that serve the interests of their products. According to marketing strategy, one manufacturer may decide to mark their product as "small form factor" while other manufacturers are using different marketing name (such as "Minitower", "Microtower" or "Desktop") for personal computers of similar or even smaller footprint. The acronym SFF originally stood for " Shuttle Form Factor," describing shoebox-sized personal computers with two expansion slots. The meaning of SFF evolved to include other, similar PC designs from brands such as AOpen and First International Computer, with
224-577: A cubic metre, which is the SI unit for volume) is exactly 1000 L. From 1901 to 1964, the litre was defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water at maximum density (+3.98 °C) and standard pressure . The kilogram was in turn specified as the mass of the International Prototype of the Kilogram (a specific platinum/iridium cylinder) and was intended to be of the same mass as
280-533: A juice carton). In 1990, the International Committee for Weights and Measures stated that it was too early to choose a single symbol for the litre. Prior to 1979, the symbol ℓ came into common use in some countries; for example, it was recommended by South African Bureau of Standards publication M33 and Canada in the 1970s. This symbol can still be encountered occasionally in some English-speaking and European countries like Germany, and its use
336-610: A lack of desk or floor space as the footprint is small when placed vertically. It may also fit nicely into a TV cabinet/shelf and act as a cheaper, faster, upgradable alternative to gaming consoles. The graphics card may be sectioned off internally as to isolate it from the heat produced by the CPU. Until 2005, SFF cases were usually sold as barebones units (case, power supply, and motherboard) to system integrators and home-based builders. In 2005, Apple Inc. introduced its Mac Mini (volume of 1.4 L , excluding external power brick ). Later in
392-408: A litre, known as one millilitre (1 mL), of water has a mass of about 1 g; 1000 litres of water has a mass of about 1000 kg (1 tonne or megagram). This relationship holds because the gram was originally defined as the mass of 1 mL of water; however, this definition was abandoned in 1799 because the density of water changes with temperature and, very slightly, with pressure. It
448-495: A microATX form factor. True SFF systems use SFX , TFX or smaller power supplies , and some require a laptop-style external "power brick." Some SFF computers even include compact components designed for mobile computers , such as notebook optical drives , notebook memory modules, notebook processors, and external AC adapters , rather than the internal power supply units found in full-size desktop computers. Crowdfunding and availability of rapid prototyping tools has enabled
504-452: A millilitre or mL) is a unit of the cgs system, which preceded the MKS system , which later evolved into the SI system. The abbreviation "cc" is still commonly used in many fields, including medical dosage and sizing for combustion engine displacement . The microlitre (μL) has been known in the past as the lambda (λ), but this usage is now discouraged. In the medical field the microlitre
560-442: A miniature HTPC replicates the look of other smaller-than-rack-sized home theatre components such as a DVR or mini audio receiver . The front panel interface is emphasized, with the optical disc drive rotated relative to the case in order to maintain horizontal mounting, and more motherboard port connectors (such as for USB ) are routed to the front panel, they normally are as powerful as PC desktops. A computer-on-module (COM)
616-453: A number of software applications. These include the Firefox web browser , OpenOffice productivity suite and Skype IP phone service, and 30 casual games. With the default OS, the user is not allowed to install any third-party software. The default set of applications is supposed to fit the needs of non-technical users or of a second home PC. However, Zonbu provides instructions to unlock
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#1732779692101672-423: A volume of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm (see figure) and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre. The original French metric system used the litre as a base unit . The word litre is derived from an older French unit, the litron , whose name came from Byzantine Greek —where it was a unit of weight, not volume —via Late Medieval Latin, and which equalled approximately 0.831 litres. The litre
728-424: Is "a litre of water's a pint and three-quarters"; this is very close, as a litre is about 1.76 imperial pints. A cubic foot has an exact volume of 28.316846592 litres. Originally, the only symbol for the litre was l (lowercase letter L), following the SI convention that only those unit symbols that abbreviate the name of a person start with a capital letter. In many English-speaking countries, however,
