3 ms·

If it's just the mainboard and no screen, OP could put it in a dedicated case like the CoolerMaster one: https://www.coolermaster.com/en-global/products/framew

If it's just the mainboard and no screen, OP could put it in a dedicated case like the CoolerMaster one: https://www.coolermaster.com/en-global/products/framework/ https://www.coolermaster.com/en-global/products/framework/

ddxv 1y ago
Those are pretty cool. I meant to highlight more, that the laptop has done super well. I can't even tell it's on as I hear no fan / no heat. I guess laptops are pretty good for this as they are great at sipping power when there is a low load.
- smileybarry 1y ago
  Back in 2012 or so, I reused an old netbook (an Asus Eee PC) with an Atom CPU & 1GB of RAM, installed Ubuntu Server, and used it as a home server. It handled the printer, DNS-VPN proxying for streaming, and a few other things admirably for years. (And ironically was resilient to Spectre because its Atom CPU was before Intel added speculative execution) Eventually, the thing that kicked the bucket was actually the keyboard (and later the fan started making "my car won't start" noises occasionally). Even the horribly-slow HDD (that handled Ubuntu Server surprisingly well) hadn't died yet.
- VTimofeenko 1y ago
  I have the original mainboard (i5, 11th gen) the laptop came with in that coolermaster case. Generally really quiet, but fans have kicked in a few times and it was pretty noticeable. Since it's VESA mountable, I might just move it into the rack at some point and let the rack fans take care of everything.
- t_mahmood 1y ago
  One question, are you keeping it plugged in continuously, or disconnect it, sometimes? Because keeping it 100% will slowly degrade the battery, and during power loss it might fail. In my country it's possible to have power loss occasionally, so having the battery on good health is important. I'm planning to setup two unused laptops, and a mobile for servers (different purposes) and power management, battery health has been an issue.
  - VTimofeenko 1y ago
    A battery may turn into a spicy pillow. Please do consider a UPS.
    - t_mahmood 1y ago
      UPS is a mandatory for my desktop already, but all of them goes bad in a year or two, unfortunately. Which is why I am considering Laptops for server.
      - VTimofeenko 1y ago
        2 years seems pretty quick. Do batteries die or something else? Laptops generally don't have the best thermals, so there's a limit to how much chooch you can get from them.
        t_mahmood 1y ago
        Yes, that quick. It is probably leaded batteries do no like to get drained fully. I have two UPS now that dies as soon as electricity goes. I am thinking of writing a script that will trigger the desktop to shut down as soon as the LAN goes down. My desktop is 1kw PSU, so, I am really not looking forward to replacing the 1.2kw UPS every few years. These Laptops will be only doing backups, and small personal services one for photo backups, replacing OneDrive Another for sync, calendar service etc. None requires heavy processing, in my knowledge. So thermals are not going to be an issue, hopefully. Secondary issues are cats. And I don't have any idea how to stop them from stepping on the keyboards whenever they think like it, or jump on the router and cut the Internet :|
        VTimofeenko 1y ago
        There's nut-server project to take care of the shutdowns. Compatible UPS can be read from using SNMP or USB and nut-server can distribute the status to the clients. Clients may elect to shut down. Does your desktop actually drain 1kw during normal operation? If so, yeah, it would probably benefit from a separate UPS. You might not need to replace the whole thing though, just the batteries -- admittedly they are the bulk of the cost. WRT cats -- I got myself a network cabinet for precisely that reason. Also minimizes the amount of fur getting trapped in vents.
ludocode 1y ago
Here's a link to the case on the Framework marketplace: https://frame.work/ca/en/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case https://frame.work/ca/en/products/cooler-master-mainboard-ca... I put my original mainboard in one of these when I upgraded. It's fantastic. I had it VESA-mounted to the back of a monitor for a while which made a great desktop PC. Now I use it as an HTPC.
jtbaker 1y ago
Or a 10” mini rack!! https://deskpi.com/products/deskpi-rackmate-t0-plus-rackmount-10-inch-4u-server-cabinet-for-network-servers-audio-and-video-equipment https://deskpi.com/products/deskpi-rackmate-t0-plus-rackmoun...
pcchristie 1y ago
I always thought this could be what the Framework Desktop is. They could have made them stackable, so you could have one of these, with a GPU "hat" stacked on, connected via USB4/PCIe/whatever.

