securitybreach Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 As computers shrink in size, the line between mini-PCs and small desktop PCs is getting blurrier every year. As the name suggests, however, mini-PCs, are smaller than usual, usually less than five inches square and a few inches tall, making them easier to carry and hide away on a crowded desktop or behind a signage or kiosk display. They're also usually fanless, which means they're quiet and have one less moving part to break, and they tend to be cheaper, with more limited I/O. That usually translates into lower prices. Here we take a look at 10 capable mini-PCs that can be purchased pre-installed with a Linux operating system. (Click on the Gallery link below for a slide show of photos and descriptions.) To keep the selection manageable, we are skipping the many, mostly media player oriented devices that ship with Android only, such as the Tronsmart Orion R28. Most of these devices can be used as media players, although most are more generic systems that can be used as desktop replacements or for signage and/or other embedded applications. Even by restricting our list to under-$600 mini-PCs with pre-installed Linux, there are some great options here. Most of the systems run Ubuntu, although Linux Mint, OpenELEC, and Chrome OS are also seen here.... http://www.linux.com...installed-linux 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Hmmph not impressed. There are some notable omissions, how about the Pi ?? or the CuBox-I ?? http://www.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-cubox-i-israels-45-pc-marvel/ Weighing 91 grams (0.2lb, 3.2oz), with a size of 2x2x2 inches, the new CuBox-I can do what its CuBox ancestor could, but SolidRun managed to get its costs down – from the $119.99 retail price tag of the CuBox, to the $45 that the CuBox-I will cost consumers. And the CuBox series has some pretty strong features. For example, it can support full streaming and decoding of full-screen 1080p video (using that same 3 watts of power) – a trick that Intel processors only just recently learned, said Khoury. It also has a HDMI 1080p Output, gigabit-speed Ethernet, built in wifi, connections for external storage (microSD, eSATA), USB ports, infrared – and up to four cores on its Freescale iMX6 SoC ARM processor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 Cubox is mentioned on the article. Also mentioned in the comments: The title says Pre-installed raspberry-pi are an mother board not a complete computer with Linux installed from factory. So basically the RaspberryPi doesn't come with Linux so you cannot call it a system with Linux Preinstalled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Yeah maybe. However you can buy Pi+case+sd card as a kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 No mention of the ..HummingBoard. ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) I was at a new to me doctor's office recently and noticed what I think was a 'desktop'. The computer, however, was only about 5x7x1.5 inches and was strapped to the back of the small LCD flat screen monitor. I'm pretty sure that's what I saw. I didn't get nosey and go poke around looking at things- but I can think of no other explanation for that 'lump' carried on the back of the monitor- sorta like a backpack. Heh! Yep, they are getting smaller... P.S. Nope, I very much doubt it ran Linux. Probably had Windows. So much doctor software is written for that OS. It's a huge market. Edited May 2, 2015 by Cluttermagnet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hello, Small form-factor (SFF) PC. Very popular right now in space-constrained environments like front offices. Some examples from Lenovo. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky I was at a new to me doctor's office recently and noticed what I think was a 'desktop'. The computer, however, was only about 5x7x1.5 inches and was strapped to the back of the small LCD flat screen monitor. I'm pretty sure that's what I saw. I didn't get nosey and go poke around looking at things- but I can think of no other explanation for that 'lump' carried on the back of the monitor- sorta like a backpack. Heh! Yep, they are getting smaller... P.S. Nope, I very much doubt it ran Linux. Probably had Windows. So much doctor software is written for that OS. It's a huge market. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I grabbed an all-in-one computer from my doctor's office in 2006 that was sitting unused, mostly unusable and on the floor. So they've been around for years. I cleaned it up, found drivers to get the hardware working and my husband used it for quite a few years. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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