Slashdot Mirror
Shuttle XPC Linux Network Appliance
NoPants writes "Another big name looks like it's going to shack up with Linux. Shuttle, the maker of those small little cube looking PCs, is adopting Mandrake Linux with their newest network appliance XPCs. You can check out a review of the machine at Sudhian."
Shuttle has bundled Mandrake with it's barebones and motherboards for a long time now.
The unofficial
And not to be confused with those large, big cube looking ones.
Bottom line: Mandrake was easier and faster to install than XP. It had just as many pretty pictures, and it required less knowledge on the part of the user regarding networking, hardware, etc. It took 40 minutes instead of 50, and required only one reboot as opposed to the nine+ required to install XP. And when it was done, the reviewer had far more applications ready to run installed on the machine.
His conclusion was that Linux is indeed ready for the desktop.
John
On a somewhat related note, there's a recent article on anandtech about the Asus DigiMatrix, a barebone computer aimed at people building a home-theater PC. that's one sexy box, with a volume knob and case buttons and an LCD, video capture card, radio tuner, tv tuner, gigabit ethernet, wireless ethernet, DVD/CD-RW, embedded audio-player OS, 7-in-1 card reader...
I'm seriously considering getting one of these and making a linux media station / fileserver. Obviously Asus supports only Win2k and WinXP, but it seems like a fun challenge getting all those cutting-edge hardware components to run in linux. Most of them, even the ethernet controller, are so new they aren't directly supported in the kernel yet. And getting all the various Linux media applications to start up and obey the case buttons automatically based on what is inserted sounds like a software project in itself.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
I agree. I made one of these little machines for someone yesterday. It only has two fans in the system, a power supply fan and a CPU/system fan. Plus, the system fan is a 'smart' fan, so it scales its speed based on the temperature of the CPU. It is loud when you first turn it on, but as soon as it detects that the CPU is a safe temperature, it backs off. I couldn't hear it at all over my normal computer. Even with my normal computer off, it is still very quiet. Unless you are running Prime95 or gaming or something, it should stay fairly quiet.
I was really impressed with the little XPC machine. My mom thought it was cute machine and I was like, "This is what I have wanted to make for you!"
adpowers
What exactly qualifies this small form factor computer as a network applicance?
I'm just curious...
--------------------------------------------- SignalGod ---------------------------------------------
This is where things start to pick up...
With a Linux distro bundled with hardware, buyers of said hardware do not need to go on their own initiative to download and install linux. It is right at their fingertips, bundled with their new barebone. They've just bought a Penguin Powered system, and chances are they will try linux out and not just delete it...... And then they will see the light.....
And this is where Linux on the Desktop really starts to expand......
Let it begin.
Defenestrate Windows...
"Another big name looks like it's going to shack up with Linux."
Linux seems to really get around. But what will the children look like?
Since the site is dying at 10 posts already:
Mirror!
Interesting topic, Shuttle XPC Linux Network Appliance.
A PC+Linux isn't a network appliance, its still a PC. A true network appliance, is a raid array with an ethernet adapter, its a piece of hardware performing a function.
Before you say, well yes the computer can do it also.. You have install and set it up. Appliances in general are stupid things that are cheap and easy to replace, you just plug in and turn on. PC's are not appliances.
Little pet peeve, but really if you don't care for HD's and the whole 1000k vs 1024K, this is along those lines. Use the correct terms you hackers.
The only problem is that it *doesnt* stay quiet. I have one of these on top of my TV. The fan on the CPU is a POS, and the two little fans are the same brand. After about 3-4 weeks of being on continuously they are all whining at 100 decibels. I've pulled the plug on the two case fans, but the CPU fan continues to whine and rattle. Cheap-ass POS.
I just built out my own Shuttle system a couple of weeks ago, based around the SB65G2 and a P4 3Ghz. Unless you've seen one in person, the "cube" format is smaller than you expect from pictures.
The quality of the case and motherboard are very impressive, the cooling solution for such a small system is very clever. In addition, the instructions that came with the system are very clear, with photographs that detail each step of the build.
I'm dual booting it between XP and Redhat 9, and both are running great on the system.
-- Bander
What we need more of is science!
I've built a few of these as well. My mother loves the one I got her for Christmas, even though it took her a while to understand that it was the whole computer and not just an external cd-burner, which is what she had asked for. =) Even better yet, on the noise fron though Shuttle has finally released a new version, the Shuttle Zen, which features an external laptop-style power brick adapter. Hence, only one fan total and it has even less equipment inside to cool. Very smart! This is of course old news to folks who prefer the Mini-ITX formfactor (or the absolutely tiny Nano-ITX or other such shrinkages), where external power and no CPU fan leads to truly silent computing.
Another good article from these guys.
My point is, surely your experience of installing an OS is largely dependant on the *extra* hardware that you have e.g. 802.11b card etc
I think it is great that Linux can get a fairly "standard" PC up and running without too much hastle these days. However, it is the glitches encountered with "non-standard" PCs that mean it isn't quite ready for the end users desktop.
Just my two pennies worth...
How long will it take until they start making these things with heatpipes and large heatsinks and without fans?
I'd much rather have a passively cooled box with a transmeta crusoe/efficeon or VIA C3 and a PVR350 card, than a box that can do software encoding+decoding and needs lots of fans.
I have bought two shuttles and I have exchanged emails with their technical support. And, yes, I do live in Germany.
I have never received an unsolicited mail from them.
- How about cutting a CD - most burners ship with some sort of burning software for Windows (e.g. Nero 5). Under Linux say hello to 'mkisofs', 'cdrecord' and another HOWTO. If you want to burn an audio CD of MP3's, you're in a world of pain.
Well, you haven't used K3b. I've used Nero before - truth is, K3b is easier. Literally a drag-drop-click-burn operation. For atypical data burns (or music), this is a great program.At the same time, I made a script to do my backups, mkisofs and cdrecord based. Being able to use the command line for these tasks is sometimes more convenient, at least for the repetitive ones. I just click the icon that runs my backup script, and I'm done, thanks to that ugly CLI.
Pretty has its place. Function has its place. Linux gives you both.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Idiot,
Mandrake* has had every item the moron mentioned covered to some degree for quite awhile now.
*as well as every other distro, I use Mandrake myself since ~8.x days, (usually run cooker snapshots now though) Mandrake is usually ahead of SUSE as far as Desktop functionality, but it is a good race.
I will withold any opinions on Fedora until I see it work right, perhaps they just need time, they seem to be getting there.