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Ask HN: Simple Linux Machine

7 points by gorgoiler ↗ HN
Is there an SBC that just works and works well with the Linux kernel?

I’m looking for something low in price ($100-$200) with mainline kernel support. I hope for stable and accelerated X11 with video and sound playback. I’d like to be able to drag windows around at full frame rate.

Architecture doesn’t matter.

I’ve been trying really hard to get Pine64’s RockPro64 to work as a nice little dev / office-work machine. It just doesn’t seem to be working out. Manjaro (Arch) Linux on multi core ARM, even at 1080p on a ARM’s Mali T860 GPU, is just not smooth at all.

9 comments

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benologist
AMD Ryzen 4000 desktops are coming soon, using the mobile APUs rather than the desktop line of 4000 processors. They are a little bit over budget at $300+ but they are going to perform excellently ranging from 4 cores / 4 threads up to 8 cores / 16 threads and very decent iGPU. If necessary this could be repurposed to suit a number of uses like a modest workstation or 1080p gaming or some virtual machines or a media PC etc.

https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/06/16/asus-pn50-the-worlds...

There are a lot of older, competent dual core machines available on Amazon very cheaply too. These are much cheaper but if you ever needed even one virtual machine it would be quite taxing. These machines are 4 or 5 years old so linux support is likely excellent.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=small+form+factor+pc&ref=nb_sb_no...

These aren't strictly "SBC" but they're very similar. Basically laptop motherboards and soldered chips with potentially upgradeable storage/ram.

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gorgoiler
The thin client corporate PC idea is a good one.

What would be fantastic would be to have a recommendation where someone has a really good existing setup.

rman666
I probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but maybe a high-end Raspberry Pi?
sloaken
You had me at Raspberry. Although they are small and inexpensive, the latest version is quite powerful. I think the only hindrance might be powerful video. It has great video, but some people need (want) more.
gorgoiler
These platforms work in theory. In practice I think it’s still only been a few months since OpenGL ES 3 worked in RPi4. Things like this make me worry it’s not the best platform for a performant workstation.

I’m fussy. I want my windows to drag / resize / scroll at 60 FPS.

als0
Does that include open or closed GPU drivers?
gorgoiler
Closed would be fine

The real sweet spot I’m looking for is a platform that’s supported entirely in the mainline kernel because this just seems to make life so much easier.