how about atomic pi (x86 SBC)?

https://dlidirect.com/products/atomic-pi

Genuine Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad core with 2M Cache. Runs up to 1.92GHz with a 480MHz GPU. Eats RPi for dessert. Beats some desktops.
Loaded with memory: 2GB DDR3L-1600, 16GB eMMC, SD slot for adding more - up to 256GB
Full HDMI port with Intel HD Graphics & primary audio out
USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports
Fast dual band WiFI b/g/n/ac 2.4 & 5GHz WiFi RT5572 IPX connectors on board
Bluetooth 4.0 CR8510
Gigabit hardwired RJ45 Ethernet RTL8111G
9-axis inertial navigation sensor with compass BNO055
Secondary XMOS audio output with class-D power amp.
TTL serial debug and expansion serial ports up to 3.6Mbps
Real time clock & battery
JST style connectors on top and a 26-pin header for power & GPIO below.
Runs on 5V. Typically 4-15 watts.
Legitimate licensed BIOS boots from SD, USB, or Ethernet. Linux comes preloaded... Yes, it'll run Win10 32 or 64.
Large full breakout shield available with screw terminals for easy wiring, or order just the CPU and provide your own wiring.

That is an awesome computer! If it were under US $20, I sure would get one.

habibie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is an awesome computer! If it were under US
> $20, I sure would get one.

actually $34 is very low if considering 2GB ram, X86 CPU ability, and on-board EMMC, but it's interesting no full review till now

asterix Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> habibie Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > That is an awesome computer! If it were under US $20, I sure would get one.
>
> actually $34 is very low if considering 2GB ram, X86 CPU ability, and on-board EMMC, but it's interesting no full review till now
>
Unfortunately, I just can't afford $20+ spending ATM. :(

asterix Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> habibie Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > That is an awesome computer! If it were under
> US
> > $20, I sure would get one.
>
> actually $34 is very low if considering 2GB ram,
> X86 CPU ability, and on-board EMMC, but it's
> interesting no full review till now

It sure captures the imagination, but if only it had two RAM sockets. Seems to me RAM has a malfunction on 4 out of 5 computers (eventually) and in the spirit of experimentation and expense they should do that and ship it with 1GB RAM and you could expand it yourself as needed.

As for my own purposes I'm glad to see the day when I'm $50 away from a computer that boots from USB 3, which would make Linux browsing incredibly fun. With most Linux distro creations being a labor of love, and quality USB 3 flash drives $8 (on sale and 32GB), these types of silent computers are a pretty sweet deal.

BUT, if you're running any 64-Bit Windows, 2GB RAM isn't enough. 3GB for the OS is a significant step up, and add some additional for video RAM if it needs it. 4 GB+ would be real good. And there are tiny all-in-one motherboards that have been $50 recently with user-specified RAM.

So one of each might be the answer LOL

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2019 12:45PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BUT, if you're running any 64-Bit Windows, 2GB RAM isn't enough.
>
IIRC, there was a talk on MS built is Windows GUI in its OS kernel. Is this still true for the latest Windows OS?

habibie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > BUT, if you're running any 64-Bit Windows, 2GB
> RAM isn't enough.
> >
> IIRC, there was a talk on MS built is Windows GUI
> in its OS kernel. Is this still true for the
> latest Windows OS?

For the most part I stopped at Windows 7. We all knew Windows 8 was prone to security breaches, which is why China banned anyone in its military from using it. A few years ago my neighbors sponsored me to take a brand new laptop and go nuts to make Windows 8 secure and function like it was their familiar Windows 7. It took me almost a month and they were generous about paying. But I kept running into dumb and obvious security breaches. Once this was all done, the performance just about took my breath away. Very few page faults, just blazing.

(2nd edit) yes as far as the GUI being one with the kernel it does look like it's been that way since Windows 95. The previous Windows 3.1 I think - was a GUI shell on top of DOS. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was about Windows 2000 and the NT kernel where the GUI was reasonably inseparable. And even Windows 8 with it's Metro tablet orientation - again correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that was merely a cascading style sheet or thereabouts that created that "interface".

What I've heard about Windows 10, is that it's like Android - the evidence would seem to indicate it's a spy device first and an efficient OS tied for first place. So I'll stick with Windows 7 with a great firewall and, like I say, keep out neighborhood punks while never knowing how much any government could get into it and rifle through anything they wanted.

A friend said Windows 7 is supported until January, so that might end my involvement with MS some time after that.

