Not Your Dad's Thin Client

[@dustojnikhummer]

Rest in peace, tteck, we will miss you friend.

[@Soddus.]

who?

[@Rushil69420]

@@Soddus. 8:30

[@Ultimaus]

A legend of proxmox helper scripts.

[@WeatherWX]

Looks like TTeck's wife posted on his behalf on their ko-fi page. Godspeed TTeck and may you rest in peace. Edit: Just saw the rest of the video, the github issue is there as well. 8:36 for timestamp

[@CaydenHaun]

Did the tteck scripts not move to a community project?

[@CraftComputing]

*glances down at my T740 I haven't had a chance to do a video on yet... DAMMIT COLTEN!

[@BigTylt]

He beat you to the punch, therefore the unwritten rules of KZbin dictate you're a copycat

[@ferreiraea6942]

I will definitly watch a new vídeo from you @CraftComputing 😂

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

Yes make a video, then we can compare and make fun of you copying others content 🤣

[@BushidoBrownSama]

He can't keep getting away with this!😂

[@MutasimAli-go7wt]

Unlucky

[@QWERTYQwertz852]

Rip tteck 🕊️

[@ScullyBrewing]

We used these HP t620 / t630 in our office that autolaunched Citrix VDI’s. They were a third the cost of a laptop and if they broke, we replaced the hardware and they were back up and running with their VDI as if nothing happened. Great piece of kit. Working from home killed them off as everyone requested a laptop, and we never got enough employees back in office to justify keeping them. You can get them verrrry cheap now 2nd hand.

[@allenellisdewitt]

That explains it, thank you!

[@halvarf]

Prices (used) in the US: ~ $70. Prices (used) in Europe: ~ 330 to 400€. Strange.

[@gandi69]

I’ve had a look just now on eBay in the U.K. and these are on the whole in the £600 range. For that money it’s a no go!

[@thetalesofdaneandco]

Maybe not meeting power efficiency standards?

[@ItsJustElenore]

Probably just some huge US corporation decommissioned thousands of those at once, flooding the market in the region and crashing the price. Same thing happens all the time with server and commercial hardware.

[@jamescollins6085]

​@@ItsJustElenore Older desktops will probably flood the market in the next 6 months due to the Windows 11 hardware requirements.

[@ranjitmandal1612]

😢

[@nickldominator]

9:34 Those spring finger plates are usually there to ensure the chassis ground is effectively connected to the metal bracket btw.

[@twipsy2047]

EMI shield(ing) is what i would call those

[@Dethencarnate]

The dieting-but-not-thin-yet client.

[@BigTylt]

The "Few Extra Pounds" client

[@NicksStuff]

Light but not thin

[@ovI0i17Hpl]

RIP tteck

[@richardahlquist5839]

Been using one of these for 2 years running PfSense w/ Mellanox ConnectX-4LX 2x 10Gb SFP+ nic. I did replace the lid with a custom cut one with a 140mm fan. Rock solid device, with wayy more performance than I need. No its not a super power miser. Thats fine by me though. These were never meant to run very low power. The slot was seemingly meant for a 6400 gpu or other nic. The slot is a x16 but only connectivity of x8.

[@JDowPCs]

I have the same setup. ConnextX-4LX on Pfsense. No problems with my 2500/2500 fiber. Note that this box has a BIOS bug that causes the CPU fan to run at bare minimum speeds (or stops) on some bootups. Never seen a proper BIOS fix from HP (check the ServeTheHome thread), and getting the BIOS on the box is pretty annoying.

[@envoycdx]

The NVME / M.2, they are locking tabs, not clips. Move the tab into position, push the drive down, flick the tab over to lock it in place. All good :)

[@KameraShy]

My Dad's Thin Client was a slide rule. Still have it.

[@modelno15]

Aside from Dell, HP has a strong hold on thin client products. I’d say 90% of my office uses their units, and we actually make good use of the four DisplayPort outputs. Most of our users need to monitor and interact with multiple things simultaneously. Yes, the power consumption is higher than it should be, but let’s consider two key points: A: These units are designed to run at peak performance as much as possible. While this may be taxing in the long run, it ensures they’re ready to boost performance instantly. B: These devices are definitely not designed for consumers or home lab enthusiasts. In offices with VDI infrastructure that requires such thin clients, the power bill isn’t usually a concern. Moreover, large companies often have different pricing structures than residential agreements-many pay a flat rate regardless of high usage.

[@davidg5898]

Proxmox install --> tteck's scripts --> everything else. That's always my workflow for new Proxmox setups. RIP tteck. Gone but not forgotten.

[@manitoba-op4jx]

i mean it's certainly bigger but in the words of the late paul harrell: "it's not enough of a difference, to make a difference"

[@apalrdsadventures]

aren't the blue things semi-tool-less? I seem to remember feeling they were super clever on some of my lower end HP thin clients, but it's been awhile

[@charizard4410]

I believe you're right, you just lower the SSD and turn them into the locked position.

[@sirseriously]

They're not - I have one of these as my router. The blue things just work as washers essentially. Maybe they could be used to hand tighten the drives, but they were tough on the fingers , so I used a screwdriver.

[@charizard4410]

@@sirseriously I might have been thinking of the asus one then.

[@honestgoat]

That little metal plate thing you pulled out is a ground plate. Its designed to increase the amount of contact area with the card and the case for grounding purposes.

[@ochbad]

price on these is going to skyrocket

[@illstateofmind]

I bought this for $250 a few years ago. It’s running OPNsense and a dual 10gb NIC, although the installation required some initial tinkering to get up and running.

[@wallyrogers2371]

Care to elaborate? I was thinking this could be a perfect cheap 10gb opnsense box too, since anything else is $250+ to start. Did the tinkering you speak of for the realtek onboard?

[@illstateofmind]

@wallyrogers2371 I had to google the problem to remember what I did. Essentially, the system would not boot OPNsense. I had to edit a config file referring to uart.0.at and uart.1.at to get it to work. Great system, although best to use a low power 10gb nic to prevent heat buildup.

[@jumpmaster5279]

Well after running my homelab on an hp ProBook 440 g2 I finally got a job Now I am planning on a hp elitedesk 800 g2 256 gb nvme 1 tb HHD 16 gb ram But no wifi As a on the go server I will install windows (wait) Because I have some retro and some 2013 games in cd format which i converted to digital disk It ain't much but all I need now Windows+ some office software+ some light games + jellyfin for media server and a shared windows folder is all I thing I need now. Well thanks for inspiration and such vast array of content i really mean it man In India cost of computer parts do add up fast hence I got a bit creative.. Any advice is welcomed P.s the system. Is the only one I can afford right now And it has not arrived yet so I thing in 2 weeks will update on a later video Thanks to hardware haven, for such fun content,

[@MadeByDanny]

I know he hasn’t posted in about 2 weeks but since I am a member.He has posted a video for early access.

[@Bchan]

6:40 aren't you supposed to screw those in and THEN put the NVMe in, using the blue plastic bits to secure it in place, I'm very sure they're supposed to be a toolless solution

[@brajanubgan88]

No, the blue nvme plastic thing is not toolless You need to unscrew it and put it on the m.2 ssd first, put the nvme into the slot and than screw it in Sadly that's how it works in hp thin clients, not only t740 but t640 too, I'm not sure about other ones

[@saifulnizam1868]

RIP tteck. Your work was invaluable in my learning journey. You will be missed.

[@lars2k1]

These might be good for where I work. We want 3 displays instead of 2, but the thin clients at our desks only have 2 video outputs. And they're pretty cheap too, hopefully something like this will convince the director to finally push forward with this.

[@urssusoso4934]

Love to see your channel man, its amazing how many systems can be use to homelab

[@AnderWolfe31]

The amount of odd and interestng computers this guy finds never ceases to amaze me.

