Hardware ideas for the Debian Events Box (was: DebConf11 Events BoF, report!)
Hi,
Luca Capello wrote:
> the demo PC is the biggest choice, given that it must support
> hardware virtualization and having as much disk space as possible (a
> full mirror for the specific architecture is welcome).
Do we have an estimate of its size? I just know a full mirror of all
architectures wouldn't fit on the 160 GB disk of my EeeBox.
> After having discussed with Axel Beckert about his EeeBox PC (also used
> to test the Pelicase PL-1650 capacity) we were quite confident in this
> product.
Except that exactly this model no more produced. My model is now 2.5
years old or so and ASUS stopped their Linux models anyways. :-/
But as I just noticed[1], they now instead offer the EeeBox without
OS! :-) I always thought, MS had deals with OEM that don't allow them
to seel PCs without OS.
[1] http://www.brack.ch/tabid/261/stufe/263322/Default.aspx
> This was until we discovered that none of the options
> available mounts CPUs with hardware virtualization, i.e. one of the
> latest Intel Atom E (the best) or Z line, but none of them with 64-bit
> instructions [20]. This is the major showstopper ATM, given our need to
> evaluate other options (hint: advice needed!).
So we need a slim PC with 64-bit and virtualization?
I just looked at my favourite more or less local HW dealers
https://www.digitec.ch/ and http://www.brack.ch/. (I also bouught my
EeeBox at one of them.) At least digitec just knows Atom D for
Ultra-Slim barebones, no Atom E. But some low-resource AMD prcoessors,
too.
At Brack I found a slim line barebone[2] from Shuttle with socket LGA
775, which should also fit Intel Core 2 Duo which AFAIR are available
with 64 bit and HW virtualization. It even has two serial consoles.
Not needed here, but cool. :-)
[2] http://www.brack.ch/tabid/294/Default.aspx?ID=165546
But with 7cm thickness it's probably not slim enough. And all other
slim barebones at Brack seem to have only Atom D-series processors.
There are also some mini PCs[3] from Asrock with i3 and i5 processors
(do they have HW virtualization?) which are of the Mac Mini format.
But when I saw the prices... starting at CHF 700. :-/
[3] http://www.brack.ch/tabid/261/stufe/263312/Default.aspx
Not being satisfied so far, I looked for something different:
"All-in-One PCs", i.e. mainboard and screen in one case.
And happily there are some with Intel Atom E, e.g. the 20" ASUS EeeTop
ET2011E-B0180 [4] with FreeDOS (i.e. without Windows! Yay!).
[4] http://www.brack.ch/tabid/261/stufe/263312/Default.aspx
With screen its CHF 700 are probably still more than planned, but less
than without screen anyway. And if we don't have to ship an extra
case, 20" may be ok, too. (Details: black case, 20" (50,8cm) 16:9
1600x900, Intel E5800 3.2GHz, 4GB DDR3-RAM, 500GB HD, DVD Super Multi,
Anti-Glare, Webcam, Mic, Headphone, RJ45, Gigabit Lan 1x,Wireless
802.11b/g/n, 2x USB 2.0, Keyboard/Mouse (Kabel), Card-Reader, GBit
Ethernet, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, Speakers, 496,6 (W) x 371,3 (H) x 49,7
(max. D), 5,8 kg, external PSU, 2 years warranty.
That box ([4])is currently my favourite.
There are also EeeTops with i5, but only with 23" or bigger and
starting at CHF 1120. And the only smaller EeeTop (15,6") I found at
Brack has an Intel Atom D and Windows.
I also noticed that the "AspireRevo" series from Acer looks similar to
ASUS' EeeBoxes, but they all have only Intel Atom D, too.
</braindump>
HTH.
Regards, Axel
--
,''`. | Axel Beckert <abe@debian.org>, http://people.debian.org/~abe/
: :' : | Debian Developer, ftp.ch.debian.org Admin
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