Happy New Year everyone!
We’re starting 2015 with exciting news. Linux Mint and CompuLab will be announcing a brand new unit called “MintBox Mini” in Q2 2015.
With a volume of 0.22l and a thickness of 0.95″ the MintBox Mini is small enough to be pocketable. In terms of volume it’s 3 times smaller than the Intel NUC and 5 times smaller than the MintBox.
Thanks to its passively cooled fanless design and its internal SSD storage, it’s also completely silent.
The MintBox Mini features 802.11 b/g/n Wifi and Gigabit Ethernet network connectivity, 5 USB ports (3xUSB2.0 and 2xUSB3.0), jack input/output for headphones and microphones, a MicroSD reader and two HDMI sockets for dual monitors/TVs.
The MintBox Mini is powered by an AMD A4 6400T and a Radeon R3 GPU and equipped with 4GB RAM and 64GB SSD. In terms of performance, it is twice as powerful as the 2012 “MintBox Pro”.
CompuLab is planning to ship it at $295 with a percentage of the sales going towards Linux Mint and a 5 years warranty. The MintBox Mini will also be available via Amazon US and Amazon Europe (where it should ship at €295 custom/vat/delivery included).
For more info on the MintBox Mini:
Stay tuned. We’ll have more details on the specifications and benchmark comparisons as we get closer to the second quarter of 2015.
WOW!Looks awesome, Mint green 🙂 Mint box itself was compact enough like a router, pocket size is enticing!
Were can i get one 😀
This might make a nice 3D printer hub running octoprint. Yea a bit more expensive than a raspberry-pi, but much more powerful.
I wonder if it’s power consumption would be profitable for bit mining 🙂
Why is it the same price in Euros as it is in Dollars?
Edit by Clem: It’s usually the case for products built outside Europe. The EU will charge VAT/customs on entry and there’s also a more expensive delivery charge. All of that is included in the price but it bumps the European price to the same figure in Euro currency. The PS4 for instance was $400/€400. In the case of US products it can be even more expensive with a higher figure in Euro than in USD (Apple’s MacBook Pro 13” for instance is at $1299 in the US, but €1349 in the EU).
Which version(s) of Mint will it be supplied with?
Edit by Clem: By default it will come with Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit installed in OEM mode (i.e. you will be asked for a username/password/locale on first-boot and the OS will already be installed). Of course it’s a PC, just a small PC that is, so you can install other editions/releases/OSes via USB or set up a dual/multiboot.
#3, I saw at the fit-pc site that it is supposed to ship with LM 17 MATE 64-bit.
In case you want to install your own ram & hdd,the barebones are called fitlet.
In any case, these look like a interesting middle ground between single boards (eg rpi) & full blown desktops.
A pocketable computer that runs at a decent laptop speed?
That’s pretty awesome.
Edit by Clem: Yes, the CompuLab version is the Fitlet. It’s a different SKU (slightly different specs, different branding and outside of our partnership) but it’s extremely similar. You can read about the internal architecture of the fitlet and get more information at http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fitlet/
Thanks for the info, Clem! Mint “just works,” and it is so good to know that we can have hardware that “just works” with Mint! For the size factor and support for Mint, I will definitely be getting one of these!!
Looks nice. What desktop will it come with, cinnamon?
Edit by Clem: By default it comes preinstalled with the MATE edition. You can install any other edition instead via USB though.
A very nice job. Congratulations. Greetings.
Looks nice! But the big question remains… which games can I play on this little box? 😉
The question is when to expect the first Mint laptop! 😀 No, seriously, good price and good enough hardware. Thanks 🙂
Congratulations! I’ll buy one for sure! 🙂
Hi Clem and congrats. I’m really interested to buy this small pc instead of an Intel NUC.
But a few questions:
1) Do you think is enough powerful to use it, as a development machine (Jdeveloper) ?
2) RAM is two blocks of 2GB or is only one block (in order to consider an upgrade) ?
3) Is it possible to replace the SSD with a 250GB or maybe customize, during the order session, the pc ?
Edit by Clem: 1) Best thing is to give you its geekbench score, we’re around 2400+. 2) Afaik it’s 1x SO-DIMM 204-pin DDR3 SDRAM memory slot supporting up to 8GB DDR3-1066 3) You’ll need to ask CompuLab but I don’t think they’re able to customized orders. They do provide barebone fitlet models though (http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/specifications/fitlet-models-specifications/?model%5B%5D=fitlet-B+%28TBA%29&model%5B%5D=fitlet-X+%28TBA%29&model%5B%5D=fitlet-i+%28TBA%29)
Why does it not have a VGA or DVI connection on it? What if you are like many people and don’t have a HDTV?
