All Posts Tagged With: "Linux"

Quake Live (With Video And Scheduling Update)

This is an update to Want To Shoot Rich In The Face?

Quake Live is an FPS style game that’s completely in-browser, and that means it’s cross-browser/cross-platform compatible.

The plan here is to schedule an event to get a bunch of PCMech readers (yes, that means you’re invited) into the game to see if you guys and gals actually like it or not. Consider it a "mass review" to test out the game along with being able to play with an actual PCMech author, that being yours truly.

From the previous article, I’ve discovered a few things, with the biggest being that if you’re running things that block scripting and Flash such as NoScript or FlashBlock for Firefox, the game will not work. You will need to temporarily disable those for gameplay.

In addition there are several options you can set to make gameplay better per your computer’s specifications, such as adjusting texture detail, full-screen mode and so on. This is accessed in-game by pressing ESC on your keyboard and making the appropriate adjustments. The video below shows you how to do this, so be sure to watch it. Bear in mind you can go higher or lower, so even if you have an older computer, you can disable/downgrade enough stuff to make the game enjoyable and fluid on play.

Note on the video: My frame rate is crappy because my capture software isn’t designed to "grab" high-frame stuff like that. Believe me when I say the frame rate you’ll get will be a million times better and completely fluid.

This video makes note of my Quake Live ID:

http://www.quakelive.com/#profile/summary/frostedside

After logging in to Quake Live, you can add me in as a friend by going to the above link, or you can manually add by searching for the ID frostedside.

See video below for more details. There are also some scheduling notes below the video.

Scheduling notes

As for when I plan on getting everybody in on a game, it may happen this evening (as in today Wednesday November 18) during the PCMech LIVE broadcast from 8pm to 10pm EST.

The Smallest Home Server Device Ever

If you are looking to have a simple home server, or already have one, which shares your files across the network, a device you should take a look at is the SheevaPlug.

Plug it into a wall socket and bam—a fully-functional Linux server that can store digital media accessible remotely via the internet or function as a remote print or web server. Plus, it supports “multiple standard Linux 2.6 kernel distributions” and it operates on only 5-watts of power.

To me, this device is flat out awesome. Just plug in an external hard drive and you have an ultra lean, power efficient server. Compared to having to maintain a full system just to provide these simple services, the SheevaPlug is an ideal alternative for less than $100. The Wikipedia page offers numerous links to help you get started with whatever you want to do with it.

A significant factor which should not be overlooked is the power usage – or lack thereof. Considering a typical computer will easily pull 30-75 watts depending on the load (and that is being conservative), the SheevaPlug will actually pay for itself in power savings.

This is definitely on my wish list.

Does anyone already have a SheevaPlug (or another plug computer) they are using? If so, please share your experience in the comments.

Need Help With Linux? Have You Tried Usenet?

Usenet is literally the last (and to the best of my knowledge the only) world-accessible discussion system that is completely unfiltered and non-moderated.

It is unfortunate however that some ISPs have decided to drop newsgroup access altogether. My local Florida ISP, Brighthouse, does have complimentary service by Newshosting. This happened because Roadrunner (as in Time Warner) dropped access to it. But other ISPs don’t offer this, so you’re left with no access whatsoever. However there are alternatives. More on that in a moment.

One of the best uses of Usenet is for Linux discussion. To this day Usenet is very active on this topic, and is a great resource for help when you need it. Usually you can get a Linux question answered within minutes via Usenet.

Such example newsgroups are alt.comp.linux, alt.comp.os.linux, alt.linux and many more.

If you do not have newsgroup access via your ISP, Google Groups is an alternative. Here’s a link list from the newsgroups listed above:

Of course, using Google Groups is not the same as having direct access. Usenet is always best used with a mail client that supports it, such as Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and so on. The reason it’s better with a client is because you have more control over how the discussion looks. Google Groups is done "The Google Way," which definitely isn’t the best way. This is not to say Google Groups is unusable, but once you’ve used Usenet in a true client, you’ll understand the advantages.

There are others ways of getting to Usenet if your ISP doesn’t support it and you don’t want to use Google Groups, such as NewsDemon, ThunderNews and Giganews. All of them charge, with Giga being the cheapest of the lot. Are they worth paying for? That’s up for you to decide.

