Cheap Windows and Linux Mini PC using a thin client
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- Thin client PCs are mini x86 and x64 computers in neat, small packages. You can pick them up very cheaply on eBay. But are they any use?
In this video I'll show you that if you're careful you can get a very usable Windows or Linux PC for around £50.
Make sure you have a look at the project page for this video at
bytesnbits.co.uk/thin-client-pc
Installing Windows 11 on Older Hardware
• Installing Windows 11 ...
Install DosBox
• Turn your old PC into ...
0:00 Introduction
1:32 What is a Thin Client?
2:23 Choosing the right processor
3:50 Upgrading the PC
5:10 Install and test Windows 11
10:03 Install and test Lubuntu Linux
14:02 Conclusion - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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Great advice. Its actually amazing how you can pick up basically a full PC for less than the price of raspberry pi (plus case etc) if you're willing to go 2nd hand. Not brand spanking new but well worth it to stop a perfectly functional device from landing in e-waste.
Indeed, there are a lot of Dell, HP and Lenovo SFF PCs around in the used market where you can pick up one with a 3rd or 4th generation Core i5 or i7 and 4 or 8 GB RAM for sometimes less than the cost of a RPi.
There are some real bargains out there if you have a little bit of knowledge about what you're buying. I think a lot of people get caught up in the 'old is bad' way of thinking about technology. And as you say it's great to keep these out of the landfill.
@@BytesNBits Also, if you know how to disassemble, clean, reassemble and install PCs and laptops, you can buy what seems like a "pile of junk" cheaply on online auction sites but get something useful out of it.
If you're a bit of a hobbyist DIYer you can make a small case for a broken laptop and repurpose it too. Get them for peanuts.
I love optiplex's for emulation though, dirt cheap.
@@norndev I'm a Thinkpad nut but I have been buying Optiplex and HP SFF PCs when there was a huge number of them for sale on auction sites because of, I think, people rushing to upgrade to Windows 11 - that was up to about 6 months ago.
There seem to be fewer of them for sale now, so prices have gone up again - getting a Core 2 Duo Optiplex for £15 that I could upgrade to a Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU for £4 from CEX was worth it - but not sellers seem to be asking double the price for them now, and they're just not worth it.
Though I keep an eye out for bargains.
Thanks for going the extra mile and including the 'bonus' content - the comparison of lubuntu to W11 - very interesting.
Glad you liked it!
@@BytesNBits So did I!
I have a wyse 5010, which uses the same chassis. I took a 250 gig SSD out of its shell plugged it right into the sata connector on the board. It's a perfect fit.
Great work around. I hadn't considered doing that!
I've done several of the 5060 thin clients that way. The actual SSD does not even take up half of the case it came in. :) If it doesn't fit because of space, the extension cable will take care of that issue.
Looking forward to seeing the Batocera Video. Very Nice. Thank You.
Working on it this weekend!
amazing I love your channel congratulations!
Thank you! Cheers!
Great video. A piece of advice, if you take the plastic cover off the ssd drive (its usually 4 screws on the outside) the chip inside is small and just slots in easily to your sata port without needing to use an extender cable. Saves space for air flow too.👍
Thanks for the tip. I didn't think to strip it down to the electronics.
Great video. Subscribed.
I'm currently using a 3030 LT as a console only OpenBSD box. I plan to get a more powerful model and install Linux on it.
Thanks. They are very useful bits of kit.
@@BytesNBits Indeed they are. Mine has been great for learning OpenBSD.
I've got the same thin client myself and have done the same as you - upgraded the RAM to 8 GB and put in a 128 GB SSD, I run Gentoo Linux on everything by default.
I've also got an Igel 340c which is also quad core but only runs at 1.2 GHz (though it's still fine for a few things given the good price I got it for) and the Fujitsu Futro S920 is another interesting thin client even though it's dual core because it has a PCI-E slot that potentially makes it possible to plug in a GPU - though I bought mine to add a second NIC for running a pfSense firewall.
These things come without power supplies a lot of the time and just so everyone is aware, a lot of them run fine with old IBM laptop power supplies from the Thinkpad T4x era - it's the thinner barrel jack rather than the thicker barrel jack in more modern Lenovo PSUs.
Sounds good. These are useful little PCs. Thanks for the tips.
A question for you. I use Lubuntu probably because it sounded a bit like Ubuntu which is the only version of Linux I've any real experience with. Is there really much difference between distros? I know there are various graphical front ends, but underneath are there any benefits to one over another?
@@BytesNBits If you ask 10 Linux users the question "which Linux distro is the best?" then you will get 10 different answers.
My take on it is this, given I don't consider myself a Linux "zealot" - I use Gentoo Linux, I have done for 20 years, it lets me build Linux on anything, but it has a steep learning curve and you can be messing around for a long time sometimes to get some things to work. But I am a tinkerer and I enjoy doing that.
I don't have a problem with any distro that has its own "tried and tested" package manager - so Fedora, Mint, Arch, Debian, a few others.
