7 ms·

The mintBox, a Linux Mint computer

185 points by LeafStorm 14y ago

crumblan 14y ago
For anyone thinking of trying Mint; they will install customized search engines in your Firefox and Chromium, it is a shit experience, and it is irritating to remove or avoid. I would suggest you do not use Mint if you plan on doing any internet searching.
- nabilt 14y ago
  Did they install it after you installed your browser? If they did then that sucks. Otherwise it's not that bad. Probably a source of funding for the project.
  - JaggedJax 14y ago
    It's just with the default browser and yes, it's a main source of funding. This is what they say about it: Search engines help fund Linux Mint: Search engines share with Linux Mint the revenue generated for them by Linux Mint users. The following search engines share revenue with us: Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo and Amazon. By using these engines for search or to make purchases, you help fund the Linux Mint project. Easy installation of other engines: Clear explanations and easy instructions are there in Linux Mint for users to understand why some engines aren't installed by default and how to easily install them. from: http://linuxmint.com/rel_maya_whatsnew.php http://linuxmint.com/rel_maya_whatsnew.php e: Clarification
  - crumblan 14y ago
    It is a source of funding, which would be fine with me, but it was also basically unusable, and it would give me weird results that I didn't get on regular Google. I also had a bit of trouble removing it. So bad experience for me overall. Edit: no, they weren't so sinister as to install it with another package, it's part of the Firefox extensions in the default install.
- ImprovedSilence 14y ago
  Really? Is there no way around that? Ie just change your browser search settings? I was looking to try out mint, cuz Ubuntu is leaving something to be desired these days.
  - ineedtosleep 14y ago
    It's just a simple package that's installed with Firefox. The parent is just making it seem like a huge deal, but it's trivial to remove the package and/or change your default search provider.
    - crumblan 14y ago
      I did not find it trivial to remove the package, and changing my default provider didn't work for whatever reason.
      - idleloops 14y ago
        Sounds annoying. Did you try through the firefox (registry) - about:config? Failing that you could try something like Firefox Nightly.
        crumblan 14y ago
        I eventually got it, but I did end up doing the registry and mucking out some bits in /etc. Then I figured, "hey, I haven't tried Debian yet." So that's probably my next step... but it's looking like if you want it done right you're going to have to compile it yourself :/
  - crumblan 14y ago
    I tried Mint for the same reason, and this search default really soured me on it. I didn't find it easy to remove, either. Just wanted to warn others.
    - JaggedJax 14y ago
- dbaupp 14y ago
  This is a little ridiculous: you can trivially add the DuckDuckGo (or Google) search provider; e.g. on the right-hand side of the DDG search page[1] there is a "Add to Firefox" (and presumably similarly for Chromium) link that you can just click, and it just works. [1]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=add+a+search+engine https://duckduckgo.com/?q=add+a+search+engine
  - crumblan 14y ago
    I know, but I wanted Google, and I found it difficult to remove the branded search and switch to basic Google. It's not a ridiculous complaint, I just think if they are willing to treat their users like that it will only get worse in the future. I jumped off of Ubuntu because of Unity, though, so I might be feeling very "once bitten..."
    - drostie 14y ago
      That is quite understandable, but think of it from a scrupulous person's perspective. You could make your default search Google, in which case you're sending your user a mixed message: "I am giving you the popular search" versus "I don't actually care about your privacy." What's worse is, it's generally a conflict of interest. At least at one point (and perhaps it's still the case) Google was paying Mozilla for the privilege of being the default search provided on Firefox. Don't get me wrong, I like money going towards Mozilla; but I'd prefer that Mozilla not have to sell Firefox users' privacy for it. Google Search is still a bit better than DDG at very recent news, at exposing cached pages, and at calculating natural language expressions. Sometimes they are better on relevance but for most searches DDG does very well. In some sense the freshness of Google Search is its only real remaining advantage in the marketplace: the Internet Archive has long been better for long-term caching, and Wolfram Alpha now does a much better job with some natural language queries. ("Some" because astonishingly, Wolfram Alpha does not have a syntax of composition. What I mean is, you can just ask Wolfram Alpha "Schwarzschild radius of the Sun" and it will answer that if the Sun got beneath 6 km wide, it would collapse into a black hole. But don't try to append the words "in light-seconds" or "/ speed of light" to that query, don't even wrap it in parentheses, because Wolfram Alpha will suddenly look at you and say, "WTF does any of that mean?!?!?")
