Purism Librem Mini is a Tiny Linux Desktop (betanews.com) 70
Today, we get another diminutive desktop option, but this one is designed for Linux and privacy. From a report: Yes, Purism is finally launching a tiny desktop, and it will come pre-installed with the Debian-based PureOS. Called "Librem Mini," the cute bugger has 4 USB-A ports on the front, along with a 3.5mm audio jack, and the power button. On the rear, there are two more USB-A ports, a single USB-C port, Ethernet, HDMI, DisplayPort, and the power port. "Announcing the Purism Librem Mini. Our small form-factor mini-PC that puts freedom, privacy and security first. We're really excited about the Librem Mini, it's a device our community have wanted and we've wanted to offer for some time. The Librem Mini is accessible, small, light and powerful featuring a new 8th gen quad core i7 processor, up to 64 GB of fast DDR4 memory and 4k 60 fps video playback. It's a desktop for your home or oïfce, a media center for your entertainment, or an expandable home server for your files and applications," says Purism.
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I think your numbers must be off.
In the US for the 2017/2018 flu season, there were an estimated 45 million flu cases and around 61,000 people died. That is a mortality rate of about 0.14%
You are claiming the mortality rate in Germany was 1.19%. I suspect that you are a decimal place off.
The COVID-19 is reported to be more contagious than the flu and has a higher mortality rate (World wide about 3.9%). Even if it is of similar spread rate and the mortality rate is only 0.4% that would kill nearly 3 tim
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A lot of Germans use comma-places instead of decimal-places, so it is an easy mistake to make.
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COVID-19 will infect half of the global population [cnbc.com] and kill 1-2 million Americans. Everyone in the country will know someone that was taken by the pandemic. For many, it will be parents or grandparents. It will significantly change the demographics of the USA and very well may knock the Republicans from power.
OK, how about we lighten the fuck up a bit.
450,000 Americans die every year just from tobacco use. No way in hell are you going to "significantly change" the demographics of a 300-million strong populous by killing far less than 1% of that, so dial back the drama. Yes, this will be bad. Yes, likely worse than most are even capable of envisioning right now. But this won't even make a dent in politics, much less knock anyone from power. We've heard that End-of-the-Party bullshit coming from every side o
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OK, now look at the age spread of the deaths, and then look at voting by age, both rates and party.
There will only be a few deaths, but if there were 1m it could have a huge impact on elections in numerous states.
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OK, now look at the age spread of the deaths, and then look at voting by age, both rates and party.
There will only be a few deaths, but if there were 1m it could have a huge impact on elections in numerous states.
Voting?
Party?
People's lives are on the line and you're concerned about keeping our toxic political system on life support?
If there's anything that deserves to be destroyed and re-created right now, it's that entire clusterfuck. Both sides Americans no longer have a use for, because neither Democrats or Republicans represent the citizens. Epidemics like this make that obvious for even the dumb and ignorant.
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Freak out! Throw your hands in the air! Have no other concerns because "ZOMG!"
No thanks, I'll stick with my own plan of continuing to be rational.
Sorry (Score:2)
But tiny doesn't do it for me I need giant 'End Of The World' Fonts to see anything on a normal desktop.
BTW
Times New Roman and Arial walk into a bar. The barman says “we don’t serve your type here”.
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The title is confusing. They're talking about the size of a computer that sits on your desk top, not the look of your desktop UI. Basically they call it a desktop because it's not a laptop.
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How old are you? They used to refer to Desktop PCs and Laptop PCs. This is one of the former, in a very small form factor.
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Right, but "Tiny Linux Desktop" was confusing. Assuming it was a new distro, it sounded like it could mean a smaller memory footprint by default, using something like fvwm or such. And the previous post mentioning fonts seems to have made a similar interpretation.
Would it kill you to put a link to the product in? (Score:5, Informative)
https://puri.sm/products/libre... [puri.sm]
pre-order: ($699 with 8GB memory and a 250GB Sata drive, no wifi)
https://shop.puri.sm/shop/libr... [shop.puri.sm]
Pre-Order. Shipping starts about 4 weeks after reaching campaign goal. ($50,000)
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Price is kinda high...
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Agreed. When you bump up the RAM & the disk/SSD a bit, you're right up there in MacMini territory. Which is not a compliment.
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Agreed. When you bump up the RAM & the disk/SSD a bit, you're right up there in MacMini territory. Which is not a compliment.
Considering that for only $100 more, you can get a Mac mini, with tons more flexible I/O bandwidth, 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, and, as of today, twice the SSD (256 GB to start on the base model). It also has 4 USB-C/TB3 and 2 USB 3.0 Ports, plus HDMI 2.0, Gig Ethernet and Audio ports. You can also configure it up to a 6-core i7 and 10GigE.
Oh, and you can purchase it today, instead of waiting for some Kickstarter project that may, or may not, happen...
The CPU on the Librem is an i7, compared with an i3 (albeit
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but that is the only "better" thing about it
You are missing the point of this device. From the manufacturer: "Smaller than a Mac Mini, slightly bigger than a Raspberry Pi. More freedom, more privacy, more security". And it is the latter sentence that matters. Also: "Disabled and neutralized Intel® Management Engine"
This has been designed to work well with free software. And to have relatively few potential backdoors.