As for a SOC quadcore, considering I'm typing this on a 1.3gHz unicore ThinClient on 2GB RAM, I shouldn't ask for much more, but the apps have gotten so efficient that a quadcore with 4GB+ RAM could do 60% of the heavy lifting of the 150-watt machines.

I have a lifetime supply of Pogoplugs for the light 24/7 lifting you know :-) Literally. I won't live that long (-first edit- meaning if the capacitors don't go bad and I get 5 years per Pogoplug, that's 25 years and my heart isn't making plans that far into the future!.) And the little P4 Mobiles will be last :-D

It's all good, and I thourally enjoy life's journey with you guys and hope all your geek dreams come true.

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2019 12:45AM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> (2nd edit) yes as far as the GUI being one with the kernel it does look like it's been that way since Windows 95. The previous Windows 3.1 I think - was a GUI shell on top of DOS. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was about Windows 2000 and the NT kernel where the GUI was reasonably inseparable. And even Windows 8 with it's Metro tablet orientation - again correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that was merely a cascading style sheet or thereabouts that created that "interface".
>
I don't know much about Windows OS, unfortunately. I remember using Windows 3.1 with Novel file server trying to write up a 100+ pages of a report that contains lots of images using MS word. The size of this report kept growing to beyond 100 MB. The Novel admin started to complain because its HDD size was only 640 MB and I had used up almost 1/4 of it. But, that was not my issue at all. My issue was, everytime when I tried to save the document, the process took 2+ hours to complete once I clicked the save button. I would consider myself lucky if the saving process got completed. A lot of time the process just hung there and prompted me to reset the computer to start all over again. This was really a pain-in-the-neck. When that project finally completed, I started doing some research about the issue and found out two solutions, i.e. replace Windows 3.1 with Windows NT4 or start from scratch with Linux. I decided to ditch Windows 3.1 and moved to Linux for two reasons. First, I don't want to be tied to spending $$$ on software. Secondly, someone (I believe from Unix world) clearly explained to me that unlike X11 on a Unix/Linux OS the GUI on a Windows NT was built as part of its kernel. If the GUI crashes, it sure will bring down the kernel, i.e. whole system. From there on and aside from a huge learning curve to learn LaTEX, all my reports were written using a plain simple text (vi) editor and then processed with LaTEX. The end result is way superb than the experience I had on MS world. Since then, I never look back to MS world. Some of my colleagues are very happy while others tried to persuade me to go back to the MS world with lots of convincing, i.e. showed me some dreadly article from a (PC Magazine?) publication saying Linux is dying and will be gone in no time, etc. The fact, Linux is still alive today and its grow has a tremendous effect to impede the grow of MS world. After a few years had gone by, one of my colleagues (from the MS world) informed me to be caution mainly because her computer was inundated with a deadly trojan/virus. So, I told her "What virus? I never heard of any virus since I migrated to Linux."

> What I've heard about Windows 10, is that it's like Android - the evidence would seem to indicate it's a spy device first and an efficient OS tied
for first place.
>
This is definitely no good.

> A friend said Windows 7 is supported until January, so that might end my involvement with MS some time after that.
>
Perhaps, it is time to move on with Linux.

> I have a lifetime supply of Pogoplugs for the light 24/7 lifting you know :-) Literally. I won't live that long (-first edit- meaning if the capacitors don't go bad and I get 5 years per Pogoplug, that's 25 years and my heart isn't making plans that far into the future!.) And the little P4 Mobiles will be last :-D
>
Take good care of yourself.

> It's all good, and I thourally enjoy life's journey with you guys and hope all your geek dreams come true.
>
Thank you.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
With most Linux distro creations being a labor of love.


!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! - which distros have you been using? they are quite mature now and i have set people off on them from ages 7 - 70 with no problems, heck with most of the people who use them its access to giggle-chrome and youface that is all they need.

Gravelrash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> With most Linux distro creations being a labor of
> love.
>
>
> !?!?!?!?!?!?!?! - which distros have you been
> using? they are quite mature now and i have set
> people off on them from ages 7 - 70 with no
> problems, heck with most of the people who use
> them its access to giggle-chrome and youface that
> is all they need.

I'm just saying, each distro of Linux has a personality all its own and I can appreciate the effort that went into them.
My personal favorites are Debian and two of the Ubuntu Mints.

Also what Habibie is saying about authoring documents, I started a long journey through a University around the time he's talking about Novel, and there was no end to the bugs in MS Office. I know what it's like to spend all day long (7AM-8PM) in the computer lab and have Word crash and lose all my stuff.

