Used thin client PCs are an unsexy, readily available Raspberry Pi alternative

“Raspberry Pi boards are hard to come by, probably next year as well,” says Andreas Spiess, single board fanatic and YouTuber, in his attribute Swiss accent. He will not be mistaken. Spiess says he and his fellow Pi followers “need a strategy to survive” with out new boards, so he suggests trying into one of many least thrilling, most ignored areas of computing: the used, corporate-minded thin client -computers.

Spiess’s Pi replacements, recommended and refined by lots of his YouTube commenters and Patreon subscribers, are Fujitsu Futros, Lenovo ThinkCentres, and different small methods (some or all of which could semantically be thought-about “thick clients” or just “mini-computers”). relying in your tastes and retro-grouch sensibilities). These are the sorts of methods you’ll be able to simply discover on eBay, refurbished on Amazon Renewed, or by different enterprise and IT asset availability sources. They are usually in good situation, given their use and surroundings. And in comparison with single board fanatic methods, many extra are made and changed yearly.

Of course, they have been at all times there, but it surely makes extra sense to have a look at them once more now. “Back to the future,” as Spiess places it (in an analogy we’re not fairly certain works).

Spiess’ journey for make-it-yourself Pi servers shortly strikes him previous fashionable NUCs, as they are too costly and overpowered for Home Assistant, PiGap, or perhaps a multi-container system. He appears at two kinds of thin purchasers that work. For a single-purpose Pi alternative, nearly any Intel or AMD processor will work, and you may want 4GB of reminiscence and 8GB of solid-state storage. To run a number of Pi-scale tasks from one field, Spiess suggests searching for a more recent processor, 8GB of reminiscence, and a 64GB or 128GB SSD (or individually improve a type of if potential). For his single-purpose tasks, he discovered a 34 euro ($35 USD) Futro with an AMD GX-222GC SoC; for a number of containers, he received fourth-generation i5 and i7 ThinkCentres for 79 and 105 euros (presently $82 and $109).

Then there’s the software program. Installing Home Assistant or related Pi-focused photographs on the lower-powered client requires a USB to mSATA adapter or booting a Debian system from a dwell USB after which the interior SSD with the to flash picture. For a multi-VM or multi-container machine, Spiess makes use of Proxmox. He installs Home Assistant in a single digital machine, then IoT Stack on an AMD-64 model of Debian in one other.

It will not be a revelation {that a} extra highly effective laptop can replicate the work of a much less highly effective laptop, however the delta in energy consumption and processing could shock some. Compared to a Raspberry Pi, Spiess’ cheaper Fujitsu is definitely a bit slower at ESPhome meeting than a Raspberry Pi 4, however the i5 and i7 have been greater than 3 times quicker.

With a meter, Spiess measured their energy consumption. Two Raspberry Pi items consumed 12 Watts in a largely idle state, the Fujitsu at 14 W and the i5 and i7 at 16–18 W (with spikes to 25 W throughout excessive exercise). Buying thin purchasers with newer processors and higher energy effectivity will decrease these numbers extra, however Spiess’s tough math suggests a financial savings of solely about 24 euros ($25 USD) per yr, in comparison with the a whole lot of {dollars} extra it prices meals to purchase.

Of course, it is extra work to search out the proper steadiness of price and dimension within the used thin client (or generally “mini-PC”) market and extra work to get tasks up and working that are usually supposed for the everyday Pi platform. But bolstering the used PC market is a internet profit, particularly if a machine excellent for tinkering or residence automation leads to your community closet as a substitute of the shredder. (A tip of the hat to Hackaday for the video hyperlink).