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For the grand total of "free" i can do that by myself and not spend a fuckload of money on this ok piece of equipment. They provide their OS for free, bootloaders are a dime a dozen and one isn't locked into one (e.g. Grub, rEFIT, clover, et al), and I can use whatever NUC I want. Oh and there are free kits that can be used to make the Intel ME "NSA environment complian
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They blocked IME (theoretically) but Intel processors are still vulnerable to MELTDOWN. And also several other attacks for which mitigation is expensive. Wake me up when they have a tiny AMD system. I'm not giving Intel my money.
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It doesn't try to lock you into a shit OS though. So that's a plus.
If anyone wants a good tiny PC just buy a NUC if you don't have extra requirements. If you want added security then the Librem is a good alternative since they nuke ME. I'd still rather it be AMD powered though, not free of exploits but definitely fewer.
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It doesn't try to lock you into a shit OS though. So that's a plus.
If anyone wants a good tiny PC just buy a NUC if you don't have extra requirements. If you want added security then the Librem is a good alternative since they nuke ME. I'd still rather it be AMD powered though, not free of exploits but definitely fewer.
Who is it that is trying to "lock you into a shit OS"?
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Yeah, I tricked it out to over $3200 on the "Buy" page. It would have good performance though. Needs more Gen2 ports...
Idealism doesn't come cheap (Score:2)
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Having principles can cost you money, unfortunately.
In this case that's weird, really. In what manner does the price of compute hardware depend on what software runs on it? (whether that be OS or firmware bits)
EDIT: reading on their website, it seems Purism has custom boards manufactured for them. In relatively small numbers of course. That could explain a good deal of the pricing. Which also means they could reach a (potentially much) bigger audience by building systems from off-the-shelf parts. So obviously there's a trade-off here between price, how 'p
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Purism takes a pretty strong stance on the hardware control aspect. Moreso than other Linux SI's. a good example is comparing how the Pine Phone compares to the Librem 5. With the Pine Phone is mostly based on FOSS hardware where possible and compromises where needed. With the Librem 5 they wouldn't budge and ended up with a cpu that's not an ideal match for the use case and a complicated sandboxing solution for the baseband. This results in a phone that runs hotter and has a worse battery life than expecte
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Being stupid too. (Score:2)
Like running an Intel CPU, and claiming you have principles.
I'm perfectly fine with my $200 Ryzen 3 2200G, 8GB RAM sytem that I put into an old case somebody wanted to throw away, and running Linux, thank you very much.
Your arguments were?
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Price is kinda high...
No surprises there. Anybody who claims "PC that puts freedom, privacy and security rst" is obviously going to charge double.
PS: How does that even work? It's a PC...just like every other PC. How is it going to be more private or secure?
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Well, off the top, it's not Windows...
Sorry, won't lower the discussion to your level. (Score:2)
Hardware != Software.
Installing Linux takes 30 minutes, clicking "next" a few times, or asking your local expert buddy.
Your statement is unrelated to the argument.
The argument still stands.
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It's a PC...just like every other PC. How is it going to be more private or secure?
They selected the components to reduce the amount of non-free stuff required.
Also: "Disabled and neutralized Intel® Management Engine" (and a few more security-related measures mentioned on the manufacturer's website)
Riiiight... (Score:2)
If you.had any clue what the IME is, you know the CPU doesn't work without it, and you can't disable it, even if you believe you did.
Had they been serious, then they would have installed an AMD CPU. It's not rocket science.
Oh, and call me when the peripheral firmware is open source. Otherwise it's only security theater snake oil for iDiots.
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https://www.csoonline.com/arti... [csoonline.com]
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Anybody who claims "PC that puts freedom, privacy and security rst" is obviously going to charge double.
Heh, just like they do with "organic" food, or anything that's "green"
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Yep.
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$700 and no wifi?
From TFA:
The Purism Librem Mini is an attractive little desktop, and its specs are rather nice. My only real complaint is the use of 802.11n Wi-Fi in 2020. Most computers have the superior 802.11ac or 802.11ax these days. Only offering 802.11n is just... weird. Oh well. You should be able to upgrade that on your own, thankfully.
So there is WiFi, just not the latest and greatest.
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So there is WiFi, just not the latest and greatest.
AFAIK, the WiFi chip used is the fastest among those that don't require non-free firmware.
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Looks like an Intel NUC (Score:3)
See Intel NUC [intel.co.uk]
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I was going to say it looks like they bought some kind of generic nano-itx case [alibaba.com] and then put a nano-itx board in it. Who doesn't know how to do that?
Who doesn't know how to do that you ask? Why don't you pull a Jimmy Kimmel and head out to the streets to find out?
I'm willing to bet 1 out of 100 people know what the hell a "nano-itx board" is, so hope that answers your question.
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I bought an Intel NUC last week. It's very cute and only cost me 125 bucks+RAM+SSD.
(yeah, it's not an I7 but it's plenty powerful enough to run a little web server and a couple of external disks for media serving & torrenting).
