mini pc News - Page 123 of 138 - CNX Software

July 25, 2013July 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Google Unveils $35 Chromecast HDMI TV Stick

For over a year now, we’ve seen many Android HDMI TV Sticks (which I often call mini PCs), a few Linux ones, but Google has just announced its own stick based on a strip down version of Chrome OS. It’s not as versatile as others as it only streams video and music, but it make sharing media easy, and is controlled via your Android or iOS mobile device, or your Windows PC or Mac via Chrome web browser. The connection is just the same as other HDMI dongles. Connect it to the HDMI port of your TV, power it via USB, and setup Wi-Fi. When I first saw the demonstration, I was disappointed as it just seemed like you could do the same thing with a DLNA dongle, but it’s actually quite different. First, Chromekey only works with online services such as YouTube, Netflix, Google Play Movie & TV and […]

July 19, 2013July 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

A Preliminary XBMC Image is now Available for Wandboard, GK802

Yesterday, Stephan Rafin left a message on Wandboard mailing list saying he had released a preliminary (Linux) XBMC image that can run on Wandboard Quad development board. GPU and VPU acceleration work, but this is still work in progress, so if you want something that just works, this is not for you. But if you just want to give it a try, it should work on any hardware based on Freescale i.MX6, such as Wandboard Dual or GK802 mini PC, with some minor modifications. If you’ve got a Wandboard Quad board, the installation is straightforward from a Linux machine: Download the SD card image Decompress it with xz or 7x:

 7z x wand.bin.xz

1	7z x wand.bin.xz

Dump the resulting to a 2GB or greater microSD card:

dd if=wand.bin of=/dev/sdx bs=4M

1	dd if=wand.bin of=/dev/sdx bs=4M

Where /dev/sdx is the sdcard device (e.g. /dev/sdc). You can check with lsblk command. If you’ve got a machine running Windows only, you can use Win32DiskImager for step […]

July 16, 2013July 16, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Risun D05 is an Android TV Stick Powered by Rockchip RK3068 SoC

I’ve just discovered another dual core Rockchip SoC called RK3068, but it may not be new, as I can find some references as far back as September 2012. Amazingly, I can’t seem to find any announcement, and details are scarce. Very few products feature this chipset, but Risun D05, an Android mini PC, is one of them, so let’s have a closer look. Risun D05 specifications based on Alibaba listing: SoC- Rockchip RK3068 dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.6 GHz with dual core Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND Flash, with option for 8GB or 16GB, + micro SD card slot (Up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 male Video Codecs – MPEG 1, MPEG-2, MPEG 4,H.263, H.264, AVS, VC 1, RV, VP6 VP8, Sorenson Spark, MVC 1920x1080P 60FPS. Video Encoder – H.264,VP8,MVC(1080P) Audio Formats – MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, […]

July 12, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Reko QT800 mini PC Based on AllWinner A20 Comes with Dual Band 300Mbps Wi-Fi (Maybe)

In an HDMI TV stick market now dominated by Rockchip RK3066 and RK3188 based devices, Reko QT800 is one of the rare AllWinner A20 mini PCs. It comes with 1 GB RAM, 4 to 8 GB flash, as well as dual band Wi-Fi (2.4/5.0Ghz) that is said to support up a Wi-Fi connection up to 300Mbps. Reko QT800 Specifications: SoC – Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 @ 1.5GHz (yeah, right… 1GHz is more like it) with Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 to 8 GB Nand Flash + micro SD slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4/5.0 GHz – 300 Mbps) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 (1080p) USB – 1x micro USB OTG port, 1x micro USB port for power, and 1x USB 2.0 Host port Button – Recovery button Dimensions – 106*33*14mm Weight – 34g The devices runs Google […]

July 11, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Firmware Update for CS868 mini PC Version 2.06 (Android 4.1.1)

If you’ve got a Rockchip RK3188 mini PC, there’s usually no issue with finding firmware updates, or even custom ROMs. But if you’ve bought an AllWinner A31 mini PC, such as CS868, you may feel everybody dropped the ball, as the system is not stable, and it seemed there would never be any upgrade. I’ve recently been made aware that there’s some activity on a Chinese bulletin board, and a new firmware is available for CS868: V2.06-4.1.1-20130610. As the name implied, the firmware is based on Android 4.1.1, and has been release on the 10th of June 2013. Here’s the Changelog against V2.05: Add video color brightness, contrast and saturation settings Output to HDMI output by default Other systems optimization and the Changelog against V2.04 (22nd of May): Reduce DDR frequency to improve system stability. Fixed potential sound failure. Optimize USB OTG interface to fix issues with Air mice. Increase […]

July 11, 2013July 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Control your DSLR Camera via Wi-Fi using an Android mini PC and a Tablet

DSLR Controller is a paid Android app (beta) that uses your Canon EOS DSLR camera USB port in order to control it and access the camera live view with a tablet or smartphone. That may be useful, but it’s much better if you can roam a bit, and are not limited by the USB cable length. That’s why the application has been improved some time ago in order to use 2 Android devices, usually smartphones or tablets. One device is connected via USB to the DSLR camera, and act as a Wi-Fi access point, and the other device connects via Wi-Fi to allow full control of the camera. However, you don’t really need a screen on a Wi-Fi access point, so instead of using mobile devices, the developers decided to use an Android mini PC, specifically CX-919, which is just one of the many RK3188 mini PC available today, coupled […]

July 10, 2013July 10, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Hacking MK908 mini PC for Serial Console Access

Thanks to Omegamoon (and this brother) we already have instructions to connect the UART pins on MK808 in order to access the serial console. He’s done it again with MK908 mini PC featuring Rockchip RK3188. Tx and Rx pads are located on the RAM chips side, and he has connected the green wire to Tx (Going to Rx on TTL debug board), and a yellow wire to Rx (Tx on debug TTL board). A ground pad is available on the other side of the board. Since I got a sample for review from Geekbuying, I decided to give a try myself. The pad are quite small, so this may require patience, but it’s perfectly feasible. I wanted to keep the device closed, so I passed the wires through the ventilation holes (enlarging them a bit with a precision screwdriver), put back the main heatsink on RK3188, and reassembled the enclosure. […]

June 27, 2013June 27, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

MINIX MINI HD PC Based on Intel Atom D2550 Sells for $119

MINIX MINI HD PC is a barebone x86 computer without RAM or hard disk that has been announced last year, and it has just come to my attention that the system sells for just $119 on Geekbuying (excluding shipping), so once you add (up to 4GB) DDR3 RAM, and a SATA hard drive, you may have a basic x86 Linux or Windows system for about $200. MINIX MINI HD PC specifications: CPU – Intel dual-core (4 threads) D2550 processor @ 1.86GHz Chipset – Intel NM10 GPU – Intel GMA 3600 Series System Memory – 2x 1.5V DDR3 @ 800/1066MHz SO-DIMM sockets supporting up to 4GB of system memory (GeekBuying reports that “8GB (4GB x 2) memory is supported unofficially, stability will not be guaranteed by Intel”) BIOS – 1 x 16Mbit flash with AMI BIOS. Supports Plug & Play, Advanced Power Management ACPI, STR, CPU temperature, Fan speed, System Voltage […]