Before you check out the alternatives, see if your ISP supports Usenet access first. Many still do but the documentation for it is absolutely buried. If you’re not able to locate the documentation instructing you what the newsgroup server is (which is what you need to access it,) try a Google search for "[your ISP] newsgroup server." This will usually return the information you’re looking for, or at least give an answer on whether your ISP has a newsgroup server or not.

What’s The Fastest GUI There Is?

The GUI which is the fastest of them all is the one which is an absolute no-frills environment.

"No-frills" defined:

  • No wallpaper
  • No animations
  • Solid-colored application window borders
  • No color gradients in title bars
  • No anti-aliased fonts (i.e. font smoothing)
  • No application window shadows
  • No transparency/translucence
  • Squared-off corners of application windows only (no curved corners)

Why would anybody want a no-frills GUI environment?

Here are a few reasons:

  • Screen draws/redraws are near-instantaneous (fastest possible environment)
  • You gain screen space because the borders are thin without shadows (you can fit more windows on your screen, gain more application space)
  • It’s easier to read text in many instances
  • Switching between tasks is faster
  • Dragging windows is faster (border-only instead of full-window-copy as you move it)

There are more, but you get the idea.

image  Microsoft’s Windows Vista and 7

…can be configured to be no-frills but it takes some effort. Windows XP is in fact the last Windows OS that can go completely "bare", GUI-wise. Windows Vista and 7 cannot because there are some animations that absolutely cannot be turned off. If you go to the Optimize visual display (available by a search from the Windows logo), there is a checkbox that states verbatim:

Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible)

It’s the "when possible" that irks me. That means it disables most but not all animations.

XP and previous editions of Windows on the other hand can be completely "de-animated". Even the startup animation can be disabled.

image  Apple’s Mac OS X

…has animations everywhere, some of which require the Terminal to disable. By default, things in OS X fade in/out, jump around ("bouncing" icons), slide, zoom in/out, tilt slightly("Stacks" feature), etc. You name it, it has it. I’m not saying this is a bad thing because it’s part of the whole Apple experience, but when it comes to disabling every animation in that OS, it can prove to be a chore.

image   The UNIX/Linux desktop environment

…is the only one where you can choose to be as glitzy or as Spartan as you wish.

In the glitz department, using Compiz can make a UNIX/Linux desktop disgustingly animated. You can have "wobbly" windows, "burning" minimize/maximize, a desktop that "rotates" using the prism-like Cube and so on.

However it’s the Spartan options that really make a UNIX/Linux desktop a lean mean machine.

Getting UNIX/Linux desktop to be Spartan but powerful in the GUI can be as easy as picking the right desktop environment. Once such example is Xfce. Another is fluxbox. Both of these are very lightweight by design and can be easily configured to be completely no-frills.

image  Which is the fastest?

This is largely dependent on what hardware you have in your computer, but overall a lightweight UNIX/Linux environment still rules the roost as the fastest GUI you can use.

While it’s true that nothing can ever outrun the command line in terms of speed, the most diehard command line user still prefers a GUI multitasking environment – even if the GUI is nothing but terminal windows.

terminal  Can you multitask with no GUI?

You could, if so desired, multitask from the command line in UNIX, being there is bg to send a running process to the background and fg to bring it back to the foreground. Jobs in UNIX are assigned numerical IDs so it’s not difficult to perform job control once you get used to it, should you dare to go with no GUI at all.

But in all honesty, using nothing but a CLI environment for multitasking is a bit time consuming because you don’t see your tasks in front of you as windows (as in application windows, not MS-Windows). If UNIX had a DESQview-like offering, that would be a lot more friendly and usable with multitasking in no-GUI land.

DESQview was arguably the best text-mode multitask environment usability-wise because you could whizz thru it like nobody’s business. Someone even said it was one of the 5 Best Operating Systems You Never Used. Yes, it really was that good.

Google Chrome 64-bit Version Available, However..

Google seems to have an odd way of deploying their Chrome browser. The first reaction when it appeared was, "Hey! Where’s the Mac and Linux versions? What gives?"

It was nothing short of strange why Google seemed to concentrate on Windows so much concerning their own browser offering. Granted, Windows is the most-used desktop operating system in the world, but hey, there are plenty of Mac and Linux users out there.

So now the 64-bit version of Chrome is available for…

Linux.

And nothing else.

I’m not kidding. Linux people can build it right now if they want to in all its 64-bit glory.

Windows people still get the 32-bit flavor only.

As for Mac OS X? It’s still in development. Sorry, Mac people.

