For Sale: Dell Wyse 3040 x86 Thin Clients with pre-installed Volumio for 50€!

Audiophile Bazaar
39

Hello everyone.

It was just three weeks ago I read about the “bundle” of Gé / @gkkpch: a small, pre-owned, thin-client equipped with Volumio 3. And yesterday I’m done verifying and setting up a bunch of Wyse 3040 I got from him, with two shipping. Of these units, one is for me, the other ones for some friends of mine.

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All the units I received are just perfect: no scratch, no stain, no dust and so are the power suppliers. The packages were safely assembled and Volumio 3 was correctly pre-installed.
The Wyse 3040 is a very cute, small, all square, mini-pc. Including the feet, is 3x10x10 cm (HxWxD). It just fit into your hand. Its appearence is of a robust, high industrialized and optimized product.

Being the only, between my friends, to know someting (just a little) about Volumio (I own a Pi3, running Volumio 2, and a Pi4, running Volumio 3) I was in charge of buying, QC and customize each of the unit for the final owner.
TBH, nothing I really had to do other than choosing the italian language of the UI, the correct DAC to play with and correctly inputing the net share as music source.

Ah, well, beside that, I had to check compatibility with the accessories we need:

  • wifi dongle
  • display port to hdmi adapter
  • remote

You’ll find details about these pieces of hardware on the end of this report.

About the remote
After experimenting remotes with diodes you need to connect to the bus, I found a simpler solution with the “Air Mouse” types. A remote like that provides out-of-box, plug&play, functions of play/stop & track skip togheter volume control for Rasperry. With a Wsye 3040, you can enjoy a safe ON/OFF functions, too, with just a simple bios setting. More again, since the air mouse communicates with the unit wirelessly via its own USB dongle, you can drive the unit through the wall of another room. This is the perfect solution for me, since I have to hide my wyse, the dac and the amplifier, inside a furniture of my living room.

Generally speaking, compared to my Pi4 4GB, I have to report a (little) faster execution of Wyse, but on top of that I’m happy I’m done hassling with the goddam Pi4’s fan (I had to change 3 different cases, to stop listening to its wizzzzz). But be aware, even the Wyse produces (just a little) of heat, so I think it’s better to leave with some room all around it.

And, btw, I compared the boot time of my Pi4 vs my Wyse. Strange enough, wyse was a bit faster: pi4 was 1’30’’ / 1’40’’, wyse 1’10’’ / 1’20’’, both to show the Volumio 3 screen on the connected TV.

Complainings? just a couple, minor ones. First, the on/off button has a very dimmed light and it is placed on top, so you can’t tell if the unit is on, looking at it’s front. Then, its a pity not having the WIFI on-bord. Not because of the ridicoulus cost of the dongle, but just because you have to waste a precious USB port, out of four. Well, nothing that could stopping me buying it again if I should need more.

Ok, no more useful to say, but to thanks Gé, with all of my heart, because of the great opportunity he gave me and my friends to get a great working and real affordable product and for the expertise and patience he helped me via PM on some hassles I had because of my clumsyness.

It’s a real pity that Gé is not able to supply on regular basis more of these little appliances. They could be a great starting point for new Volumio users, as long as an arrival point for experienced ones.

Giovanni

Here is the list of “certified” add-ons accessories, the ones that Gé, my friends and me, had chance to test on our Wyse 3040s: