mini-pc recommendations for Allstar / Dial

I have purchased a few using the Intel Atom CPU, they are not super fast, but I have had 4 URI’s connected with no issues, and internet streaming as well on one node… they are inexpensive, and no fan on them, got 12V power supplies for them, mounted it all in a 1U rack, but there are plenty of other small form factor PC’s like that if you just want a desktop style (mini) computer. Some are “Industrial” type, might look at what amazon has, etc…

···

On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 12:51 AM, Ken Alker ka6ken@alker.net wrote:

Hello,

I am brand new to this list and Allstar (although I have been using Asterisk for well over a decade). I would like to run three URIs off of one PC running Dial. The PC will also communicate with at least three RTCMs at other locations. I ASSuME, based on this requirement, that a mini-PC would be the best platform (and not a Rasberry Pi or other ARM based processor). Please correct me if this is wrong (as I’d love to get away with a super low power $35 computer).

What mini-PC platforms have people successfully used (IOW, what mini-PCs would you suggest I look into)? I’d like something relatively inexpensive, low power, and with no moving parts (for a difficult to reach remote location at high elevation).

I’ve been looking into the Qotom mini-PCs, however, many of them seem to be based on the J1900, and I have heard that the Intel “Bay Trail” processors (of which the J1900 is one) have some clock issues due to a conflict with the (Debian) kernel being used in the Dial/Allstar project. I don’t know if newer releases of the processor have fixed this, or if it applies to every single Bay Trail processor ever produced. Perhaps someone can expound on this for me, as well.

Thank you!

Ken Alker

KA6KEN

http://www.impulse.net


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“Got Root?”

How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

None. It’s a hardware problem.

Unix is user friendly. It’s just very particular about who it’s friends are.

WINDOWS: Will Install Needless Data On Whole System

MICROSOFT: Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools Teenagers.

A ntennas
P oorly
P laced
L acks
E ngineering

The best way to accelerate a computer running Windows is at 9.81 m/s².

“I get paid to support Windows, I use Linux to get work done.”

Thanks. Have you managed to avoid the freeze-up issue due to the clock problems on certain Atom processors (Bay Trail, and possibly others) due to a conflict with the kernel being used in the Dial release (apparently, a CPU problem, but a problem nonetheless)?

···

--On Thursday, June 01, 2017 5:46 AM -0700 Mark Johnston <markjohnston73@gmail.com> wrote:

I have purchased a few using the Intel Atom CPU, they are not super fast,
but I have had 4 URI's connected with no issues, and internet streaming
as well on one node... they are inexpensive, and no fan on them, got 12V
power supplies for them, mounted it all in a 1U rack, but there are
plenty of other small form factor PC's like that if you just want a
desktop style (mini) computer. Some are "Industrial" type, might look at
what amazon has, etc...

"Got Root?"

How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
None. It's a hardware problem.

Unix is user friendly. It's just very particular about who it's friends
are.
WINDOWS: Will Install Needless Data On Whole System
MICROSOFT: Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools
Teenagers.

A ntennas
P oorly
P laced
L acks
E ngineering

The best way to accelerate a computer running Windows is at 9.81 m/s².

"I get paid to support Windows, I use Linux to get work done."

On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 12:51 AM, Ken Alker <ka6ken@alker.net> wrote:

Hello,

I am brand new to this list and Allstar (although I have been using
Asterisk for well over a decade). I would like to run three URIs off of
one PC running Dial. The PC will also communicate with at least three
RTCMs at other locations. I ASSuME, based on this requirement, that a
mini-PC would be the best platform (and not a Rasberry Pi or other ARM
based processor). Please correct me if this is wrong (as I'd love to
get away with a super low power $35 computer).

What mini-PC platforms have people successfully used (IOW, what mini-PCs
would you suggest I look into)? I'd like something relatively
inexpensive, low power, and with no moving parts (for a difficult to
reach remote location at high elevation).

I've been looking into the Qotom mini-PCs, however, many of them seem to
be based on the J1900, and I have heard that the Intel "Bay Trail"
processors (of which the J1900 is one) have some clock issues due to a
conflict with the (Debian) kernel being used in the Dial/Allstar
project. I don't know if newer releases of the processor have fixed
this, or if it applies to every single Bay Trail processor ever
produced. Perhaps someone can expound on this for me, as well.

