LinuxBBQ

vic wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:59 am

Congrats, let us hope it will serve you well for a long time. :)

So if it's half as long lived as the X1 (which is still running) it will last 4 years :D

wuxmedia wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:31 pm

nothing majorly annoying (apart from the FR keyboard which even the french are astounded how bad/useless it is)
I popped the fucking keys off that I could to make it at least appear mostly qwerty.

I'm largely inexperienced with "continental" keyboards. Please explain what the 2 above Tab is supposed to do.

I have no clue :D
OK had to look it up:

At the same time, the most common accented letter é is at key 2.

sauce: http://xahlee.info/kbd/french_keyboard_layout.html

I'm using the GB keymap as a die in the wool expat and no way i'm going over to that setup :D

I'm still mixing up ctrl and Fn (thank you X1 keyboard :D)

wuxmedia wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:14 pm

I have no clue :D
OK had to look it up:

At the same time, the most common accented letter é is at key 2.

sauce: http://xahlee.info/kbd/french_keyboard_layout.html

I also had no idea but that explains it because the Frenchies need that. I would say there is no "continental" keyboard, all are different.

Funny, I actually use the GB variant on my X201 because it came like that from eBay. But I have all my languages set up as I need all 4 so I can switch easily.

I already asked here. That looks like a strange British keyboard layout that is qwertz? Maybe it is something entirely different or the Polish guy thought to Germanize my keyboard by just swapping the letter y for a z.

ivanovnegro wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:40 pm

I would say there is no "continental" keyboard, all are different.

That's why I used "keyboards" - with an s at the end ;-)
I know there are many kinds. Just that I'm unfamiliar with most of them. Even when I travelled, it was mostly US or UK layouts.

I still struggle with the whole gender-for-inanimate-objects thing. EU keyboards with their accents and umlauts and Elvis pompadour thingies are beyond my cranium capacity.

gutterslob wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:40 am

That's why I used "keyboards" - with an s at the end ;-)

No problem Slob, I oversaw that but I know what you mean. When you travel here in Europe you will always find another keyboard layout and that is frustrating because you cannot just start typing in an internet cafe e.g. At least we can pay in Euros, wait, the last time I was in Prague I had to change money. :)

ivanovnegro wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:49 pm

gutterslob wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:40 am

That's why I used "keyboards" - with an s at the end ;-)

No problem Slob, I oversaw that but I know what you mean. When you travel here in Europe you will always find another keyboard layout and that is frustrating because you cannot just start typing in an internet cafe e.g. At least we can pay in Euros, wait, the last time I was in Prague I had to change money. :)

LOL. Yeah I literally did what your Pole did and swapped the keys over, the ones I can't fathom on my particular one is the giant * which ends up being a # on the UK keymap.

Asking here because of iron: if you had to get a new desktop computer what would you get?

I don't care about displays and keyboards here, just curious about the hardware you'd go for. My constraints are a decent level of memory (damn you Java) and not too large a box (my desk is large but I got plenty of other things on, including the micro-server and the UPS).

Would you build it yourself? Would you grab the latest fancy model and be set with it? Would you dare go with Linux-ready, privacy-embracing purists?

Just curious. The battery replacement hell I had with my Dell XPS makes me wonder if it's about time to go back to a proper desktop machine after so many years of laptops.

^ I guess that would depend on budget and whether I could justify the cost. Easier to spend big if it's for work (eg: if employer pays or tax deductible), but then again my work is all Mac based....

If I were building a desktop for myself in 2021, I'd probably look at going fanless* since I don't need much power. Would probably spend hours at FanlessTech looking for case and passive cooling ideas. In an ideal world, I'd look for a coreboot motherboard as well. Don't know if those exist for x86 desktops though.

Not sure I'd buy a desktop from a dedicated Linux OEM. They tend to be expensive, warranty claims would be inconvenient from my part of the globe, and with regards to Coreboot I think most only (afaik) offer open firmware options for their laptops, not desktops. Maybe System76 does with their workstation, not sure.

* There are specialist/boutique companies that specialize in powerful fanless Linux workstations, though I forgot their names. One is Israeli, while the other is German. Surely many others around. Likely expensive though.

I'd have to recommend the NUC - I got mine from work (free) as the WFH desktop and it's very solid, tiny but powerful, it's intel so everything just works on board with Linux.
It's been running for just over 5 years now, mine is an i3 something something low tier back then.
Speaking of Java the kids run minecraft on it for their allotted time (as the main gaming rig is in the UK, please don't mention brexit and no having to import your own possessions) All I needed to do was blow some crap out of the cooling fins to stop it overheating :)
You can also get it barebones. So if you have some mem or an M.2 lying around you can fill it in.
Only 32Gb RAM (stated) limit though. Which sounds a bit small for Java lol.

Gigabyte, whose motherboards I never managed to kill, has a similar sized machine. Which again you can have a low powered CPU and tons of mem - and a tiny boot disk and a network share mounted for the files. They seem to go up to 64 Gb max memory. Might be noisy :)

I'm a cheapskate though really, if it was for me, I'd buy the last generation of "best buys" and cobble a system together from ebay. Probably try to stuff it into a found case, but that is my jam.

Thanks to both you. The budget would be around 500/600€, I do not intend to spend more. I am considering buying spare parts and putting it together, although I didn't consider the fanless option.

RE: Intel NUC

Aside from the usual Intel security hole concern (and the embedded IME if you're a purist), it's a decent bit of kit overall. I got one for my mum around a couple of years ago. Hooked it up to the new TV I got her at the time and paired it with a Logitech wireless keyboard (has a trackpad on the side) so she could operate it while sitting on the living room sofa. The processor was an Intel 7th gen Core i5 I believe, purchased during the time Intel 8th or 9th gen were out, so I got a "clearance" discount.

One issue with the NUC is the cleaning, at least on the generation I got (newer ones might be different) for Mum. The way it's assembled, you cannot access the vent that collects dust and lint (will definitely happen if you have carpets or pets) easily. You need to open the top of the case, unscrew the motherboard assembly, turn it over and then unscrew the fan assembly in order to get to that vent to remove the lint with a toothpick. Not a huge challenge for the people here, but still a PITA and not something I would let mum do on her own.

NUC should be able to fit into your budget. Get a barebones version and purchase the RAM and SSD separately. Better if you can get previous gen CPU to save money, but unlikely with the global chip shortage. You might even be able to fit in a fanless case into that budget if you're thinking of going down that path, though some disassembly and reassembly will be required. Found this doing a simple search. Price fully configured is within your budget, though that's USD before VAT.

I think Asus also makes a similarly sized AMD Ryzen based model. Might be a bit cheaper. New AMD chips are better than Intel's equivalent, and the open source AMD graphics drivers are said to be good now. No personal experience with AMD though.

To be fair, that NUC cleanout even in our pretty dusty, dog hairy house that only needed doing once in 5 years. I only really noticed as they play minecraft.

Expensive, but about as purist as they come these days for an Intel box. Heck, there's even a "tamper-evident packaging" add-on;
https://shop.nitrokey.com/shop/product/nitropc-132

^ Adding more disk space and RAM pushes it above my budget, but definitely something to consider.