Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

symplepc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 144 posts

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#51

Post by dangerlibrary »

sitkack wrote: post #47
egd wrote: post #24

They're cheap enough that my first thought was to pick up a couple and figure out what I'd do with them later, but the disadvantage here is that they're older boxes, which means they're going to be energy hogs (for the performance point, at least). That's what makes the eco pitch interesting - they're reducing e-waste, which is good, but energy efficiency on newer boxes (especially if you just need minimal performanc…

I deleted a post about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox and how these machines were in fact not green. I was wrong. Given the right uses, like an elementary school computer lab for learning Scratch, Logo, etc; they would be fine. The problem is they are right on the cusp of the next cycle of Moore's Law, Raspberry Pi is now quad core and 1GB, it puts it in the same class as this machine. The cost of "g…

Until Raspberry Pi can get their power supply problems under control, they really aren't good enough to use as any kind of workstation.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#52

Post by cwyers »

john61 wrote: post #46
jkot wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> over something like an ARM based Chromebook) is probably easily offset by the power needed to manufacture I doubt it. Manufactoring cost for ARM SOC is $10, this thing burns it in a month.

He is talking about power not cost to build it.

Cost to build likely includes the cost of power, no? In other words, if building an ARM SoC costs $10, the electricity cost in the ARM SoC is under $10, so if you save $10 in electricity by running the ARM SoC, then you've offset the cost of the energy used in manufacturing.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#53

Post by ChuckMcM »

egd wrote: post #24

They're cheap enough that my first thought was to pick up a couple and figure out what I'd do with them later, but the disadvantage here is that they're older boxes, which means they're going to be energy hogs (for the performance point, at least). That's what makes the eco pitch interesting - they're reducing e-waste, which is good, but energy efficiency on newer boxes (especially if you just need minimal performanc…

This has been one of the most amazingly non-intuitive things for me over the years. That operating a computer that is older can be so much more inefficient than operating one that is newer, that it isn't worth it. Literally the best thing you can do is crush the chips and mine the result for gold, silver, and the few rare earths that are left over. That at least puts a finite limit on the energy consumed over it, and the value returned from it.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#55

Post by pjc50 »

dangerlibrary wrote: post #51
sitkack wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted a post about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox and how these machines were in fact not green. I was wrong. Given the right uses, like an elementary school computer lab for learning Scratch, Logo, etc; they would be fine. The problem is they are right on the cusp of the next cycle of Moore's Law, Raspberry Pi is now quad core and 1GB, it puts it in the same class as this machine. The cost of "g…

Until Raspberry Pi can get their power supply problems under control, they really aren't good enough to use as any kind of workstation.

First I've heard of this; it does need a decent USB power supply, but that's a consequence of not shipping one and expecting the user to supply one of suitable quality.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#56

Post by morganvachon »

dangerlibrary wrote: post #51
sitkack wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted a post about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox and how these machines were in fact not green. I was wrong. Given the right uses, like an elementary school computer lab for learning Scratch, Logo, etc; they would be fine. The problem is they are right on the cusp of the next cycle of Moore's Law, Raspberry Pi is now quad core and 1GB, it puts it in the same class as this machine. The cost of "g…

Until Raspberry Pi can get their power supply problems under control, they really aren't good enough to use as any kind of workstation.

They did, with the B+ in mid 2014, and the current Pi 2 with the same power design. The B+ and newer boards don't suffer the odd power supply issues that the older boards (even the B rev2) suffered.

And I'm not just rehashing what someone else said; I've had one each of the original B, a rev 2 B, a B+, and now a Pi 2. I've used the same power supply on all four, and on the B+ and Pi 2 I don't have any issues with hotplugging flash drives and wifi adapters whereas I did on the original and rev 2 models.

I've had my B+ running 24/7 since August as a webcam server to watch my dog in the back yard, and I've only had to reboot it once for an update. It's running a Microsoft USB-powered 720p webcam and an Edimax wifi adapter directly off of the built in USB, and it hasn't once had a power issue. I've had my Pi 2 running 24/7 since I got it a couple of weeks ago, as a "light" GNU/Linux workstation I can switch to and use when my main workstation is otherwise occupied. Again, no power issues on that board.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#57

Post by maxsilver »

listic wrote: post #26

I wonder how anyone makes use of Ubuntu for even just 'web work' with just 2GB RAM. The browsers are becoming ever more bloated; I know I had swap issues on my non-SSD laptop before I upgraded from 4 to 8. Right now it uses 3.3 with 9 Chrome tabs open, an IM client, gedit and terminal. It's unfortunate, of course, because 4GB of older DDR1/DDR2 memory would be much more tough to find/expensive than 2.

I often use the web on a 2GB Chromebook --https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=chromebook_...

I can have four or five tabs open without much struggle. Gmail, Google Drive, Spotify, Facebook, Wikipedia, all the typical stuff works. Thre's a built in SSH client that's nice. YouTube videos play at full speed, even via Flash, up to 720p.

Performance will pale in comparison to anyone's modern machine. But this still works fine for many common uses.

I expect these refurbished PC's would have similar performance, which isn't great -- but it's probably "good enough" to get the job done, even with a modern supposedly-bloated copy of Chrome or Firefox on it.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#58

Post by q2 »

Focus on environment friendliness is laudable and required. But it seems this is similar to other vendors such as Dell for example.

recycling: http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/dell-environment-rec...

Packaging: http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/dell-environment-pac...

>>> Symple PC runs the open source Ubuntu Linux operating system and doesn't require you to give your data to a company you may or may not trust.

How is this possible? It has ethernet connection and so it is possible to connect to internet and thus same as any other interconnected device. How this machine will be more trustworthy than other PC's/phones?

>>> cost of $89

Following dell[1] at 500 GB hard disk is at $229. It can work safely for at least 2 years and if we go by advanced replacement warranty of in this case, symple comes to around $170. So price-wise it is not much different but configuration of 80 GB HDD is just too small.

[1] http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-3646-small-desktop/pd?oc=f...

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#60

Post by jkot »

bpicolo wrote: post #49
sktrdie wrote: post #25

There are android mini pcs with Android OSs, much larger selection of apps/games, for less than half that price. They can easily be found for ~$35 http://www.laptopmag.com/android-sticks

Saying Ubuntu has fewer "apps and games" than Android is both meaningless and false.

Some of those sticks run Ubuntu as well.
Post reply on HN