What is it is it a min PC or a set top Linux device and if so how do you control it without a keyboard?
Edit by Clem: It’s a small PC, you would plug a keyboard via USB. For DVI/VGA, you can use an adaptor, I’ll have to check with CompuLab if it’s included or not (I know for a fact an HDMI->DVI adaptor was included in previous models but we didn’t get the opportunity to talk about this yet).
Great news! I’ll buy one for sure (I like small boxes, and the fact that it comes preload with Linux Mint, my favorite distro, It’s just perfect!!!).
Remark:
Compulab is Israeli’s company. I live in Israel so maybe I’ll be able to buy one directly from the company and save the custom…
In the past (2009) Compulab send me their Fit-PC2 pc for reviewing. You can read it here: (use Google translate to translate it to your proffered language).
Fit-Pc – part 1: http://ilsh.info/archives/1249
Fit-Pc – part 2: http://ilsh.info/archives/1274
Fit-Pc – part 3: http://ilsh.info/archives/1322
Three times smaller????? That would make it a negative size. I assume this means one third the size, which is completely different.
Edit by Clem: I thought “three times smaller” == “one third of the size”, or should I have said “three times as small”? You got me there, I’m not a native English speaker 🙂 Note also that we’re talking about the volume here, not one particular dimension.
Well, if one actually built one with a a QUAD-core CPU, I’d buy one. Else .. so what? Get a T410 or X201 and be happy ever after.
cu, w0lf.
Awesome!! It’s remarkable how mint has made its own name. Clem and the rest of the crew have built a wonderful thing. Congrats, from my modest place, and thanks, for a very well acomplished OS.
*looks at happily acquired $600 mintbox2*
*rolls saving throw against grief over potential obsolescence*
*17*
Phew… that is a close one. The new mini is, however, much more adorable.
#offtopic : I just want to know . When Cinepaint in mint repository ?
I suppose it comes with Bluetooth support like Mint box?
Also, will be good to include infrared – particularly useful to remotely manage XMBC like media applications. With MintBox Mini, TV’s can converted into Smart TV’s. 🙂
Edit by Clem: Hi Anand, no there’s no bluetooth here.
I just hope there’s a version that won’t be pre-infected with SystemD.
Hello,
had a question, I am interested in this product, you can send PC to Slovakia?
There will be a version with Intel?
Thank you for the information.
Omegan
Edit by Clem: Hi, there won’t be an Intel version though note that the MintBox 2 is using an Intel architecture. Regarding delivery yes, it will ship to any country. CompuLab themselves can ship worldwide. On top of that the unit will also be sold on Amazon European websites. I’m not sure how far they’ll deliver. If they deliver to Slovakia though it will be cheaper than ordering from CompuLab, it might even be free. In any case, it will be possible to ship the unit worldwide.
This is fantastic. I have used some of Compulab’s equipment and it’s all good!
But you know what I really want? A lovely lime green Mint TABLET! High end, expensive, 10″, gorgeous. No Google or Apple logging everything you are doing. Rooted, of course.
Possible?
Edit by Clem: If we were to embrace touch interfaces and adapt the OS for tablets (and smartphones since we’re at it) we would have to make compromises which would worsen the experience for desktop and laptop users. It’s an opinion that is debatable (and challenged by other projects) but we think a one-size-fit-all approach goes against the idea of producing the best tool for the job.
If fwolf actually looked up the specs, he would have seen that is it a quad core. The AMD A4 6400T is a quad core. Guess some people don’t read before they post. I will most definitely want one of these. Love small size PCs. Thanks for this and thanks for Mint 🙂
I would love to see a USB external hard drive enclosure that stacks on top of this box where we can add our own 2.5 in or msata that matches the box with mint logo and all. I would love to further fund my favorite OS
I’m VERY interested in this little device!
QQ. It’s hard to tell from the mockup images, but will this have a place for a Kensington lock? I would love to be able to take this from office to office and be able to leave it at a client’s overnight with some piece of mind that it was physically secured.
Looking forward to the release!
