Official Gladys starter kit launch! 🚀

News
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Small question. I’m wondering whether using Ubuntu Server is the right choice for a long-term installation. Ubuntu LTS releases have 5 years of support; after that you have to pay or move to another Ubuntu release. It’s not a trivial update and it’s not without risk either.

One solution might be to use an OS with continuous updates, automatic updates and possible rollback (atomic). I’m thinking of CoreOS and NixOS. As a bonus, it would be for Gladys to manage the reboot to apply updates as well as the rollback if something goes wrong.

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Hi @ArMour85, good question!

I should note that Ubuntu already applies security updates automatically thanks to the package unattended-upgrades, installed by default.

For my part, in Gladys, I favor the most widespread and proven solutions to avoid obscure or hard-to-diagnose problems.

I looked into CoreOS some time ago: the promise is nice, but for our use it’s really over-engineering. Besides, CoreOS was abandoned after being acquired by Red Hat, and what’s left of it today is rather unclear


Ubuntu is very solid: it has existed for a long time, it’s widely used, and it’s not going to disappear anytime soon.

The only Linux distribution that could compete in our case would be Debian, but it’s ultimately very close to Ubuntu Server.

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I agree that Ubuntu is a distribution but a bit heavy for the way we use it. The only downside is having to manually upgrade the OS from one LTS version to another.

I was referring more to Fedora CoreOS, which is an integral part of Fedora. I ran tests; it works well but I’m blocked by Gladys’ deployment of Docker because « /var/lib/gladysassistant Â» is used as the storage area. It’s hard-coded in the Node-RED code, for example. Being able to change the storage location when creating the Docker container would be convenient.

I plan to create a new post specifically about this issue.

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Yes, it’s a workaround that could work, but if we can change that value with an environment variable it would be cleaner.

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Hello everyone,

These past few days, I took the time to dig deep into the issue of reselling mini-PCs with Gladys pre-installed.

And I came across a reality I couldn’t ignore: when you import electronic hardware yourself from China (AliExpress, etc.), French law makes Gladys Assistant SAS the principal liable party in the event of a major problem.

In short: if a mini-PC catches fire, the customer’s home insurance would almost always go after the French seller (Gladys Assistant SAS), not the Chinese manufacturer. And the compensation can quickly reach several hundred thousand euros.

Even with professional liability insurance (RC Pro), I don’t have multi-million coverage like Amazon, Fnac or large resellers. These insurances are expensive and it’s simply not profitable to insure me for such large risks just to sell a few mini-PCs per month.

One major claim = end of the Gladys project.

I obviously don’t want to take that risk! :smiley:

The solution I chose (and that lets me sleep at night)

→ I will only sell mini-PCs purchased through a reseller based in France or Europe (Amazon.fr, LDLC, Materiel.net, etc.).

In that case, the European seller is considered the importer and bears most of the risk. Gladys remains just « the one who installs the software Â», and that’s largely covered by my current insurance.

The mini-PCs remain the same.

What this changes concretely

Unfortunately, I could only find the Beelink T5 at €99 via AliExpress; on Amazon France it’s €185
 I think for now I won’t be able to continue offering it because at that price it’s not competitive compared to a Beelink S12 at the same price :sweat_smile:

As for the Beelink S12 and S13, they’re available on Amazon France and I will continue to offer them.

Unfortunately I had made a small stock of 5 Beelink T5 units that I planned to sell on Black Friday, but I’ll have to find a way to clear them out, then I’ll permanently stop buying mini-PCs via AliExpress.

If you have any ideas/feedback, don’t hesitate!

Thanks for your understanding :slight_smile:

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I don’t have any more ideas to offer you, but it seems much wiser to end the import adventure here! :folded_hands:

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We are on the eve of Black Friday and no discounts in sight for Beelink

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I’ll make offers on Gladys’ side in any case :innocent:

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Hello everyone :waving_hand:

Quick note to let you know that the starter kit store will be closed for the holidays, from Wednesday, December 10 to Friday, January 2 :blush:

I’m intentionally closing a bit early to have time to process all orders during the week of December 15.

:package: Hardware info:

The Beelink S12 is currently at a good price. In my opinion, it won’t last long given the sharp rise in RAM prices.

From what I’m reading everywhere, the price peak should arrive around June 2026, so if you were planning to get one, it’s probably the right time: prices aren’t expected to fall in the next 6 months (unfortunately!).

:backhand_index_pointing_right: To order, go here:

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For an entry-level solution there’s BMax as well.

It’s more than sufficient in terms of power.

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I’m curious to know whether the price will remain at this level in the long term, but yes, if anyone wants a starter kit based on this BMAX, I can do custom ones too :+1:

However, for €30 more (€190 on Amazon), the Beelink S12 seems more interesting to me: it carries an Intel N95 (2023), noticeably more powerful than an N5095 (2021):

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And most importantly: I have no experience with the BMAX brand.

By contrast, Beelink has always given me excellent results, I get very good feedback from users, and all my tutorials are based on their machines.

But hey, if someone wants BMAX or even NiPoGi, I can do custom installations!

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With your link it’s €229 for me. How are you doing that — is that before tax?

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There is a 17% coupon under the price :slight_smile:

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@pierre-gilles Do you have any trusted sellers on AliExpress? I’m not familiar with this site and I find it really a mess. Thanks

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Ah, that’s not cool. So I got a good deal then? Just have to make sure it doesn’t catch fire, but there should be little risk.

In any case, everything’s working well for now. I wish you all the best for next year.

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The starter kit with Gladys pre-installed is back in the online store!

If you ever want to start on Gladys with a mini-PC other than the two offered, I’m open to doing « custom Â» installations. Send me a message with an Amazon link to the mini-PC you want, and I’ll gladly do the installation for you :wink:

No, I didn’t use AliExpress, so I don’t really have any feedback to give.

You got a really great deal, and your mini-PC was bought through a European reseller — I did not use AliExpress. So no risk :slight_smile:

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The price of PCs has exploded with the increase in RAM. While looking for a small PC for work, I came across this model.

€170 for a PC of this size with 12GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, passive cooling so no noise and a very small form factor is very interesting.

Then the question I ask myself is: will a kit buyer use it for something else, like converting it into a NAS or adding other services? I think the answer is no — otherwise they’d be able to do it themselves and buy a PC themselves. So the next question is whether so much power is necessary. I’m curious to know the RAM and CPU consumption required in a large Gladys installation (Node-RED, Zigbee2MQTT, lots of sensors). That would allow sizing the hardware needs more precisely and perhaps finding cheaper machines.

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Yes, indeed — with a little searching you can still find some references to affordable prices.

For example, on Amazon you can find an N95 model with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD for €189 with no shipping costs.

The big question for me, however, remains the following: will these prices remain stable over time?

For my part, I try to offer my clients as consistent an experience as possible. If I change brands every week, I have no guarantee about the actual quality of the hardware I recommend.

Conversely, I personally have two Beelink units running at home for over two years without any issues, and I also know, via the forum, that many users have had them for a long time with very positive feedback.

Starting to recommend lesser-known brands is taking the risk of a degraded user experience, negative feedback, and potentially extra support, which can be costly for the project.

Finally, I also have the impression that we still see some low prices because some brands still have “pre-November” stock. In my opinion, we will gradually move toward a generalized increase in prices across the entire market.

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Yes, I hadn’t thought of that but you’re right.

Maybe it would be better to focus on integration into NAS solutions like you already do for Synology and Unraid. It might be a better approach rather than dealing with the hardware, which is much more demanding.