Headless Tech, Man 🐴

A few years ago, a semi-viral trend attempted to make the case for the headless MacBook. WTF was that? Simply: A device that removed the screen from a MacBook Pro and instead made it a flexible tool that you could plug into a TV or just use wherever.

It was admittedly hacky, and I always found it kind of silly. But I must admit that a giant smile crossed my face when I saw that some random company was actually trying to make this idea into a real product.

The startup Hero Devices has been pitching something called the Hero Keyboard, which (much like those headless Macs) is a laptop, sans screen. It’s silly, it’s dumb, but I imagine it’s going to appeal to a certain type of computer user who finds mini PCs a little spartan. The company is actually pitching the concept as a companion piece with an iPad. Honestly, that makes a lot of sense for a certain kind of user who likes the portability of the iPad but needs an actual computer, not just a tablet that can cosplay as one.

(We’ll set aside the fact that the iPad is nearly as powerful and it’s mostly an interface problem.)

But it could also prove to be a pretty good living room PC, depending on how the machine is setup. I might suggest it’d be a good fit with a wireless HDMI receiver, so you can literally just lay on a couch and type on the thing. (The device notably has its own app to connect to a tablet wirelessly. Free idea: Android TV support.)

It’s worth noting that keyboard computers are kind of where the home PC started. Devices like the Raspberry Pi 400 and HP Eliteboard G1a are already serving this market, but those devices are a little different from what the Hero Keyboard is doing.

I haven’t talked to this company, and I cannot verify how good the machine is yet, but one thing I will say is that I hope other mini PC makers are taking notes. Just because a machine is a device without a screen intended for a home environment doesn’t mean it has to always follow the NUC model. Stuff like the Khadas Mind, for example, show directions where the model could go. It doesn’t have to just be tiny boxes.

Weekend Hacks

I finally figured out how to make the Steam Controller my only input device for my console PC

First, let me make something clear: I’m not opposed to AI hobby projects when I’m doing them mostly for myself. I’m not trying to inflict my horrible code on the masses. I know not everyone loves that, but (in what is not a new stance for me) I think the problem with AI is less its existence and more its irresponsible use.

But recently, I found myself at my wit’s end with my GNOME-based setup for running Steam on my TV. I want more functionality from my machine than the gaming mode Bazzite opens up, so I leave GNOME up if I want to use a terminal sometime. But at the same time, GNOME is not particularly well-suited to the job. It often brings up an annoying “remote interaction” window when I try to use my controller with an app it wasn’t expecting. (It’s been years, guys. Fix it.)

And notably, the controller stops working if I end up in the wrong menu, or need to type a password.

Plus, I had moved over to Dank Material Shell, recently rechristened as Dux Shell, nearly a year ago on my laptops. I wanted to use Niri, whose sliding window manager I find quite elegant, on my TV set. So I had to figure out how to make one work with the other, while also playing nice with Steam.

That’s when I pulled in the AI agent and had it help me build a TV interface on top of Dux Shell. It was partly inspired by the Plasma Bigscreen mode on KDE, but with elements specifically designed for using the Steam Controller. One of the things that makes the Steam Controller great are its touchpads, which allow you to type more easily than you can with a regular joystick, or a handheld keyboard.

This required building a system-level keyboard interface so that Steam could be used throughout the desktop as a keyboard-style interface rather than the more sandboxed Steam Input mode. It also necessitated some visual elements like custom onscreen keyboards that were capable of typing with both touchpads, along with some very specific key settings to allow for esoteric things like closing windows and copy-paste functionality. But it also required me to “trick” Steam into thinking the Steam Controller wasn’t plugged in, and that it saw a virtual Xbox controller instead. That was honestly the hardest part, but after working with a second agent after the first one gave up, I figured it out. (In cases when I actually want the Steam Input, I have a secondary Steam loader to revive the functionality.)

The bane of my existence was having to pick up another device when the interface showed resistance, and while there are still rough edges, I am currently able to control the entire machine from the controller … even the login screen (though I have to type in the password using an onscreen keyboard there in a chicken-peck fashion). But in those rare cases I need to talk to the BIOS, I can always plug in a keyboard. As long as I don’t have to get up.

Anyway, I learned a lot in doing this, and I think that it definitely helps me see a world where it doesn’t suck to use a computer with a TV anymore.