- ekianjo 14y ago
  And you don't have any problem with IE being packed with Bing search out of the box ?
  - crumblan 14y ago
    I use neither Windows nor IE, but I am assuming it's set as a preference and not installed as an extension.
- drusas 14y ago
  Since Linux Mint 12 this is not the case anymore. They listened to their users, and removed the Google Custom Search. As a convenience to its users, Linux Mint has a dedicated webpage where you can easily add search easily with one click: http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php You can of course add search engines in any other Firefox supported way also.
  - crumblan 14y ago
    Brilliant, I'll have to look at it again.
- Spoom 14y ago
  Linux Mint user here: This was never a big issue for me. They explain it thoroughly at http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php and let you click through to install Google (plain vanilla, non-custom Google) very easily. Plus, so far this only affects Firefox, their default browser. If you use Chrom[e|ium] like I do, it's even less of an issue. I really think the parent comment is an overreaction.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
nabilt 14y ago
My family just got an Apple TV and I'm very impressed at the fit and finish, but I was disappointed at the lack of features. I would love a more open device where I could install whatever I want. For example I would love to mirror my display, have better integration with Android and web browse directly on the box. Any recommendation for good media center software to install on the mintBox that can do this?
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  XBMC (supports Android remotes).
- DanBC 14y ago
  GeeXboX (http://www.geexbox.org/ http://www.geexbox.org/) OpenElec (http://openelec.tv/ http://openelec.tv/) XBMC (http://xbmc.org/ http://xbmc.org/) None of them have particularly good "elevator pitches" for what they are or do. I hear people like XBMC.
  - baggers 14y ago
    I second OpenElec, which is effectively a minimal OS which boots straight to XBMC. I threw it on my aspire revo and it ran beautifully while using under 300mb of HDD. It pulls media wirelessly from my server and I use the android XMBC Remote to control it. I would warn that it probably worked so well for me because they have a build specifically for nvidia ion graphics based machines. Saying that though, they also have builds for Fusion HTPCs, Intel, XTreamer, Apple TV, and a generic build with or without proprietary graphics drivers.
- devicenull 14y ago
  Nothing that can do Amazon or Netflix streaming without constant fiddling and other annoyances.
joshAg 14y ago
seems like i just found my new dvr/media box. that looks awesome!
fingerprinter 14y ago
I'd love one of these...though I would put Ubuntu on it...but at those prices? I don't think so. The mintBox is available in two versions. mintBox Basic ($476 + shipping, duty & VAT): 250GB HDD APU G-T40N (1.0 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6290 – 9W) 4GB RAM Flat metal case mintBox Pro ($549 + shipping, duty & VAT): 250GB HDD APU G-T56N (1.65 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6320 – 18W) 8GB RAM Ribbed metal case
- tikhonj 14y ago
  I'm curious: what do you see as the advantage of Ubuntu over Mint? My understanding is that Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop environment and some multimedia codecs. Do you just like Unity? (For what it's worth, I actually like it as well.)
  - hack_edu 14y ago
    Ubuntu has a huge community that makes any question you have easily Googlable, as well as a much more mature ecosystem in general. Even if they're built on the same foundation, these little things really make a difference and ease headaches. And really, you can't write off the simple fact that its been around and strong for so many years. You can rest assured that it will continue to be.
    - ekianjo 14y ago
      I don't really understand your point. You can install the exact same thing on Mint as on Ubuntu. Both environments are very similar, and you can have the more resource efficient Cinnamon as Framework on Mint instead of Unity on Ubuntu. It's basically the same thing, and Mint benefits from the very strong Ubuntu foundation,.
      - codesuela 14y ago
        exactly, if you have a problem then you can just Google for the Ubuntu solution which will always work unless it is a DM specific problem.
dimecyborg 14y ago
Now I know what is going to come from windows.
Niten 14y ago
Looks like a rebranded Fit-PC3: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/fit-pc3-info/ http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/fit-pc3-info/
- tikhonj 14y ago
  It is. From the article: "The mintBox is a CompuLab fit-PC3 unit, with a green retro-lit Linux Mint logo, and 10% of each sale goes towards Linux Mint." I think a product like this is a great idea for a Linux distro.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    That is a confusing site (the Fit-PC site) because it talks about and AMD based 9WTDP design but all of the indicated re sellers only have Atom based designs.
    - ZeroGravitas 14y ago
      I think the third iteration (the one with AMD) has just launched.
