First SATA still smokes USB2 and USB3 in performance. There have also been weird performance issues (there have been driver, cable, and RF noise issues). I would still not consider USB 3 mature enough yet despite it's age.
Also onboard SATA means that the storage is internal and thus you have one less thing to carry and keep track of. Virtual machines tend to be RAM hungry more than anything. High performance storage is likely the next most important component. generally speaking I find the i5 to ideal when considering performance together with price. Having said that ark.intel.com is one of my most commonly visited sites before making a CPU purchase. I would wait for the next gen Brix, look for CPU model numbers that start with 4xxx (like the Intel® Core™ i5-4200U for example). A comparison of the 3 CPUs currently available in the 3 models sold by memory express (with an i7-4770 thrown in for comparison, what I would use to host VMs with): http://ark.intel.com/compare/75122,72054,72055,72057 Finally HDMI over ethernet has nothing to do with the ethernet port on your computer. All it does is extend HDMI range over 50 meters by using CAT6 cables and a media converter at each end. There is no IP protocol (or even recognizable ethernet frames) and it is not compatible with ethernet switches (it is point to point). How it works is that it takes HDMI out from your computer/blueray/game console etc., into a media converter box that sends the signal down a Cat5/6 wire to another media converter box at the other end which converts the signal back out to HDMI. Think of this CAT6 cable as a really long HDMI extension cable and not a network run. For remote access over the network there are several choices. - You can access X11 remotely (not enabled by default, you will want to RTFM this). Alternatively you can forward X over SSH. - Use VNC (again not installed or configured by default). - Use nxserver (a more bandwidth efficient method but GUI remote access nonetheless). There may be other ways of doing this, those three are the only three that I have actually used. I am probably going to pick up the 2nd gen brix with an Intel "Haswell" processor. I am really tempted by their high end model with the improved GPU (the rare Iris Pro aka HD 5200). I expect this to make for a very capable workstation. The lower spec'd models should also make for good workstations as I do not believe that there is any reason to get the high end Brix unless you are gaming or using OpenCL. Hth, On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 8:51 PM, Terrell Larson <[email protected]> wrote: > I am looking to buy a gigabyte BRIX I5. > > The price at Memory Express is $380. > > I would want to run likely Debian Linux on it because I loaded Ubuntu on > an old PC and I didn't really like what I saw. > > From what I see from the specs and talking with the sales rep who to me > seems really professional... The suggestion so far is the I5 instead of I3 > or an I7. But I am not sure of the CPU differences and the chip set > differences and $200 bux is not all that great a deal. To be honest it > in fact costs me about $200 bux to fill the gas tank! > > What I would like to do is run either VMware or OpenBOX or some other VM > and I really at this time don't have much need for any of this. But if > I do have need I will want to be running everything from DOS through > OS/2 and versions of winders to XT. > > I am told this boxen supports dual heads. > > I have been "also" told there is a > Cat-6 and a Cat-7 solution to run HDMI video over ethernet but what I > can tell is everything in that area is in fact totally proprietory and > non standard. It must run IP. But the protocols must be something like > UDP on 2 cables to get the bandwidth. Am I right? > > We can figure this out! > > I do know we can run X over any ethernet i/f and all we will need is a > little CPU which can be an appliance and if we are simply looking for a > simple reference display which would be the MOST I would want to have on > a 3rd or 4th monitor then it seems the i/f's on this little box will do > the job. > > Can anyone advise? > > Is there something else I should look at? Are their glitches in the BRIX? > > Will it run a full decent version of a VM if I want to go there and will > it at least run Debian? > > Next. It costs about $250 for the SSD HDD at 250 GB. I can get a USB > drive for $50 bux. If the machine can boot from USB then why do I want > the SDD HDD? > > USB is already faster than SCSI.. or am I mistaken? > > I have run lots of SCSI equipment and some people consider me an expert. > Maybe next year they will consider me a historian. > > > If the boxen can boot off USB then I can buy FIVE (5) USB drives each of > which will boot faster than the best SCSI drives we ever used for the > best servers we were able to do 10 years ago so why do I want SSD? > (other than it is real sexy and I like no moving parts) > > > I want to configure a low cost and very decent portable office. > > This should be easy to do. Ideas please? > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying >
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