Wanted: Atom Server solution for Unix box?

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krycor

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Anyone know where i can buy me a cheap atom machine to act as a nas + lamp etc with unix running on it? I don't need hard drives currently just the small box with cpu + ram + ide/sata with power. I remember a few yrs go they use to sell little unix server boxes but that was with sucky cpus.

anyway anyone know where i can find something to use like this? atom because then the power requirements will be low especially since i won't be using graphics card on the device. I saw little desktop atom boxes at incredible a few months back which would be good too.. but looking for a cheap solution as like i said don't need the screen etc
 
You really won't beat the HP Microserver @ R1200.
It includes everything: case, PSU, 250GB HDD, 1GB RAM, AMD dual core CPU

All you need then is a SATA DVD drive / USB flash drive to install Linux with.

At this moment I'm not sure if you can get the HP Microserver for R1200 any more, seeing that it's currently listed as R3,299 !
See http://www.hpshop.co.za/p-7357-hp-proliant-microserver-633724-421.aspx :(

I spent about R2500 on my Intel Atom D525 setup that has 2GB RAM, WiFi N, small CFi case and 1.5TB HDD.
The performance of the Intel Atom CPU is shockingly bad, even though it's a 1.6GHz dual core with hyperthreading, but at least I can run everything I need to from mine:
1) MikroTik RouterOS v5 in a VirtualBox VM for all my routing & transparent proxy stuff
2) SABnzbd+ and a scheduler for automatically downloading the latest videos
3) Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with apps for NAS features
 
My hardware dealers showed me a mini from Proline last week which attaches to the back of a standard LCD, looked very neat. I don't if this is it http://www.proline.co.za/Product/Item.aspx?ID=3728 but it looks similar.

They were saying it ships with Ubuntu or Windows (not sure which version) installed and reckoned +/- R1700 excl their cost. I'm planning on testing one in the near future and will report back here.
 
OK I have the Proline QBox 4223 to test, the first thing to note is that the specs on the link I provided are wrong - it's a dual core Atom.

I loaded Centos6 64bit with minor hassles setting up the DVD iso on a unetbootin flash drive (you can also use a usb external DVD) after which the install went smoothly.

Everything works "out the box" including the AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter :D
The only problem I've found is that the line out socket does not disconnect the on-board speaker (very tinny but quite powerful).

Here's some tech stuff:

Code: 
uname -r
2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.x86_64

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation N10 Family DMI Bridge
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation NM10 Family LPC Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)

some lshw stuff:
 
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D425   @ 1.80GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D425   @ 1.80GHz
          serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
          slot: CPU 1
          size: 1800MHz
          capacity: 1800MHz
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 200MHz
          capabilities: x86-64

     *-memory
             slot: DIMM0
             size: 2GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 667MHz (1.5ns)
 

         *-disk
                description: ATA Disk
                product: WDC WD3200BEKT-6
                vendor: Western Digital
                physical id: 0.0.0
                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
                logical name: /dev/sda
                version: 01.0
                serial: WD-WX31A51V8420
                size: 298GiB (320GB)
 
I've used the Qbox and Eeebox. IMO the Eeebox is much better.
 
i was looking for something similar, but it should have hdmi out. use as media player and internet server connected to adsl.
looks like buying motherboard and parts seperately works out cheaper
 
biometrics said:
I've used the Qbox and Eeebox. IMO the Eeebox is much better.
Click to expand...

I've tried to compare the specs on both and discovered that it's a moving target, what the manufacturers quote and what gets reviewed under the same model number never tie up.

The pricing I've found on a similarly specced eeeBox (with HDMI) is about double @ +/- R4500 but it comes with Win 7 (Pro?) pre-loaded and keyboard/mouse. As I'm looking at units for general office use in a Linux environment HDMI & pre-loaded Windows are not a plus and there doesn't seem to be a model without a OS.

Would you agree with the foregoing?

Also have you used the Q-Box for any length of time, if so, for how long and what are the pros & cons?

Edit: I should add that I'm very impressed with the Q-Box so far
 
Last edited:
Frontosa. The 1020 is a new model though so they may not have stock yet.
 
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