Edit by Clem: We’re getting 3 units for the dev. team, I’ll post more info as soon as we get our hands on them. The MintBox has one but I’m not sure if the Mini has one as well.
J’en veux un!!!! Vous ne faites pas de tirage, par hasard?
Want one!!! Would you start a contest, to win one, by the way?
😉
Talk about whetting my interest! If the product lives up fully to the specs and warranty Compulab is in for some well deserved growth. Oh, and please work to sell it through Newegg also.
@birdog, I’m with you on the (hopefully USB3, aluminum) stackable external enclosures; until now computer accessory packaging has been moving backwards from the great old Bell 212A standard box. Another product idea for Compulab.
It is good to see that MintBox is bringing out some boxes
that are more in the $200-$300 range, instead of the $400-500
range of their past offerings.
I am currently looking for a ‘mini-PC’ to connect to
my Samsung LCD TV and support 1920×1080 output to the TV.
I have been looking at an Acer with the Intel J1900
quad-core chip. It looks like the A4-6400T of the
‘MintBox Mini’ is ranked a little higher than the
J1900 — according to
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
The A4-6400T has a ‘Passmark SingleThread’ rating
of 601 while the J1900 is at 533.
I think the ‘MintBox Mini’ will be tempting — even
if people may still have to provide a monitor,
keyboard, mouse, and additional disk (320Gig-plus)
— at an additional cost of about $150 + $20 + $15 + $80 =
$265 added to the $295 for a total of about $565.
Here’s hoping for a nice 2015 for the ‘MintBox Mini’.
Clem:
This is something I’ll take a close look at.
Why dont you consider raffling a few of these off as a fundraiser?
Hi all,
This is Irad from CompuLab, MintBox maker.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and to Clement for inviting me to comment here.
Clement and I read every comment and consider it. In fact, MintBox Mini offering is based on the feedback to MintBox 2: lower price, SSD, smaller size…
I hope most of you like the result, but please tell us what you didn’t like and we will do our best to address that in the future.
A word about price in Europe – when ordering from Amazon in Europe price includes VAT (around 20%). Therefore it is not possible to achieve price parity with US price which does not include VAT.
If you have questions to me better to ask at MintBox page on Google+
https://plus.google.com/109030194899666400551
Best regards,
Irad Stavi
Chief Product Officer
CompuLab
I wish this was done years ago. I am getting one; end of…
Hi, sounds very exciting!
-what is the power consumption?
-does it operate on 5V? 12V?
-the provided link does not seem to contain any further specs or am I overlooking something?
Edit by Clem: TDP is 4.5W, nominal input voltage is 12V.
Does the Radeon card run the Radeon driver out of the box or just the Nouveau?
Edit by Clem: Tt runs with fglrx by default.
“The MintBox Mini is powered by an AMD A4 6400T and a Radeon R3 GPU and equipped with 4GB RAM and 64GB SSD. With a price of $295”
This is very good job.
But I can not stop saying this.
AMD A4 6400T is not a bad CPU. But If you located A10 6700T in this box it would be wonderful. Because A 10 6700T consumes only 4.5 W like A4 6400T. Moreover it has a more powerful Radeon R6 GPU. Radeon R3 GPU is 350 MHz and R6 GPU is 500 MHz. On the other hand A4 6400T is 4 cores with 1.0 / 1.6 GHz. But A10 6700T is 4 cores and 1.2 / 2.2 GHz. Both of these CPUs consume same 4.5 W.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/notebook-tablet/tablet-apu#
I do not think there is a big price gap between A4 6400T and A10 6700T.
And you could locate 8 GB of DDR3 1333 MHz RAM in this box.
64 GB SSD is good if it is SATA III.
And 3 x usb 2.0 is useless.
Time is over for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 chipsets are not too expensive.
Please excuse me because of this comment.
I do not want to become a wiseacre but: I would like you to offer this.
“The MintBox Mini is powered by an AMD A10 6700T and a Radeon R6 GPU and equipped with 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM and 128GB SATA III SSD. 5 x USB 3.0 ports. With a price of $350 or $360”. You can do this I know. Because tens of thousands of people need this super mini super computer.
Then nobody will need any upgrade. I am sure.
Bye.
Edit by Clem: Regarding USB2, I know I’ll use two of them for mouse and keyboard already, possibly a third if I want to plug in my headsets. When I read or write data over USB3 I usually do it from one single device, on rare occasions on 2 connected devices (we’re talking 4TB altogether here) when I need to copy things over to distinct devices or make duplicated backups. Very rarely would I need to do this on more than 2 USB devices though. Regarding the RAM I always want to maximize it, one of CompuLab’s goal with this unit was to stay under $299 though.
