Neoware M100: Hardware 

• Hardware
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• Linux

On the left is a stock photograph of a M100. On the right is the one I have. It is missing its keyboard, two hinge covers and the strip that goes above the keyboard carrying things like the on/off button. However, in compensation, it did only cost me 99p (plus £9 postage).

The M100 carries no manufacturing date. It's part number is DB-A3-KD-BK0.

Specifications

Processor
Type    Speed	VIA Eden 800 MHz
Chipset
	VN800
Memory
Flash    RAM	512MB 512MB
Video
Screen	15" XVGA 1024 x 768
Chip    Max resolution	integrated in CN800 up to 1600 x 1200 32-bit colour
Ports
Network    USB    Serial    Parallel    PS/2	10/100 5 x USB2.0 none none none
Power
Battery	8 cell Li-Ion(4800 mAh)
Off    Running	0W ~60W
Dimensions
H x W x D (mm)	318 x 277 x 22~36.7

The operating system is Windows XPe.

Power Supply

Mine came without an external power supply/charger. The label on the bottom of the M100 reads "19V 3.42A". The first supply I tried - from an Acer laptop - did not fit as the central pin on the M100's power socket was too large. I ended up powering it from a 'universal laptop power supply' that had a range of tips that could be fitted.

Features (or lack of!)

Keyboard

As the unit had no keyboard I used a standard PC keyboard connected to one of the USB ports. This worked perfectly.

Memory

Flash/Disk. The M100 has two IDE ports. The first is a 44-pin male IDE connector on the motherboard. (Normally, to gain access to it, you would have to remove the keyboard - I had no such problem!) The standard system firmware (Windows XP) is on a Disk-On-Module (DOM) connected to this. You can see this at the bottom right in the photograph.

The second IDE interface is a female 44-pin connector that sits at the back of a drive bay that is revealed if you use a screwdriver to remove a cover on the front of the base of the laptop. The bay is the right size for a 9.5mm thick 2.5" drive. I inserted an IBM Travelstar 4GB drive with Tinycore 3.0 installed on it. After a suitable adjustment to the list of boot devices in the BIOS this booted and ran.

Ram. The RAM is a single SODIMM located under a panel on the underneath of the laptop. The RAM fitted is made by Apacer and marked 512MB SOD PC2-4300 CL4.

Wireless

Under the keyboard adjacent to the DOM is a mini-PCI socket for a standard wireless modem card. No card was fitted in my M100, but the leads to the aerials were there. I purchased a suitable wireless card from e-Bay for £1.70 and fitted it.

Free Space

This is obviously a standard chassis that was designed to carry a CD/DVD drive. To the right of the main circuit board there is a large area of free space that this would have occupied. There is no provision for fitting such a drive and the only access to that space is from the top after the keyboard has been removed. As it is adjacent to the motherboard's IDE connector it would be somewhere to place an IDE-to-CF adaptor should you wish to provide flash storage that way.

Any comments? email me. Last update August 2010