Summary

The Via C7 is a low-power x86 compatible processor with lots of extra goodies. There are a few variants, and one of those is getting used in the new OQO handheld computer.

Finally, an affordable C7 board is available again!

http://www.my-tech-deals.com/blog/2007/11/via-c7-pc2500e.html

This board is very similar to the PC CHIPS V21G (V1.0C) VIA C7 which is no longer available. At least I can't find it anywhere!

Via C7 Info

The C7 isn't the most powerful chip in the world, but it does have some characteristics which make it totally unique. First of all it has the ACE cryptography accelerator. To aid in security, it also has a hardware random number generator. Another neat added feature is its MPEG algorithms. Unlike the ACE features, I haven't tried out the MPEG capabilities, but I'm hoping to do so soon.

On top of all that cool stuff, the C7 is very energy efficient. The PC CHIPS V21G (V1.0C) VIA C7 didn't have the BIOS for ACPI frequency and voltage scaling, and word is that not every C7 can really scale, but I'm hoping the pc2500e can.

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