And it doesn't work very well (Score:2)
It's a desktop PC! (Score:2)
iOS and Android devices do not even qualify as computers (to the end-user without root)!
(A computer is an universally programmable information processing machine.)
Apples for Apple. (Score:2)
"...along with a 3.5mm audio jack..."
Whenever I find vendors literally bragging about this "feature", all I can envision is an actual Apple flying through the air, and hitting Tim Cook square in the face.
Then I hear Will Hunting say "How you like them apples!"
Cracks me up every time.
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"...along with a 3.5mm audio jack..."
Whenever I find vendors literally bragging about this "feature", all I can envision is an actual Apple flying through the air, and hitting Tim Cook square in the face.
Then I hear Will Hunting say "How you like them apples!"
Cracks me up every time.
Hey, the Librem mini specs actually list the "Powerbutton" as a feature!
https://shop.puri.sm/shop/libr... [shop.puri.sm]
Talk about desperate!
What is the advantages over laptop? (Score:1)
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Well since it's not trying to be as thin as a laptop it could conceivably have better cooling. But the main draw of it would be it's small size and there's no screen attached. You can use it as a replacement for an older desktop tower machine where you don't need a lot of features or expandability and get better power efficiency and less space taken up. And then there are all those people who will turn it into some sort of HTPC...
I wouldn't call this tiny. (Score:4, Insightful)
You wouldn't be able to fit that many ports on a tiny computer. This is just a fairly run-of-the-mill small format PC, which is just right for many applications. It's nice that it has Linux preinstalled and supported by the manufacturer. One of the consistent downsides of DIY linux boxes is stuff like audio not working or playing nice with ACPI. Having those problems go away are probably worth the $699 price tag for the average user.
Cheaper on AliExpress... (Score:3)
For the specs they ask just shy of 700USD for, AliExpress wants a tad over 400USD plus shipping. Somehow I don't think their debian-based OS is worth 300USD...
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For the specs they ask just shy of 700USD for, AliExpress wants a tad over 400USD plus shipping. Somehow I don't think their debian-based OS is worth 300USD...
In the specs of the Librem Mini, I read "Small form-factor mini-PC that puts freedom, privacy and security first.", also "Disabled and neutralized Intel® Management Engine". And it comes with a WiFi chip that is supported by free software
In the specs of the device you linked to, I see nothing about the Intel® Management Engine (meaning this potential backdoor is fully active), an RTL8111 network chip (requiring non-free firmware), and no WiFi.
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Debian is worth at least as much to me as Windows Professional Edition. Luckily nobody normally has to pay even a fraction of that for a copy.
Great link, it's amazing how the system you found is identical. I have a similar sized mini desktop from Zotac with an N3150. It has better I/Os than this, more USB and still has a USB C connector and displayport and HDMI. But my 1.6 GHz CPU is horrible for most web browsing. I would not recommend it, but it's old and I got it used so I don't have much invested in it
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That's the thing people on Kickstarter get fooled by - a shiny Kickstarter campaign when you're really just parnering up with a manufacturer on Alibaba to produce your product.
Soemtimes the Alibaba product was better, too. I think there was a Kickstarter for a bluetooth enabled portable cassette tape player. The Alibaba one didn't have Bluetooth, but
Stopped reading at i7. (Score:2)
What were they thinking??
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That hackers found a way to disable the Intel management engine (a big potential backdoor), but we don't know how to do that for the AMD Platform Security Processor yet?
The Librem Mini ships with the Intel management engine disabled.
Riight... (Score:2)
Assuming you could tell it's actually disabled... yet assuming AMD cpus contain something you haven't even found yet.
Hello cognitive dissonance!
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They are competing against other mini desktops with i7s. Putting an old laptop i7 in them makes them seem better value.
The advantage of the Purism Librem Mini is that it comes with Linux preinstalled, for those who don't want to do it themselves.
Re: Stopped reading at i7. (Score:2)
I don't get it.
My computer-illiterate ex had no problen installing Linux. Who pays with so much money (and security) for that?
Download the installer, put in the USB drive, run the installer (it writes to the USB stick and changes the boot procedure, then reboots), click "next" a few times, done.
Not that small... (Score:3)
Type C connector... (Score:2)
Why did they put the Type-C connector on the back? It is reversible so put it on the front where it is accessible for connecting peripherals that are frequently disconnected - such as USB flash drives. You lose out on the benefits when you leave it at the back of the computer. Unless it provides an additional displayport, thunderbolt, or something similar - which does not appear to be the case.
Most generic motherboards put the Type-C connector on the back but that is only because they do not know what
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Why did they put the Type-C connector on the back? It is reversible so put it on the front where it is accessible for connecting peripherals that are frequently disconnected - such as USB flash drives.
Well, arguably the vast majority of flash drives are Type-A devices, and since a Type-C connector is reversible you wont have as much trouble plugging it in when you can't see it. They probably figure people will use it for some more permanent peripheral (like a large external drive or a dock of some sort).
Meerkat? (Score:3)
Install Linux on an Intel NUC thingy (Score:2)
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