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Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

linuxgizmos.com

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Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#21

Post by brokenparser »

bdcravens wrote: post #6

Operating system — ships with optional Android 4.2.2 microSD card; supports Android and Linux Pedantic, I know, but title sounds like you get a device that dual-boots into Android and Linux. By "optional", I presume that means at added cost. By "supports", I think that means you're on your own as to distro (though I suspect a device-specific distro would come out in short order). The $45 version only ships with 512mb…

No, it would be pedantic to point out that Android uses a Linux kernel. So it really says "supports Linux and Linux", good to know it supports Linux besides supporting Linux. Don't even think of running anything other than Linux!

Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#22

Post by x0054 »

friism wrote: post #17
x0054 wrote: post #12

I think MK808 is a much better deal at the same price.

No SATA though...

That's true, the IO performance is nothing to write home about. But the CPU / GPU is really good. The only Linux I got working on it is Kali Linux. But Ubuntu is also available. I think a SOC with dual SATA for raid would be really cool for a small server.

Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#23

Post by joezydeco »

ollybee wrote: post #13
dlhavema wrote: post #10

a new one of these little computer in a box things seem to be popping up every couple weeks, are they selling that well to warrant so many companies making so many varieties?

Is there a good website for keeping track of these ARM SoC PC's ? I'd like to see at a glance what is currently available and detailed spec of the chipsets.

The OP's site, http://linuxgizmos.com, is pretty good for that kind of thing. The blog to be called Linux Devices but got idled in some kind of Ziff-Davis acquisition. The editor has restarted it at this new address.

Unfortnately there isn't a central chart tracking each of these chip families and their capabilities. You're better off targeting a processor core (MIPS or ARM), speed/core quantity, and then deciding what kind of spice you want added to the mix (USB, UARTs galore, LCD controller, HDMI, Ethernet PHY, etc.)

Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#24

Post by joezydeco »

aray wrote: post #5

Feature set is similar to the (non-enclosed) Sabre Lite development platform for the Freescale iMX6 processors: http://www.element14.com/community/community/knode/single-bo... What strikes me is that this is similar, but $130 (as opposed to $180 for the iMX6 Quad dev board).

Knocking off a ton of connectors and cutting the PCB size down will do that. The Element14/Boundary board has a lot more signal lines broken out to connectors, as a good development board should.

Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#26

Post by angusgr »

Freescale i.MX6 is a really nice platform. Shame it hasn't gotten broader traction, I think because it is moderately more expensive than its competition.

Since May I've been using an imx6 based gk802 ($70 quad core "Android TV" stick) as a personal server (email, RSS, VPN, etc.) Has worked really nicely considering. (Blog post about installing debian on it: http://projectgus.com/2013/05/debian-installer-for-zealz-gk8... )

Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#27

Post by Someone »

Anybody know or dare to guess how warm this thing gets? All I could find is that it needs a 5V@2A power supply, but it doesn't tell how much of that is overprovisioned for e.g. powering USB devices. If most of that is converted to heat inside that box, I guess it gets hot (that's 10W in a package slightly larger than an eighth of the volume and a quarter of the area of a light bulb)

Re: Tiny $45 cubic mini-PC runs Android and Linux

#29

Post by makomk »

X-Istence wrote: post #15

The downside is that the ethernet controller is run over USB. This is what kills performance drastically on the raspberry pi as well. USB is simply not a good protocol to run high speed network traffic over with low latency. The protocol is extremely chatty!

Are you sure about that? The block diagram shows an Ethernet PHY connected directly to the SoC, and it appears the i.MX6 has a built-in Ethernet controller.
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