Linux Lite does it again - (Intel NUC NUC6i5SYH)

[Earthenware]

I bought the Intel NUC NUC6i5SYH.  I got the following config:

16GB DDR4/2133 RAM
256GB NVME SSD
2TB Samsung Spinpoint HDD
It comes with Intel Iris 540 integrated graphics.

I need Windows for one application so I installed that on the SSD. The first hurdle was that the BIOS didn't like the NVME drive so I had to do a BIOS update (from within the BIOS).
The next hurdle was installing Windows, which also didn't like the NVME drive so I had to get a driver for that also.
After that, Windows was fairly painless and the NVME drive is very fast.


Then on to installing Linux on the HDD.  I was expecting problems as I had read online that the Iris 540 Graphics lacked drivers and GRUB was likely to cause issues also.
I was really expecting to have to install the latest short-term support version of Linux (15.10 at the time of writing) but I decided to try my latest Linux Lite DVD anyway (2.6, 64-bit).
Well, it installed and with no graphics issues - or any other issues as far as I can see.  Everything (including GRUB) worked first time.
This was BEFORE I had connected to the internet to download any updates or drivers.

This is excellent and I'm most impressed.  I was expecting big problems but had none at all.

Add to that the fact that Linux Lite comes ready to run in VMs (no need to download VirtualBox Guest Additions) and, for my purposes at least, it's by far the best Linux distro available.

Top stuff.

Edit: Forgot to mention no sound through headphones.  Easy fix found at (https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us...05499.html):

1/ Add the following groups to your account: audio, pulse, pulse-access, video, and voice
2/ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/alsa-daily
3/ sudo apt update
4/ sudo apt install oem-audio-hda-daily-dkms
5/ reboot

[rokytnji]

Good to hear. Could you humor me with a link to the NUC box

Edit: Nevermind. I think I found it. But the below would be nice anyways.

link

and post a

Code:

sudo inxi -zv7

so we can see the internals of your NUC box?

I also like it when a plan comes together painlessly.

[Valtam]

Great feedback there! I am surprised as you are everything went so smooth on the Linux side

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Earthenware]

sudo inxi -zv7


System:    Host: NUC Kernel: 3.13.0-62-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2)
          Desktop: Xfce 4.11.8 (Gtk 2.24.23) info: xfce4-panel dm: lightdm Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty

Machine:  Mobo: Intel model: NUC6i5SYB version: H81131-502
          Bios: Intel version: SYSKLi35.86A.0036.2016.0223.1140 date: 02/23/2016

CPU:      Dual core Intel Core i5-6260U CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 7200.12
          Clock Speeds: 1: 400.00 MHz 2: 400.00 MHz 3: 400.00 MHz 4: 400.00 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1926
          X.org: 1.15.1 drivers: fbdev,intel (unloaded: vesa) tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root

Audio:    Card: Intel Device 9d70 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70
          Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-62-generic

Network:  Card-1: Intel Wireless 8260 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:24f3
          IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
          Card-2: Intel Ethernet Connection I219-V bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:1570
          IF: N/A state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
          WAN IP: <filter> IF: eth0 ip: <filter> ip-v6: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2031.4GB (27.7% used)
          1: id: /dev/sda model: ST2000LM003_HN size: 2000.4GB serial: S377J9FGC05046 temp: 38C
          2: USB id: /dev/sdb model: USB_DISK_2.0 size: 31.0GB serial: 070B57E5B85C9237-0:0 temp: 0C
          Optical: No optical drives detected.

Partition: ID: / size: 1.8T used: 525G (31%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
          label: N/A uuid: 592c84a8-7d79-44ed-8de8-fce90a0df64f
          ID: swap-1 size: 32.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda1
          label: N/A uuid: 268318f3-de41-47aa-9238-f552ea1db765

RAID:      System: supported: N/A
          No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
          Unused Devices: none

Unmounted: ID: /dev/nvme0n1 size: 256.06G label: N/A uuid: N/A
          ID: /dev/nvme0n1p1 size: 0.37G label: System Reserved uuid: F62CEAA12CEA5C5D
          ID: /dev/nvme0n1p2 size: 255.69G label: N/A uuid: A0D4EBA2D4EB7944
          ID: /dev/sdb1 size: 31.01G label: Data uuid: 301E57921EE5325A

Sensors:  System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C
          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A

Info:      Processes: 182 Uptime: 2 min Memory: 682.3/15939.3MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
          Client: Shell (sudo running in bash) inxi: 1.9.17

[rokytnji]

Thanks. Looks to be running cool also. That was something I was wondering about with these small computer boxes.

[Earthenware]

Thanks. Looks to be running cool also. That was something I was wondering about with these small computer boxes.

I'm surprised at that as well.  At the time that I took the measurement above it had only been up for 2 minutes.  I tried it again today after 30 minutes of uptime and it was still at 29.8C.

I notice that above it says that it's running each core at 400MHz.  This morning it said that it was running 3 cores at 400MHZ and one at 1800MHz.  In Windows, it says that it usually runs at 1800MHZ and sometimes goes up to 2900MHz, so I guess the 400MHz is some kind of throttled-back power-saving mode.

Whatever is happening, the performance is surprisingly good for a device that consumes 10w at idle and 30w under stress.  The desktop monster that it's replacing uses 70w and 230w respectively.

[Wirezfree]

Nice little box....
I built a previous model a while back for a friend, NUC5i7H.
Yes, some gymnastics to get Win7 on the nvme M.2, install Win7 to the internal 2.5".
Then clone 2.5" to nvme, then remove Win7 off 2.5", then fix the boot-loader,
Then finally add Linux Lite & Mint Cinnamon to nvme. (Got a lot of help here on the forum )

Even with that NUC5i7 some things looked odd, but worked..
Like if you look at the nvme disk it shows unmounted, but works, freq looked odd also.

To check the frequency more acurately I installed CPUFReq, in a terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

then run

Code:

cpufreq-info

Gives lots of details on each CPU/Core

I read a comparison yesterday on the NUC6i5 vs NUC5i7,
The NUC6i5 in most cases was 20~40% quicker in most benchmarks, and half power consumption

You can add the details to the "Hardware Database"
Instructions on that page, "The Process".