Ultimately yes, most recent Linux distros has what most people use it for: Office, viewing pictures and video, basic web etc.

They still lack a foolproof way to ghost the drive so that I could make a way for neighbors and myself to image a drive in the event something gets messed up. The day that happens is the day everyone in my life switches over to Linux.

And that why I like the idea of bootable USB 3.0 sticks with Linux, because the 2.0s I'm familiar with could be cloned and they work.

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
>
> They still lack a foolproof way to ghost the drive
> so that I could make a way for neighbors and
> myself to image a drive in the event something
> gets messed up. The day that happens is the day
> everyone in my life switches over to Linux.
>

Looks like you have your work cut out for a wee while then.... :)))

http://doclone.nongnu.org/

& look here..... https://www.tecmint.com/linux-disk-cloning-tools/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2019 07:14AM by Gravelrash.

Gravelrash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
> >
> > They still lack a foolproof way to ghost the
> drive
> > so that I could make a way for neighbors and
> > myself to image a drive in the event something
> > gets messed up. The day that happens is the day
> > everyone in my life switches over to Linux.
> >
>
> Looks like you have your work cut out for a wee
> while then.... :)))
>
> http://doclone.nongnu.org/
>
> & look here.....
> https://www.tecmint.com/linux-disk-cloning-tools/

Bookmarked here and much appreciated Gravelrash :-)

So while we're in the topic of a SOC with a desktop amount of RAM, what would be the Linux you run on it?
And for that matter, do you ever finish a Linux install or just keep tweaking?
:-)

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

Joey,

> They still lack a foolproof way to ghost the drive
> so that I could make a way for neighbors and
> myself to image a drive in the event something
> gets messed up. The day that happens is the day
> everyone in my life switches over to Linux.
>

It's really easy if you are from the Windows world and have a Windows PC :) Take the USB rootfs off-line and use Acronis to image your USB rootfs drive. And when things messed up, just run Acronis to restore it.

It's also painless to do it on Mac OS using similar tool to create an image of the drive.

But doing "ghost" while the system is running, you need to setup a USB plug-in backup rsync script, that automatically mirror image the rootfs to another USB drive. If this is the only thing you think feasible, I could potentially provide it. But it takes some time to test the script to automate this process.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's also painless to do it on Mac OS using similar tool to create an image of the drive.
>
Isn't Mac OS a derivative of Unix OS? If so, then just use the dd utility to create an image of a drive.

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Joey,
>
> > They still lack a foolproof way to ghost the
> drive
> > so that I could make a way for neighbors and
> > myself to image a drive in the event something
> > gets messed up. The day that happens is the day
> > everyone in my life switches over to Linux.
> >
>
> It's really easy if you are from the Windows world
> and have a Windows PC :) Take the USB rootfs
> off-line and use Acronis to image your USB rootfs
> drive. And when things messed up, just run Acronis
> to restore it.
>
> It's also painless to do it on Mac OS using
> similar tool to create an image of the drive.
>
> But doing "ghost" while the system is running, you
> need to setup a USB plug-in backup rsync script,
> that automatically mirror image the rootfs to
> another USB drive. If this is the only thing you
> think feasible, I could potentially provide it.
> But it takes some time to test the script to
> automate this process.

When I say Ghost I mean just offline image capture and restoration. I think that's called Volume Shadow Copy when Windows, say you're running it and it makes an image of the running partition. The "free for home use" Macrium Reflect is the ace there. No workie on Linux as far as I know.

Evolved over time, what has worked well for me and clients was to have the OS and programs on primary partition C and the media and documents on logical drive D. So when neighbor screws something up you just roll C back and all their stuff is there. In the early Windows days it was desirable so your un-changing media didn't have to get defragmented every time the OS was. And back then the defragmenter would start over many times.

So I'll take a look at Acronis for them and Clonezilla for me. Weeks ago I had a cheap PNY SSD for a few days - not compatible with my old, non AHCI laptop. But they lead you to an OEM version of Acronis that's 500MB! And I grabbed it, but have no idea how to whatever.

But yeah, I like the idea if Acronis could do that, boot from stick or something and restore a partition - right there I'd start converting neighbors to at least Mint.

Did I tell you all I live in the middle of a methlab-ravaged neighborhood? So I'm not in the best comfort zone, but there's no reason not to keep thinking positively and work toward a better day when forces take their courses (hey I made that up!).

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2019 08:40PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.