784-490: Is a complete computer built on a single circuit board . They are often used as embedded systems due to their small physical size and low power consumption. Gumstix is one manufacturer of COMs. Each model of Dell's OptiPlex line of computers typically includes an Ultra-Small Form Factor (USFF) chassis option. In the Core 2 era, these machines used 8.9 cm (3.5") desktop hard drives and external power supplies, such as
840-671: Is a customized version of Linux based on the Gentoo distribution using the Xfce desktop environment. It is geared towards non-technical users, and the user interface focuses more on simplicity than advanced features. The filesystem architecture combines a transparent overlay filesystem (pioneered by Linux Live Distributions ) with an on-line backup service. User data is locally cached on Compact Flash Card, then transparently encrypted with 128-bit encryption and transferred to remote storage servers at Amazon S3 . Zonbu comes pre-loaded with
896-499: Is another mini computer. The HP Slimline uses a non-standard motherboard that is very similar in size to Mini-ITX. In addition to its industrial use, the extremely small Mini-ITX motherboard form factor has also been incorporated into SFF computers. These are often extremely compact, incorporating low-power components such as the VIA C3 processors. The Travla C134 is an example of this design. At 17.8 x 25.4 x 5.1 cm (7 × 10 × 2")
952-596: Is now known that the density of water also depends on the isotopic ratios of the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in a particular sample. Modern measurements of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water , which is pure distilled water with an isotopic composition representative of the average of the world's oceans, show that it has a density of 0.999 975 ± 0.000 001 kg/L at its point of maximum density (3.984 °C) under one standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa ) of pressure. The litre, though not an official SI unit, may be used with SI prefixes . The most commonly used derived unit
1008-409: Is sometimes abbreviated as mcL on test results. In the SI system, apart from prefixes for powers of 1000, use of the "centi" (10 ), "deci" (10 ), "deca" (10 ) and "hecto" (10 ) prefixes with litres is common. For example, in many European countries, the hectolitre is the typical unit for production and export volumes of beverages (milk, beer, soft drinks, wine, etc.) and for measuring the size of
1064-536: Is the millilitre, defined as one-thousandth of a litre, and also often referred to by the SI derived unit name "cubic centimetre". It is a commonly used measure, especially in medicine, cooking and automotive engineering. Other units may be found in the table below, where the more often used terms are in bold. However, some authorities advise against some of them; for example, in the United States, NIST advocates using
1120-668: Is ubiquitous in Japan and South Korea. Fonts covering the CJK characters usually include not only the script small ℓ but also four precomposed characters: ㎕, ㎖, ㎗, and ㎘ for the microlitre, millilitre, decilitre and kilolitre to allow correct rendering for vertically written scripts. These have Unicode equivalents for compatibility, which are not recommended for use with new documents: The CJK Compatibility block also includes U+3351 ㍑ SQUARE RITTORU corresponding to リットル rittoru , Japanese for 'litre'. The first name of
1176-466: The Zonbu , fit-PC , Linutop , and A9home . With the release of Intel Atom CPU, AOpen also made Nettop systems: the uBox series with model LE200 and LE210. The uBox series equips a dual-core Intel Atom 270/330 processor, single-channel DDR-II 533/667 memory, Intel 945GC+ICH7 chipset, three SATA connectors and 5.1-channel high-definition audio output. Essentially a bookshelf-style case lying on its side,
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#17327796921011232-408: The aesthetic and ergonomic design of SFFs since users are more likely to place them on top of a desk or carry them around. Advancements in technology combined with a reduced size enables a powerful computer to be a smaller size. Small form factor designs do not include computing devices that have traditionally been small, such as embedded or mobile systems. However, "small form factor" lacks
1288-452: The volume and footprint of a desktop computer compared to the standard ATX form factor. For comparison purposes, the size of an SFF case is usually measured in litres . SFFs are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including shoeboxes, cubes, and book-sized PCs. Their smaller and often lighter construction has made them popular as home theater PCs and as gaming computers for attending LAN parties . Manufacturers also emphasize
1344-411: The 1 litre of water referred to above. It was subsequently discovered that the cylinder was around 28 parts per million too large and thus, during this time, a litre was about 1.000 028 dm . Additionally, the mass–volume relationship of water (as with any fluid) depends on temperature, pressure, purity and isotopic uniformity. In 1964, the definition relating the litre to mass was superseded by