As I would like to mount it behind a monitor/TV I’m curious if it has VESA mounting capabilities and the necessary accessories to do so?
Edit by Clem: Hi Nick, I’m not sure what’s needed/provided exactly (I’ll let CompuLab answer that), but I know you can mount it. Illustrations were posted at https://plus.google.com/photos/+Fitpc-by-compulab/albums/6105703273858280257
Hi Clem.
Impressive and very appealing.
One question though: I´ve been experiencing various problems with AMD GPUs so I kinda worry that it will be the same with that cute mini mint box of yours… Although I assume that it has been thoroughly tested…
Edit by Clem: We’ll post more info as soon as we get our hands on it. CompuLab reported the unit ran smooth with the latest Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit edition, including sound over HDMI and 3D acceleration. The geekbench score corresponds to the unit running fglrx.
@Dan
The APU uses a AMD Radeon GPU so therefore it will use the RadeonSI driver (open source) out of the box. You can install the Catalyst (proprietary) drivers for the AMD GPU but honestly my experience with the Catalyst driver has not been great and therefore I stick to the open source driver.
Nouveau is the open source driver for the Nvidia cards and therefore is not used in this case.
I realize the final specs are not out, but I have a question about the basic enclosure:
can I install a conventional Hard Drive inside the case? (two would be even better)
The basic idea is great, I could stick one behind my TV, but if I have to futz around with a tiny SSD it defeats the purpose for me.
Edit by Clem: Hi Peter, I’m not sure that’s possible. I’d suggest to check with CompuLab though to confirm (I’m not 100% sure).
Hello Clem.
A tablet with Linux mint would be very useful for thousands of people who do not want to depend of Apple and Google.
This mini box is just for geeks.
Anyway thanks for your great work and long life to Mint 🙂
Edit by Clem: I was going to say “but we are geeks!” 🙂 On a serious note though: I understand, but this isn’t what we do. You’re projecting what you like about Linux Mint and imagining what it would be like if we were to do something else, but that something else is something radically different. We have no experience in that market, and we’re fully focused on what we’re already doing. Although static and mobile devices share more and more of the same hardware technology I really think we’re using them differently. If I’m looking at a 24″ monitor I want to make the best of it, if I’m using a mouse and a keyboard I want to be able to switch tasks/windows and interact with the UI really fast, on the other hand, on a mobile device I want things to be readable, I want simple interfaces I won’t have to decipher when the sun shines on my phone, I want big clunky buttons I can push easily with my big clunky fingers… basically.. I want an interface that is adapted to how small or big my screen is, and how slow my hands are or how fast my input devices are. If we were to make a mobile OS, you’d find the same philosophy and principles we’re using at Linux Mint, but the end result would be an OS that is dedicated to perform for mobile devices, it would be very different to the interfaces we’re providing right now. With all that said though, we’re really enjoying doing what we do, we always want to focus more on it, we wish we had more time, we want to do it better and better.. we’re not at all in a mindset where we want to focus on something different.
@Mint Lover
The proposed configuration with A10 6700T is indeed attractive, but unfortunately price would be much highet than your estimation.
It was very important for us to hit half the price of MintBox 2. The choice of features was derived from this requirement.
MintBox 2 is available as a higher performance option.
Best regards,
Irad
Seeing this announcement has really peaked my interest in these super low power machines, so I started doing some research on them.
At first I thought the A4 6400T would be far too underpowered, since it runs at only 4.5w, but to my amazement, this little thing is actually capable of some serious grunt! It would appear that it’s around 50% as powerful as an AMD 5350 Kabini AM1 CPU, but uses 5x less power.
It’s also surprisingly capable of playing older, less demanding games. An area where these AMD APU’s really tend to shine, especially when compared to an equivalent Intel.
Admittedly, you ‘can’ build one of those AM1 computers for around $75 less than the Mintbox Mini, but it wouldn’t be nearly as small, power efficient, or fanless. Plus it wouldn’t support the Mint team, but it is an option.
@Irad Stavi
Will it be possible to buy a Mintbox Mini as a barebones model, without the SSD & RAM? I know that’s already an option for the Fitlet, but I’d personally love to be able to get the Mintbox version in that form.
