I've been using linux cnc successfully to retrofit large mechanical outdated cnc machines, and very impressed with the whole system. I now want to build a very small compact system for desk / bench use, without lugging around large boxes that take up space.

So I would like to us ITX motherboard. It just about fits into the mini tower case I have for the Gekko drivers, with everything else in the box. They are also small enough to have in a standalone box that I could take with me to do anything else with.

Does anyone here use itx motherboard, and / or mini computer to run linuxcnc ? I know I have to find one with at least one pci slot, for the parallel port card. I will use parallel card since it has been so reliable with me in the past, and cost about $15 dollars to replace if something goes wrong. I see a few of them used for sale on eBay with an Atom dual-core processor, with 4gb of memory, AND on board parallel (that might work) for around $50.

I don't know the class of Atom processors and how they compare to core I5, or dual-core I3. I know the Celeron class of processors is very weak, too slow for my preference. Linuxcnc doesn't need much since it was made and used way long before CORE I3 and CORE I5 processors were available. I would like to have a little overhead, in case I want to use a microscope camera, and possibly stream the output over network. But I don't want overkill since it's sole purpose is for linuxcnc, and would like to keep the budget under $100, for motherboard, memory, and the compact ITX DC power adapter.