(OOS) Cheap toy PC / thin-client (refurb)

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...6R&ignorebbr=1

ASUS Eee Box EB1020-B0020 Desktop PC AMD Dual-Core Processor C-50 (1.0GHz) 1GB DDR3 8GB HDD Capacity

Refurbished Open Box

$65.99

Both refurb, AND open-box, figure that one out.

Anyways, probably possible to shoehorn a version of Linux onto that 8GB internal SSD. If not, there's always XP.

 

[AlexSchwarz]

Is there shipping to UK ?

 

[JeffMD]

lol no videos on youtube? I dont think anyones ever baught it (and kept it). With only 1gb of ram, you would probably do better with one of those android-on-a-usb-sticks

 

[Spelvin]

I was hoping someone could speak to how well XBMC would run on this. Its got HDMI out but the word is that the official linux builds of XBMC don't support the ATI hardware acceleration yet. Here are the specs on ASUS's site
http://www.asus.com/EeeBox_PCs/EeeBox_PC_EB1020/#specifications

 

[DominionSeraph]

This is... interesting. At first I was going to dismiss it, but with wi-fi, hardware H.264 decoding, and 3D graphics that can at least run something, it would be a better buy than the P4 systems you can pick up off craigslist for $50, especially those crippled with 512MB RAM.

I was hoping someone could speak to how well XBMC would run on this. Its got HDMI out but the word is that the official linux builds of XBMC don't support the ATI hardware acceleration yet. Here are the specs on ASUS's site
http://www.asus.com/EeeBox_PCs/EeeBox_PC_EB1020/#specifications

Looks like it:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=174854

 

[skyking]

Ram can be upgraded to 4 GB and the 8 gb ssd can be changed for a hard drive.

 

[luv2liv]

I was hoping someone could speak to how well XBMC would run on this. Its got HDMI out but the word is that the official linux builds of XBMC don't support the ATI hardware acceleration yet. Here are the specs on ASUS's site
http://www.asus.com/EeeBox_PCs/EeeBox_PC_EB1020/#specifications

if all you want is XBMC, then a raspberry pi might be a better deal for $40.
i got my rp running, it uses very little power and plays all the MKV with subtitles perfectly fine.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ram can be upgraded to 4 GB and the 8 gb ssd can be changed for a hard drive.

That makes this deal a LOT more interesting, IMHO. I could swap in a 4GB SO-DIMM (DDR3-1066/1333, I presume?), and use one of my under-64GB SSDs, and fit Win7 64-bit on there for a friend.

Would make a nice cheap PC for someone.

 

[cbn]

Anyways, probably possible to shoehorn a version of Linux onto that 8GB internal SSD.

Agreed.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ok, I got my Eee Box PC. Box was beat to heck and taped up, with an RMA sticker on the end. There was some RMA paperwork in the box too. I have a semi-strong feeling Newegg just took the boxes back from people and then just shipped them back out again. (Why else would they leave the RMA paperwork in there?)

Interestingly, it included a keyboard and mouse (both wired), and the power adapter (thank goodness), but no stand. Also a driver disk for a 970-chipset mobo, which this is NOT.

Anyways, it booted fine, installed Linux Mint 15 Mate 64-bit just fine from an external DVD drive. Kind of a PITA to get the HDMI audio working in Linux though, but I did it.
(Need to install AMD proprietary drivers, then update ALSA using the Ubuntu ALSA daily PPA.)

I think I like Mint running on the c-50, better than Win7 running on the c-70.

Btw, Mint picked up both the wired and wireless with no problems.

Was it worth the money? For something to play around with and experiment with, and eventually end up with someone as a nettop web-browsing machine, it's a definite YES.

Edit: Walmart is selling the Atom version with Win7 Pro, brand new, for nearly $350!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-EeeB...bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&findingMethod=p13n