Small computer to run a GUI?

[George Davidovich]

On Fri, May 07, 2010 at 06:41:16PM -0700, Liontaur wrote:
> I'm looking for a small (and relatively inexpensive) computer to run a
> GUI, I don't much care if it's KDE or Gnome or one of the others. Just
> so that I can browse the Internet using Firefox (unfortunately I may
> need to look at some flash). So they need to be able to run FreeBSD
> (obviously), a GUI, have a Cat5 port (10/100 is fine), and PS/2s for
> mouse and keyboard. USB is a bonus but not necessary.
>
> I remember seeing some kind of small terminals at the local library
> but I can't remember now who made them I think it was Weis or Weir or
> something like that but a google brings up nothing.  I was hoping to
> either boot them over a network or using a CF card or something with a
> small footprint as well. 

"WYSE".  

Do a search on eBay for either "network terminal" or "thin client" and
and you'll probably find the same model you saw in the library.

> I went checking out Soekris but couldn't really see if they offer a
> GUI, the models I looked at didn't have a VGA port though. I was
> hoping for something about 9 inches square and three inches thick, or
> smaller.

The lack of video on Soekris boxes is deliberate, and is considered a
feature.

Sounds to me like you probably want either a Mac Mini or a mini-ITX
system.  I've never been that impressed by mini-ITX, but the newer
Atom-based models look promising, and are certainly more affordable than
a Mac Mini.

-- 
George