Hello 
Could you recommend me a Linux friendly mini PC, mini itx?
Maybe Lenovo?
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I have had good luck with the intel NUCs if you want something tiny.
Alternatively, you could go ARM.
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Thanks, and with Intel core i5 or i7
Or AMD Ryzen
Asus has some mini pc:s with Ryzen processors. We got one around the house. It’s pretty decent. I am not there at the moment but I can post the specs later.
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I’ve seen now that the Intel NUC have a core i5 
Yes, both core i5 and i7. Not likely to find an Intel machine with an AMD Ryzen though. 
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They do have some laptop models with Ryzen:
Haven’t looked at the desktop side though.
Certainly, Dell offers Ryzen but Intel doesn’t. 
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Sure, sorry for the confusion!
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How much compute power do you need from it?
I do not have a personal experience with it but what caught my interest was Zotac Zbox C-series as a miniPC. It had comparable hardware to Intel NUC but in a passive cooled case. Or something from Kingdel Technology - not sure how good it is. They claim on some models that linux is supported but the CPU’s are almost a decade old.
It looks like there is not a great market for mini pc.
Also there are aso ARM devices like Raspberry Pi 4.
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I’m considering a Tuxedo mini PC
https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/de/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Computer-/-PCs/Intel-Systeme/TUXEDO-InfinityBox-Intel-Core-Series-v12-Mini-ITX.tuxedo
That looks nice altough a little expensive for my taste. When I looked at the picture all I could see is a box with one button and 2 usb ports. Nothing else. It would probably go well with The Internet.
Also this made me laugh.
1 x Chassis/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
Mounting a water pump on this thing would look hilarious.
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there should be also an HDMI port and something else, I hope 
but it seems not so easy to find a mini PC that is running linux for sure
Or scroll down that page for a full list of specs. It’s got a lot more than just two holes…
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here there are some mini PC that are working for sure with linux
but at the end the price is almost the same as the tuxedo one, with the same specs
You are correct. But I was just admiring how are the pictures so masterfuly taken only from the 3 sides wishing that the design looks so slick and clean without basicaly “anything”. 
Hi cipolla,
Here is the Asus PN51 that I mentioned before:
I have a Vanilla Arch installation on it and it runs perfectly smoothly. Everything worked out of the box. To be honest, I haven’t been using this machine that much so I haven’t done extensive testing on it. I just post the specs so you could have some reference:
inxi -Fxxxz
System: Kernel: 5.13.12-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 Desktop: GNOME 40.4
tk: GTK 3.24.30 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM 40.1 Distro: Arch Linux
Machine: Type: Mini-pc System: ASUSTeK product: MINIPC PN51 v: 0401 serial: <filter>
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PN51 serial: <filter> UEFI: ASUSTeK v: 0401 date: 02/22/2021
CPU: Info: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2
rev: 1 cache: L2: 4 MiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 57493
Speed: 1967 MHz min/max: 1400/1800 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1967 2: 1397
3: 1397 4: 1397 5: 1397 6: 1397 7: 1397 8: 1397 9: 1397 10: 1397 11: 1414 12: 1397 13: 1397
14: 1397 15: 1397 16: 1397
Graphics: Device-1: AMD Lucienne vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.0
chip-ID: 1002:164c class-ID: 0300
Display: wayland server: X.Org 1.21.1.2 compositor: gnome-shell driver: loaded: amdgpu
note: n/a (using device driver) - try sudo/root resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz s-dpi: 96
Message: Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing.
Audio: Device-1: AMD driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor driver: N/A bus-ID: 05:00.5
chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus-ID: 05:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.12-zen1-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.33 running: yes
Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: r8169 v: kernel port: fc00 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp2s0f0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth: Device-1: N/A type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 6-3:2 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.38 TiB used: 49.68 GiB (3.5%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-512G-1002 size: 476.94 GiB
speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 21106000 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / size: 476.81 GiB used: 14.4 GiB (3.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 126 MiB used: 274 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
ID-3: /home size: 476.81 GiB used: 14.4 GiB (3.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap: Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 41.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 38.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info: Processes: 402 Uptime: 3m wakeups: 0 Memory: 15.03 GiB used: 1.65 GiB (10.9%) Init: systemd
v: 249 Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 Packages: pacman: 921 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.8
running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.05
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thanks a lot, it seems interesting.
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I have two mini pcs. The oldest is an Intel NUC7PJYH (more about that later). My other one is an Asrock Deskmini A300; there is a newer version called the Asrock Deskmini X300. For the Asrock Deskmini, you decide which AMD CPU to put in and what Memory and SSD to use. The CPU must have integrated graphics so the best choice will be a Ryzen. My A300 has a Ryzen 2200G and is more than adequate (no games). The X300 will take more powerful Ryzen CPUs.
The Intel NUC7PYJH is actually pretty good. It has a built-in CPU (Pentium Silver J5005) and you add memory and an SSD (2.5" but no M.2 slot). At some point after the Linux Kernel went from the 4 to the 5, I started having massive screen shredding & breaking up all over the place. It was a nightmare. I researched all over the web for months and couldn’t find a solution until about a month ago, I found out that you have to add i915 to the Modules section of /etc/mkinitcpio. Now it is as steady as a rock. There is also an additional fix to make the computer wake up from sleep.
Having shown the downside, I actually like my Intel NUC7PJYH a lot.
BTW, my installation is Vanilla Arch on both.
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Although, some of the 8th gen ones did come with AMD mobile GPUs.
The main irritation I have with my NUC is the fan. It kicks in way too easily. I had to faff with the bios settings to reduce it. Subsequently, it runs a little hot, but it has been going strong for a few years now, so I’m not too bothered.
My main issue with the newest NUCs is that the price seems to have jumped up. Also, my tastes have changed. Now, I’d rather have an ARM mini PC or something from Team Red.
Oooh… might have found my next PC.
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