News - Shuttle shows off small and mighty DS81 mini-PC

[HEXUS]

This barebones PC is just a smidgeon larger than an old 5.25-inch ODD drive.

Read more.

[Splash]

Why 2 RS232 ports? They've got rid of legacy VGA and PS/2, who would need 2 serial ports on a device like this?

That said: as someone tweeted to me this could make a decent-ish homelab box for anyone tinkering with virtualisation. You have 2 NICs, an mSATA port for an SSD and a SATA port for spinning rust, so this might be a good target for a 3 node VSAN cluster. Wonder if Shuttle want to send me some bits to test?

[crossy]

Why 2 RS232 ports? They've got rid of legacy VGA and PS/2, who would need 2 serial ports on a device like this?

Presumably someone who wants to use this in an industrial setting - you'd be surprised how much gear out there is still using good ole '232. Last thing I came across was a product conveyor system (like Amazon use in their warehouses).

That said: as someone tweeted to me this could make a decent-ish homelab box for anyone tinkering with virtualisation. You have 2 NICs, an mSATA port for an SSD and a SATA port for spinning rust, so this might be a good target for a 3 node VSAN cluster. Wonder if Shuttle want to send me some bits to test?

Downside is that I've always found Shuttle's to run hot and noisy. So I can't help thinking that you might be able to get something more expandable and cheaper (but larger unfortunately) by raiding Scan and getting something Mini-ITX based. Prices on the old 1155 gear seems okay, and an I7-3770T is only 45W and still supports the virtualisation extensions. Downside with the smaller DS81 is that when you come to populate it you're going to have to pay top dollar because you need small units, e.g. laptop style RAM, 2.5" drives, etc.

I was browsing the other day because my current virtualisation "lab" is a eBay'd C2D laptop. Not the fastest but it does the job. Especially when hooked up to a nice eSata crate with hardware RAID0 for hosting the VM's.

[cjs150]

an i7-3770T is OTT for HTPC use - I know I have one. But at 45W there are a number of fanless cases that can handle it even when media encoding something as intense as Blu-ray + 5.1 sound at ultra high quality settings.

As Shuttles typically run hot and noisy I will wait for a full review

[Myss_tree]

This would be good if it had the option of the recently reviewed (by Hexus) i7-4770R with Iris Pro graphics.

[Splash]

Presumably someone who wants to use this in an industrial setting - you'd be surprised how much gear out there is still using good ole '232. Last thing I came across was a product conveyor system (like Amazon use in their warehouses).

A fair point, but that kind of industrial kit usually comes from a pretty bespoke supplier, not Shuttle. I can't see the value in their target market is all.

[OilSheikh]

Should have kept hold of Pentium 1 boxes from the 90s!

[directhex]

This would be good if it had the option of the recently reviewed (by Hexus) i7-4770R with Iris Pro graphics.

SteamOS box!

[azrael-]

There's not much in the way of audio I/O for the built-in Realtek ALC662, is there? As far as I can see you're limited to output via the HDMI connector. No input in sight at all.