In all seriousness, this is why so many people stick to Firefox. When Mozilla has a release of that browser, it’s worldwide, has almost every conceivable language version available and has versions ready for Windows, Mac and Linux that are ready-to-run.

And yes, there’s 64-bit Firefox just in case you were wondering (as well as several other Mozilla products).

I’m seriously trying to like Chrome.. but.. well.. um.. no.

To our Linux users in the audience, if you’re able to build a 64-bit Chrome and get it to work, please feel free to comment on your experience with it. Many would be interested in your thoughts on it.

Who Are The Best OS Field Testers? Us.

The fact Microsoft is offering Windows 7 free for an entire year to anybody who wants it is definitely a change for the better. It used to be that whenever any software maker released a product, they would do so, wait for the mountain of complaints to come in, then provide fixes. Concerning operating systems, that’s typically how commercial releases worked for many years.

It is impossible to release an OS that is bug-free. But with Windows 7 I can honestly say that when official, this will probably be the least bug-laden version of the OS ever put to market. And a huge reason for that is because people like myself and many others who are running Windows 7 RC are providing valuable information to Microsoft by using the OS, talking about it, describing what works, what doesn’t and so on.

Linux users have been doing this for years, so the idea of letting the users give feedback before official release is nothing new. It is the strength of the Linux community that contributes largely to a Linux distribution’s rock-solid reliability. When there’s a problem even to the slightest degree, it’s reported, discussed openly (keyword there) and addressed.

Finally, after all this time, Microsoft is now following suit and taking advantage of the power of the internet community. This is a very large step in the right direction because it gives the home user a much louder voice than before.

The voice of the consumer was largely overshadowed by corporations up until this point. Why? Because corporations spend the most money on Microsoft products. Am I saying that the consumer is now on an even playing field with corporate? No. But we are being listened to more, and that’s better than nothing.

Microsoft will never be at the level of user empowerment that Linux is. Of that I have no doubt. Linux, being largely non-commercial, has the advantage of having the user as its loudest voice first and always. When you’re commercial, the user is shunted to dead last as far as "this is who we listen to concerning issues", and I don’t deny that.

However, in all my years of using Windows this is the first time I’ve really seen Microsoft actually pay very close attention to its consumer base and make it well known that it is.

As said above, this is a huge step in the right direction because it makes for a much better end product.

What’s The Best IRC App?

IRC is one of those things that either you get or you don’t. You probably know IRC as chat rooms. But if you said that to a diehard IRC user, he or she would give you a dirty look or two because "chat room" is a term originally popularized by AOL. And to be technically correct, IRC has no chat rooms. They’re called channels. Maybe that’s a nerdy nit-picky thing, but it wouldn’t be the internet without nerds getting ticked off over minutia like that.

The best app for IRC depends on what OS you’re using. IRC is best used with a true client rather than the web-based way (like Mibbit, which seems to get increasingly banned on many IRC servers these days, hence the reason I don’t use nor recommend it).

On Windows, the best IRC client is mIRC. It’s been around seemingly forever (even as far back as the Windows 3.1 days) and has proven time and time again to be a solid, stable chat app.

On Mac OS X, the IRC app used most is Colloquy. Were I using OS X I would use that and nothing else for IRC purposes. It is the best for the Mac, no question. And you can even go mobile with it.

On Linux, XChat is the best. I have tried several different IRC apps over the years with Linux, but time and time again I keep going back to XChat whenever I’m using a Linux distro.

Platform independent IRC applications (works in any OS):

  • Chatzilla – A Firefox add-on.
  • Pidgin – Primarily an instant messaging client but also does IRC. Note for Mac users: Adium uses the same backend Pidgin does and also does IRC the same way.

Do you use IRC?

If you do, what’s your OS and preferred IRC app of choice? Let us know in the comments.

Releasing And Renewing Your IP Address In Ubuntu

With Ubuntu it is important (as it is in XP) to know certain network command functions. When most people have a problem with their router, cablemodem or DSL modem, they simply reboot the computer to renew the IP address. You do not have to do this. Instead you can simply shut down the network interface and restart it.

ifconfig

ifconfig is the command used in Ubuntu at the command line (better known as the terminal in GNOME) to not only find out what your IP address is, but also to disable/enable network interfaces if need be.

To see your current IP, just type ifconfig and press enter. You will see a list of network interfaces. On a wired connection, the first (and probably only) network card listed is usually eth0 (that’s a zero at the end, not letter O).