Thanks!
It’s…so…adorable! <3
Although, I worry about the choice of AMD for this. AMD graphics drivers and the open source version don't play well with Linux, as far as I understand. I keep hearing that people using AMD graphics cards have all kinds of problems. Nvidia seems to be the better choice?
Edit by Clem: As brands, both NVIDIA and ATI have a bad reputation when it comes to compatibility with Linux. They don’t provide open-source drivers and their chipsets perform much better with their proprietary drivers than out of the box on top of free drivers. That means users are reliable on them to support the latest kernels, Xorg versions et al in a timely manner, and when one of them doesn’t, it makes a lot of noise. I remember for instance the split to a legacy driver for old ATI cards which wasn’t compatible with the latest Xorg, or the decision upstream to upgrade the stack even though flgrx didn’t “yet” support it. I have to say, I’ve also faced acceleration issues with Intel chipsets… it’s a real tragedy in 2015 that we’re still all relying on just 3 companies and that they’re not able to provide a smoother experience for us. With that said, these are generalities. What is the most important here is to look at the particular chipset the unit is using: The R3. Another important factor is that Linux Mint is sticking to LTS. I’d recommend the following article from Phoronix: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_am1_catalyst&num=1 . CompuLab also confirmed that the unit didn’t require any kernel argument to run with Linux Mint 17.x.
What is the power source/requirements for this little box? How sensitive is it to voltage fluctuations?
@Remmy700P
MintBox Mini is powered by external 12V (wall-wart adapter). Just like MintBox 2 it is not very sensitive to voltage fluctuations. MintBox Mini is rated to 10V-15V.
This is listed in fitlet spec – http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/specifications/fitlet-models-specifications/?model%5B%5D=fitlet-B+%28TBA%29&model%5B%5D=fitlet-X+%28TBA%29&model%5B%5D=fitlet-i+%28TBA%29
Best regards,
Irad Stavi
CompuLab
What resolutions will be supported?
@stiffe
1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz
by any chance there be a lxde version soon? xfce is fine but i want a lighter version of linux mint.
Edit by Clem: Hi David, no I’m sorry.
@46 Clem’s edit response.
Thank you for that link, Clem. That makes me feel a whole lot better about the AMD R3 graphics chip. I am contemplating gifting a friend with one of these Mint minis and didn’t want to worry about her encountering any possible graphics driver issues. I assume changing from open source driver to Catalyst (should she need/want to) is the same procedure as it is for the Nvidia chips? Changing drivers for Nvidia chips is super easy. 🙂
I do agree that it’s really sad to be in 2015 and still have only 3 choices for graphics, and that they *still* don’t provide the same performance experience for Linux users as they do for Windows and the Intel Macs. I understand that Linux is a very small minority, but still, throw Linux a bone! 🙁
My personal experience (admittedly limited to two computers and Mint 14 through 17.1) has been with Nvidia graphics cards. In both cases, both the open source and proprietary drivers have worked most excellent and without any problems. I know others may or may not have had the same success as I have, as you mentioned with your own varied personal experience.
All these MintBoxes should be highly encouraged, and CompuLab should come up with even more of these things. They are so incredibly useful for so many applications. I love all this! Linux needs pre-built Linux machines (Think Penquin, CompuLab, System 76, etc) for the non-geeks that want a pre-built Ready To Run computer experience.
Clem, let’s go for the elephant in the room: why not Cinnamon?
Edit by Clem: Hehe 🙂 We did have that discussion and we decided on MATE. Of course you know that Cinnamon is developed by Linux Mint and that I’m involved in its development (to a smaller extent that’s also true for MATE), but the one reason to choose Cinnamon over MATE is that although they’re both very successful, Cinnamon is leading in terms of popularity. The one reason to choose MATE is that it works well for “more” people. First, its development pace is slower so it’s exposed to less regressions, second it’s using older technologies which are more mature and proven and which are more compatible with a wider range of hardware (that second argument is negated somehow by the fact that we’re controlling the hardware here in the case of the MintBox). Third, and that’s the reason CompuLab pushed forward, it doesn’t use any acceleration.. so out of the box although both editions show similar CPU performance on the MintBox Mini, using MATE gives us a small additional boost in GL performance. My initial recommendation was for Cinnamon, but CompuLab insisted on MATE and I was happy with their choice.
