After getting the new RK3588, I’ll soon have two older compute modules evicted from my pocket reform: the NXP it came with and the A311D I upgraded to previously. Is there a cost-effective way to re-use these SoMs in a small desktop form factor, like mini ITX or something? I definitely would prefer these computers to the Raspberry Pi as my little home servers of choice, if this is possible.
The only thing I can think of is to buy a “spare” MNT (Pocket?) Reform motherboard, and somehow jam it into a case with a desktop power supply. But I don’t know if I should expect motherboards to be on sale as individual parts ever again, given all the chip and component shortages. A “big” MNT motherboard would probably be preferable for this application given the extra I/O it comes with, especially standard Ethernet.
I know that MNT Rack Reform is coming and I am very excited about using that to replace my big home server. I hope it will be sold without a compute module so it will provide a home for one of my older modules. Does that make economic sense for MNT, or should we expect all the computers going forward to come with a SoM…?
Anyway, the little home server and small form factor computer application is very different from and more space/power constrained than the Rack: stuff like being hooked up to a TV for video playback and retro emulation, deposited in a friends house to host backups unobtrusively, etc.
Any suggestions about what I can jury-rig or information about future plans welcome. I look forward to a glorious future where pretty much all my computational devices are MNT-powered.