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VIA launches $49 Android PC

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Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#61

Post by angusgr »

rogerbinns wrote: post #21

You should always be wary if any binary blobs are required (often the case with video drivers). They will limit what you can do in terms of upgrading the kernel and hence the rest of the OS. Sadly VIA have a history of not quite getting this whole "open" thing: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=via_o...

You're entirely right, but Wondermedia/VIA actually have a moderately good history with their GPL source for ARM system-on-a-chips.

Although most end vendors of devices using the WM8xxx line of chips are GPL violators (direct-from-China business models where noone cares), Wondermedia themselves have been supplying GPL source via Harald Welte of Gpl-Violations (formerly also employed by VIA):

http://ftp.gpl-devices.org/pub/vendors/Wondermedia/

100% blob-free to my knowledge. Unfortunately they haven't released anything for the WM87xx series (apc.io) yet, but these devices are brand new so here's hoping.

If you're interested you can dig up some more details, and the follow from-scratch open kernel development efforts, at

http://groups.google.com/group/vt8500-wm8505-linux-kernel/

(What I -really- hope they release is publicly available datasheets.)

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#62

Post by angusgr »

ajross wrote: post #10
cryptoz wrote: post #7

> Android 2.3 OS sigh . ICS has been out for 6 months now. It's tragic that companies are shipping an ancient 2-year-old OS with their computers.

It's more complicated than that, though. You can't just download ICS and drop it on the board. There are drivers to port and middleware integration to do. Someone has to do that. Google did it for OMAP4 (the Galaxy Nexus), but that's it. This isn't an OMAP4 board, and $50 a unit doesn't pay for a lot of software integration work. This is where the ARM ecosystem tends to fall down. The PC World is built on compatibili…

I agree with your comment entirely (esp. the PC/ARM bit.)

Also, the WM8750 is an ARM11 not a Cortex A8 or better, so it's a good bit slower than most phones running ICS. I don't think its GPU credentials are cutting edge either.

So in terms of raw hardware specs it'll come in alongside the flagship phones released with Android 1.6 and 2.1. ICS may not be a good candidate even if/when the development is done.

(Which is insane given that it's still objectively powerful hardware, but even more powerful hardware breeds equivalently consuming software.)

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#63

Post by nl »

icefox wrote: post #29
mark-r wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also has HDMI. They should have dropped the VGA and saved a buck.

On the flip side I can pick up a VGA monitor off the curb (i.e. free) while the cheapest HDMI monitor is still expensive.

the cheapest HDMI monitor is still expensive

Everyone has different levels for what "expensive" means. You can get new HDMI monitors for well under $150, and new DVI monitors for well under $100, and DVIHDMI adaptors are under $10.

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#65

Post by angusgr »

Alongside the obvious comparisons to Raspberry Pi, it's worth looking at Allwinner A10 based devices like the Mele A1000: http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000...

Same price bracket, faster Cortex A8 based processor, and (most importantly) marketed as "hackable" with available source & tech docs, and a community working on porting other OSes to it.

Even if you don't want to hack on it yourself, this means you're more likely to find interesting uses and software updates for it down the line.

IMHO these are the aspects VIA should be aiming to compete on as well, so it's not stuck with a crummy vendorware version of Android.

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#66

Post by angusgr »

haberman wrote: post #39

I just want an ARM box that I can run headless in my closet and keep on all the time to use as a build bot. First I bought a SheevaPlug ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheevaPlug ) but that fried itself before long. Next I bought an Efika MX Smarttop ( https://www.genesi-usa.com/store/details/11 ), which works ok, but doesn't always boot reliably (I boot it headless most of the time, so can never get to the bottom of…

I bought an Android set-top-box, the Flexiview FV-1, ($120ish, 1Ghz Cortex A8) at the end of last year and got Debian running on it.

http://projectgus.com/tag/fv-1/

I haven't run one 24/7 for more than a week or two though, so I don't really know how good it would be as a server.

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#67

Post by ChuckMcM »

angusgr wrote: post #65

Alongside the obvious comparisons to Raspberry Pi, it's worth looking at Allwinner A10 based devices like the Mele A1000: http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... Same price bracket, faster Cortex A8 based processor, and (most importantly) marketed as "hackable" with available source & tech docs, and a community working on porting other OSes to it. Even if you don't want to hack on it yourself,…

Bad link try this: http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/

Other than that, its an interesting box too although it looks like it is harder to get one's hands on it.

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#68

Post by anthonyb »

iRobot wrote: post #47
mjb wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as simple as a web browser says more about the inefficiencies inherent in current operating systems and programming methods than they do about the hardware. No. This is simply not true, at least at the extreme you are suggesting. What I have open on my quad-core 8GB RAM desktop right now: two Eclipse sessions; One emacs server, with about 20 client windows; Firefox, with 30+ tabs; 20 or so console sessions; five PD…

http://www.menuetos.net/

Now go read the hardware compatibility list: http://www.menuetos.net/hwc.txt. It only apparently supports 4 network cards, 2 audio cards and a handful of video cards, and all of them are very old tech.

It's essentially a niche operating system, and isn't going to do 1/10th of the stuff that one written with "bloatware" is going to be capable of. I mean, look at what it has for a browser: http://www.menuetos.net/098b3.png

Re: VIA launches $49 Android PC

#70

Post by angusgr »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #67
angusgr wrote: post #65

Alongside the obvious comparisons to Raspberry Pi, it's worth looking at Allwinner A10 based devices like the Mele A1000: http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000... Same price bracket, faster Cortex A8 based processor, and (most importantly) marketed as "hackable" with available source & tech docs, and a community working on porting other OSes to it. Even if you don't want to hack on it yourself,…

Bad link try this: http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/ Other than that, its an interesting box too although it looks like it is harder to get one's hands on it.

Thanks, fixed typo in the other link.

The Melee boards are available to ship now from Aliexpress vendors, so you'd have it in your hands sooner than the apc.io (July predicted ship date) or the Pi (still filling backorders.)

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