I don't believe the solution to making Linux easier for people are "universal" package managers like snaps, appimages, nix and flatpak. I think they add an unnecessary third party into the equation which I don't think is healthy for stability and security going forward - that's why I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu-based systems.
Sorry, in case you're not aware, a "universal" package manager is essentially "distro agnostic" so you can technically download a snap and run it on any distro, provided you have the software installed to support snaps.
If you want to advance a bit further with Linux then a good way to start "easing yourself" into more DIY builds is maybe to try Slackware or even Arch.
Albeit the Gentoo installation manual is very good but it takes a long time to get that first booting machine! But the feeling of achievement when you do it is great!
@@terrydaktyllus1320 Thanks for explaining things. I guess I should look into this a bit more. I've always gone down the 'just give me something that works' route. All the apps on this video where installed through FlatPak. I'll have a look at the Slackware/Arch/ Gentoo systems.
Hi - re the missing power supplies.
I find this is common one ebay, i am not sure if one person picks up the machinery and forgets to grab the power supply guessing it is a common wall wart / usb mobile phone charger type or just forgets and leaves the power supply
Or the seller is making 2 split sale, 1 x thin client and 1 x power supply
HP and Dell laptops run on 19volts, common is the larger 5.5mm barrel jack and less common is the smaller 3.5 - ( used on thinner xps machines or the smaller 12/13 inch screens )
Note you can swap HP and Dell in most cases - make sure the voltage and centre pin polarity is the same, however , the power supply and the PC are "smart devices" ad if you are not using a genuine power adapter for that machine, it will run the machine only and not charge up the battery !! - there is a pin that sends information to the laptop from the power supply, Dell information is for "correct voltage" but it is does more than that
A slick way to try (or install) a variety of images is install Ventoy to your USB flash drive then boot each in turn. If you boot a live distro like TAILS you have an internet kiosk with enhanced security, boot Kali etc for network monitoring, boot a custom WinPE like Bob's or Strelec's for what those offer etc you have a light portable multi-distro machine at very low cost. Ventoy of course works on any hdd.
Sounds really useful. I'll have to have a look. Thanks for the tip.
Instead of replacing DOM with cable and SSD you can just open the SSD and take out the PCB, most PCBs are actually same size of most DOMs, especially cheaper 256 and 512gb stuff and cache-less especially
Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a go.
I have a wyse 5010 and a 7020.... love them! the 7020 actually will run W10 pro and will playback videos and music flawlessly! mine has 8GB memory and a 512GB SSD. I also was able to get the secondary Sata cord for the second channel and put in an additional 512GB SSD.... love it!
There are really useful little pcs.
nice dear, did you tried the Chicago 95 linux? like windows 95 theme so nostalgic for that´s DOS games propouse, what dou you think?
Looks really good! Exactly like the real thing.
we hope you can bring that us!@@BytesNBits
Can i use it for trading like opening 2 to 3 chrome tabs of trading view on a 24” 1080p monitor
With Chrome Os flex installed?
I'm not sure. I don't know how much processing those apps do on the PC. If they simply show info from the trading website then probably yes.
That one seems quite a pain to get working … look for something like the HP 630T thin clients which have a similar (but more powerful) quad core AMD SOC but have internal USB (if you want to boot from USB or add Bluetooth or WiFi internally) as well as having *TWO* internal m.2 SATA slots - one up to 2280 and one 2230 (or is it 2240 - I can’t remember offhand).
They usually come with a 16 or 32GB m.2 SATA drive and 4GB but 128GB SATA SSD’s can be had for peanuts now.
They have two standard DDR3 SO-DIMM slots and are just really simple … I have loads of them here at home (8 at last count) and I think the last ones I bought were £35 each.
They’ll even run a pair of 4k displays!
They also even have a nice handy moveable link on the mainboard to erase any BIOS passwords… ;-)
Sounds great. I'll have to check them out. There are so many to chose from!!
Actually doesn't the 630T have built-in Bluetooth & WiFi? It's the 620T that doesn't
@@allanmarsh1 - none of mine have had and I've got eight of them ...
There's an m.2 slot for a wifi/bluetooth module though so I guess it was probably available with WiFi / Bluetooth as an option - that's in addition to the two m.2 slots intended for SATA SSDs and the internal USB.
Hi I'd like to ask you can a 5070 wyse thin Clint that has a emmc is it possible to remove or erase im trying to put a ssd but I can't erase it thank you.
I would expect you can erase it or overwrite it but I don't know how. There's probably some app or tool that let's you do that. You'll have to look around to see if there is any documentation for this.
Put Ghost Spectre Windows, Launchbox (including RetroArch), and eXoDos on the SSD. And voila! A Small Dream Machine (Mine has a much weaker CPU and it is capable of playing many games and consoles)
Sounds like a great setup.
let me give you a sugestion, the very cheapers ESP32 and ESP8266 (microcontrollers) can run vintage computers OS in bare metal mode, like sinclair tkr amstrad cp/m IBM XT nes etc... could you try for us?
