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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

#61

Post by grannyg00se »

icambron wrote: post #50
justincormack wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original one does not get noticeably hot. I think there is some thermal dissipation in the case, like a chunk of heatsink.

Happy to be wrong about this, but I wouldn't think that thermal dissipation in the case would make the case less hot. Where does the heat go?

If the whole case is sinking heat, that's a relatively decent amount of surface area to dissipate it. If the heat was a problem it would be pretty simple to add additional surface area. The fact that they have not done so would suggest to me that the heat situation is just fine.

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

#62

Post by IgorPartola »

Just learned about these today. The nice thing about the Is that they have crypto instructions on the chip and outperform the Raspberry Pi 40 to 1 when using OpenSSL (at least according to benchmarks). With the price point cheaper than the RPi (comes with a case, flash, etc.) these may have just won me over.

See http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=38411&p=39...

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

#63

Post by rwg »

IgorPartola wrote: post #62

Just learned about these today. The nice thing about the Is that they have crypto instructions on the chip and outperform the Raspberry Pi 40 to 1 when using OpenSSL (at least according to benchmarks). With the price point cheaper than the RPi (comes with a case, flash, etc.) these may have just won me over. See http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=38411&p=39...

Looks like there's a (power gated!) hardware random number generator, too. It uses ring oscillators, so it's not going to pump out hundreds of megabytes per second like RdRand, but it's enough to at least throw a few kilobits of randomish data into Linux's random device at boot time before turning off to save power.

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

#64

Post by voltagex_ »

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!

I can get 350mbit-ish out of the Dreamplug - do you know of any small devices with two Ethernet ports that can do better? I'm looking to upgrade.

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

#65

Post by voltagex_ »

angusgr wrote: post #26

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…

Don't Freescale have a bad reputation for not being particularly open?

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

#66

Post by voltagex_ »

DannyBee wrote: post #53
ajtaylor wrote: post #51

Will something like this run OpenELEC? There is a Raspberry Pi build for ARM, but the download page [1] says it's specific to the RP. I saw things like the Xtreamer Ultra but it's way out of my budget. Up to a couple hundred dollars is acceptable, but I don't need a full mini-PC. Low power and quiet is far more important to me than say a core i5 CPU. [1] http://www.openelec.tv/index.php/get-openelec/download

They run something like openelec (IE XBMC based). Geexbox is usually what supports these things. I use a mini-pc (a little asus eeepc box with a "who cares" intel cpu in it and a nvidia gt620m running openelec). The reason is actually simple: A lot of the embedded processors are much more finicky in terms of hardware decode. I used to run geexbox on a TI OMAP4460, and it worked wonderfully, right until you hit a trac…

I've gone with the WDTV series for my media needs - the earlier gens were very hackable but they've turned on codesigning in the latest WDTV Live Media hub range. They're not bad and play everything I throw at them (Sigmatek decoders, afaicr)

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

#67

Post by voltagex_ »

RamiK wrote: post #33
nodata wrote: post #25

Something with pure dual gigabit ethernet please! (not over usb)

CompuLab's Utilite Standard has that: http://utilite-computer.com/web/utilite-models

I had a FitPC!

Do these have the same problem as the other Freescale and Marvel Armada based boards that the GigE is hanging off USB2?

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

#69

Post by voltagex_ »

joezydeco wrote: post #23
ollybee wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 w…

What I struggle to find is whether we're finally seeing USB3, or GigE that can go faster than 350mbit.
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