Mini-Links

» Yes, you can upgrade the RAM: The upcoming System76 Thelio Prime Desktop, starting at $1,599, appears targeted at folks who want the vibes of mini PCs but with some actually upgrade capabilities. Surprisingly not based on the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, unlike most of these machines. Given that System76’s mini PC game has been limited to white-labeled NUCs up to this point, a nice upgrade for them. (Also, small but welcome feature: adjustable magnetic feet.)

» And for Intel users … Not to be outdone, fellow Linux-centric PC maker Tuxedo Computers is about to launch the Nano Pro 15, a mini PC rocking the up-to-the-minute Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, which is a pretty powerful number. Other mini PC makers also offer the Ultra X7, but Tuxedo decided to make the RAM upgradeable. It’s a little more expensive than a comparable Geekom machine, but Tuxedo also maintains its own software stack, making it a more integrated experience.

» What an AI box is actually like: You’ve heard a lot about those AI boxes, but what are they actually like? Are they worth it? Over at PC World, Christoph Hoffmann finds a lot to like in the MSI Pro Max Edge AI+—though one of those things is not the price.

Jargon Clarifier

Headless

No Ichabod Crane here. This is the term commonly used for computers, often with laptop-grade hardware, that are designed without a built-in screen. This approach differs from the all-in-one approach favored by the Macintosh, but became a much more common term thanks to the Mac Mini. Headless devices often can perform without an attached keyboard or mouse, with end users logging into them using remote terminals, secure shell, or other functionality.

Despite being associated with mini PCs, it’s not a new term. Case in point: Check out the 1986 ad above for PC Designs, which portrays headless computers as blind and often missing key components. This appears to be the first reference to the term “headless computer” I spot on Google Books, but some of the most famous computers ever made, like the Commodore 64 and the Amiga, were headless.

These days, headless machines are more widely appreciated thanks to devices like the Raspberry Pi and the aforementioned Mac Mini creating a context for them. It’s not a bad thing to not always have a screen attached.

Deal Watch

» A lot of mini PCs you find on Amazon are white-labeled, and mostly the same other than a logo. If you’re less interested in support it can be a decent way to save a little money. One example in that subgenre is this Ryzen 8845HS from Getorli, which is selling for $539 with a coupon.

» Times are hard, and storage ain’t cheap. But one way to get a somewhat reasonable deal on storage might be to buy a professionally refurbished 2.5-inch hard drive on eBay. If you have a SATA port in your mini PC, you might be able to get up to 5TB of storage in it, though just a heads-up that you might need to figure out how much clearance you have, as larger laptop hard drives tend to be taller than comparable SSDs.

» In the market for an Oculink adapter for your eGPU? Minisforum has one [for $259](https://enstore.pxf.io/OY0DPW)—a $50 discount from its normal price. (Bonus feature: It also has an additional slot for an NVMe drive.)

Mini PCs in History

Nobody asked for a finger lickin’ good mini PC … but we got one

Generally, when we talk about “white-labeling” in terms of computers, we often mean standard generic designs that have another label pasted on the top. They didn’t design it, they just manage it.

But in 2020, a much weirder kind of white-labeling emerged, and it made for a hell of a stunt. KFC, the fast food company best known for fried chicken, decided to team with Cooler Master on a bucket-shaped mini PC called the KFConsole.

The device was a bit large (after all, they had to make room for the chicken warming space, which is literally part of the company’s cooling system), but it is technically a mini PC. See, enabling this was the Intel NUC 9, a variant of the Intel mini PC that was essentially a computer on a PCIe card. That unique format made it perfect for this particular device, which was more for show than your average computer.

Helping with the initiative, per Tom’s Hardware, was Tim “Timpelay” Malmborg, a high-level pro modder who was part of the Cooler Master team. The fun part, per Malmborg, was that people thought it was fake … but it wasn’t.

“It’s been so much fun reading articles and comments from hardware media reporting about this KFC console video stating that this is a complete troll triggering Xbox and PlayStation,” he told the outlet. “Meanwhile, we were actually building it in the shadows.”

The KFConsole came out right around the time that the Xbox Series consoles and the PlayStation 5 appeared, and it was essentially an elaborate joke. But it might have just predicted the future of console gaming in its own weird way. Console-like mini PCs were only starting to gain ground when the gimmick first emerged, and since then, we’ve gotten Steam Machines and all sorts of other TV-focused consoles. Honestly, I’m all for it.

OK, that’s it for this edition of Boxed News. Hope you didn’t lose your head while reading it. Got any tips for us, anything we should be covering? Shoot me an email at ernie@tedium.co! Thanks!