ddxv 1y ago

Those are pretty cool. I meant to highlight more, that the laptop has done super well. I can't even tell it's on as I hear no fan / no heat. I guess laptops are pretty good for this as they are great at sipping power when there is a low load.

smileybarry 1y ago
Back in 2012 or so, I reused an old netbook (an Asus Eee PC) with an Atom CPU & 1GB of RAM, installed Ubuntu Server, and used it as a home server. It handled the printer, DNS-VPN proxying for streaming, and a few other things admirably for years. (And ironically was resilient to Spectre because its Atom CPU was before Intel added speculative execution) Eventually, the thing that kicked the bucket was actually the keyboard (and later the fan started making "my car won't start" noises occasionally). Even the horribly-slow HDD (that handled Ubuntu Server surprisingly well) hadn't died yet.
VTimofeenko 1y ago
I have the original mainboard (i5, 11th gen) the laptop came with in that coolermaster case. Generally really quiet, but fans have kicked in a few times and it was pretty noticeable. Since it's VESA mountable, I might just move it into the rack at some point and let the rack fans take care of everything.
t_mahmood 1y ago
One question, are you keeping it plugged in continuously, or disconnect it, sometimes? Because keeping it 100% will slowly degrade the battery, and during power loss it might fail. In my country it's possible to have power loss occasionally, so having the battery on good health is important. I'm planning to setup two unused laptops, and a mobile for servers (different purposes) and power management, battery health has been an issue.
- VTimofeenko 1y ago
  A battery may turn into a spicy pillow. Please do consider a UPS.
  - t_mahmood 1y ago
    UPS is a mandatory for my desktop already, but all of them goes bad in a year or two, unfortunately. Which is why I am considering Laptops for server.
    - VTimofeenko 1y ago
      2 years seems pretty quick. Do batteries die or something else? Laptops generally don't have the best thermals, so there's a limit to how much chooch you can get from them.
      - t_mahmood 1y ago
        Yes, that quick. It is probably leaded batteries do no like to get drained fully. I have two UPS now that dies as soon as electricity goes. I am thinking of writing a script that will trigger the desktop to shut down as soon as the LAN goes down. My desktop is 1kw PSU, so, I am really not looking forward to replacing the 1.2kw UPS every few years. These Laptops will be only doing backups, and small personal services one for photo backups, replacing OneDrive Another for sync, calendar service etc. None requires heavy processing, in my knowledge. So thermals are not going to be an issue, hopefully. Secondary issues are cats. And I don't have any idea how to stop them from stepping on the keyboards whenever they think like it, or jump on the router and cut the Internet :|
        VTimofeenko 1y ago
        There's nut-server project to take care of the shutdowns. Compatible UPS can be read from using SNMP or USB and nut-server can distribute the status to the clients. Clients may elect to shut down. Does your desktop actually drain 1kw during normal operation? If so, yeah, it would probably benefit from a separate UPS. You might not need to replace the whole thing though, just the batteries -- admittedly they are the bulk of the cost. WRT cats -- I got myself a network cabinet for precisely that reason. Also minimizes the amount of fur getting trapped in vents.

ludocode 1y ago

Here's a link to the case on the Framework marketplace: https://frame.work/ca/en/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case https://frame.work/ca/en/products/cooler-master-mainboard-ca... I put my original mainboard in one of these when I upgraded. It's fantastic. I had it VESA-mounted to the back of a monitor for a while which made a great desktop PC. Now I use it as an HTPC.

jtbaker 1y ago

Or a 10” mini rack!! https://deskpi.com/products/deskpi-rackmate-t0-plus-rackmount-10-inch-4u-server-cabinet-for-network-servers-audio-and-video-equipment https://deskpi.com/products/deskpi-rackmate-t0-plus-rackmoun...

pcchristie 1y ago

I always thought this could be what the Framework Desktop is. They could have made them stackable, so you could have one of these, with a GPU "hat" stacked on, connected via USB4/PCIe/whatever.