[ale] Size does count.

[Vernard Martin]

I'm thinking about upgrading my linux desktop. The current one is a 1Ghz 
Athlon with 1GB of ram and 20GB hard drive (I have my music collection 
on another machine).

I've always been a fan of small, quiet computers so I'm thinking that 
this time I'll buy something new that fits both of those requirements.
The problem is that I'm not nearly as up to speed as I used to be on 
ultra-small or ultra-quiet machines. So I'm hoping to draw upon the 
extremely diverse, eclectic and geeky nature of the ALE mailling list to 
help me out here.

Any ideas? I've seen the Shuttle boxen but for the most part they are 
designed more for size than quiet. And I've seen the Antec cases but 
they are designed for quiet and not size. I'm greedy and I want both. 
And I'm willing to pay to get it. I've been looking at the Apple Minis 
but since I plan on running Linux, it seems like a waste of money since 
the hardware inside of it isn't supported as well under Linux as it is 
under MacOS (Damn you Steve Jobs. Damn you to hellllllllll!)

So what other options are out there? Are the Epia based machines fast 
enough for desktop use? Anyone found anything that might tempt me?

yours,

Desperately Seeking Smallness (and Quietness)

aka. V