staunch 14y ago
At < $300 we're in serious business, but at these prices it's not interesting (to me).
cheatercheater 14y ago
The most amazing thing about it: the photos. The photos are made with a cheap digicam with no lighting. I'm not saying this to complain, but to praise. That's because the photos prove (at least to me) that the project is done in someone's bedroom at almost no cost at all. That someone at this level of business development can defy laws of business and offer something like the mintBox is amazing and is a sign of how the times have changed. Ten years ago, no one would have dreamt of this sort of thing. Then again, forty years ago they would have. That was also the most amazing time for computer science, when the seminal advancements were being made that still continue to resonate with the world. So maybe, with the whole maker crowd, and statup biz, and this sort of mintBox ramshack business mentality, we're looking at another golden age?
dbro 14y ago
Depending on what you're planning to use it for, there are some less expensive devices that are worth considering, eg. for about $90 shipped to the US http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/546571245-Mele-A2000-TV-box-Allwinner-A10-hackable-device-wholesalers.html http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/546571245-Mele-A2000-TV... I just received one and installed Debian squeeze on it, following the instructions here http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000/Building_Debian_From_Source_Code_for_Mele http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... Shipping took about a month, but now that it's here it's as good as I expected.
- nl 14y ago
  Shipping took about a month, but now that it's here it's as good as I expected. It's not clear if as I expected is a good thing or not. From http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000/Building_Debian_From_Source_Code_for_Mele/ http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... I read: X11 is not very stable and the Mali driver is being worked on. You can try running X11 with a frame buffer. That's going to kill it for a lot of applications.
noonespecial 14y ago
In the course of my business, I deal with dozens of different embedded PC's. There's one thing I wish players in this space would keep in mind: If you want to take a shot at this window of power and performance (the level at which people start thinking "set-top box") you really have to beat out the $250 netbook I can get at walmart. If my first thought is, "nice form-factor but a netbook/mini-itx/mac-mini solves the problem for the same price", you pretty much lose just because the others are easier to get. This is what really caught my attention about the Raspberry Pi. It was OpenWRT sized and priced, but promises netbook sized abilities. I just wish I knew how to get a case of them.
- drostie 14y ago
  Yeah, the one big thing that this one has going for it is its noiselessness due to using its case as a heat sink. Torvalds has also talked about how he wants a "whisper-quiet" computing environment; I'm surprised that so few companies treat this as a design target. It's probably more popular among computers designed to be used as thin clients, which it looks like the mintBox is. It's nice to see how much you can compress into that small package, though.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - nl 14y ago
    (Most) Netbooks are fanless too.
    - dchest 14y ago
      Which ones?
      - nl 14y ago
bborud 14y ago
My first reaction: it looks like a piece of shit. Appearances should not matter, but they do.
- brk 14y ago
  It may look bad, but at least it's expensive.
josteink 14y ago
This seems like a pretty obvious (and simple) response to Google's Chromebox.
seclorum 14y ago
For $250, I've built an Android and Ubuntu tablet, using the Pandaboard ES as the base with a 10.1" capacitive touchscreen (multi-touch). It functions extremely well and makes me wonder why no serious manufacturers are pursuing this avenue right now .. it seems to me to be a very powerful combination of parts. Ripe opportunities abound for anyone with the skills to bootstrap a hardware startup constructing such things. I sure wish I had the gumption to do it (I could handle the software side, anyway..)
- blackguardx 14y ago
  Where did you get the display?
  - seclorum 14y ago
    From http://www.chalk-elec.com/ http://www.chalk-elec.com/
will_work4tears 14y ago
I can say that I'd never pay 599 for this when the Mac Mini is pretty much the same price and on top of that is much more powerful and feature rich. If they were even closely comparable I'd consider it.
- Karunamon 14y ago
  .. and proprietary and closed as humanly possible.. and sold and supported by a company who actively campaigns against your interests (sort of kidding)
forgotAgain 14y ago
Although the metal makes the mintBox heavier than other devices its size, it makes it feel really unique, robust and well engineered. This sentence really turned me off. If you're going to sell something as well engineered then don't say it feels that way. Give the results of drop tests or heat dissipation tests.
ericmoritz 14y ago
Am I wrong to feel disappointed when boxes like these are more than $200?