Nice, but I want this box with an Intel CPU. I don’t like AMD! They suck. Instead of a small 64GB SSD deliver it without SSD and RAM. I’d like to insert 8GB RAM and a Samsung Evo 850 Pro 500GB SSD.
@Tom
MintBox 2 is quite close to your specified requirements. Many users replace the provided HDD with an SSD.
“Another important factor is that Linux Mint is sticking to LTS.”
I love Mint but to be frank this strategy has me worried. It just so happens that the new Mintbox with Kabini works OK out-of-the-box with FOSS drivers with 14.04 LTS (as in no major issues).. but there are improvements made in more recent kernels as Phoronix discusses in later articles. I suppose it’s alright if you’re going to install Catalyst anyways, however, there are ironically some new features added to the FOSS drivers by AMD that are not yet in Catalyst like hardware encoder/decoder acceleration.
And what about future hardware? Linux does not have a stable kernel api and abi so you cannot rely on externally provided drivers without compiling against a specific kernel. I’m worried about new GPUs, new CPUs, new disk and network controllers not working or not having non-security fixes going forward. For example with Wacom tablets there’s a bug in the older kernels that causes panics on hotplug!
Ubuntu LTS users would also face the same issue of course. LTS kernel seems primarily aimed at businesses who have a known set of well-recognized hardware chosen at the time of LTS and stick with it for several years. I don’t think the LTS kernel is good for consumers to be honest…
Edit by Clem: Note that all Ubuntu kernels are built against the LTS (Vivid kernels included for instance). 17.x already provides 3.16 kernels, but you can go and grab 3.18 already (which will eventually be provided in 17.x as well).
@Irad or Clem – is the RAM user upgradeable also?
Edit by Clem: Up to 8GB I think.
So let’s promote this a little in German, since Mint is also a spring/summer fashion trend 😉
https://www.facebook.com/matthias.hormann/posts/755564534527807
Like Savage above me, I too would be interested in a barebones version of the Mintbox Mini, as a 64GB SSD is a bit overkill for my needs 🙂
Will a barebones kit be available as an option?
Edit by Clem: Afaik, not the Mintbox Mini, but the fitlet will.
pretty awesome to have this little green monster. 64GB is more than enough to store my data … hope i’ll get soon
I want one. This would make a great media center computer. Add a 1 or 2 TB external HD and you’ve got plenty of space for all of your media. 🙂
Lately I’ve read of a slim laptop (fanless, with Core M broadwell CPU) that comes with a USB to ethernet adapter included (I’d call that a network card). Someone paid attention to convenience and basic connectivity. Just to say that this MintBox should come with HDMI to DVI converter, and HDMI to VGA could be an order option. I’ll admit I know nothing about how HDMI to VGA adapter works with X11, proprietary and open source drivers, or if even it detect monitor resolutions and refresh above 60Hz.
Nice little box. But why will it 20% more expensive in Europe. Thats not fair.
Edit by Clem: Customs/VAT and a higher delivery cost are included in the price.
#51 david : a “sudo apt-get install lxde” is decent enough (on the MATE edition), you do get the LXDE desktop with the Mint theme pretty much.
Maybe the Update Manager is not run at start up and that’s all. (for the NetworkManager applet, I don’t remember, I did that on computers with wired networking)
You can add programs to run at start up by editing the /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart file (a leading “@” is not needed)
@EdwardR
Upgrading memory –
MintBox Mini has an accessible DDR3 SODIMM. You can replace the provided 4GB with an 8GB one.
Same applies to mSATA. They are currently available up to 1TB AFAIK.
@baptiste
HDMI to DVI adapter is included with MintBox Mini.
HDMI to VGA adapter is available as an accessory. It communicates the display information to the computer.
Very nice, AMD and Linux in a silent chassis with an SSD. Make a 128 GB SSD version and it’d be even better for me.
Even still, at that price and size, it looks like a great deal.
If I want Cinnamon on the MintBox Mini do I just have to install “Linux Mint 17.1 “Rebecca” – Cinnamon (64-bit)” from a DVD or will there be a special Mint version for the MintBox Mini?
Are there any other adjustments I have to do after the installation in order to make it work 100% on MintBox Mini?
Edit by Clem: Hi Felix, yes.. but you wouldn’t burn it to DVD (the MintBox has no optical reader), you would burn it to a USB stick. Once installed you then have the choice to continue using the open source drivers or to install fglrx via the Driver Manager.
