Acnodes’s rugged, fanless, Linux-friendly “FES8680” box-PC features a 4th Gen Intel Core CPU, HDMI, dual GbE, and up to eight COM ports, and starts at $671.



The FES8680 is a spin-down of the rugged FES8670 announced by Acnodes last month, and similarly runs on Intel’s 4th Gen Core (Haswell) processors. The 10.24 x 8.19 x 2.3-inch FES8680 is built around a “long-life” Mini-ITX motherboard, and is targeted at outdoor advertising, POS/kiosk, transportation, and industrial control automation, says Acnodes.







FES8680, front (left) and rear views

(click images to enlarge)



Although the FES8680 is touted for its rugged aluminum chassis, it lacks the earlier model’s extended temperature support or other ruggedization features. It does, however, similarly support a wide-range power input, and offers DIN-rail and wall-mounting options.

The $671 FES8680 starter package ships with a dual-core, 2.9GHz Core i3-4130T CPU and 2GB of DDR3 RAM expandable to 16GB. A 320GB hard disk drive is standard, as well. You can further expand with an mSATA slot shared with a mini-PCIe interface that supports an optional WiFi and Bluetooth module, with dual antenna connectors.







FES8680 rear view showing I/O ports



The FES8680 features dual gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as HDMI and DVI-I display connections, although the press release instead lists VGA and DVI-I ports. You also get four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and audio I/O.

Four COM ports are standard, although the configurator page instead lists five. Acnodes suggests we should not take exact specs too seriously, stating: “Most of the commercial and industrial computers are custom built to customer’s exact requirements.” There is one standard I/O upgrade package available on the configurator page, however: You can add a package of four more serial ports for a total of eight (3x RS232/422/485 and 5x RS232).

One thing we can be sure of is that the FES8680 runs Linux. However, the $671 model ships without a preloaded OS.

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Specifications listed for the FES8680 include:

Processor — Intel 4th Gen Core with Intel HD Graphics, starting with Core i3-4130T (2x Haswell cores @ 2.9GHz)

Memory — 2GB DDR3 1600MHz expandable to 16GB via 2x SODIMMs

Storage: SATA 3 with 2.5-inch bay loaded with 320GB HDD mSATA interface shared with mini-PCIe

Display: DVI-I HDMI out

Wireless — Optional WiFi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 module (via mini-PCIe) with 2x antenna holes

Networking — 2x gigabit Ethernet ports

Other I/O: 4x USB 3.0 ports 2x USB 2.0 ports 2x RS232 ports 2x RS232/422/485 ports Optional package with 1x extra RS232/422/485 and 3x extra RS232 ports for total of up to 8x COM ports Audio mic-in, line-out

Expansion — 1x mini-PCIe half-sized socket, shared with mSATA

Other features — Watchdog; optional wall and DIN-rail mounting

Power — 9-24 DC input; 120V AC 60W adapter

Operating temperature — 0 to 40°C

Dimensions — 10.24 x 8.19 x 2.3 in.

Operating system — supports Linux; Windows7 Pro available for $165



Further information

The highly customizable FES8680 starts at $671 with an Intel dual-core, 2.9GHz, 4th Gen Core i3-4130T processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 320GB HDD. It appears to be available now. More information may be found on the FES8680 product page.