185 points by LeafStorm 14y ago

For anyone thinking of trying Mint; they will install customized search engines in your Firefox and Chromium, it is a shit experience, and it is irritating to remove or avoid. I would suggest you do not use Mint if you plan on doing any internet searching.

nabilt 14y ago
Did they install it after you installed your browser? If they did then that sucks. Otherwise it's not that bad. Probably a source of funding for the project.
- JaggedJax 14y ago
  It's just with the default browser and yes, it's a main source of funding. This is what they say about it: Search engines help fund Linux Mint: Search engines share with Linux Mint the revenue generated for them by Linux Mint users. The following search engines share revenue with us: Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo and Amazon. By using these engines for search or to make purchases, you help fund the Linux Mint project. Easy installation of other engines: Clear explanations and easy instructions are there in Linux Mint for users to understand why some engines aren't installed by default and how to easily install them. from: http://linuxmint.com/rel_maya_whatsnew.php http://linuxmint.com/rel_maya_whatsnew.php e: Clarification
- crumblan 14y ago
  It is a source of funding, which would be fine with me, but it was also basically unusable, and it would give me weird results that I didn't get on regular Google. I also had a bit of trouble removing it. So bad experience for me overall. Edit: no, they weren't so sinister as to install it with another package, it's part of the Firefox extensions in the default install.
ImprovedSilence 14y ago
Really? Is there no way around that? Ie just change your browser search settings? I was looking to try out mint, cuz Ubuntu is leaving something to be desired these days.
- ineedtosleep 14y ago
  It's just a simple package that's installed with Firefox. The parent is just making it seem like a huge deal, but it's trivial to remove the package and/or change your default search provider.
  - crumblan 14y ago
    I did not find it trivial to remove the package, and changing my default provider didn't work for whatever reason.
    - idleloops 14y ago
      Sounds annoying. Did you try through the firefox (registry) - about:config? Failing that you could try something like Firefox Nightly.
      - crumblan 14y ago
        I eventually got it, but I did end up doing the registry and mucking out some bits in /etc. Then I figured, "hey, I haven't tried Debian yet." So that's probably my next step... but it's looking like if you want it done right you're going to have to compile it yourself :/
- crumblan 14y ago
  I tried Mint for the same reason, and this search default really soured me on it. I didn't find it easy to remove, either. Just wanted to warn others.
  - JaggedJax 14y ago
dbaupp 14y ago
This is a little ridiculous: you can trivially add the DuckDuckGo (or Google) search provider; e.g. on the right-hand side of the DDG search page[1] there is a "Add to Firefox" (and presumably similarly for Chromium) link that you can just click, and it just works. [1]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=add+a+search+engine https://duckduckgo.com/?q=add+a+search+engine
- crumblan 14y ago
  I know, but I wanted Google, and I found it difficult to remove the branded search and switch to basic Google. It's not a ridiculous complaint, I just think if they are willing to treat their users like that it will only get worse in the future. I jumped off of Ubuntu because of Unity, though, so I might be feeling very "once bitten..."
  - drostie 14y ago
    That is quite understandable, but think of it from a scrupulous person's perspective. You could make your default search Google, in which case you're sending your user a mixed message: "I am giving you the popular search" versus "I don't actually care about your privacy." What's worse is, it's generally a conflict of interest. At least at one point (and perhaps it's still the case) Google was paying Mozilla for the privilege of being the default search provided on Firefox. Don't get me wrong, I like money going towards Mozilla; but I'd prefer that Mozilla not have to sell Firefox users' privacy for it. Google Search is still a bit better than DDG at very recent news, at exposing cached pages, and at calculating natural language expressions. Sometimes they are better on relevance but for most searches DDG does very well. In some sense the freshness of Google Search is its only real remaining advantage in the marketplace: the Internet Archive has long been better for long-term caching, and Wolfram Alpha now does a much better job with some natural language queries. ("Some" because astonishingly, Wolfram Alpha does not have a syntax of composition. What I mean is, you can just ask Wolfram Alpha "Schwarzschild radius of the Sun" and it will answer that if the Sun got beneath 6 km wide, it would collapse into a black hole. But don't try to append the words "in light-seconds" or "/ speed of light" to that query, don't even wrap it in parentheses, because Wolfram Alpha will suddenly look at you and say, "WTF does any of that mean?!?!?")
ekianjo 14y ago
And you don't have any problem with IE being packed with Bing search out of the box ?
- crumblan 14y ago
  I use neither Windows nor IE, but I am assuming it's set as a preference and not installed as an extension.
drusas 14y ago
Since Linux Mint 12 this is not the case anymore. They listened to their users, and removed the Google Custom Search. As a convenience to its users, Linux Mint has a dedicated webpage where you can easily add search easily with one click: http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php You can of course add search engines in any other Firefox supported way also.
- crumblan 14y ago
  Brilliant, I'll have to look at it again.
Spoom 14y ago
Linux Mint user here: This was never a big issue for me. They explain it thoroughly at http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php http://www.linuxmint.com/searchengines.php and let you click through to install Google (plain vanilla, non-custom Google) very easily. Plus, so far this only affects Firefox, their default browser. If you use Chrom[e|ium] like I do, it's even less of an issue. I really think the parent comment is an overreaction.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

