6 ms·

I just bought a thin client and replaced three of my Pis and added a lot of spare room to host a Plex server and a Pleroma instance. The only remaining Pi in us

I just bought a thin client and replaced three of my Pis and added a lot of spare room to host a Plex server and a Pleroma instance. The only remaining Pi in use drives my 3DPrinter. Thin clients seem really great for most typical server-type use cases with low power needs.

monkmartinez 4y ago
Yep, and there are thousands of them around the $30 dollar mark. The case and power supply included!!!!! Governments (Local and State in the US) auction them off cheap if you really want to buy in bulk. People have adapted all manner of thin, thick and virtual clients to run Klipper. I had it running on a VM in VirtualBox before I moved it to a Jetson Nano.
nine_k 4y ago
I don't see why an RPi is needed for a thing like that. If you need a cheap Linux desktop, or a cheap Linux server, there is a ton of x86-based options. It's when you need all these numerous GPIO pins is when an RPi starts making serious sense. (But an ESP32 could do, too, if running Linux is not a hard requirement.)
- jrmg 4y ago
  The power draw and size is substantially lower.
SxC97 4y ago
I read a comment recommending used thin clients on HN like a week ago and did the same thing. I set up one as an octoprint server, one for the hardware lab, and one for a retro gaming station. At ~$30 a piece, it was a no brainer. I reused the rPis into a k3s cluster for experimentation so they aren't going to waste. At this point, I think I'm going to rely on esp32 + thin clients for most of my projects. The only uses for rPis that I can still think of is a PiKVM, rPi Weather Station, and maybe a cyberdeck (mostly for the low power usage).
- aliqot 4y ago
  That sounds great, I don't know why I didn't think of that. Any models that you would recommend? Also, are there any independent retailers that gather and resell these that you'd suggest looking at?
  - SxC97 4y ago
    I did a bunch of research on thin clients before buying one and I found a site[0] that compiles data on a bunch of different machines. I ended up going with a Wyse 5060, it's a quad-core machine at 2.4ghz + 4gb of ram. It was pretty widely available for ~$35 on ebay so I figured even if it didn't work out, I wouldn't be out too much money. As far as other retailers go, every discussion I found online basically told me to look at the usual places. eBay, FB marketplace, maybe craigslist. Unfortunately I didn't find any independent retailers. Also, depending on your use case, you might want to look into AIO thin clients. You can pick up a full machine with a screen for under $50. Unfortunately, the specs on those machines were a little underpowered for what I needed, but it might be a better fit for other projects. [0]: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hware/hardware.shtml https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hware/hardware.shtml
    - justinclift 4y ago
      Interestingly, those Wyse 5060 (at least the Dell ones) have 2x SO-DIMM slots so the ram can be upgraded (to 16GB): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvg7hOXpHFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvg7hOXpHFU
    - aliqot 4y ago
      Thanks, these should be fun to dig in to. Most of the applications I look for involved 'detuning' the machine until I can run it fanlessly. I use these for servers for various things, small test hosts, etc.

monkmartinez 4y ago

Yep, and there are thousands of them around the $30 dollar mark. The case and power supply included!!!!! Governments (Local and State in the US) auction them off cheap if you really want to buy in bulk. People have adapted all manner of thin, thick and virtual clients to run Klipper. I had it running on a VM in VirtualBox before I moved it to a Jetson Nano.

nine_k 4y ago

I don't see why an RPi is needed for a thing like that. If you need a cheap Linux desktop, or a cheap Linux server, there is a ton of x86-based options. It's when you need all these numerous GPIO pins is when an RPi starts making serious sense. (But an ESP32 could do, too, if running Linux is not a hard requirement.)

jrmg 4y ago
The power draw and size is substantially lower.

SxC97 4y ago

I read a comment recommending used thin clients on HN like a week ago and did the same thing. I set up one as an octoprint server, one for the hardware lab, and one for a retro gaming station. At ~$30 a piece, it was a no brainer. I reused the rPis into a k3s cluster for experimentation so they aren't going to waste. At this point, I think I'm going to rely on esp32 + thin clients for most of my projects. The only uses for rPis that I can still think of is a PiKVM, rPi Weather Station, and maybe a cyberdeck (mostly for the low power usage).

aliqot 4y ago
That sounds great, I don't know why I didn't think of that. Any models that you would recommend? Also, are there any independent retailers that gather and resell these that you'd suggest looking at?
- SxC97 4y ago
  I did a bunch of research on thin clients before buying one and I found a site[0] that compiles data on a bunch of different machines. I ended up going with a Wyse 5060, it's a quad-core machine at 2.4ghz + 4gb of ram. It was pretty widely available for ~$35 on ebay so I figured even if it didn't work out, I wouldn't be out too much money. As far as other retailers go, every discussion I found online basically told me to look at the usual places. eBay, FB marketplace, maybe craigslist. Unfortunately I didn't find any independent retailers. Also, depending on your use case, you might want to look into AIO thin clients. You can pick up a full machine with a screen for under $50. Unfortunately, the specs on those machines were a little underpowered for what I needed, but it might be a better fit for other projects. [0]: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hware/hardware.shtml https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hware/hardware.shtml
  - justinclift 4y ago
    Interestingly, those Wyse 5060 (at least the Dell ones) have 2x SO-DIMM slots so the ram can be upgraded (to 16GB): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvg7hOXpHFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvg7hOXpHFU
  - aliqot 4y ago
    Thanks, these should be fun to dig in to. Most of the applications I look for involved 'detuning' the machine until I can run it fanlessly. I use these for servers for various things, small test hosts, etc.