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Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

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Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#91

Post by hendry »

peterhadlaw wrote: post #25
jsmeaton wrote: post #22

What I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.

Raspberry PI has pretty much what you're looking for. I one set up exactly for this purpose.

Currently the Broadcom GL driver and Webkit2 do not play well together. http://dabase.com/blog/Webkit_on_Rpi2/

I got burnt by this.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#93

Post by astannard »

jsmeaton wrote: post #22

What I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.

Check out the Remix Mini

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#94

Post by caractacus »

hyperpallium wrote: post #68

More specs at anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromeb... Its Mali T764 GPU seems more powerful than an xbox360: the T760 has 326 GFLOPS; xbox360 xenos GPU has about 240 GFLOPS. Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 makes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) These PC sticks have been around for years... I wonder if the killer a…

They're already hugely popular in China where a lot of the use is streaming tv and movies, via both legal and illegal means (the boundaries blur a lot over there anyway). I bought an Android-based stick from Alibaba a few years ago that plugged into HDMI and worked fantastically. Computing power and abilities have come on tremendously since so I can imagine how well this would work for high quality video.

The portability of computing continues. Take anywhere, do anything.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#95

Post by netcan »

Lowering prices and adding form factors is great, but for me, I kind of wish they the chrome project had started immediately after rather than before the smartphone revolution. I think they got locked into "The Web is Enough." Smartphones reminded us that apps matter too.

Chrombooks sell well, apparently, but I rarely see them in the world.

I just think it's past time for a new desktop OS. Windows is not a great option for most home users. OSX's job is to sell a premium apple product. I wish there was an android of laptops and I think chrome OS would be doing it if not for the bad timing.

It might also be the a solution for TV.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#96

Post by netcan »

monochromatic wrote: post #9

I'm trying to figure out what in the world people are going to use these for. Single-app kiosk? Sure, but that's gotta be a tiny market. TV streaming box? Maybe, but it's not clear to me that it really offers anything I care about that isn't already done by Chromecast/Roku. I dunno. It's kind of a cool idea, but it feels like a solution in search of a problem.

If you already have a keyboard, monitor and mouse or can get them cheap you get a cheap Chrome PC.

I suppose that's a market. Google isn't Apple. Not every product is an attempt at a revolution.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#97

Post by datashaman »

jsmeaton wrote: post #35
peterhadlaw wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raspberry PI has pretty much what you're looking for. I one set up exactly for this purpose.

I've been thinking about a raspberry pi for this purpose but I'd prefer something already packaged up (even if it was a pi underneath).

http://www.xbian.org/

XBian is a small, fast and lightweight media center distribution for the Raspberry Pi, CuBox-i, Hummingboard and many more devices to come. It is based on a minimal Debian and therefore offers much of the same freedom as Debian offers.

Very simple to install and get running.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#98

Post by rplnt »

caractacus wrote: post #94
hyperpallium wrote: post #68

More specs at anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromeb... Its Mali T764 GPU seems more powerful than an xbox360: the T760 has 326 GFLOPS; xbox360 xenos GPU has about 240 GFLOPS. Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 makes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) These PC sticks have been around for years... I wonder if the killer a…

They're already hugely popular in China where a lot of the use is streaming tv and movies, via both legal and illegal means (the boundaries blur a lot over there anyway). I bought an Android-based stick from Alibaba a few years ago that plugged into HDMI and worked fantastically. Computing power and abilities have come on tremendously since so I can imagine how well this would work for high quality video. The portabi…

Yet TVs still ship with crappy and slow interfaces for some reason.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#99

Post by yoavm »

jsmeaton wrote: post #22

What I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.

The Raspberry Pi 2 is a great candidate for that. I'm running OpenELEC and it streams IPTV, music from a NAS server I have at home, links from my phone - and the performances are fine.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#100

Post by Rubu »

jra101 wrote: post #73
hyperpallium wrote: post #68

More specs at anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromeb... Its Mali T764 GPU seems more powerful than an xbox360: the T760 has 326 GFLOPS; xbox360 xenos GPU has about 240 GFLOPS. Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 makes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) These PC sticks have been around for years... I wonder if the killer a…

326 GFLOPS is with 16 GPU cores. Most likely it has 4 GPU cores which would be ~82 GFLOPS @ 600 MHz.

Yeah, I think so too. There's a list [0] over here with common mobile GPU specs which states the same (actually denotes T764 as an alternate name for T760 MP4). Not sure what his/her source is though so take it with a grain of salt.

[0] http://kyokojap.myweb.hinet.net/gpu_gflops/

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