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Proposals to improve the computer devices and tutorials classification

Hello iFixit team,

Computer form factors and computer usage evolves with time.

So I would like to suggest an improvement in order to enhance the classifications of some computer-related devices in iFixit.

I noticed there are some repair tutorials related to servers (the kind of computers used by companies (e.g. : to host websites)). Servers are computers, but different from simple desktop computers as form factors and component differs and they are designed to be always powered on.

I also noticed iFixit has some guides related to nano computers and there are some devices page and repair tutorials that can be classified in this category (nano computers are also called small form-factor computers (the SFF acronym or MiniPC or nano-ordinateur can be used to refer to nanocomputers in France)). This kind of computer can be used in a lot of different ways, they can be used as headless servers, they can be used in embedded computing projects (when modified to be powered by batteries), they can also be used as a very small desktop computer (e.g. : intel NUC).

So I suggest creating two device pages (as categories) in order to improve classification of this specific kind of computer :

  • One page for nano computers (nano-ordinateur) (device page called "Nano-computer")
  • One page for Servers (device page called "Server")

The device categories are related to this category :

Do you agree with this idea ?

I created one of the 2 categories mentioned above as an example :

If you agree :

  • I will create the "Server" category
  • Then I will be able to classify devices and tutorials related to these new categories (ex : intel NUC, raspberry pi, some server-related tutorials).

Thanks for reading :)

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Thanks for the ideas @es_six! I'll take these suggestions to our team and get back to you after we discuss. It'll take about a week to get to all the folks who need to be involved but I'll get back to you!

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Thank you @amber :)

I added links to my first message as it seems I used an acronym that is misleading, because when used as an anglicism in French it designates something else than SFF in English. In my message I used the acronym SFF to designate "nano-ordinateur" devices like Intel NUC, Raspberry PI, BeagleBoard, etc. that are very small computers not intended to be "portable" devices (so they have no integrated screen and are not powered by a battery ).

Here is the SFF French Wikipedia page :

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_PC

Here is the SFF English Wikipedia page :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_form...

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@es_six Thank you for your suggestions! As you mentioned, I moved the server category under PC—you can find it here now. I also moved the server-related pages.

As for the nanocomputers category—yes, please create an English device page here. Once you create the device page, please fill it out in English. Once you're done, you can select "translate" at the top right corner and input the French translation. Here's a quick link for the French device page you've written.

I realize this is a very strange, English-centered way of doing things, but unfortunately the iFixit website infrastructure is set up like that for now. Creating an English device page first helps keep the pages organized for us. Thanks for understanding!

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@arthurshi , thank you :) @es_six , I hope this helps.

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@arthurshi, thank you, I will begin to create the new page soon, don't worry I understand why iFixit website works like this, it's not a problem, english is the international language after all :)

I will request the old page deletion once the new page is written.

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@es_six , I appreciate your patience with this. I had to reach out to several other departments in order to get more comprehensive information.

As it stands, those departments are currently working on this. We're trying to do more research to be sure we have the best terms for people, so as not to exclude anyone/device.

We are open to you starting your own device page for the servers (and any other device you are writing about), but we ask that you write the device page in English, so that it can be easily accessible for translation into the other languages that we support.

What do you think?

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The mac pros (servers) should be there then :-)

I think its a good Idea

Nice thinking @krisrodriguez

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@beanman56, thank you :) All credit to @es_six and @arthurshi

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To an extent, I disagree with you on the SFF (full ATX board in a half height case, often using TFX or nonstandard power supplies)/USFF (HP Pro/EliteDesk USFF, OptiPlex USFF, ThinkCentre Tiny)/Intel NUC being separate devices. They are indeed different classes on paper, but they tend to be very similar to a "normal" desktop as well. Most of these are older and probably come from the recycling bin, or an ITAD as business surplus, if it isn't scrap from the government (GovDeals, GovPlanet, etc). Most of the time they're either sold finished (using the BIOS key, for legal reasons UNLESS it's had a 10 upgrade from the 8.x era) if the SSD/HD is intact but are usually more commonly available with the original drives stripped from the units (and you're on your own installing the OS). I'm voting on a hybrid approach (Ex: EliteDesk 800 G5 MT, EliteDesk 800 G5 USFF), and considering the NUC a USFF PC (Ex: Intel NUC, USFF) as a dedicated device page.

The issue isn't classification -- we can make the pages. The problem is someone has to find a machine to do it, and that probably means it needs an SSD, so the only people willing to do it will be working on making these are (sometimes, not always) a little reserved about mentioning a series of device especially if they're vested in keeping the prices down. Not everyone is this way, but even I'm a little bit secretive about how I pull certain deals off I did at such an insane price, I'm not blowing future chances to repeat it. HOWEVER, I only do it when I really took the majority to the cleaners, like getting a sought after SLR for cheap because I knew how to search and had parts on hand to make it happen. Joe average isn't going to get an EliteDesk 800 GX USFF on eBay and go through the trouble to fit an SSD and reload Windows. Or deal with BS from the government on a GovDeals machine, like breaking HP SureRecover with Windows Enterprise and installing their own SSD.

It's like how I run my Ethernet network on managed switches from HPE/Aruba (Aruba is a HPE subsidiary, both are usually Layer 2+ or 3 but they sell Layer 0 OfficeConnect switches), Netgear or TP-Link (usually Layer 2/2+). Are the managed versions of the switches (when available from HPE, as well as the cheaper versions of Netgear/TP-Link) similar to the unmanaged (Layer 0) switch? Yes, but the management puts them into a different class of device as the user needs to know how to configure things like VLANs and QoS. The reason I consider them to be a different class of device from a Layer 0 (forwarding) switch for example is the user assumes some responsibility in managing the switch, where a Layer 0 switch is zero configuration. A lot of it is still automatic, but I can do things like make separate ethernet groups with a shared port used for internet access -- simply isn't possible on a "Layer 0 (dumb)" switch.

