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?
Pharao Aug 19
if you want to google a bit “embedded server” for examples gives me some nice systems. (at least in german shops)
a alternative could be a via eden on a Jetway board. you get them for ~$170 – with the parts you need you should be able to get a running system for $300.
or you could just use a thin-client – did you think about this?
Didier RAboud Aug 19
Hi !
What about the Linutop¹? It does not have built-in Wireless nor PCMCIA, but you could try with a USB dongle…
Regards,
Didier
¹ http://www.linutop.com/
Yo Aug 19
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/25/2010226
Benoit Aug 19
You should really reconsider the Zonbu ( http://www.zonbu.com ). They offer a community/developper version for $250 ( http://www.zonbu.com/shop/product.php?productid=1 ), without their subscription service.
I’ve got one last week, and that’s undoubtedly one the best value for money I’ve ever got.
For wireless, they offer a USB Wiki dongle for $30.
Didier RAboud Aug 19
Found another one :
http://www.norhtec.com/products/mcjr/index.html
Didier Raboud Aug 19
And a page listing some of them :
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2016997232.html
(and sorry for flood)…
Regards, Didier
Joel Dice Aug 19
I’ve been using a box from koolu.com for the past few months and I’ve been happy with it. I’m using an 8GB compact flash card, but in your case I would recommend forgoing local storage altogether and booting via PXE instead, since you already have a machine in the basement.
sam Aug 19
mini-itx such as via epia
adam Aug 19
A lot of excellent suggestions! Thanks. Now I just need to figure out which is best among the options.
Sven Mueller Aug 20
Hi.
Just to add even another suggestion: I use http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1c.htm which doesn’t have wireless onboard, but a nice miniPCI slot to add one and a CF slot for flash. Boots off USB sticks or USB-cdrom (or USB-floppy if you need to). I assume Debian works out of the box, at least Ubuntu (the version from linuxcnc.org – based on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS) does.
The box certainly isn’t the fastest box around, but gives a lot value for the money and is very energy-efficient. It only uses about 6.9 Watts under full load. It should also be (just) fast enough to browse while playing Ogg music or easily decodable video.
I have no idea about its capabilities regarding suspend and resume though.
Regards,
Sven
doolittle Aug 24
How about the Asus EEE PC? It’s a $200 laptop w/ 4gb flash and linux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
I am looking at it for the exact same reason, kitchen / living room for web surfing, etc…
cheers