Looking for a simple mini device that I can plug into TV for streaming stuff via browser/jellyfin and similar, with hdmi and control via bluetooth keyboard/mouse. What do you guys recommend?
Would this be powerful enough for example? https://www.komplett.no/product/1323029/pc-tilbehoer/stasjonaer-pc/acer-revo-box-mini-pc
EDIT: lemmy is awesome, thanks to you I’ll save myself a ton of work and/or costly mistakes
Older 10th gen Intel NUCs go for cheap on eBay, with memory and storage – close in price to a Raspberry Pi 5, but more powerful, active cooling without having to buy a kit, and may have greater longevity. An alternative to a Pi if you’re looking for one.
After getting an NUC, what would you install to make it more streaming UI friendly?
Or are you suggesting to just use the tv as a large monitor and stream via websites and browser?
Fedora and plasma run well on my nucs. One is about 7 years old and handles all the minimal things like streaming and containerized services really well.
That’s what I do. I have a bunch of .desktop files that just open Firefox in kiosk mode to whichever website I want, and a bunch of .PNG files to make them look like apps. I installed them system-wide.
I’m a pretty big KDE Stan but I decided to give Gnome a go since Plasma Bigscreen is virtually impossible to install for a normal user at the moment. Its not perfect but it gets the job done, and I love the basic parental controls it has. Still absolutely awful in terms of settings though.
I use an N95 mini pc, I have it set up with xubuntu (compositing turned off), and it’s loaded with Kodi (+Jellyfin add-ons), and used with a USB remote control. It’s a super-smooth. I cast music to Kodi from my phone with Symfonium.
Gotcha, so remove windows, install Linux, then install Kodi and other programs and it should function like an out-of-the-box streaming device?
My experience with Intel NUCs is that longevity is their greatest weakness. Usually burn themselves out in a few years. Prospects for repair being slim. I’m not sure if Pis are any better, but I haven’t been impressed.
How do they burn out? Anecdotal, but I’ve had one running nearly 24/7 for about 6 years now I think and only needed to swap out the fan.
Bad thermal management. Too much heat for too small of space without enough cooling.
Huh. Maybe I just run mine lighter. Streaming shouldn’t take much though. Also they’re actively cooled. I’ll keep that in mind though in case mine die unexpectedly.
Yeah, luck is a factor for sure. And if you find one for cheap enough it probably doesn’t matter. Personally, I’d rather just build a SFF PC with a mini-ITX board. It’ll be slightly bigger than a NUC, but at least the parts are all off the shelf and replaceable when something inevitably goes wrong.