Mini Computers -- I find this interesting

[Darc Sceptor]

If you spend some time on YouTube and you watch a lot of stuff about computers and tech, then you probably have seen videos about mini computers.
I was interested enough that after my dev machine died a sudden and unexpected death in 5 days my wife said I could buy one.

Bottom line is that they all use mobile technology. We are stuck with SoDimm memory that is slow. Many are built with only passive cooling. And they all occupy a relatively small space.
The one I have is an AceMagic AMD system and got the fastest processor I could afford at that time. (A 5800U)

My overall experience has been positive enough that I'm considering getting my dev machine working and then selling it to buy a mini computer for my dev machine.
My dream machine is this:

Minisforum MS-A1 barebone -- $259
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G -- $287
A-Tech 64G 5600Mhz DDR5 -- $186
Oculink stand -- $ 99

I have space to mount all 4 of my nvme cards and don't need to buy them at all.
The TDP for the 8700G is a bit higher than that power supply so it will be a bit underpowered but that means it is also cooler.
This comes with an Oculink port as well as a stand to mount a dedicated graphic card externally. And I have an AMD Radeon 7600X for that.

So for $700 I will have a nice, mini workstation that should serve me well for my game development. And under Linux Mint will run like a demon.

I've been running Linux Mint on almost a daily basis and I am surprised how smooth the gaming is inspite of how low the graphics need to be. But Mint is proving to be a very culpible OS for Steam games and looking forward to my fulltime balls-to-the-wall gaming machine under Linux.

 

[truckerDave]

Over a year ago, I decided to add a firewall to my network at home. As I had no experience with stand alone (so to speak) firewalls, such as pfSense, I decided to get a cheap PC to try it out on.

I purchased a little 3.5" cube mini pc from Amazon for about $100. Well, it's been doing it's thing flawlessly ever since. Of course, it could crap out on me tomorrow. But, for $100, I wouldn't be upset about it. When it does go, I'll probably look into one of the larger mini pcs.

 

[The Duck]

And they all occupy a relatively small space.

a stand to mount a dedicated graphic card externally. And I have an AMD Radeon 7600X for that.

Start adding all of the external peripherals you use up the same amount of real estate imo not to mention all of the extra cabling.

external graphics card
cd/dvd rom
several SSDs / HDDs
nvme cards

I like new tech to a point.

Electronics all crammed into a small box just doesn't last.
Just a laptop crammed into a small box using laptop components.

Electronic components need space to dissipate the heat that they generate.

If that weren't the case they wouldn't put active cooling on and I quote "balls-to-the-wall gaming machine" graphics cards or processors.

Just my opinion.

I'm also in my 70s.

 

[CptKrf]

How many guys and gals (those with a few years under their belts) got caught out by the title and first sentences of this post, thinking that maybe someone got lucky and found an old PDP-11 in an abandoned warehouse? Of course, the subtle key here is the difference between "mini computer" and "minicomputer."

 

[Brickwizard]

the subtle key here is the difference between "mini computer" and "minicomputer."

And that is do you speak English or American, both are correct and both referred to machines such as the IBM, 286,386,&, 486, desktop machines smaller than main frames and of limited capacity, up to the mid 1980's , now it is usually used to refer to machines such as SFF desktops, mini netbooks, and lately some microcomputers and occasionally single board computers.

 

[KGIII]

PDP-11

Off topic but look up Usagi Electric on YouTube.

Yes, I'm old. I'm also a HUGE fan of DEC stuff. I'm biased, heavily biased. They were fairly 'local' and helped sponsor my research.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Of course, the subtle key here is the difference between "mini computer" and "minicomputer."

I think the only reason for combining words such as "minicomputer" is due to their use is source code where they serve as identifiers which must be single words in order for compilers, interpreters or assemblers to process them.

This usage of words let people combine words even outside of development context, ex. on various online boards. but this is otherwise IMO unrelated to English proper writing where it should be written either as "mini-computer" or "mini computer" but not "minicomputer".

 

[Gainer]

Well I did start out on a minicomputer/mini computer/mini-computer. How ever it is puncutated in "English"

To me, even decades ago the (Mini) DEC and IBM were in fact "mini" compared to the MainFrames. Then there were the broadly named "Desktop" computers. IBM PC series and Apple II desktops, etc - truly small in size, but "giants" comparing to capacities of the Mini's of the day. Desktop PC's covered a lot of hardware including the "Tower" (IMO, a desktop tower on the desktop is/was just obscene)

Now "retired" for the better part of two decades I have my goal to be a Linux Guy and be Out Of Windows by Christmas (ie OOWBC-2024) This project provided me "selling-points" with the "The Treasurer" for funding (ie. my wife) -I "overlooked" the fact to mention that Linux was free. Oops

I think I see more vendors and mfg's in the industry calling these " Mini PC's "

For now, it seems to provide the best name for the approximately 3" x 3" x 1.5" computer. I do not give credence to the Big Box marketers that try to "name" (anything) - they seem to mangle the Mfg's name along with every name they can think of and describe some/any thing just to cover all the possible searchs... leaving us all wondering what they are selling.

 

[CptKrf]

I started out on Mainframes in about '68, and of course, we looked down on minicomputers as mere tinkertoys. The idea of just walking into the computer room and running a compile program on an IBM 360 without bowing to the IT Acolytes in charge was not even a valid thought. Batch processing was so prevalent that it was several years before I realized that the smaller boxes could actually be used by a single person, even if only in timeshare mode. Back to college I fell in love with the DEC PDP something or other.

Then, of course, a few years later the personal usage problem was totally solved with the advent of the Microcomputer.

 

[Egzoset]

How many guys our gals (those with a few years under their belts) got caught out by the title and first sentences of this post, thinking that maybe someone got lucky and found an old PDP-11 in an abandoned warehouse?

Present!

 

[Gainer]

Off topic but look up Usagi Electric on YouTube

That is amazing and a lot of fun. Thank you for sharing.

 

[KGIII]

That is amazing and a lot of fun. Thank you for sharing.

He's a gateway to other channels. They can be time sinks...

It's a VERY long story but I even had my 'own' PDP-11 back in the day. I'd later have all sorts of other gear from DEC. See, they sponsored my research way back when I was in school. My grad school was paid for - as in the classes taken. (Of course, I spend insane amounts of time as a TA teaching classes.) But that was it. The school I went to (and I don't want to brag) paid nothing else. I had to either fund my research by myself or find sponsors.

Fortunately, I was able to find sponsors, which included the DOT. My first real project as a business owner was working on the Big Dig. (That only makes sense to a subset of people.) I modeled traffic. They had declared that they'd do the project with no traffic increases. So, we had to sort of figure that out - which was entirely impossible. We could lessen the traffic but there was no way to eliminate it for the entire project.

Worse, the project managers would return every few weeks with new criteria.

But, a buddy of mine had shown me how to write a contract. I couldn't even afford lawyers at the time. All those little delays turned it into something profitable. The rest is history...

I stuck with DEC gear until they sold and then we systematically moved to SUN equipment. We were also among the first to use Juniper instead of Cisco. Also, Walmart likes to pretend (or did back in the day) but we were working on data sets that were over the terabyte limit several years before they laid claim to the benchmark.

Ah well...

This is probably starting to head off topic to the point where we're not gonna save it. If you have any real questions, I suppose you can PM me. However, the gist of it is right up there in the various comments.