1400-459: The 16th CGPM conference, the alternative symbol L (uppercase letter L) was adopted. It also expressed a preference that in the future only one of these two symbols should be retained, but in 1990 said it was still too early to do so. In spoken English, the symbol "mL" (for millilitre) can be pronounced as "mil". This can potentially cause confusion with some other measurement words such as: The abbreviation "cc" (for cubic centimetre , equal to
1456-569: The GeForce GTX-295. Most SFF computers use highly integrated motherboards containing many on-board peripherals, reducing the need for expansion cards. As of 2020 many SFF PC cases do not include any expansion bays larger than 2.5 inches (large enough to accommodate SATA SSDs), due to the declining popularity of optical disc drives and 3.5-inch hard drives in the consumer space. Even if labeled "SFF," cube-style cases that support full-sized (PS2 form factor) power supplies actually have
1512-494: The I/O shield and the two PCI slots being located in common with mini-ITX motherboards. Most ShFF systems utilize Shuttle's proprietary heat pipe (liquid cooling) system, "Integrated Cooling Engine" (ICE), for the processor, although several also feature heat pipe cooling for the voltage regulator and/or the chip set ( Northbridge ). When an ShFF system is upgraded to a mini-ITX motherboard, an Intel or compatible processor fan must replace
1568-662: The ICE cooler. The ShFF's ICE computer fan is so designed that it may be repurposed as a case fan when the case is upgraded to mini-ITX use. When so upgraded, the repurposed fan would be connected to the motherboard's case fan connector (3-pin) while the new CPU fan would be connected to the motherboard's CPU fan connector (4-pin). AOpen Inc. produced a stackable S120 case, allowing the user to stack up to four components vertically or horizontally. These layers can be for add-on cards, optical drives, and hard drives, using either internal power supplies or external AC adapter power sources. After
1624-619: The OptiPlex 745 and 755. More recent units use 6.4 cm (2.5") laptop hard drives and have integrated power supplies, such as the OptiPlex 990 USFF. The compact size comes at the cost of restricted expandability, as USFF models have no PCI or PCIe slots and may have limited CPU and memory options. Starting from Series 5, USFF was replaced with Micro variants, an even smaller size option that uses external power supplies and does not have optical drives. Understood as comprising nano-ITX (12 × 12 cm) and pico-ITX (10 × 7.2 cm) boards,
1680-598: The S120, AOpen made more small form factor cases for systems with Micro ATX and Mini-ITX. The graphics card is placed behind the motherboard and PSU , connecting to it via a PCI Express x16 extension cable. This design is popular with SFF enthusiasts as it packs high-performance hardware into a small space while providing adequate cooling. Water cooling radiators may be added on to the top, bottom or sides to further increase cooling capacity. An electrically insulating sheet, such as thermoplastic polyurethane , may be placed between
1736-511: The Travla C134 is somewhat larger than the Mac mini which is 16.5 x 16.5 x 5.1 cm (6.5 × 6.5 × 2") and barely bigger than a standard 13.3 cm (5.25") optical drive . Beginning in 2007, several other companies have released other very small computers that besides a small size, focus on a low price, and extremely high power efficiency (typically 10 W or below in use). These include
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1792-522: The XPC is provided with mounting points which accommodate both "Shuttle form factor" (ShFF) and mini-ITX motherboards. In order to accommodate mini-ITX motherboards, two of the ShFF mounting points are simply relocated (the remaining mini-ITX mounting points are in common with the remaining ShFF mounting points). A "standard" ShFF motherboard is 20.6 cm (8 1/8″) wide by 27.3 cm (10 3/4″) deep, with
1848-753: The Zonbu Mini, it was a nettop computer measuring 6 + 3 ⁄ 4 in × 4 + 3 ⁄ 4 in × 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in (171 mm × 121 mm × 57 mm). It is flash based, fanless , and thus effectively silent. The official specifications for the device in 2007 were: 1.2 GHz Via Eden CPU ( C7 Esther core), 512 MB RAM, Ethernet over twisted pair 10/100 Mbit/s, PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, VGA display port and 6 USB 2.0 ports, 4 GB CompactFlash local storage, and Graphics up to 2048 x 1536 with 16 million colors – hardware graphics and MPEG2 acceleration. Disassembly by Zonbu owners has shown that
1904-603: The Zonbu includes options for internal expansion: Mini PCI slot (for an optional wireless card ), IDE connector, with room in the case for a 2.5" hard drive , and serial and parallel ports. The Zonbu subscription plans include online storage (using Amazon S3 ), automatic upgrades, online support and remote file access. The subscription service is promoted as reducing the hassle of typical computer maintenance tasks, such as hardware repair, software installation, updates and upgrades, and malicious software removal. The Zonbu OS