We’ll say for the moment your router had a screw-up and you had to restart it, so you need your computer to request its IP address back.

Releasing (down) and Renewing (up)

The release/renew commands from ifconfig are simply down and up.

We put a sudo in front of ifconfig to grant administrator privileges, and it all comes together like this:

sudo ifconfig eth0 down (shuts down the eth0 interface, releases the IP)

sudo ifconfig eth0 up (enables the eth0 interface, renews the IP)

And yes, you do have to use sudo both times.

Why know this? It saves time. Downing the network interface and "upping" it again is quicker than a reboot – especially for those of you out there with not-so good routers.

Setting Up Gmail With Evolution In Ubuntu

The default email client that comes bundled with Ubuntu is Evolution. Make no mistake, this is a really good email client (arguably just as good as Mozilla Thunderbird that also runs under Ubuntu easily).

Setting up an IMAP-enabled Gmail account in Evolution is fairly straightforward as long as you know where to enter in the SSL stuff and other odds and ends. Watch the video below to see how it’s done.

KeePassX, Password Manager For Ubuntu Linux

In Windows XP I use KeePass Password Safe, however in Ubuntu I was wondering if there was a similar program I could use there as well. It turns out there is and it’s nearly identical to the Windows version, called KeePassX.

The great thing about KeePassX is that if you’re already using KeePass there is literally no learning curve whatsoever.  Almost every function and keystroke is identical between one and the other. Additionally, KeePassX is available via Add/Remove in Ubuntu, so you never have to see the command line to install the program.

My only complaint about the software is that I could not locate any way to send or retrieve a database via FTP, but other than that, everything else follows suit, right down to the custom icon choices should you choose to use that.

See video below for details on how it works.

THIS VIDEO AVAILABLE IN HD!
Watch in HD now on YouTube

Good Linux Users Don’t Talk About Microsoft

For this article I’d like to take a different direction concerning Linux. Is it all too typical on the internet to hear a Linux user go full-on zealot style and say, "YEAH! I use Linux! F**k Microsoft! You people are sheeple! Down with the status quo!" Blah, blah, blah, frickin’ blah. Nobody cares. It’s as if a Linux user can’t possibly say anything about the operating system he or she uses without mentioning Microsoft and/or what most people use for their personal computing and how it’s "wrong/bad/evil", etc. To those zealots, I say unto thee: Shaddup. You’re not helping.

Truly happy Linux people couldn’t care less about Microsoft whatsoever. Instead, they just get down to business and make things work. Whether it’s for desktop, laptop, media center use or what-have-you, instead of bickering about Microsoft they’re getting things done, which of course is what matters the most.

The good Linux users I know don’t even talk about Microsoft. Never will you see a "windoze", "winblows", "M$" or "Micro$oft" in anything they blog about. To note, those that do write those childish things are morons because as said above, nobody cares. You don’t see me calling Linux users tux turds, penguin poopers or GUI-challenged, do you?

Good Linux users tell good stories about the things they’re doing now, such as:

"On my 32-bit system I can now access all 4GB of my RAM. Now I don’t have to buy a new computer!"

"I’ve been able to keep my computer running for two solid weeks straight without a single reboot."

"I really like the Evolution mail client. I really like the iCalShare connectivity too!"

"I love the games I’m playing. Great stuff!"

These are the types of stories I like to hear. And yes, they’re out there on the internet. Sometimes it takes a little time to seek them out but they do exist. You can find happy Linux users that say nothing of Microsoft because it simply doesn’t matter.

At no time from these folks will you see, "Well I was using Outlook.. what a PIECE OF CRAP THAT WAS.. I HATE MICRO$OFT! Evolution rulez!!11!1 KDE! GNOME! (penguins.. tux.. uh.. no mouse.. yeah!)"

No, no, no.. stop. Just stop.

I suggest a new line of thinking for fervent Linux users: Cut the anti-Microsoft crap. Cut it completely out of your conversation. Cut it out of your spoken word, your blogs, your videos and so on. Why are you giving Microsoft free advertising? People don’t care about your anti-Microsoft opinions because they’ve already heard them a million times by at least a million other people, so you are not adding anything new or helpful to the conversation.

Tell us what you do with Linux. Tell us the apps you use. Tell us why you prefer specific Linux apps over others. Give us useful information.

