Backplane Systems
Backplane Systems had a number of exciting competitors to the Norhtec MicroClient Jr that I am using, although most were in a slightly higher price bracket (with accompanying higher specs/performance, of course). Here is an example of one of their Fanless Micro PC's, the MCP21A. This little beauty comes with 4xRS232/422/485 ports, 4xOpto-Isolated inputs, a 500MHz processor, USB etc.
Wincomm and ICP-Australia
Whilst at CeBIT, I found a product that I really want to get my hands on. Both Wincomm and ICP-Australia had a range of fanless, touch-screen panel PC's on display. These come with processors in the 500MHz - 1GHz range, 7-10inch lcd's, 1G RAM etc. Most come with a number of RS232 ports, and will run fully blown Linux installs and/or XP (on the right is an example from ICP-Australia).
All I could think of was strapping a pair of gearboxes, some batteries and a castor wheel onto one, and letting it run free!
There were some other companies that I noticed that were involved in embedded-computing, particularly ARBOR Australia, SOANAR and AFOLUX
The whole trip was a fantastic chance to catch up with current embedded-computing technology, I shall definitely be there again next year!
For more info on these companies, google is your friend.
