Hands-on experience with StarFive VisionFive 2 RISC-V SBC using Debian 12

VisionFive 2 Serial Console

StarFive sent me one of their VisionFive 2 RISC-V SBC for evaluation and review. I got the model with dual Gigabit Ethernet and 8GB RAM, and I’ll report my experience with the Debian 12 “bookworm” image. But note that won’t exactly be a review since the board is unreviewable at this time. It’s really for early adopters and there are many issues to solve, and in this post, I’ll report what works and what doesn’t, and some of the challenges I encountered just to install the OS… VisionFive 2 unboxing The board comes in a package that reads “Embrace change, embrace the future”. The bottom side has some useful links and QR codes, and what you’ll want is the GitHub repository with the source code and instructions to build the image from source (Note: Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, or 20.04 x86_64 recommended), as well as the RVspace forum section for the […]

Khadas VIM1S (Amlogic S905Y4) SBC review with Android 11

Khadas VIM1S Android 11 review

We’ve previously tested Ubuntu 22.04 on Khadas VIM1S Amlogic S905Y4 SBC, so we’ll switch to Android 11 in the second part to check out the user experience and benchmark the system under Android. Installing Android 11 on Khadas VIM1S board with OOWOW We’ll basically follow the same procedure as with Ubuntu to flash the Android OS. Press and hold the Function button, press the Reset button, and release the Function button. to enter the OOWOW Wizard, and if an Ethernet cable is not connected, select Network to configure Wi-Fi as the installation process requires downloading an image from Khadas servers. This time, we’ll select the latest Android 11 image namely vim1s-android-11-v221020.raw.img.xz At just 525 MB in size (when compressed), the Android 11 image for Khadas VIM1S board is fairly compact. Installing Android with OOWOW is really easy with the interface downloading and flashing the image to the eMMC flash without […]

Khadas VIM1S review – Ubuntu 22.04 tested on an Amlogic S905Y4 SBC

Khadas VIM1S review

In this review of Khadas VIM1S SBC, we’ll install Ubuntu 22.04, and report our experience testing the performance such as memory speed and eMMC flash performance, and 3D graphics capabilities. Installing Ubuntu 22.04 on Khadas VIM1S Just like Khadas VIM4 and Edge2, the Khadas VIM1S SBC ships with the OOWOW firmware that allows easy installation of operating systems by downloading the images, and flashing them directly to the eMMC flash.  You need just to connect a monitor and a USB keyboard and have an Internet connection through either LAN or Wi-Fi. Let’s start by installing Ubuntu 22.04 on Khadas VIM1S together. If no OS is installed, OOWOW will boot automatically, but if there’s already another OS installed, you can press and hold the Function button, press the Reset button, and release the Function button. After a few seconds, the OOWOW Wizard as shown in the picture below should show up. […]

MeLE PCG02 Pro Review – A Fanless Intel Celeron J4125 / N5105 mini PC with an ultra-compact form factor

MeLE PCG02 Pro review

MeLE has launched a new ‘stick’ mini PC called the PCG02 Pro. It comes in two models featuring either a mobile Gemini Lake Refresh or a Jasper Lake processor. Both models appear physically similar however the memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB ports differ plus only the lower-powered model includes an M.2 NVMe or SATA slot. MeLE kindly sent both models for review and I’ve looked at the performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. MeLE PCG02 Pro hardware overview The MeLE PCG02 Pro physically consists of a 146 x 61 x 20mm (5.75 x 2.40 x 0.79 inches) rectangular plastic case that ‘wraps’ around a plastic inner frame. The outside of the case has a knurled or cross-hatched pattern (engineered to provide high thermal conductivity) and the inner frame has the WiFi antennas glued to it. As passively cooled mini PCs, the first model known as the PCG02 Pro J4125 uses […]

NanoPi R6S Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Teardown, OpenWrt 22.03, and iperf3

NanoPi R6S routing benchmark

NanoPi R6S is a Rockchip RK3588S powered device that can not only work as a router with two 2.5GbE ports, but also as a mini PC with HDMI and USB ports, and an Edge AI computer thanks to the 6 TOPS NPU found in the processor. FriendlyElec has just sent me two samples of the NanoPi R6S for review. Today, I’ll start with an unboxing, a teardown, and install OpenWrt 22.03 to run some iperf3 benchmarks. I’ll try other features with either Debian or Ubuntu Desktop in a few weeks. NanoPi R6S unboxing The router/mini PC ships with 6 rubber feet (3M), and nothing else. The front panel comes with four LEDs for the system and Ethernet ports, a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port, as well as an IR receiver “window” (under the USB 3.0 port). The rear panel includes a USB Type-C port that supports 5V […]

Weibu N10 Review – An OEM Mini PC tested with Ubuntu 22.04, Windows 11

Weibu N10 industrial mini PC

Weibu is a B2B company offering total solutions and OEM/ODM services. Their target clients are computer manufacturers like Acer and Hisense as they don’t sell directly to end users. With their products both the specifications and accessories can be customized according to their customer’s requirements. One of their product lines is mini PCs and they have sent a pre-production sample of their N10 design to showcase their capabilities. In this review, I will look at the various options available for the N10 and briefly look at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Weibu N10 hardware overview The key selling feature of this mini PC is the wide range of ports suitable for commercial/industrial usage together with various options for the processor. The N10 is an actively cooled mini PC and the device is 145 x 128 x 54mm (5.71 x 5.04 x 2.13 inches) large with a metal top that […]

Beelink SEi12 Alder Lake mini PC review with Windows 11, Ubuntu 22.04

Beelink SEI12 Alder Lake Mini PC review

Beelink have launched their first Intel Alder Lake mini PC calling it the SEi12. Featuring a mobile 12th gen Core-i5-1235U processor it is also their first mini PC to incorporate a PCIe4 NVMe slot. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at the performance running both Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04. Beelink SEI12 hardware overview The Beelink SEi12 physically consists of a 126 x 113 x 42mm (4.96 x 4.45 x 1.65 inches) square metal case with a new and innovative waterproof fabric-covered top. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s Alder Lake Core i5-1235U processor which has a thread count of 12 with 2 ‘performance’ cores boosting to 4.40 GHz and 8 ‘efficient’ cores boosting to 3.30 GHz and includes Intel’s Iris Xe Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a data-only Type-C USB 3.1 port, dual USB 3.1 […]

UP 4000 x86 SBC review with Ubuntu 22.04

UP 4000 x86 SBC Ubuntu 22.04 review

The UP 4000 is a credit-card / Raspberry Pi-sized single board computer based on an Intel Apollo Lake processor. AAEON sent me the model with an Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, and a 64GB eMMC flash, and in the first part of the review, I installed Ubuntu 22.04 since the board would initially only boot to the UEFI shell out of the box. I’ve now spent more time with the board, and in this article, I will report my experience with the UP 4000 SBC running Ubuntu 22.04 checking out features, performance, video playback, power consumption, and so on. Ubuntu 22.04 System info Let’s check out some information after I’ve upgraded the system to the latest packages:

Everything looks good with an Intel Atom E3950 processor detected together with 3.68GB RAM and a 56.53GB rootfs EXT-4 partition. UP 4000 features testing There may also be some issues […]

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