Please tell me what to buy, to build a small Linux box.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed May 20, 2015 8:51 am

Whaddya need, like... a power supply? A motherboard or some shit?

It will just do basic stuff, so probably doesn't need anything remotely fancy, just bare bones "hello, world" type stuff.

If you link me to newegg pages I will just buy whatever you link me to.

Thanks!

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed May 20, 2015 9:07 am

A Raspberry Pi B 2 is $35. In addition to that $35, you'll need a USB keyboard, a USB mouse, and an SD card. You can squeeze by with a 4GB card, although I would recommend an 8GB or 16GB card (which it uses as the hard drive). It comes with an Ethernet jack and an HDMI video port.

I'm running the m00npie bot in IRC off of one of mine. I've also installed PiMAME on one, which installs a GUI menu and about two dozen emulators. The new Pi 2 can emulate up to the original PlayStation and Dreamcast. It's a quadcore 900mhz machine with a gig of ram. I don't know if you can install Steam on it but you can install RaspOS which is a watered down flavor of Debian and it works pretty good.

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Wed May 20, 2015 10:30 am

Flack's suggestion will work, but for maximum compatibility, I'd recommend a cheap PC. Just get the cheapest you can find. Prefer those that come with Linux pre-installed, since they have hardware that has good Linux drivers.

Stay away from "Steam Boxes". They are hugely overpriced (if their hardware is worth $200, they sell for $400.)

However, building your own PC by buying individual components is usually cheapest. You'll spend maybe 3 or 4 hours putting them together. A mainboard, a cpu, 4GB RAM, a hard disk, a case, a PSU, a keyboard and a mouse. Maybe a DVD drive too, if you're not comfortable with making bootable USB sticks.

One thing to look out for: make sure that the mainboard has a setting to disable "secure boot". Otherwise you might not be able to install some of the Linux distros. (Secure boot is controlled by Microsoft and prevents "unverified" operating systems from being installed.)

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed May 20, 2015 11:28 am

The Pi is interesting, but I think once he gets all the peripherals he'd be in the cost range of a new PC.

I am at work so I can't look up parts now, but when I get home as long as I dodge all the bullets from the revolver I shoot towards my head again I'll have a BREAKDOWN for ya, Pinner.

A nice BREAKDOWN.

RetroR · Post by **RetroR** » Wed May 20, 2015 12:31 pm

If you're fine with a MicroSD card or USB external hard drive as storage, I would actually suggest foregoing the Raspberry PI 2 (performance is better, but still.... Questionable) and go for the NanoPC (http://nanopc.org/NanoPC-T1_Feature.html)

$78 dollars, includes a case and all you will need to do is slap in a MicroSD card and install Ubuntu (comes with actual, real video outputs.)

If you want an actual mini-itx Linux box, go for this -

http://linuxlookup.com/howto/build_linu ... _under_250

The only magic sauce is a mini-itx board with an embedded GPU (think Kaveri from AMD or Atom from Intel.) Everything else is just icing.

Jizaboz · Post by **Jizaboz** » Thu May 21, 2015 4:03 pm

I don't bother running a local Linux box anymore, but like all of these guys say it's really cheap and easy. All I can add is..

1. If you don't even need this box to have a gui, you can go really cheap. Just make sure you are running supported "usually older" software. The Ubuntu site has a lot on this. Ubuntu assumes though you want to do "fun stuff" like playing games or media players. If you don't care about that stuff, go with a CentOS distribution. Both are free.

2. If you are in the case of not even needing a guy, you can always just run an Amazon Linux (CentOS based) instance for 10$ a month or less a month. That's what I'm currently doing.

Jizaboz · Post by **Jizaboz** » Thu May 21, 2015 4:04 pm

blah can't edit.

Correct: (usually old) HARDWARE

obviously.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu May 21, 2015 5:56 pm

Here ya go, Ben. It's broken down by seller. You could use multiple sellers for the best deal, I bet:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2zX9Lk/by_merchant

Some of the prices look really low because they don't have all the stuff. It's misleading. But I think this would work.

This is without a video card. The motherboard has video.

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Thu May 21, 2015 6:58 pm

You should probably prefer 2x4GB RAM though, not 1x8GB. Reason: dual channel is faster. Not much, but hey, it's virtually the same cost, so why skimp on it.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu May 21, 2015 9:03 pm

Well, it's the shipping that stings you for that extra piece of RAM.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri May 22, 2015 8:41 am

This is like asking a bunch of fat kids what to eat first the minute they get inside Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:23 am

If you don't immediately go for the Everlasting Gobstopper, then I hope Wonka kills you. Or at least does that thing where he, much like Charles Manson, doesn't directly kill you, but leads you to your own demise.