Subj : Re: Small BBS Machines (was: Re: NTVDMx64 issues?)
To   : tenser
From : Mindsurfer
Date : Thu Dec 11 2025 00:55:49

  Re: Re: Small BBS Machines (was: Re: NTVDMx64 issues?)
  By: tenser to Mindsurfer on Thu Dec 11 2025 09:38:55

 Mi>  Mi>>> that would be probably good enough, except.. raspberry is not very
 Mi>  Mi>>> efficient to run DOS or other emulations due to its processor being
 Mi>  Mi>>> x86 compatible one.
 Mi>  te>> I guess the idea is predicated on not needing stellar performance
 Mi>  te>> for BBS, which is mostly IO-bound, anyway.

 Mi>> You can run a bbs on a Raspberry Pi for sure. but buying a Raspberry + SD
 Mi>> Card + usb power supply + storage (usb hdd/ssd) will not make a
 Mi>> difference to a discounted MiniPC anymore. N100 runs on very low TDP when
 Mi>> idle.

 Mi>> what is the advantage in getting the older or less compatible hardware?

 te> A Raspberry Pi 5 is quite capable, supports NVMe out of the box (no SD
 te> required, except for bootstrapping), up to 16 GiB of RAM, gigabit ethernet
 te> with a real PHY, not a USB bridge, but also USB 3.0, HDMI output,
 te> including audio, and is physically quite small, which was the goal for
 te> hosting in a studio apartment: note the message subject, Small BBS
 te> Machines, as in size.  Power consumption and heat output is low, though of
 te> course other systems are comparable.  If you don't care about graphics,
 te> you can even run it headless, with a UART for the console: this is a
 te> perennial issue with most mini PCs, which either don't line out the SoC
 te> UART or don't provide a (convenient) header for it.

Thats nice to have a dedicated UART for sure. I don't have any monitor attached to my MiniPC.
I access proxmox web interface from my other computer and the LXContainers inside proxmox via ssh.

i just looked up a raspberry pi 5 kit, 16gb Ram, 64gb sd card, power supply, case. then i then added a m2 hat extension and a 500GB NVME to the cart.
That are similar specs compared to the MiniPC i have. You could reduce ram and NVME size and remove the sd card in my example but for the sake of comparison.

Round about 290EUR (might be cheaper in the US) in comparison to my 125EUR for
my MiniPC. More then twice the MiniPC price. just saying ;)
And be aware that you have to deal with an (capable but) ARM CPU. Every x86 instruction has to be translated into ARM instructions when you emulate x86 OS.

nuff said =) i made my point. Have a good day!

Mindsurfer
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