Thanks Clem!
I said DVD because I thought I could connect a USB DVD-Drive to the MintBox Mini.
It is pretty obvious that there is no internal DVD-Drive. 😉
Edit by Clem: Oh ok. If you have one, yes, you can probably install that way. Otherwise any USB stick of at least 2GB would do the trick.
Add me to the list of those who would love a barebones version!
Just wondering, the 8 GB RAM is a hard limit imposed by the SoC?
Also, you can use any laptop 2.5″ HDD in this, right?
cool box!
@Anonymouse
MintBox is designed to be a ready-to-use Linux Mint system.
A barebone system cannot be called MintBox. However, barebone fitlet will be available for DIY Linux Mint systems.
8GB is the maximum capacity the CPU can address. MintBox Mini does not take HDD, only mSATA SSD.
Please take a look at MintBox 2 for higher RAM capacity and internal spinning disk. http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2441
A volume of 0.22l?? I don’t buy computers by the liter, LOL! What is the length and width, please???
Edit by Clem: The length and width of which of the 6 sides? 😉 10.8cm x 8.3cm x 2.4cm
At post #32 above, I mentioned that I was considering an Acer mini-PC
with the Intel J1900 chip to use with a large Samsung LCD TV — and
that the ‘MintBox Mini’ may be a compeitive candidate for use as an
HTPC (Home Theater PC).
There a couple of Acer mini-PC’s (with the Intel J1900 and J2900
chips) — available at local Walmart stores — which bracket the
cost of the ‘MintBox Mini’ between $250 and $350 dollars.
Perhaps Linux Mint readers would be interested in the following table
comparing features.
Computer Acer Aspire XC MintBox Acer Aspire XC
Series AXC-603G-UW13 Mini Series AXC-603G-UW15
Price $250 $300 $350
CPU Intel J1900 AMD-6400T Intel J2900
Quad Core Quad Core Quad Core
CPU ‘Passmark’ 533 601 602 (~12% > 533)
rating from
cpubenchmark.net/
SingelThread.html
Memory 4GB 4GB 4GB
Storage device 500GB HDD 64GB SSD 1000GB HDD
Display no monitor no monitor no monitor
Other incl. USB keyboard no keyboard incl. USB keyboard
and mouse no mouse and mouse
incl. DVD-RW drive no DVD drive incl.DVD-RW drive
similar connectors (USB, ethernet, HDMI, etc.)
—
I was drawn to the $250 Acer mini-PC (rather than the ‘MintBox Mini’)
because of:
– $50 lower cost
– much more disk/storage space
– only about 12% difference in CPU
– minor points: USB keyboard and mouse included; DVD-RW drive
While the ‘MintBox Mini’ offers a very compact box attached to
a TV, on the other hand, it may be a heat problem (i.e. lifetime
of components) when playing video for hours at a time.
The Acer mini-PC form-factor allows more ventilation within the
larger (but still ‘mini’) case.
The MintBox people will apparently not be able to satisy everyone.
Some want barebones (like no HDD/SDD) — others want more HDD/SDD.
Others, like me, prefer a price point below $250 with at least
500GB HDD included — granting the fact that I will have to
provide the monitor.
(Note that I can get a netbook at that price — WITH a monitor —
so I do not think that a $250 price point is unreasonable.)
Whoops. This forum software removes repeated spaces.
The table above is squished.
Here is another attempt at the table:
Computer………Acer Aspire XC………MintBox….Acer Aspire XC
……………..Series AXC-603G-UW13…..Mini….Series AXC-603G-UW15
Price…………….$250……………….$300……….$350
CPU…………….Intel J1900………..AMD-6400T…..Intel J2900
………………..Quad Core…………Quad Core……Quad Core
CPU ‘Passmark’………533……………….601……602 (~12% > 533)
rating from
cpubenchmark.net/
SingelThread.html
Memory……………..4GB………………4GB…………4GB
Storage device……500GB HDD…………64GB SSD……..1000GB HDD
Display………….no monitor……….no monitor…….no monitor
Other……..incl. USB keyboard……no keyboard….incl. USB keyboard
……………….and mouse………no mouse………….and mouse
………….incl. DVD-RW drive……no DVD drive….incl.DVD-RW drive
……………….similar connectors (USB, ethernet, HDMI, etc.)
This forum software has another ‘clinker’.
It provides input in a fixed-width font, but
displays the results in a variable-width font.