[@kmatt999]

4 display ports is pretty wild, very cool as a desktop option IMO

[@jaybirdls1]

I really like that too. Makes me want to use it for remoting into multiple machines at once. But then I'll need more monitors, and more desk....crap.

[@chrisflarida7794]

We used the T740’s in our Distribution Centers for emulation, web interfaces and video camera viewing. You get them with graphics cards from HP and they work great. Moving to the T755 now.

[@Asgard2693]

Honestly, Whacked this into Ebay and they are £600... and then some lower models come in and they are less appealing.

[@kevinoneill2170]

Must be very location-dependent. A quick search in the US shows plenty of recent sales between 60-80 US with one recent sale for a lot of 10 for 430 total.

[@gandi69]

Can get a 13th/14th gen Intel dell 3080 for that much minus the pci slot or a similar spec m90q for £100 less than this. Mad money for a “thin” client

[@minigpracing3068]

You do not need to pull the fan or USB card to put in an a+e 2.5 gbps card, I have this in both of mine. They are currently running VMware vSpere8 in my lab. I had no trouble with the blue drive holder things. Mine also have Supermicro dual 10gbps cards installed, a little less power/heat than other cards. They will take 64GB of RAM.

[@basix250]

RIP tteck.

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Not my Dad's channel either!

[@skitterlad]

New Thermal Paste always needed!

[@clomok]

This little guy would be a really good budget NVR machine

[@yoloninja4798]

it would be a great steamOS box with that pcie slot

[@somehow_not_helpfulATcrap]

A lot of those embedded processors don't have your typical PCI-E layout. Usually they have x16 lanes in total, 4 is gone to the NVME so that's 12 left for the other peripherals. I'd double and triple check you're getting at least x8 lanes to the PCI-E slot before trying to use it for a gaming setup. You might be better of using it as a Steam Link box if its fan isn't obnoxiously loud.

[@novamaster0]

Thinking through this computer... I see 3 big use-cases. This might make sense as a CCTV computer. If you write a footage to a NAS with say a 10g port, you could have 4 displays all have a camera up and might make sense to display the 4 camera feeds live. Digital Signage display. Think Restaurant Menu boards Zoom Meeting station. Plug in a nice USB Camera/Mic and have 4 displays for all the various people you're meeting with.

[@killzonearmed]

Idk who tteck is or what he did, but someone managing a open source project to help other people and all, i wish he is resting well now. Rip tteck

[@frankkaplan5811]

Those machines were off lease from Chase Bank. They ran a remote desktop using linux.

[@RainesExtras]

One idea I had was to use it as a CCTV DVR, the redundancy options, tons of USB and display outputs might work well

[@BravoCharleses]

I've got one of these with an Intel X550-T2 network card running as a router for my overkill home network. The factory storage drive cause lots of problems with BSD so I do not recommend it for use with pfsense or opnsense but it is otherwise a pretty good machine. I am insufficiently aware of alternatives in the space to recommend it but it has been a good machine for me after throwing in more hardware.

[@JoseAlba87]

Nice Find 👍. I'm using $45 Dell Wyse 5070, dietpi os with CasaOS. Great little serve, running off solar

[@fearbot69]

Got a t640 that was pretty beat up for 5$ a few months ago at one of those retailer returns store. Multiple ports damaged, removed those and it worked fine. But it still had Amazon's tinycorelinux build on it, assuming it was one of their automated warehouse shipment computers. Not sure if it was decommissioned or damaged on accident and thrown into the returns lot. Was surprised these type of thin clients can be upgraded, wish mine was not a passively cooled one though! Rest easy tteck

[@ccupp2]

I've been using one of these units for almost a year now. It runs proxmox with several VMS and lxc containers. I installed a 4-port gigabit nic in it for use with a virtualized instance of pfSense. I also installed a 2 TB nvme drive to service my small samba share. Yes, I wish you drew a little less power, but it draws far less power then the Dell t610 II server that I was using before. I love it though.