nabilt 14y ago

My family just got an Apple TV and I'm very impressed at the fit and finish, but I was disappointed at the lack of features. I would love a more open device where I could install whatever I want. For example I would love to mirror my display, have better integration with Android and web browse directly on the box. Any recommendation for good media center software to install on the mintBox that can do this?

w1ntermute 14y ago
XBMC (supports Android remotes).
DanBC 14y ago
GeeXboX (http://www.geexbox.org/ http://www.geexbox.org/) OpenElec (http://openelec.tv/ http://openelec.tv/) XBMC (http://xbmc.org/ http://xbmc.org/) None of them have particularly good "elevator pitches" for what they are or do. I hear people like XBMC.
- baggers 14y ago
  I second OpenElec, which is effectively a minimal OS which boots straight to XBMC. I threw it on my aspire revo and it ran beautifully while using under 300mb of HDD. It pulls media wirelessly from my server and I use the android XMBC Remote to control it. I would warn that it probably worked so well for me because they have a build specifically for nvidia ion graphics based machines. Saying that though, they also have builds for Fusion HTPCs, Intel, XTreamer, Apple TV, and a generic build with or without proprietary graphics drivers.
devicenull 14y ago
Nothing that can do Amazon or Netflix streaming without constant fiddling and other annoyances.

joshAg 14y ago

seems like i just found my new dvr/media box. that looks awesome!

fingerprinter 14y ago

I'd love one of these...though I would put Ubuntu on it...but at those prices? I don't think so. The mintBox is available in two versions. mintBox Basic ($476 + shipping, duty & VAT): 250GB HDD APU G-T40N (1.0 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6290 – 9W) 4GB RAM Flat metal case mintBox Pro ($549 + shipping, duty & VAT): 250GB HDD APU G-T56N (1.65 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6320 – 18W) 8GB RAM Ribbed metal case

tikhonj 14y ago
I'm curious: what do you see as the advantage of Ubuntu over Mint? My understanding is that Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop environment and some multimedia codecs. Do you just like Unity? (For what it's worth, I actually like it as well.)
- hack_edu 14y ago
  Ubuntu has a huge community that makes any question you have easily Googlable, as well as a much more mature ecosystem in general. Even if they're built on the same foundation, these little things really make a difference and ease headaches. And really, you can't write off the simple fact that its been around and strong for so many years. You can rest assured that it will continue to be.
  - ekianjo 14y ago
    I don't really understand your point. You can install the exact same thing on Mint as on Ubuntu. Both environments are very similar, and you can have the more resource efficient Cinnamon as Framework on Mint instead of Unity on Ubuntu. It's basically the same thing, and Mint benefits from the very strong Ubuntu foundation,.
    - codesuela 14y ago
      exactly, if you have a problem then you can just Google for the Ubuntu solution which will always work unless it is a DM specific problem.

dimecyborg 14y ago

Now I know what is going to come from windows.