1960-491: The capacity or size of their container, whereas cubic metres (and derived units) are most commonly used for items measured either by their dimensions or their displacements. The litre is often also used in some calculated measurements, such as density (kg/L), allowing an easy comparison with the density of water. One litre of water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram when measured at its maximal density, which occurs at about 4 °C. It follows, therefore, that 1000th of
2016-401: The case of the mini PC MP945 series. Since 2006, major OEM PC brands such as HP and Dell have begun to sell fully assembled SFF systems. These are often described as bookshelf units since they resemble a miniature tower case small enough to fit on a bookshelf. The HP Slimline series and Dell Dimension C521 (volume 1.65 L) are good examples of this trend. The Maxdata Favorite 300XS
2072-517: The catch and quotas for fishing boats; decilitres are common in Croatia , Switzerland and Scandinavia and often found in cookbooks, and restaurant and café menus; centilitres indicate the capacity of drinking glasses and of small bottles. In colloquial Dutch in Belgium , a " vijfentwintiger " and a " drieëndertiger " (literally "twenty-fiver" and "thirty-threer") are the common beer glasses,
2128-399: The corresponding bottles mention 25 cL and 33 cL. Bottles may also be 75 cL or half size at 37.5 cL for "artisanal" brews or 70 cL for wines or spirits. Cans come in 25 cL, 33 cL and 50 cL. Similarly, alcohol shots are often marked in cL in restaurant menus, typically 3 cL (1.06 imp fl oz; 1.01 US fl oz). In countries where the metric system was adopted as
2184-535: The current one. Although the litre is not an SI unit, it is accepted by the CGPM (the standards body that defines the SI) for use with the SI. CGPM defines the litre and its acceptable symbols. A litre is equal in volume to the millistere , an obsolete non-SI metric unit formerly customarily used for dry measure . Litres are most commonly used for items (such as fluids and solids that can be poured) which are measured by
2240-470: The format was championed by VIA Technologies . Intel now describes its own Next Unit of Computing (NUC) products (10.2 x 10.2 cm or 4 × 4") as UCFF. Litre The litre ( Commonwealth spelling ) or liter ( American spelling ) (SI symbols L and l , other symbol used: ℓ ) is a metric unit of volume . It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm ), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm ) or 0.001 cubic metres (m ). A cubic decimetre (or litre) occupies
2296-593: The litre was "cadil"; standards are shown at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. The litre was introduced in France in 1795 as one of the new "republican units of measurement" and defined as one cubic decimetre . One litre of liquid water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram , due to the gram being defined in 1795 as one cubic centimetre of water at the temperature of melting ice. The original decimetre length
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2352-496: The millilitre or litre instead of the centilitre. There are two international standard symbols for the litre: L and l. In the United States the former is preferred because of the risk that (in some fonts) the letter l and the digit 1 may be confused. See also Imperial units and US customary units . One litre is slightly larger than a US liquid quart and slightly less than an imperial quart or one US dry quart . A mnemonic for its volume relative to an imperial pint
2408-535: The most common shape of a handwritten Arabic digit 1 is just a vertical stroke ; that is, it lacks the upstroke added in many other cultures. Therefore, the digit "1" may easily be confused with the letter "l" . In some computer typefaces, the two characters are barely distinguishable. As a result, L (uppercase letter L) was adopted by the CIPM as an alternative symbol for litre in 1979. The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology now recommends
2464-405: The motherboard/PSU and graphics card to implement separate airflow zones, isolating heat sources from each other to improve cooling. Resembling a gaming console (such as Xbox One or PlayStation 4 ), the graphics card is placed directly above or below the motherboard and PSU. The graphics card is connected to motherboard with a PCIe x16 extension cable. This form factor is popular for those with
2520-525: The non-standard motherboards, cramped interior space, and power and airflow concerns. The Power Mac G4 Cube , released in 2000, and the Shuttle XPC are good examples of this design. MSI and Asus produce similar designs. The Xi3 Modular Computer is an example of a cube computer with a little more upgrade possibilities. Shuttle has adapted several of its XPC models (some 5-series and most later) to alternately accept mini-ITX motherboards. The base of
