TLUG Mailing List

I thought I would send a (hopefully) quick update on my shopping trip. First of all, thanks to CL for the tip on Tsukumo -- I found the place and they indeed had a decent selection. The non-NUC box you were referring to might have been the DeskMini by ASRock and it comes in two flavors: an Intel-based version and an AMD-based version. They also had some other no-name brand box that was slightly larger than the NUC but smaller than the DeskMini and Shuttle has another flat-form-factor box, this one with small fans, but since my old Shuttle is fanless and dog-slow, I didn't want to go that route. After trying to discern who the general Linux community thought was the better CPU chip maker (it seems that's almost as much a religious war as the one about text editors), I went with the AMD-based DeskMini because it sounded like AMD had better Linux driver support and I counted fewer pages that said to totally avoid AMD at all costs. The assembly and network install was almost effortless (less than 1 hour total, start to finish).

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. The latest Debian (10.2) apparently doesn't support the latest Ryzen GPU very well but after a few hours of googling I found a page that suggested pulling the latest Ubuntu drivers from the AMD site, unpacking the tarball, and manually installing two specific .deb files. Bingo... pretty graphics ensued.

I ended up populating the box with a Ryzen5 3400G, 16Mb of memory, and a 500Gb SSD. The thing really screams... but my bar is admittedly low given that I've been using a fanless Shuttle up to now. The DeskMini comes with its own CPU cooler because the one that comes with the Ryzen chip is too big to fit in the box. But so far the machine has been running stone cold so I guess I'm OK with the smaller cooler. I ended up getting a "kit" of pre-selected parts that included a copy of Win10 which I thought I might install on the old Shuttle for the kids at some point but now I'm thinking I might actually install it in a VM running on top of the Linux install just because I can. I saved the URL of the page that finally helped me get the graphics working in case someone else wanted to build a similar machine. As far as I can tell, everything is working now so I'm a happy camper.

Thanks again for the pointer.

On Sun, Dec 22, 2019 at 9:38 AM CL <az.4tlug@example.com> wrote:

The last time I was in Tsukumo, there were several barebones NUC and mini desktop DIY sets that would take either Intel or AMD Ryzen CPUs, DDR4 SO-DIMM memory, and up to two SSDs. Boxes are fanless and can be configured as WiFi or ethernet. The non-NUC boxes were manufactured by a major manufacturer whose name escapes me right now. As I recall, the bare bones AMD kits were significantly cheaper than the NUC kits -- circa 16,000円 plus the cost of CPU, memory, SSDs, and the optional WiFi board.

CONFUSING DIRECTIONS: They were in the "first floor" of the Tsukumo that is a couple of streets directly behind the old Llaox -- between that main road and the overhead rail tracks. If you turn at the first road parallel to Chuo-dori, the Tsukumo entrance in front of the traditional Japanese restaurant (about 30 meters before you hit the road under the tracks with the pachinko parlor on the corner) takes you into Tsukumo's parts center with all of the memory, HDD, SSD, CD/DVD players. If you walk to the back of that floor, there is a half-level stairway that takes you down to a floor with keyboards, kits and cases (take the stairs into the level you can see and not the hard right turn to the basement shop). The back wall of that level is the CPU sales desk. The units I am talking about were on the aisle across from the elevator. You can enter this floor directly if you turn right at the road just before Tskumo and enter through the fancy entrance on that street.

In the past, I have used an Atom-powered HP mini running their versions of WIN XP and WIN 7 bought from a business that was downsizing its office for around 8000円. It was especially convenient because it could be mounted to the back of my monitor. It ran a form of Ubuntu pretty well. There are newer versions of that box. I used to see new and used versions at a couple of the shops across from T-Zone's "back" entrance (the road that ends at the new bank building and has -- or used to have -- a sporting goods store on one corner).

I also have a Rasberry Pi 3 which I've never progressed beyond toy value with but it would make a very useful desktop if you could use a wireless keyboard and mouse. Don't ask what happens when all you have handy is a 3-meter HDMI cable and one of those unbreakable early IBM keyboards that can be used to stop bullets and pound nails.

CL

On 2019-12-20 19:47, Joe Larabell wrote:

I recall this being asked in the past but: (a) things change, (b) I didn't save the previous emails, and (c) I can't find the archive search button or it has disappeared. Anyway...

I'm in the market for a somewhat more recent Linux machine, mostly for desktop use, but space is at a premium. A small form-factor box like a NUC would be OK... as would a laptop that can be docked to a regular screen and keyboard. I'm wondering if anyone has one they would like to get rid of (not junk... but I don't need a whiz-bang gaming machine, either). Lacking that, I'm wondering if there are any brick-and-mortar stores in Tokyo any more that sell laptops or small desktops that don't come preloaded with Windoze. Lacking that, any recommendations for something I might be able to get from Amazon JP. Thanks...

--

Joe Larabell (joe@example.com)

Re: [tlug] Looking for small form-factor desktop or inexpensive laptop