[@HORNOMINATOR]

depending on the actual idle power consumption, this would be a major upgrade to the GX-415GA in my NAS from an old fujitsu thin client

[@salmonsoup15]

that aint a thin client thats a thin server

[@MaximNightFury]

Heard the specs and immediately thought of it as a way to connect to a media server on a TV in a different room

[@mickgrimes9078]

i have one of these with a raid card in it, running a rosewell raid enclosure with 4 18tb drives. came out cheaper and faster than an actual raid set up. i think i spent 140$ not including drives (obvi)

[@DylanRGaming]

R.I.P TTECK

[@afurryferret]

those little metal things around the PCIe slot side port are for EMI compliance

[@Danyyel666]

You could add a pci express sas card and use it to plug a external jbod. That is if you feel like building an external jbod using an old pc case, another sas card, power supply and a HDcase with backplanes.

[@DouglasWalrath]

imagine putting an oculink adapter card into that PCIe slot and connecting up an eGPU

[@TheQuickSilver101]

I always love the interesting small systems that you find. I'm sure a system like this has its place (with the PCIe slot I do wonder about use as a router). Regardless I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Thanks as always!

[@sonairys929]

This thing is surprisingly functional, packs a lot of power (that cpu is about equal to i7 6700 in synthetic tests while being newer) and is still fairly small. Why don't we see more like these?

[@budiisnadi]

Aw, man... that proprietary power adapter is a deal breaker.

[@concinnus]

The high power consumption will also make the fan noisier and shorter-lived.

[@prashanthb6521]

I have gone thru this experimentation with thin clients. In the end I settled with a simple H110 mobo + i3-7100. This combination consumes a bit more power (not by a lot, still low power enough) but gives us far more freedom for expansion and applications. Also if it breaks down I can always replace it easily and cheaply.

[@diamondsword243]

thats not a thin client, thats a thick client

[@VanadiumMC]

A thonk client if you will

[@sunhawk1104]

The metal piece you pulled from near the PCIe slot would be part of the RFI shielding

[@Arek_R.]

$300 new? Then why do I see $1000 parts only listings?

[@Satelitko]

That thing looks so fun to mess with.

[@tommybronze3451]

t740 was something I was looking at for a long time to upgrade my wyse5070 test cluster. And then ms01 came around. I think the ms01 was responsible for t740 masive price drop (from 400£)

[@physx_yt1062]

These are great routers, I have an Intel X550 in mine and it has no issues saturating the 10Gb ports.

[@monad_tcp]

7:19 how cute, 18W idling , compared to my full blown workstation that idles at 150W

[@HorstGBurkhardt]

6:55 "I am a normal person who doesn't enjoy suffering" and other amusing jokes you can tell yourself ;)

[@codeman99-dev]

100% a monitor cluster solution. Just a power hungry one.

[@Vash612584]

RIP TTeck

[@aizunomnom8556]

4:30 the locking tab is on the back side of the socket, and I saw that you're trying to lift it from the front

[@KarenNakamura1]

Hmmm. At that power level, not a lot of months before a N100 box at just a little bit more is more worth it.

[@camjohnson2004]

Just ordered one to use as a Router with OPNSense. Sticking a Intel X550-T2 into it to handle the network side of things. Can't wait to get into it and see what it can do

[@TheInnerHalo72]

I have been eyeing one of these for a minute now.

[@samthewb7739]

So the problem of power draw is might be caused by the garbage power supply. Some DC power supplies have a poor transition rate when the power draw on the DC output is low

[@MisledNeNick]

My dad actually does have this at his work.