2576-550: The official measuring system after the SI standard was established, common usage eschews prefixes that are not powers of 1000. For example, in Canada , Australia , and New Zealand , consumer beverages are labelled almost exclusively using litres and millilitres. An exception is in pathology, where for instance blood lead level and blood sugar level may be measured in micrograms/milligrams per decilitre. For larger volumes, kilolitres, megalitres, and gigalitres, have been used by
2632-525: The operating system and install additional software. The procedure is technical and intended for a minority of users (Standard for many linux users, unlocking GRUB, root, and install with emerge/portage). Small form factor (desktop and motherboard) Small form factor ( abbreviated : SFF ) is a term used for desktop computers and for some of their components, chassis and motherboard , to indicate that they are designed in accordance with one of several standardized form factors intended to minimize
2688-534: The production of several mini-ITX cases focusing on efficiently organizing commercial computer components into small volumes including the Ghost S1, DAN A4-SFX, and Thor Zone MJOLNIR. Communities of enthusiasts and reviewers now develop and promote enhanced SFF assembly, maintenance, and performance criteria. 3D printing and laser cutting have enabled customization and one-off production by both manufacturers like Lazer3D and individual users with access to
2744-416: The relevant equipment. The many different types of SFFs are categorized loosely by their shape and size. The types below are available as of 2013 . Many SFF computers have a cubic shape. Smaller models are typically sold as barebones units, including a case, motherboard , and power supply designed to fit together. The motherboard lies flat against the base of the case. Upgrade options may be limited by
2800-520: The same year, the first AOpen mini PC MP915 (renamed to XC mini in 2007 since "mini PC" could not be registered as a trademark), was announced. The size of the XC mini series PC—16.5(W) × 5.0(H) × 16.5(D) cm—makes it one of the smallest desktop PC systems (1.3L volume). It was criticized for looking like the Apple Mac Mini but Apple has not taken action on this subject. In February 2007, AOpen redesigned
2856-416: The small size of SFF cases may limit expansion options; many commercial offerings provide only one 8.9 cm (3.5") drive bay and one or two 13.3 cm (5.25") external bays. Standard CPU heatsinks do not always fit inside an SFF computer, so some manufacturers provide custom cooling systems. Though limited to one or two expansion cards , a few have the space for 3 ⁄ 4 -length cards such as
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#17327796921012912-453: The temperature of its maximum density (3.98 °C) under a pressure of 1 atm . This made the litre equal to about 1.000 028 dm (earlier reference works usually put it at 1.000 027 dm ). In 1964, at the 12th CGPM conference, the original definition was reverted to, and thus the litre was once again defined in exact relation to the metre, as another name for the cubic decimetre, that is, exactly 1 dm . In 1979, at
2968-537: The use of the uppercase letter L, a practice that is also widely followed in Canada and Australia . In these countries, the symbol L is also used with prefixes, as in mL and μL, instead of the traditional ml and μl used in Europe. In the UK and Ireland , as well as the rest of Europe, lowercase l is used with prefixes, though whole litres are often written in full (so, "750 ml" on a wine bottle, but often "1 litre" on
3024-470: The word "Small" replacing the word "Shuttle". The term SFF is used in contrast with terms for larger systems such as "mini-towers" and "desktops." Small form factor computers are generally designed to support the same features as modern desktop computers , but in a smaller space. Most accept standard x86 microprocessors , standard DIMM memory modules, standard 8.9 cm (3.5") hard disks , and standard 13.3 cm (5.25") optical drives . However,
3080-420: Was 44.344 lignes , which was revised in 1798 to 44.3296 lignes . This made the original litre 1.000 974 of today's cubic decimetre. It was against this litre that the kilogram was constructed. In 1879, the CIPM adopted the definition of the litre, with the symbol l (lowercase letter L). In 1901, at the 3rd CGPM conference, the litre was redefined as the space occupied by 1 kg of pure water at
3136-562: Was also used in several subsequent versions of the metric system and is accepted for use with the SI, although not an SI unit —the SI unit of volume is the cubic metre (m ). The spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is "litre", a spelling which is shared by most English-speaking countries. The spelling "liter" is predominantly used in American English . One litre of liquid water has
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