Thank you!

Ken Alker
KA6KEN
http://www.impulse.net
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I don’t know how often there would be a freeze up,
root@KC7DMF:~# uptime

19:22:06 up 19 days, 31 min, 1 user, load average: 0.05, 0.09, 0.12

**I believe this may address the issue, I added ****kernel.panic = 20 **

to /etc/sysctl.conf

I know it would kernel panic once in a great while, never did find exactly why, but this seems to keep it running.

I also wrote a script when the network has packet loss, to restart…

···

On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 9:31 AM, Ken Alker ka6ken@alker.net wrote:

Thanks. Have you managed to avoid the freeze-up issue due to the clock problems on certain Atom processors (Bay Trail, and possibly others) due to a conflict with the kernel being used in the Dial release (apparently, a CPU problem, but a problem nonetheless)?

–On Thursday, June 01, 2017 5:46 AM -0700 Mark Johnston markjohnston73@gmail.com wrote:

I have purchased a few using the Intel Atom CPU, they are not super fast,

but I have had 4 URI’s connected with no issues, and internet streaming

as well on one node… they are inexpensive, and no fan on them, got 12V

power supplies for them, mounted it all in a 1U rack, but there are

plenty of other small form factor PC’s like that if you just want a

desktop style (mini) computer. Some are “Industrial” type, might look at

what amazon has, etc…

“Got Root?”

How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

None. It’s a hardware problem.

Unix is user friendly. It’s just very particular about who it’s friends

are.

WINDOWS: Will Install Needless Data On Whole System

MICROSOFT: Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools

Teenagers.

A ntennas

P oorly

P laced

L acks

E ngineering

The best way to accelerate a computer running Windows is at 9.81 m/s².

“I get paid to support Windows, I use Linux to get work done.”

On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 12:51 AM, Ken Alker ka6ken@alker.net wrote:

Hello,

I am brand new to this list and Allstar (although I have been using

Asterisk for well over a decade). I would like to run three URIs off of

one PC running Dial. The PC will also communicate with at least three

RTCMs at other locations. I ASSuME, based on this requirement, that a

mini-PC would be the best platform (and not a Rasberry Pi or other ARM

based processor). Please correct me if this is wrong (as I’d love to

get away with a super low power $35 computer).

What mini-PC platforms have people successfully used (IOW, what mini-PCs

would you suggest I look into)? I’d like something relatively

inexpensive, low power, and with no moving parts (for a difficult to

reach remote location at high elevation).

I’ve been looking into the Qotom mini-PCs, however, many of them seem to

be based on the J1900, and I have heard that the Intel “Bay Trail”

processors (of which the J1900 is one) have some clock issues due to a

conflict with the (Debian) kernel being used in the Dial/Allstar

project. I don’t know if newer releases of the processor have fixed

this, or if it applies to every single Bay Trail processor ever

produced. Perhaps someone can expound on this for me, as well.

Thank you!

Ken Alker

KA6KEN

http://www.impulse.net


App_rpt-users mailing list

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http://lists.allstarlink.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users

To unsubscribe from this list please visit

http://lists.allstarlink.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users and

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the “Unsubscribe or edit options button”

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confirmation. If you have trouble unsubscribing, please send a message to

the list detailing the problem.


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To unsubscribe from this list please visit http://lists.allstarlink.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Enter your email address and press the “Unsubscribe or edit options button”

You do not need a password to unsubscribe, you can do it via email confirmation. If you have trouble unsubscribing, please send a message to the list detailing the problem.

“Got Root?”

How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

None. It’s a hardware problem.

Unix is user friendly. It’s just very particular about who it’s friends are.

WINDOWS: Will Install Needless Data On Whole System

MICROSOFT: Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools Teenagers.

A ntennas
P oorly
P laced
L acks
E ngineering

The best way to accelerate a computer running Windows is at 9.81 m/s².

“I get paid to support Windows, I use Linux to get work done.”