Thanks for the tip. I have had a look at the microcontroller emulators. Possibly a project in the future. At the moment the VGA output is pushing me towards the Raspberry Pi route.
the raspberry problem is the price for the resources retros unnecessary! these microcontroller can bring replicas computer in series for super low price! even you can make a big vintage cabinet, or use a broken vintage to save! also: the stay in stand alone mode!@@BytesNBits
wow, that lubuntu just crushed win11 to bits.
That framerate increase with emulated games is just beyond what I expected.
Yes. It's quite shocking just how much of the resources are being used just to keep Windows running.
did you tried the DOSBOX-X for the self DOS? yes, there´s a DOS version
To be honest I haven't looked at that route. I guess if you've got a working DOS PC this would be a great feature, but I'm not sure how well this would work on a modern PC running DOS where the sound card emulation is an issue. Maybe one to try out later.
nice, we hope you can bring that too us!@@BytesNBits
what about the SBEMU? are working well? for me it´s not, I had the "matrix numbers" error (many numbers in screem) when loading, some trick? @@BytesNBits
What would you recommend linux or win10?
To do what, precisely? I don't use Windows anyway (except for some old versions for retro gaming) but I can't tell you not to use Windows but use Linux because I've no idea what your use case is or what you're trying to achieve.
As @terrydaktyllus1320 says it does depend on what you want to do. These thin clients can run both very well for standard web browsing / office style tasks. Windows opens you up to the full Windows ecosystem, but you will get better performance from a light version of Linux as in the video. I didn't test for photo editing / video etc. but I suspect if you need to do a bit of that Linux would be the way to go.
Hope this helps!
@@BytesNBits @terrydaktyllus1320 is linux better for gaming or is it win10 thats better?
Does this make economic sense? For Linux, you can say maybe - for power-hungry Windows - No. The primary motivation was low cost, but adding SSD, the trouble with compatible SDRAM, and buying the license for Windows 11, why not buy RPI 5 from the start and get some well-supported hardware? Cheers.
You can still put one of these together for around £50 if you get the thin client at the right price - you can pick up 8 GB DDR3 laptop RAM now for no more than about £8 and and a 128 GB SSD for £10. That makes it cheaper than an 8 GB RPi.
You're also forgetting one important fact - the thin client is Intel CPU based and therefore has much greater software compatibility running Linux than an ARM CPU in RPi. Sure, ARM is catching up but if you run a "roll you own" distro like I do (Gentoo Linux) you seen see a difference in the number of packages available for Intel vs. ARM.
I could care less about Windows, by the way. I rid myself of my Microsoft abuser when support for Windows 7 ended and "good riddance to bad rubbish".
@@terrydaktyllus1320A Pi for me would be pretty much a last resort computer for me, if absolutely everything else isn't functional, I'd settle with it, but the software support just isn't there yet.
@@maxxdahl6062 The software support is there if you learn to build Linux yourself from a "roll your own" distro like Gentoo Linux. But I accept that probably isn't for most people, so that's not a criticism of anyone in of itself.
@@terrydaktyllus1320 I'd basically end up using rapsberry pi OS for more or less just word processing and maybe file transfer as an actual PC. They're great as emulation boxes or media boxes, but the OS seems lackluster compared to mint, ubuntu, etc. I do like to dabble on Risc OS on the Pi zero, but I'd rather have one of these on this video for software support vs using a Pi as an actual PC.
@@maxxdahl6062 I can't argue with anything you've said there.
I don't have a lot to do with Ubuntu, but I accept it exists and a lot of people like it. But if I am building new Linux PCs for friends and family, I do usually give them Mint as a starter OS into Linux and they seem to like it.
I should really delve in RiscOS, it's on my "todo" list given that I dabble a bit with *BSD as well. The last time I touched RiscOS was probably around 1990 when I had a mate who used to be a developer on the Acorn Archimedes - I was into Commodore Amigas at the time.
Ultimately it's whatever works for you. Gentoo Linux can be made to run on just about anything and I've been using it for 20 years now so I can dig up strange old bits of hardware and get it running on that - including RPi Zero, RPi 1-4 and a few other Orange Pi and Banana Pi SBCs too.
I guess I take an "engineer's view" of stuff that I make - I look at what the end "thing" has to do and then see what hardware I can find (usually as cheaply as possible) to build it.
Lenovo tiny PC and Dell Micro PC are much better, have the same price (if you go for used older versions) and have the same size.
Thanks for the tip. I'll have a look at those.
It is not a "Linux or Windows PC". It is a PC running Windows or GNU/Linux (Linux is a kernel and nothing more).
The video is only useful for a couple of countries in the entire world. In the rest of the world, thin clients are actually very expensive.
You're right of course, but I'm using the colloquial terms here to make it easier to get the message across. Sorry, I've taken the usual first world view of costs and technology. Hopefully these computers will still be at the lower end of the price spectrum in other parts of the world.
You must be fun at parties
@@GabeOli Oh, yes. I'm.