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 problem for the same price", you pretty much lose just because the others are easier to get.
This is what really caught my attention about the Raspberry Pi. It was OpenWRT sized and priced, but promises netbook sized abilities. I just wish I knew how to get a case of them.
I deal with embedded hardware all day long as well. I don't need a case of Raspberry Pis. I need a guarantee that the board will be available for the next five years.
My customers have products that run for that long, even longer. I can't be changing hardware every year because the chip has been end-of-lifed or has become suddenly scarce and the price has quadrupled. And this happens a lot. Even the pico-ITX stuff disappears and reappears constantly, especially when it's from Asia.
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 compress into that small package, though.
This does beat the $250 netbook, but possibly not along axes you care enough about. The fact they're marrying the distro to the hardware is a pretty big win in itself.
In short: they're not selling to you, so your not buying it doesn't mean they lose.
"This is what really caught my attention about the Raspberry Pi. I just wish I knew how to get a case of them."
Check out BeagleBone - more expensive than RasberryPi, but they are available. I'm running a BeagleBone as a DNSMASQ server. Linux with package management and full-blown development tools running inside an Altoids tin - yeah! All of these small/cheap/silent linux boards are pretty incredible & there is more to come.
My family just got an Apple TV and I'm very impressed at the fit and finish, but I was disappointed at the lack of features. I would love a more open device where I could install whatever I want. For example I would love to mirror my display, have better integration with Android and web browse directly on the box. Any recommendation for good media center software to install on the mintBox that can do this?
I'm curious: what do you see as the advantage of Ubuntu over Mint? My understanding is that Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop environment and some multimedia codecs.
Do you just like Unity? (For what it's worth, I actually like it as well.)
It is. From the article: "The mintBox is a CompuLab fit-PC3 unit, with a green retro-lit Linux Mint logo, and 10% of each sale goes towards Linux Mint."
I think a product like this is a great idea for a Linux distro.
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..)
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.
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.
This is a little ridiculous: you can trivially add the DuckDuckGo (or Google) search provider; e.g. on the right-hand side of the DDG search page[1] there is a "Add to Firefox" (and presumably similarly for Chromium) link that you can just click, and it just works.
Really? Is there no way around that? Ie just change your browser search settings? I was looking to try out mint, cuz Ubuntu is leaving something to be desired these days.
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.
Did they install it after you installed your browser? If they did then that sucks. Otherwise it's not that bad. Probably a source of funding for the project.
Since Linux Mint 12 this is not the case anymore. They listened to their users, and removed the Google Custom Search.
As a convenience to its users, Linux Mint has a dedicated webpage where you can easily add search easily with one click: http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php You can of course add search engines in any other Firefox supported way also.
The photos are made with a cheap digicam with no lighting. I'm not saying this to complain, but to praise.
That's because the photos prove (at least to me) that the project is done in someone's bedroom at almost no cost at all.
That someone at this level of business development can defy laws of business and offer something like the mintBox is amazing and is a sign of how the times have changed.
Ten years ago, no one would have dreamt of this sort of thing.
Then again, forty years ago they would have. That was also the most amazing time for computer science, when the seminal advancements were being made that still continue to resonate with the world. So maybe, with the whole maker crowd, and statup biz, and this sort of mintBox ramshack business mentality, we're looking at another golden age?
[+] [-] noonespecial|14 years ago|reply
This is what really caught my attention about the Raspberry Pi. It was OpenWRT sized and priced, but promises netbook sized abilities. I just wish I knew how to get a case of them.
[+] [-] joezydeco|14 years ago|reply
My customers have products that run for that long, even longer. I can't be changing hardware every year because the chip has been end-of-lifed or has become suddenly scarce and the price has quadrupled. And this happens a lot. Even the pico-ITX stuff disappears and reappears constantly, especially when it's from Asia.
[+] [-] drostie|14 years ago|reply
It's nice to see how much you can compress into that small package, though.
[+] [-] kijin|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] regularfry|14 years ago|reply
In short: they're not selling to you, so your not buying it doesn't mean they lose.
[+] [-] tuananh|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andyl|14 years ago|reply
Check out BeagleBone - more expensive than RasberryPi, but they are available. I'm running a BeagleBone as a DNSMASQ server. Linux with package management and full-blown development tools running inside an Altoids tin - yeah! All of these small/cheap/silent linux boards are pretty incredible & there is more to come.
[+] [-] nabilt|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|14 years ago|reply
OpenElec (http://openelec.tv/)
XBMC (http://xbmc.org/)
None of them have particularly good "elevator pitches" for what they are or do. I hear people like XBMC.
[+] [-] w1ntermute|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] devicenull|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] will_work4tears|14 years ago|reply
If they were even closely comparable I'd consider it.
[+] [-] Karunamon|14 years ago|reply
(sort of kidding)
[+] [-] dbro|14 years ago|reply
http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/546571245-Mele-A2000-TV...
I just received one and installed Debian squeeze on it, following the instructions here http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000...
Shipping took about a month, but now that it's here it's as good as I expected.
[+] [-] nl|14 years ago|reply
It's not clear if as I expected is a good thing or not.
From http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... I read:
X11 is not very stable and the Mali driver is being worked on. You can try running X11 with a frame buffer.
That's going to kill it for a lot of applications.
[+] [-] fingerprinter|14 years ago|reply
The mintBox is available in two versions.
mintBox Basic ($476 + shipping, duty & VAT):
250GB HDD APU G-T40N (1.0 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6290 – 9W) 4GB RAM Flat metal case mintBox Pro ($549 + shipping, duty & VAT):
250GB HDD APU G-T56N (1.65 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6320 – 18W) 8GB RAM Ribbed metal case
[+] [-] tikhonj|14 years ago|reply
Do you just like Unity? (For what it's worth, I actually like it as well.)
[+] [-] staunch|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Niten|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tikhonj|14 years ago|reply
I think a product like this is a great idea for a Linux distro.
[+] [-] seclorum|14 years ago|reply
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..)
[+] [-] blackguardx|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ericmoritz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bborud|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brk|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] forgotAgain|14 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] josteink|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crumblan|14 years ago|reply
I would suggest you do not use Mint if you plan on doing any internet searching.
[+] [-] dbaupp|14 years ago|reply
[1]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=add+a+search+engine
[+] [-] ImprovedSilence|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Spoom|14 years ago|reply
I really think the parent comment is an overreaction.
[+] [-] nabilt|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drusas|14 years ago|reply
As a convenience to its users, Linux Mint has a dedicated webpage where you can easily add search easily with one click: http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php You can of course add search engines in any other Firefox supported way also.
[+] [-] ekianjo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshAg|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dimecyborg|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cheatercheater|14 years ago|reply
The photos are made with a cheap digicam with no lighting. I'm not saying this to complain, but to praise.
That's because the photos prove (at least to me) that the project is done in someone's bedroom at almost no cost at all.
That someone at this level of business development can defy laws of business and offer something like the mintBox is amazing and is a sign of how the times have changed.
Ten years ago, no one would have dreamt of this sort of thing.
Then again, forty years ago they would have. That was also the most amazing time for computer science, when the seminal advancements were being made that still continue to resonate with the world. So maybe, with the whole maker crowd, and statup biz, and this sort of mintBox ramshack business mentality, we're looking at another golden age?