Shuttle's SV24: Our smallest desktop PC

Software

We decided Windows XP would make a decent OS for an Internet terminal. It installed without a hitch, fully supporting the integrated graphics, sound, networking and FireWire devices.

Since this machine is to be used with a plasma screen TV, the resolution had to be adjusted to work as close to our display's 852x480 native resolution as possible. As the drivers didn't advertise support for this resolution, we had to do it manually in the registry by modifying the registry entries in HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO using regedit. This revealed the first (and only) software issue. Even after modifying these values, the machine booted at 640x480, the closest 4:3 resolution to 852x480. On a hunch, we installed the newer drivers available from S3's web page, which managed to boot at 848x480. Close enough. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't officially support anything less than 800x600 and Windows XP complains both on log in (a bubble from the right edge of the task bar) and from the Start Menu, once opened. Perhaps somebody at Microsoft will consider officially supporting HDTV resolutions in a future service pack. Despite Windows' objections, we had no problem running most any application in the low resolution.