Niten 14y ago

Looks like a rebranded Fit-PC3: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/fit-pc3-info/ http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/fit-pc3-info/

tikhonj 14y ago
It is. From the article: "The mintBox is a CompuLab fit-PC3 unit, with a green retro-lit Linux Mint logo, and 10% of each sale goes towards Linux Mint." I think a product like this is a great idea for a Linux distro.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  That is a confusing site (the Fit-PC site) because it talks about and AMD based 9WTDP design but all of the indicated re sellers only have Atom based designs.
  - ZeroGravitas 14y ago
    I think the third iteration (the one with AMD) has just launched.

staunch 14y ago

At < $300 we're in serious business, but at these prices it's not interesting (to me).

cheatercheater 14y ago

The most amazing thing about it: the photos. The photos are made with a cheap digicam with no lighting. I'm not saying this to complain, but to praise. That's because the photos prove (at least to me) that the project is done in someone's bedroom at almost no cost at all. That someone at this level of business development can defy laws of business and offer something like the mintBox is amazing and is a sign of how the times have changed. Ten years ago, no one would have dreamt of this sort of thing. Then again, forty years ago they would have. That was also the most amazing time for computer science, when the seminal advancements were being made that still continue to resonate with the world. So maybe, with the whole maker crowd, and statup biz, and this sort of mintBox ramshack business mentality, we're looking at another golden age?

dbro 14y ago

Depending on what you're planning to use it for, there are some less expensive devices that are worth considering, eg. for about $90 shipped to the US http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/546571245-Mele-A2000-TV-box-Allwinner-A10-hackable-device-wholesalers.html http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/546571245-Mele-A2000-TV... I just received one and installed Debian squeeze on it, following the instructions here http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000/Building_Debian_From_Source_Code_for_Mele http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... Shipping took about a month, but now that it's here it's as good as I expected.

nl 14y ago
Shipping took about a month, but now that it's here it's as good as I expected. It's not clear if as I expected is a good thing or not. From http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000/Building_Debian_From_Source_Code_for_Mele/ http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... I read: X11 is not very stable and the Mali driver is being worked on. You can try running X11 with a frame buffer. That's going to kill it for a lot of applications.

noonespecial 14y ago

In the course of my business, I deal with dozens of different embedded PC's. There's one thing I wish players in this space would keep in mind: If you want to take a shot at this window of power and performance (the level at which people start thinking "set-top box") you really have to beat out the $250 netbook I can get at walmart. If my first thought is, "nice form-factor but a netbook/mini-itx/mac-mini solves the problem for the same price", you pretty much lose just because the others are easier to get. This is what really caught my attention about the Raspberry Pi. It was OpenWRT sized and priced, but promises netbook sized abilities. I just wish I knew how to get a case of them.

drostie 14y ago
Yeah, the one big thing that this one has going for it is its noiselessness due to using its case as a heat sink. Torvalds has also talked about how he wants a "whisper-quiet" computing environment; I'm surprised that so few companies treat this as a design target. It's probably more popular among computers designed to be used as thin clients, which it looks like the mintBox is. It's nice to see how much you can compress into that small package, though.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- nl 14y ago
  (Most) Netbooks are fanless too.
  - dchest 14y ago
    Which ones?
    - nl 14y ago

bborud 14y ago

My first reaction: it looks like a piece of shit. Appearances should not matter, but they do.

brk 14y ago
It may look bad, but at least it's expensive.

josteink 14y ago

This seems like a pretty obvious (and simple) response to Google's Chromebox.

seclorum 14y ago

For $250, I've built an Android and Ubuntu tablet, using the Pandaboard ES as the base with a 10.1" capacitive touchscreen (multi-touch). It functions extremely well and makes me wonder why no serious manufacturers are pursuing this avenue right now .. it seems to me to be a very powerful combination of parts. Ripe opportunities abound for anyone with the skills to bootstrap a hardware startup constructing such things. I sure wish I had the gumption to do it (I could handle the software side, anyway..)

blackguardx 14y ago
Where did you get the display?
- seclorum 14y ago
  From http://www.chalk-elec.com/ http://www.chalk-elec.com/

will_work4tears 14y ago

I can say that I'd never pay 599 for this when the Mac Mini is pretty much the same price and on top of that is much more powerful and feature rich. If they were even closely comparable I'd consider it.

Karunamon 14y ago
.. and proprietary and closed as humanly possible.. and sold and supported by a company who actively campaigns against your interests (sort of kidding)

forgotAgain 14y ago

Although the metal makes the mintBox heavier than other devices its size, it makes it feel really unique, robust and well engineered. This sentence really turned me off. If you're going to sell something as well engineered then don't say it feels that way. Give the results of drop tests or heat dissipation tests.

ericmoritz 14y ago

Am I wrong to feel disappointed when boxes like these are more than $200?