Solid State Kitchen Linux Box
Dear LazyWeb:
Our kitchen laptop is on its last legs. I’d like to replace it with a standalone LCD and a cheap, quiet, low-power CPU with just one or two gigabytes of storage for the operating system (music and other data are stored on a server in the basement). Can someone point me in the right direction? This is an instance where Google doesn’t provide an obvious leading/consensus solution. Most searches for solid state computers point to laptops, which isn’t what I want. The closest thing I’ve found is the Zonbox, but I’m not interested in their network/subscription storage model. Ideal specs:
- Total cost less than $300 (preferably less than $200)
- High-end Pentium III or lower-end Pentium IV, or equivalent. Should be able to play ogg files and browse today’s overactive websites at the same time without user latency. No need to support graphics-intensive applications like gaming or video editing.
- Built-in wireless networking. Support for a PCMCIA wireless card would also be acceptable. Most data will be accessed via an NFS share on the WAN.
- 1GB or 2GB of Flash memory for storage.
- Standard VGA out, preferably at least 1280×1024 (although 1024×768 would be okay).
- USB ports for keyboard, mouse, possibly external hard drive storage when needed.
- Painless Debian/Ubuntu installation, including out-of-the-box suspend/resume functionality.
Suggestions?