Computer use as far as operating systems is concerned is to the point where people will use what they use because that’s what they’re used to. Windows people will continue to use Windows. Mac people will continue to use OS X. Linux folks their distro o’ choice. Yes, very obvious, but that’s the way it is.

Those who are interested in Linux want to hear about (duh) Linux, and not your anti-Microsoft point of view. So please, try and be helpful, because after all, all computers are sh*t.

And to Linux zealots, fsck you.

DistroWatch Gives Insight As To Which Linux To Try

Just about every week on the PCMech LIVE show I am asked (more or less), "Where do I go to get a list of Linux distros that people actually use?"

The answer I always give is DistroWatch. Is that place the be-all/end-all for all things Linux? No (because there are many), but it’s a darn good start to get the news on what’s going on with different distros.

On the right sidebar there is a list of 100 different Linux distributions sorted by hit ranking. This gives an indication of what’s being actively used/developed. It is not by any means a master list, but like I said it gives a good indication on what you can try out that other people use.

As of this writing, the top 10 are:

  1. Ubuntu
  2. openSUSE
  3. Mint
  4. Fedora
  5. Debian
  6. Mandriva
  7. PCLinuxOS
  8. MEPIS
  9. CentOS
  10. Puppy

Want to see the rest? Check out DistroWatch for yourself.

What sites do you go to for Linux distro information? Are they better or worse than DistroWatch?

Write a comment and let us know.

Installing A "Full" Linux Distro On A USB Stick [How-To]

Years ago when I first started examining if you could in fact run an entire OS off a single USB stick (meaning not external hard drive), you could with “biz card” sized Linux distributions such as Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux. These distros are still available today and still actively developed. The reason people chose these over full-sized distros is because USB stick were expensive back then.

Today however a 4GB still can be had for well under $20. In fact you can even pick them up in Wal-Mart for around $16. Times have changed for the better.

So now the question is, can you install run a full Linux distro off a USB stick?

Yes. There are a few drawbacks and I’ll address those later. First, the method.

Requirements:

  1. One 4GB or greater USB stick. Using Ubuntu as an example, that distro requires just over 2GB for a standard install, so a 2GB stick is not enough. And if you try to install to a 2GB it won’t allow it. So you need a minimum of 4GB.
  2. A PC or laptop that can boot from USB. More or less all PCs (even Dells) from 2005 to present can do this. You should be able to set your first boot device as USB in your BIOS.
  3. A Linux distro on a bootable CD. You’ll need this to install the distro to the stick.

The way it’s done:

  1. Go into the BIOS and set your first boot device as USB, then save.
  2. Shut down the PC and unplug it.
  3. Open the case.
  4. Physically disconnect the hard drive from the motherboard. I do this on purpose so Linux absolutely will not “see” the drive. Even if you disable the drive in the BIOS, Linux will still “see” it on install, so unplug it. Better safe than sorry.
  5. Plug in the USB stick to the PC.
  6. Boot the computer from the Linux CD.
  7. Install Linux. The installer program will see the USB stick as the only “drive” in the system. You can go ahead and have it partition the whole thing since you unplugged your other hard drive.
  8. Once finished, reboot. You should have your full distro of Linux complete on the USB stick.
  9. Shut down the PC and reconnect the hard drive then close up the case. When you want to boot back into another OS such as Windows, shut down, unplug the USB stick and boot normally.

And that’s basically it.

Pros

You essentially have a dual-boot system without the need for any primary hard drive partitioning whatsoever since Linux is completely on the stick.

If your primary hard drive fails, you have a full OS at the ready on the stick that can be booted to at any time.

Cons

The Linux you installed on the stick is specifically for the computer you installed it on. It’s not “portable” like the biz card distros are.

USB 2.0 is obviously slower than a hard drive. While it’s true Linux is speedy, you are choking it by using a significantly slower file transfer method for OS functions.

USB sticks do not have a life span as long as hard drives do. If one were to use this method for daily use, it’s a good bet you’ll only get 3 years out of it. And yes this is a guess. Maybe it will last longer. Maybe not.

Quick questions and answers

What happens if I plug in the USB stick while Windows is running?

Nothing really. You’ll get a window that pops up showing the boot files or a message stating Windows can’t read the stick because it’s in a format (e.g. ext3) Windows doesn’t understand.

Will the Linux I run off the stick truly act as if it were run from a hard drive?

Yes.

Is Linux more prone to crashing by being installed on a USB stick?

Possibly. It depends how many apps and processes you have running while the OS is in use. All you have to remember is not to run too many apps at once and you should be fine.

