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I have been researching single-board computers for use as a low-end web server. I want to create some internal web sites that will not have too much traffic (~20 users, occasional use during the day). I have looked at the Arduino Ethernet, Raspberry Pi, and BeagleBoard, but I'm not sure which one will best suite my needs. (BTW this needs to be cheap. In the range of $25-$100 for a server that will meet all of my needs).

I want a server that has:

  • Some flavor of Linux with an sshd
  • Something in the magnitude of 10 Gb storage.
  • Ethernet
  • HDMI, USB not required unless you can convince me I need it. :)
  • I'm not sure about memory requirements. A lot of these have 512 Mb. Is that enough?
  • I really want it to be able to run node.js.
  • Power: I don't have power over ethernet, so it would need a PSU.

I looked at this list in wikipedia, which is great, but I would love to see a grid of different prices and options somewhere.

Questions:

  • Is there a list of single-board computers, their function, options, pricing somewhere on the net?
  • Do you know of a specific single-board computer that would meet my needs?

Thank you!

Jess
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    Shopping/product recommendation questions are off-topic on all [SE] sites. Please refer to the [FAQ] and this blog entry explaining this further. – Sven May 02 '13 at 13:34
  • @SvW Bummer. Is there a way I can get answer somehow? Can I reframe the question? Where can I ask this? – Jess May 02 '13 at 13:35
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    As SvW says above, this question is off-topic for all Stack Exchange sites. As you mentioned, Wikipedia does have a good list of single-board computers. You could get a Raspberry Pi and use a 16GB or 32GB memory card. Or just call it and get a basic webhosting plan with someone. – tombull89 May 02 '13 at 13:38
  • Howver, feel free to drop into ServerFault's chat room or have a ask on the Raspberri Pi StackExchange chat room. – tombull89 May 02 '13 at 13:40
  • For $25-100 just experiment...get the Pi and if it doesn't suit your needs get another sub $100 box to mess with. – TheCleaner May 02 '13 at 13:40
  • All, I'm confused and a little frustrated. I understand that I'm not supposed to ask for shopping questions and that's fine. If I was to use the chat feature, would I just dump my entire question as a chat? I've never used the chat before... Should I delete this question? Surely other people will benefit and learn from a question like this. I don't know what to do. Thanks. – Jess May 02 '13 at 13:48
  • It's up to your if you want to delete or not, it will likely be closed shortly anyway. If you are going to drop into chat just say something along the lines of "I'm here to talk about x". I'm active in ServerFault chat now, as well as a number of other users. – tombull89 May 02 '13 at 14:06
  • Dropped into chat. Thanks all. I'll leave it up to the SF power users to decide if they want to close this Q or not. – Jess May 02 '13 at 14:21
  • I think this question should stay, and stay open. Here's a neat article about the RPi in a supercomputer environment. http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~sjc/raspberrypi/pi_supercomputer_southampton.htm – Tom O'Connor May 02 '13 at 14:22
  • The problem is that this was asking for specific advice, not as a discussion/theoretical topic. Using this approach is valid - - even in larger areas. A lot of research now goes into servers made from low power chips. – TomTom May 02 '13 at 14:41
  • Another good possibility is to look for a local online shopping comparison page like https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbarm for example, where you can filter depending on your needs. – mzimmer Aug 14 '17 at 11:40

1 Answers1

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Raspberry Pi would be my natural choice. You can stick a pretty big SD card in.

Here's a page about node.js on the pi

Tom O'Connor
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    I did something very uncharacteristic for me and just bought one. I'm going to do a POC on it with node.js. Wish me luck! :D Marked as answer b/c Pi is pretty much what everyone is saying. Low price. Supports node.js. I can go headless with it. PEACE – Jess May 02 '13 at 19:10