Example: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Dell_Inspi...

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Dell_Optip...

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Interesting, I was not seeing this from this perspective.

Sorry the the loonnng message to become, but it's not an easy subject.

Part 1 :

To make sure we understood each other, here my perspective of the nanocomputers.

By definition, a nanocomputer refers to a computer smaller than a microcomputer, which is smaller than a minicomputer.

Example of a mini computer :

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...

An example of a microcomputer :

https://fr.ifixit.com/Device/Dell_Inspir...

An example of a nanocomputer :

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...

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Part 2:

From here, there are different types of reasoning :

- All computers based on the ATX, standards (that was made for microcomputers) is a microcomputer (including computers based on nano-ITX boards or smaller). (So there are no nanocomputers at all from this point of view.)

OR

- Every computer that is small enough cannot be a microcomputer, so it's a nanocomputer if it wasn't intended to be portable machine (with an integrated screen and a battery).

Perhaps the fact I used the "SFF" acronym is misleading, I did not realize that SFF was misleading as it seems event in the Wikipedia pages, the French and the English versions doesn't have the same point of view at all about this acronym.

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Part 3:

From my perspective :

The nanocomputer category is intended to classify all the computers that are smaller than microcomputers, and is not intended to be portable machine.

Here is an example, to explain my point of view :

- Every computer board form factor that is nano ITX or less is a nano computer if it wasn't intended to be portable machine (officially).

- Every single non-standard board (like credit card size board) that are less or equal to nano ITX form factor is a nano computer if it wasn't intended to be portable machine (officially).

Note : Smalls portable computers (computer powered by batteries) are not nanocomputers (as two categories already exist for this : the Netbook and the Laptop categories).

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Part 4 :

Let's apply this reasoning to some less conventional devices :

- Intel NUC

1) Its size is small enough to be eligible for the nanocomputer categories

2) It's not intended to be laptops as it doesn't have an integrated screen and a battery.

So Intel NUCs are nanocomputers

Let's try another device :

- Raspberry PI

1) Its size is small enough to be eligible for the nanocomputer category

2) It's not intended to be laptops (officially) as it doesn't have an integrated screen and a battery.

So Raspberry PIs are nanocomputers

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Part 5 :

Let's try a more complicated device :

- GPD Win Max v3 : https://fr.ifixit.com/Device/GPD_Win_Max...

1) It's a very small gaming portable computer, so by definition, so it cannot be in the netbook category as it's expensive and for its size it can be considered as "powerful" as it can run AAA games, that some laptops cannot run correctly.

2) From this point of view, if we consider the "portable" aspect of this device, it's a laptop despite its small size as nanocomputers represents small computers that are not intended to be laptops (as they have a PSU, standard or not, with no batteries).

So GPD Win Max v3 is a laptop (yes, a very small laptop) as it's the best matching category for this device for now.

Another one :

- GPD MicroPC

1) It's not expensive

2) It's not intended for gaming

3) It's portable

So : GPD MicroPC is a Netbook.

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@krisrodriguez ,

Ok thank you for reviewing my proposals,

Good news, after further investigation, it seems a server page already exists (and it contains a very interesting guide ^^):

- https://fr.ifixit.com/Device/Servers

I think we must keep the existing server page in order to preserve iFixit original content.

Perhaps we could move it in the parent PC category (in the PC category because servers are PC but not desktop computers) ?

- https://fr.ifixit.com/Device/PC

I didn't notice the server page the first time as it is currently in the following path :

PC >Desktop PC > Desktop Computer > Servers

It's only a proposal, if you think it's better to not do it, I will understand.

If I made the proposal of a server page, it's because mainstream computers are not servers, servers are PC but with no screen and designed to be always powered on, they also have a compact form factor (in order to store the server in dedicated server bays).

To me, servers are not desktop computers, servers are company-oriented computers (ex : for data centers, or small companies that manage internally platform hosting herself (it is less common nowadays)).

The following tutorials are eligible to be classified in a server page.

Currently 2 devices and a total of 4 tutorials for the server category:

- https://fr.ifixit.com/Tutoriel/Remplacem...

- https://fr.ifixit.com/Tutoriel/Remplacem...

- https://fr.ifixit.com/Device/Old_Bomgar_...

- https://fr.ifixit.com/Tutoriel/D%C3%A9mo...

Should I request to move the server page to the root category for PC ?

So it will be at the following path :

PC > Servers

Then, should I request to move all specified server-related tutorials in the server category ?

Then I will translate the existing server page.

And for nanocomputers, should I write a new page in english ?

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@arthurshi @krisrodriguez ,

I created the Nanocomputers page in english then created the french version of the page by translating the english version of the page.

The page is here : https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Nanocomput...

So I deleted the old one to avoid leaving unfinished pages lying around.

I set the new page category to "PC".

When the Nanocomputers page will be validated, we will be able to move the existing nanocomputer devices into it.

Here is the following eligible devices :

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Now, it seems the new page is validated, that was fast.

Should I move the specified devices in the nanocomputers category?

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Looks good! Yes, go ahead and recategorize the devices under nanocomputer. We may shuffle them slightly in the future as needed.

Thank you for your work!!

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Thank you, I will begin to move the device pages mentionned above.

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@arthurshi , thank you :) @es_six , glad this worked out.

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@krisrodriguez and

@arthurshi category change requested for all mentioned device pages. Once they are approved or refused, I will mark this conversation as solved.

Thank you for reviewing my proposal :)

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Brendan will be eternally grateful.