Looking for a small desktop that has great Linux support? Star Labs just announced the Byte, and it looks to be a pretty mighty little unit. It might be a Mini PC but nothing it does in mini. Starting at £663, this AMD Ryzen powered unit won't take up much room but it will give you plenty.
You get a choice of firmware to load it up with too, with it supporting coreboot+EDKII or American Megatrends+EDKII, if you prefer to have a device that's more open — you can!
Specifications:
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 1.90GHz octa-core 5800U |
| Graphics | Radeon Vega 8 |
| RAM | 8GB 3200MHz G.Skill Ripjaws memory (1 × 8GB) Up to 64GB 3200MHz memory (2 × 32GB) |
| Storage | 240GB SSD SATA "Over-Provisioned" storage Up to 1920GB SSD Gen3 PCIe "Over-Provisioned" storage |
| Ports | Combo Audio Jack, USB-C, USB-A x 2 (USB3), DC power jack, HDMI x 2, RJ45 Ethernet port, USB-A x 2 (USB2), Micro SD (on the side) |
This is the first desktop unit from Star Labs, who usually do their own laptops. All of which come with good and tested Linux support and of course this is no different. You can pick between Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro and more with Windows also an option but that will cost extra (+£110 for Windows 10 Home for example).
Tinker to your liking too, as their warranty allows you to take it apart, replace parts, upgrade, use whatever operating system you like all without voiding it.
When will it be available? You can order now, but it won't ship out until approximately "Late June" but they give a 5% discount if you order now. See more on the Star Labs website.
PublicNuisance Apr 14, 2022
CruelAngel Apr 14, 2022
How good are these tiny beasts? Lets say if I would be playing Horizon Zero Dawn through proton, would it have a reasonable FPS with a full HD monitor?
Id be wary of this having VEGA graphics as opposed to RDNA graphics like the SteamDeck. Even on AMD's website it does not mention if this is VEGA or RDNA. That said, why not just buy a Steamdeck and use it in the same manner ? It's cheaper and probably faster in games and you can use it in a variety of ways.
Liam's videos show Horizon Zero Dawn running okay from memory.
In fact, the steam deck is so accomplished that unless you were after desktop like performance i wouldn't buy any low-end / mid range device other than this for Linux, in which case i would spend a few hundred more and get a proper gaming laptop or build a small form factor desktop.
Can you imagine how good the Steam Deck 2.0 will be for convergence ? if they add a PCI-E / Thunderbolt connector for docked GPU. It will give a lot of laptop manufacturers something to look over their shoulder at.
speaking of which
ETA Prime: external 6900XT GPU Connected to Steam Deck
Last edited by Lofty on 14 April 2022 at 6:02 pm UTC
walther von stolzing Apr 14, 2022
Last edited by walther von stolzing on 14 April 2022 at 7:22 pm UTC
Anyone correct me if i'm wrong but is this the first AMD system in years to get Coreboot support ?
I wonder if that will happen at launch or afterwards though.
gradyvuckovic Apr 15, 2022
Neat!
TheRiddick Apr 15, 2022
Can't wait for a Steam Deck 2.0 to have RDNA3 with 8 core APU, that will be amazing but still likely 2years away.
https://buy.hpe.com/se/en/servers/tower-servers/hpe-proliant-microserver-gen10-plus/p/1012241014
with:
https://buy.hpe.com/se/en/options/cables-cable-kits/server-enablement-kits/server-enablement-kits/hpe-enablement-kits/hpe-microserver-gen10-plus-ilo-enablement-kit/p/P13788-B21
As my home server, I have upgraded cpu to Intel Xeon E-2236 for some more power.
I use this beauty as download server(aria2), file server(nfs,samba), backup server, in future znc, maybe home automation(not to control stuff, more to detect door opening, windows, amount of light, temperature).
What do you think I could run on this machine? Any good ideas?
hardpenguin Apr 16, 2022
Avehicle7887 Apr 16, 2022
Base config costs ~USD960 in my country. 1/7 of the price is tax.
Likewise, in euro it translates to about €800 for the base config. Unless you're a diehard coreboot fan I wouldn't recommend it.
Last year I built an ASRock Deskmini X300 for much less and performs better. The whole thing cost me a little over €500.
Last edited by Avehicle7887 on 16 April 2022 at 9:35 am UTC
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