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The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

blog.linuxmint.com

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Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#61

Post by seclorum »

For $250, I've built an Android and Ubuntu tablet, using the Pandaboard ES as the base with a 10.1" capacitive touchscreen (multi-touch).

It functions extremely well and makes me wonder why no serious manufacturers are pursuing this avenue right now .. it seems to me to be a very powerful combination of parts.

Ripe opportunities abound for anyone with the skills to bootstrap a hardware startup constructing such things. I sure wish I had the gumption to do it (I could handle the software side, anyway..)

Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#63

Post by hollerith »

drostie wrote: post #29
noonespecial wrote: post #27

In the course of my business, I deal with dozens of different embedded PC's. There's one thing I wish players in this space would keep in mind: If you want to take a shot at this window of power and performance (the level at which people start thinking "set-top box") you really have to beat out the $250 netbook I can get at walmart. If my first thought is, "nice form-factor but a netbook/mini-itx/mac-mini solves the…

Yeah, the one big thing that this one has going for it is its noiselessness due to using its case as a heat sink. Torvalds has also talked about how he wants a "whisper-quiet" computing environment; I'm surprised that so few companies treat this as a design target. It's probably more popular among computers designed to be used as thin clients, which it looks like the mintBox is. It's nice to see how much you can comp…

>the one big thing that this one has going for it is its noiselessness due to using its case as a heat sink

I am going to disagree with that: IMHO the one big thing being fanless has going for it is lack of need for maintenance. Specifically, without a fan, the case can be designed so that much less dust gets into the case, and dust and moving parts are the main causes of need for maintenance.

The cost-effective way to lower noise is to use better fans (longer blades, better bearings, lower-RPM motors) or to use solid-state drives.

The company that makes the computers featured in the OP also makes a fanless computer powered by an Ivy Bridge Core i7: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/purchase/order-direct-intense-pc/. But they want $836 for the barebones (no RAM, no HDD) version!

One reason the price is so high is that they are forced to use an ultra-low-power (17-W-TDP) processor. If you add just one fan to your design, you can easily accommodate a 65-W-TDP processor, and in fact Intel does not even sell a retail processor (i.e., a processor marketed to people who build their own boxes) with less than 65 W TDP. To be precise, they didn't sell any such retail processors before Ivy Bridge started coming out -- I have not checked since then.

ADDED. I am talking here about systems with some oomph: if an ARM or an embedded-class processor will do the trick, then obviously being noiseless (and compact and low in power consumption and low maintenence) is easy.

Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#66

Post by Danieru »

drostie wrote: post #32
crumblan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know, but I wanted Google, and I found it difficult to remove the branded search and switch to basic Google. It's not a ridiculous complaint, I just think if they are willing to treat their users like that it will only get worse in the future. I jumped off of Ubuntu because of Unity, though, so I might be feeling very "once bitten..."

That is quite understandable, but think of it from a scrupulous person's perspective. You could make your default search Google, in which case you're sending your user a mixed message: "I am giving you the popular search" versus "I don't actually care about your privacy." What's worse is, it's generally a conflict of interest. At least at one point (and perhaps it's still the case) Google was paying Mozilla for the p…

Selling the default search position to Google is just about Mozilla's entire cash flow. It amounts to several hundred million a year.

Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#67

Post by forgotAgain »

Although the metal makes the mintBox heavier than other devices its size, it makes it feel really unique, robust and well engineered.

This sentence really turned me off. If you're going to sell something as well engineered then don't say it feels that way. Give the results of drop tests or heat dissipation tests.

Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#68

Post by Spoom »

crumblan wrote: post #2

For anyone thinking of trying Mint; they will install customized search engines in your Firefox and Chromium, it is a shit experience, and it is irritating to remove or avoid. I would suggest you do not use Mint if you plan on doing any internet searching.

Linux Mint user here: This was never a big issue for me. They explain it thoroughly at http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php and let you click through to install Google (plain vanilla, non-custom Google) very easily. Plus, so far this only affects Firefox, their default browser. If you use Chrom[e|ium] like I do, it's even less of an issue.

I really think the parent comment is an overreaction.

Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#69

Post by hack_edu »

ekianjo wrote: post #34
hack_edu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu has a huge community that makes any question you have easily Googlable, as well as a much more mature ecosystem in general. Even if they're built on the same foundation, these little things really make a difference and ease headaches. And really, you can't write off the simple fact that its been around and strong for so many years. You can rest assured that it will continue to be.

I don't really understand your point. You can install the exact same thing on Mint as on Ubuntu. Both environments are very similar, and you can have the more resource efficient Cinnamon as Framework on Mint instead of Unity on Ubuntu. It's basically the same thing, and Mint benefits from the very strong Ubuntu foundation,.

Key word is 'basically.' The funge factor adds up.

Re: The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

#70

Post by crumblan »

idleloops wrote: post #44
crumblan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not find it trivial to remove the package, and changing my default provider didn't work for whatever reason.

Sounds annoying. Did you try through the firefox (registry) - about:config? Failing that you could try something like Firefox Nightly.

I eventually got it, but I did end up doing the registry and mucking out some bits in /etc. Then I figured, "hey, I haven't tried Debian yet." So that's probably my next step... but it's looking like if you want it done right you're going to have to compile it yourself :/
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