Initial Impressions running Linux
I’ve tested the BOX-255H with a few Linux distributions including Manjaro, Ubuntu 25.04 and Kubuntu 25.04. The hardware works sweetly under Linux. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 6, and all the ports work without any tweaking needed.
Under Manjaro I did initially have an issue with the output resolution. Using the latest GNOME ISO and after updates, the machine only wanted to output 800×600 resolution over HDMI. That was running kernel 6.6.991.
Upgrading to either 6.15.7-1 or the experimental 6.16.0rc6-1 solved this issue. Fortunately Manjaro has an excellent GUI tool which makes installing different kernels a breeze.
With the other operating systems I’ve tested on the machine, screen resolution was not an issue; each monitor’s highest resolution worked out of the box. I’ll need to investigate why the issue appears to be Manjaro specific, and test a few other Arch-based distributions.
On the next page, I’ll interrogate the system using the inxi utility.
Next page: Page 3 – Interrogation of the System
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction and Design
Page 2 – Initial Impressions running Linux
Page 3 – Interrogation of the System
Complete list of articles in this series:
| ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-255H | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction to the series and interrogation of the NUC BOX-255H |
| Benchmarks | Benchmarking the NUC BOX-255H |
| Power | Testing and comparing the power consumption |
| Stable Diffusion | Deep Learning with Stable Diffusion |
| Audacity AI Plugins | Let's explore OpenVINO AI Plugins for Audacity |
| 3 Types of Cores | P-cores, E-cores and low power E-cores performance |
| GIMP AI Plugins | Stable Diffusion, Super Resolution, Semantic Segmentation |
| Ubuntu | Upgrading from Ubuntu 25.04 to Ubuntu 25.10 |
| Image Upscaling Tools | A survey of upscaling tools |
| Noise | Comparing the machine's noise with other mini PCs |
Is the machine quiet enough for a bedroom at night?
Yes. It does run extremely quietly under no load. And the BIOS options give you real flexibility when configuring fan speed. You can set the first trip point so the fan doesn’t come on at all until a certain temperature is reached.
The machine is perfect for someone who wants to leave the machine on and not be disturbed at all during the night.
Many mini PCs don’t offer this flexibility. Their fan can always be on whatever the CPU temperature (and room temperature). And remember that in mini PCs, the fan is small in size. Generally speaking a big fan can run quieter than a small fan. Some budget mini PC’s have really annoying fan noise even when the machine is idle. That can happen even if the machine has a CPU with a very low TDP (e.g. N100 with its 6W TDP).