Will Linux run very slow off USB?

Only on initial launch of an app. For example, when you launch the Firefox browser, Linux off a USB stick will “think” about it for a few moments, then run. But once running you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between it running off USB versus a traditional hard drive.

Is there anything I should watch out for when running Linux this way?

The only thing you have to watch for is running out of space. It’s very easy to get app-happy in Linux and install a bunch of stuff without thinking about it. Keep an eye on the space you have left and you won’t have a problem. Or better yet, try to use internet-based apps only like Google Docs, Gmail, Hotmail and so on.

Can I transfer stuff I download to the hard drive while in Linux on USB?

Yes. You can mount the hard drive while in the OS and push all your downloaded files to it if you wish. Just bear in mind this is one-way style of transfer. You can push from Linux to Windows, but not from Windows to Linux. It’s basically the same as if you were running a dual-boot with Windows on NTFS and Linux on ext3. And you should use the ext3 journalized file system for Linux which is the default choice on install.

So now you have another way of using Linux on the cheap. Just grab a 4GB stick and give it a go.

What Can’t You Emulate With Linux?

A standard argument by Linux users is that if WINE cannot run a Windows  app for whatever reason, do it virtually. Load up Windows in a virtual session with your app of choice, be it VMware, Virtualbox or the like, load up your Windows session and run your app that way.

There is nothing to my knowledge that Linux cannot run virtually if WINE doesn’t cut it. But how well Windows apps can run in virtual is something else.

A few examples:

You’re a web designer and need to test your site designs in Internet Explorer 7 for browser compatibility. Running XP virtually to do that is fine because performance is not an issue.

You’re a blogger and really like Windows Live Writer. This is just a word processor, more or less. Running it virtually won’t be a problem here either.

You’re trying to edit video. You want to run something like Adobe Premiere, Ulead Mediastudio or some other high-powered video editing suite that you bought previously. Can you run this in virtual? Yes. Will it work well? Not a chance. The frame rate on preview will be terrible and so much memory will be sucked into the virtual session that it will probably crash it (not Linux, just the virtual session).

You want to play your favorite Windows games. Can they be emulated in Linux? Yes. Will they work as well? Most likely not. Frame rates will drop and overall gameplay won’t be as fluid. And no, saying "play on a console" is not a solution. There are many reasons why PC gamers like playing games on PCs and not consoles.

The only time I’ve seen Linux have a legitimate problem with emulation is when there’s any high-graphic app involved. The virtual software we have at present still can’t deliver performance as well as natively under Windows. It is virtual, after all.

In the end, I honestly can’t think of anything else that can’t be run in virtual or have a Linux native equivalent.

Have you run a Windows app in Linux that was a bust in WINE and/or virtual?

Name your apps. Did you find Linux equivalents or other creative ways of getting around virtual limitations? Let us know.

Booksize PC = Good Cheap Alternative Computing

In 2007 and 2008 the netbook laptop format made a big splash and continues to do so in 2009. But what about having this mini-sized format in a standalone desktop computer? Is there an option and moreover it is cheap?

Yes and yes.

Enter the booksize PC format.

These PCs are called as such because they are similar to the size of hardcover printed books. And they start at just under $130.

Pros:

  • Cheap.
  • Small, easy setup.
  • Integrated processor or house an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU or AMD Phenom (the ones that can house the higher-end processors cost around $200).
  • Makes for an excellent media center computer.

Cons:

  • These are "barebone" PCs, meaning you have to put in the extra parts such as RAM, hard drive, and possibly the processor depending on which unit you get. However bear in mind you don’t have to build anything. Just add parts and go.
  • Only has a single memory slot (most can support a maximum of 2GB RAM, some support dual-channel).
  • You do have to install the OS. If not Linux you have to buy a license of Windows.
  • Size does limit what you can do on the inside with it. And yes it’s cramped.

Said honestly I’m glad the booksize style exists. It’s nice that there’s something out there that’s cheap, can be customized with hardware, stylish and moreover serves a legitimate purpose. As I noted above, a pro is that this is a perfect fit for a media center computer box. And let’s not forget that for such a task you can make it fast (a multi-core CPU with 2GB of RAM in a media center box is a really good combination that ensures very smooth operation).

Bear in mind that if you buy one with an integrated processor and use Linux, the total cost new could be a low as $150!

Not bad. Not bad a’tall.