Mini-PC's and Linux

[vitinho444]

Hello guys, there's some kind of magazine in my country for Tech stuff, and they talk a lot of those new Mini PC's.

If you are not getting my idea, Raspberry Pi is one of them.

So, i would love to have one of those or more depends on my experience with the first, for some reasons, i can tell right now some of them:
1 - Home Automation
2 - Turn my TV Smart


If you heard of these Mini-PC's you know they run on Android but they can run on Linux too.
There's the problem, i'm a Android user and a Windows Fan.. (XP and 7) I love windows and i think i can't live without it.. But i heard linux was pretty good for coding and etc.. (since i like to play when im not coding i use windows..) What would be if i go to linux? And i heard there are various distributions or versions or editions, what's the best one or what i should have in mind to choose? As windows user i like to use skype, msn, visual c++ express, visual basic, WAMP, steam, dropbox, utorrent etc.. is there any of those in linux?


Also if you have heard of the Mini PC's what you think is the best ?

If you would like some of them:
- Raspberry PI
- AllWinner A10
- Chromebox
- VIA Technologias
- Mint Box
- Mele A1000
- DiabloTek
- CuBox
- D2 Plug

[Jackolantern]

Obviously Visual C++ Express and Visual Studio will not be available on Linux, as those are Microsoft-made, Windows-only tools. I am sure you will be able to use some client to connect to MSN chat, and Skype, too. Torrents are very easy to work from Linux. I have no idea about Dropbox, but Steam is unlikely to be a big force since nearly all games are made for Windows, and most of the leftovers are for Mac. WAMP would most definitely not be on Linux, since the name is an acronym for Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP/Perl. You would need LAMP for Linux. I am not sure if there is a tidy package for it like the WAMP configuration has, or if you would have to install the components yourself.

As far as the mini-PCs go, the only one I have heard a ton about is the Raspberry Pi.

[vitinho444]

Well yes but when i talked about windows compilers.. i checked some tutorials in linux and they use a notepad and cmd to compile... Isn't there any IDE for C++ for linux?

I probably won't use much of linux but it is cool to test my cross platform games and whenever i feel like to be a hipster (jk)

[Jackolantern]

There is a compiler for Linux, called Mono. It is not operated by Microsoft and runs a couple versions and features behind the official .NET. However, Visual C++ Express and Visual Studio are both IDEs, not compilers, and they do not exist on Linux.

[Ark]

You're lucky there's a beta version for steam on linux.

steamcommunity.com/games/221410

[vitinho444]

I installed Ubuntu on Virtual Box.. Not sure if that's Virtual Box's fault but i gave it 1GB RAM and 8GB HDD and it laggs like hell O.o

In those Mini-PC's we are lucky to find a good one with a 1ghz CPU and 1GB Ram.. so.. i guess linux is not so "light" anymore.

[Jackolantern]

Keep in mind that those mini-PCs are really for command-line Linux or Unix, not really a GUI version. Low specs, no real GPU, no cooling, etc. Probably some basic versions of Desktop Linux, maybe some versions from a few years ago like early GNOME, could work on it alright, but that would probably also force you to use GUI applications from a few years back as well.

[vitinho444]

Well yes... But i would like some GUI of course it doesn't need to be super advanced. But i don't want to use Android because it has no compilers etc etc...

[Jackolantern]

Maybe look at some archived versions of GUI Linux. Compilers have not changed much at all in the last few years, and current versions of desktop Linux are made for capable, current-gen desktop or laptop computers.