Hi Clem and Irad,
Very nice product you have going! I have been thinking about it for the past few days and think I have a few thoughts to add now.
Irad “MintBox is designed to be a ready-to-use Linux Mint system.
A barebone system cannot be called MintBox. However, barebone fitlet will be available for DIY Linux Mint systems.”
I understand the appeal of a one option working system, but I think you may be making a mistake with this model. One that will cost you income. How much? I don’t know. That would depend on the ratio of fitlet to mint boxes you sell.
The defining characteristic of the Mint Box need only to be the green. And if there is a second, it should be that if it comes with an ssd and installed OS, that OS should be Cinnamon, as that is Clem n co’s baby.
Cinnamon should be the default install. I have read this thread and understand that the decision was not Clem n co’s, even though they are fine with it, and I understand why it was done. Put gnome on the fitbit. Or put gnome on the fitbit and call it gnome box, then do the same with other distros if you want. Get their branding and give them a cut. Bodhi guy just got back to work 😉 And if you do this, selling just the ssd’s with OS’s pre-installed could rake in some revenue. SteamOS is something to think about.
I will probably buy a Mint Box. But I wont be buying 100 without a barebones. And I am in the market. Maybe I will buy 100 fitbits, but then again, there are other options out there. Probably cheaper, and I use my money to vote. If it came with the max of 8 GB of RAM that would at least be a partial solution I could live with, and nobody else would have to waste their money upgrading because it wouldn’t be possible. I would much rather you cut the ssd down a notch, because they are useful to have no matter the size.
Not trying to be negative here. I really like what you are doing and how you are doing it. For the most part 😉 Hope I provoked some thought.
@baptiste
i don’t want to go throw that trouble since it leave a mess of programs behind. i just want a lxde edition of linux mint for older hardware.
Awwwsome! XFCE Rulez! 🙂
Thanks Clem (Teams) for fitting this box with AMD.
Wise choice. My AMD (and any other processors like Quallcomm and Mediatek) devices at home still going strong where my Intel devices fail. 🙂
At same price range, they always offer almost twice Intel processor capabilities. 🙂
Have yet to see Intel trump AMD capabilities comparison / benchmark that neither:
– Comparing different price range
– Comparing same price range but using single core designed test, or using apps / games that not designed for multi core capabilities. 🙂
Note. My comment biased too, cause I am also include non desktop devices. 🙂
Thanks to Clem and the LM Team for always being so innovative and giving us a great Linux distro, Mint. Linux Mint is by far my favorite Linux distribution and the only distro used in my home. I use it, my wife uses it, my sister and her family uses it, and even my 80 year mother uses Linux Mint Cinnamon.
I love the idea of the Mint Mini and I think it will be a great platform to run Mint from.
However I do have a question. Are there there plans to have a Linux Mint tablet? Something like the Ubutab. I think it would be awesome to have a tablet running Linux Mint (Cinnamon)! So just curious if there is any such plans on the horizon for this. Make it Mint green even to make it stand out.
Edit by Clem: Hi Tim, there are plans to improve some aspects of Linux Mint which are important to touch-screen users (onboard keyboard, etc..) but there are no plans to design a dedicated versions for tablets, no.
Man, if I had the extra dough, I’d swap out my HTPC’s Raspberry Pi for one of these in a heartbeat. I really like using a Raspberry Pi for this purpose (using Raspbmc) but I HATE that the Pi OSes are so freakin’ limited! Admittedly, I haven’t tried all of them but Raspian (a Debian derivative) was certainly a huge disappointment being as I was coming from a Linux Mint/MATE background (and thus used to running a general purpose O/S). Plus, my Pi hasn’t exactly been rock solid either (yes, I’m aware of the need of a powered USB hub). Overall, if you’re an XBMC fan, this MintBox Mini might be just the ticket. After all, there’s nothing quite like running XBMC on top of Linux Mint and having *immediate* access to every application installed on your system, like a browser, LibreOffice, torrenting app, PDF reader, etc… Watching movies is great but sometimes you want to do something more and it sounds like a MintBox Mini would be a pretty sweet way to go.
As an Arch User I would buy a MintBox if it comes with 8GB RAM and is not much more expensive than the fitlet Version. It have to be available not much later than the fitlet because i am really waiting for this solution a long time.
Please make it WORLDWIDE shipping!
can I install Windows on it ?
Will it support “auto start after power failure”?