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Thread: Mini PC purchase. Maybe

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Linux would be useless for me since any such computer I'd consider would be specifically to run a Windows-only CAD/CAM application should I begin to have issues with using Parallels. I like and have used Linux and a whole bunch of other Unix and Unix-like OSs over the years, but they are not helpful for certain dedicated applications.
    That's why hypervisors exist though
    ~mike

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  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew More View Post
    While I like and can operate in a Linux environment, Linux seems like a poor suggestion for anybody who hasn't been involved with Windows or PCs for a decade.
    The OS has gotten to be far more user-friendly than it once was. However, I agree. That lack of application support is really an issue. That'd be why I've been an osx user for years now. Its fully application supported Unix.

    In any case, the OS should really match the use case.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  3. #18
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    Thanks all for the info and making me feel ignorant. When personal computers became a thing I opted for a a Radio Shack Color computer as it used the 6809 microprocessor I was most familiar with. After using it a few weeks with a cassette tape recorder (I can still hear that download start up sound) I bought the matching hard drive. I paid over 500 dollars for that (10 Mb?) drive. It was the Bee’s knees. That’s the reason I am astonished at the price of these mini PCs. Like every interest I’ve enjoyed, computer
    interest soon wained as a new interest came along and my knowledge became obsolete. No fancy uses planned for this. Maybe I’ll dig out the old Arduino IDK. Thanks again.
    My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities

    The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Weber View Post
    Thanks all for the info and making me feel ignorant. When personal computers became a thing I opted for a a Radio Shack Color computer as it used the 6809 microprocessor I was most familiar with. After using it a few weeks with a cassette tape recorder (I can still hear that download start up sound) I bought the matching hard drive. I paid over 500 dollars for that (10 Mb?) drive. It was the Bee’s knees. That’s the reason I am astonished at the price of these mini PCs. Like every interest I’ve enjoyed, computer
    interest soon wained as a new interest came along and my knowledge became obsolete. No fancy uses planned for this. Maybe I’ll dig out the old Arduino IDK. Thanks again.
    I started with the TRS80 Model One with yes 4Kb of memory, wow. Figured out how to hack and get more memory cheap and I loved that cassette tape recorder... could not wait to upgrade to the expansion model with the Disk Drive!! I also had the Color Computer, what an upgrade!!
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Weber View Post
    Thanks all for the info and making me feel ignorant. When personal computers became a thing I opted for a a Radio Shack Color computer as it used the 6809 microprocessor I was most familiar with. After using it a few weeks with a cassette tape recorder (I can still hear that download start up sound) I bought the matching hard drive. I paid over 500 dollars for that (10 Mb?) drive.
    That's dirt cheap. As I recall, the 320KB floppy drive for the Apple II was in the $300 range circa 1981.
    Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
    "Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
    We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
    The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
    The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
    You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike stenson View Post
    That's why hypervisors exist though
    Which I'm effectively already using with MacOS to run Windows 11. (Parallels) Adding Linux to the mix doesn't get me anything.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Weber View Post
    Thanks all for the info and making me feel ignorant. When personal computers became a thing I opted for a a Radio Shack Color computer as it used the 6809 microprocessor I was most familiar with. After using it a few weeks with a cassette tape recorder (I can still hear that download start up sound) I bought the matching hard drive. I paid over 500 dollars for that (10 Mb?) drive. It was the Bee’s knees. .
    I cannot even tell you how many of those things and their cousins I sold back in the 1980s over a 7 year period...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee DeRaud View Post
    That's dirt cheap. As I recall, the 320KB floppy drive for the Apple II was in the $300 range circa 1981.
    I probably remembered incorrectly. Maybe confused because my first work DOS PC had a 10 Mb. The Color computer was surely in the low Kb range. Because the DOS PC had few programs available early on the company bought a board that allowed the PC to emulate an Apple (probably Apple II) computer. Wish I could remember the name. It came with the board, software, and all the necessary cables. Plugged into one of the PC’s slots. It worked but then PC software became available. Word Perfect, and the spreadsheet (name escapes me again) that lost out to Excel. don’t think we ever bought any Apple software and the board was soon surplus.
    My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities

    The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson

  9. #24
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    I still remember the two decades or so where the computer you really want costs $5K. And I kick myself for not saving my first Apple II and TRS-80 with the cassette. Would look great on a shelf.

    Last year I finally ran into the issue that my very high end Windows 10 machine (RAID 6 and RAID 1 arrays. You could run a medium-sized country with that computer) couldn't support a graphics card I needed to run high-end computer graphics, so I bit the bullet and bought a gaming machine with Windows 11. It was a disaster, had to be returned 3 times, the last time they shipped it dripping with liquid from a broken water cooling system. Well, got credit card company involved, and returned that disaster.

    The new system from another company has been stellar, but I have run into several pieces of hardware that the manufacturers have intentionally taken the planned obsolescence route and they don't work with Windows 11. The Dymo label printers have been the worst. They're happy for you to spend an additional $300 for a new printer, that isn't as good as the old one. Ah, but a friend got me setup with a virtual machine, so I still can print on them with Windows 10, but what in incredible nuisance.

    Yes, I liked the old UI better, but otherwise Windows 11 seems pretty solid.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
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  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike stenson View Post
    That's why hypervisors exist though
    I was thinking that. Had VirtualBox running Windows under Ubuntu host for a little bit. It worked well and didn't seem resource intensive.
    Last edited by Curt Harms; 02-03-2023 at 11:20 AM.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Which I'm effectively already using with MacOS to run Windows 11. (Parallels) Adding Linux to the mix doesn't get me anything.
    No, and really and your use case is exactly why hypervisors exist for workstations (I do the same, I have one app I occasionally have to run on Windows). Unless you're running other things that require Linux, it buys nothing for most end users. We're not talking about doing baremetal virtual machines here. I mean, for me, if I could take at least some applications used to run automation and make them microservices, THEN it might be worth running Linux (for the OpenShift/Kubernetes side), and a VM for a single full Windows OS instance.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  12. #27
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    Just to be clear, I'm not actually "using" Linux in the normal sense. There are a couple of open-source apps that I'd like to play around with, and it's much more convenient to compile them in a Linux/GNU environment, even to (eventually) get to a Windows executable. And yes, I know it's technically possible to do that within Win11, but I kept running into things that didn't quite work. A clean Ubuntu install is a lot easier to deal with.
    Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
    "Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
    We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
    The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
    The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
    You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.

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