[@ranjitmandal1612]

Rip TTech 🙏 Pretty neat system

[@ExpectMichael]

- 64GB of ram works fine - Dual rank ram is limited to 2400MHz (via HP hardware reference guide) - PCIe 12v is limited to 35W (via parkytowers) - 1440p above 60Hz produces a weird vertical artifact - Wyse 5070 is still my favorite for cheap, small PCs

[@wanggaard]

OK, I have not watched the video yet (usually watch YT on TV), but I LUSTED after this system for so long, looking forward to watching the rest of the vid. I was more in the 200+ on ebay when I really wanted one and have too many > than 1 liter systems with no purpose at this point to buy one unless you convince me otherwise

[@wanggaard]

Replying to myself, uff, yeah cannot remember why it was so attractive, I think it was that low profile PCIe slot. Thanks so so much for covering this odd little beast

[@musicismypseudonym]

just checked german ebay ... they are still at ~300€ wtf

[@ram-0124]

i would love to see someone make one of these micro pc's into a dedicated streaming pc for twitch/youtube and see how the performance is with encoding and broadcasting

[@Omniescent]

So I wonder if the PCI riser is drawing power and that's why we're seeing higher wattage. In your last shot of the PCIe card, you can see that the riser can be removed, so I wonder if that'd lower the wattage.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

It’s not my Dad’s Acorn RISC PC, just a PC so no ARM under the heat sink

[@valentino_govoni_official]

thanks to you im discovering cpus that never knew that existed.

[@Rouxenator]

I still use my t640 daily - passively cooled 12W

[@johnstancliff7328]

looking at the pricing, these systems are still in demand. I have a Dell Wyse 7020 thin client and it works fine for a PC. I upgraded the memory as well as the storage and it support W10 just fine. the HP T740 should be the same. I'm keeping my eye out for one. the pricing should continue to drop as time goes on, so I'm hoping to be able to find one for less than $50. the Wyse thin clients are a good deal and if you know how to upgrade them, you can have a great little computer!

[@ayylien]

I use these for pfsense firewalls. Cheap and efficient.

[@rustynutz73]

I use one for Home Assistant, it may be a bit overkill but it works well, probably better than a Raspberry Pi. I find power draw isn't too much of an issue even living in the UK where energy is expensive (thanks Labour!!)

[@honestgoat]

Wait, what. Tteck died. Oh no. Thats so fuckin sad man. RIP brother. You were one the greats. Proxmox wont be the same without you. Condolences to his family.

[@ArthurAligon]

love ur videos keep up! (altought i might not get the same hardware as u its my pleasure to watch them)

[@3MANNN]

I have a T530 wich I use as a video player. I installed Librelec/Kodi and catched a DisplayPort/HDMI cable. Awesome 4K capable.

[@Rouxenator]

T640 (and T540) are Zen based and way nicer. I have had T510, T520, T620, T530 and T630 previously.

[@Lunolux]

this what pc should be, easy remove ram/storage and upgrade quickly

[@ALCE-h7b]

Just out of curiosity, what do you do with all such systems you review?

[@Lorofol]

So uhh, where was the example showing how to use this as a thin client?

[@eldibs]

I still shudder at the thought of Thin Clients, because we used them in a class in college back in 2006. On 100Mbit Ethernet. On the kind of systems that were considered low-end by 2006 standards. Yeah, not a great experience. For the money they spent buying and maintaining the server, they could have equipped three classrooms with usable PCs. What's even worse is it wasn't a class teaching about VMs or even network booting. No, it was a COBOL class, and COBOL is also terrible.

[@motodotsh]

Came for the tiny pcs, trusted for ugreen.

[@danielmadden6831]

That pcie slot looks pretty banged up. I wonder if it affected the performance.

[@b0ne91]

These are 300€+ in Europe, RIP my aspirations

[@YugimanTeam]

Funny I just found this myself! lol

[@alexmwangi]

Got one of these in 2022 after watching the Serve The Home review, but mine came with a BIOS that was permanently locked by the organization that previously owned it(nothing I tried would reset it), so was practically useless for homelabing.

[@DIYDaveOK]

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving, sir!

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

A precursor to the "new innovation" the windows 365 cloud PC.

[@BalooUriza]

A fiber card in a thin client? I'm guessing this machine spent most of its life out of service because the fiber cable broke again?

[@johannes7856]

Bro stole that t740 for ~80 bucks

[@ccrisinel]

The reason the intel gpu didn't work is probably because you are not running the latest version of proxomx, the 8.2 or 8.3 have a more recent kernel.