mini pc

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Zero Devices Z902 Android mini PC based on AllWinner A10

Zero Devices Z902 Android mini PC based on AllWinner A10

Zero Devices will soon announce a new AllWinner A10 mini PC called Z902 which is similar to the upcoming Rikomagic MK802 II, with 3 USB ports (1 full size USB, 2 micro USB ports), a full HDMI male port, 1GB RAM and 4GB Flash. I’ve received two somewhat blurry pictures of the PCB. as well as preliminary specifications. Model ZERO Devices Z902 OS Android 4.0 CPU Allwinner A10/ 1GHz Cortex-A8 Memory 1 GB Storage 4 GB Graphical processor 2D/3D/OpenGL ES2.0/OpenVG1.1 Network Wireless 802.11b/g/n Expanded Memory micro SD card slot (Up to 32GB) IO/Ports 2x micro USB; 1x USB 2.0; 1x HDMI (Up to 2160p); Audio AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A Video WMV/ASF/MP4/3GP/3G2M4V/AVI/MJPEG/RV10/DivX/VC-1/MPEG-2/ MPEG-4/H.263/H.264 Power Input 5V – Powered by the USB port Dimensions 9.7 x 2.8 x 1.2cm Total weight 200 grams The device is supposed to come with a micro USB to USB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 46 Comments on $40 CX-01 mini PC Unboxing and Review

$40 CX-01 mini PC Unboxing and Review

I’ve just received the CX-01 Mini Android PC I ordered 3 weeks ago on Pandawill website using Togetho.ru group buy coupon and paid $41.89 as I selected “Singapore Post” shipping option. Today, I’ll post some unboxing pictures and provide a review of this tiny and cheap device. I received the device in the box below. The device characteristics are listed on the back on the package. Telechips TCC8925 does not support 1 GHz (max 833 MHz), and I’m unable to play some of the video container format listed, but more on that later. You’ll just find the TV Stick and a microUSB to USB cable to power the device in the package. Now let’s connect it to the TV. The device can plug neatly into on the HDMI port of my HDTV (Samsung LA328450), and it’s powered by the TV’s “USB service” port. $40 is a low price to turn a […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments on Building the Linux Kernel 3.0.8 For Telechips TCC8925 mini PCs (CX-01, Z900, TizzBird N1…)

Building the Linux Kernel 3.0.8 For Telechips TCC8925 mini PCs (CX-01, Z900, TizzBird N1…)

Yesterday, we got Linux kernel 3.0.8 source code from Telechips, as well as some files related to Android 4.0 (Webkit + OMX). Today, I’ve had a look at the kernel source code and found a few very interesting things. First let’s get the code from github:

Good news! The code for the latest Telechips TCC892X is present in arch/arm/mach-tcc892x, and there is support for 3 types of boards: board-m805_892x – TCC8923 M805 board board-tcc8920 – TCC8920 evaluation board board-tcc8920st – TCC8920 STB evaluation board TCC8920 STB evaluation board appears to be relevant to products such as Diyomate A6, but if it’s also used for TCC8925 HDMI Dongle such as CX-01 mini PC, Zero Devices Z900 or ValuePlus TizzBird N1. Now let’s have a look at the default config directory for arm (arch/arm/configs):

Nice! tcc8925st_dongle_defconfig and tcc8925st_donglehs_defconfig look particularly interesting! A quick comparison shows that the only difference is […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on iPPea TV Android 4.0.3 HDMI Stick Based on Ingenic JZ4770 (MIPS) Sells for 50 USD

iPPea TV Android 4.0.3 HDMI Stick Based on Ingenic JZ4770 (MIPS) Sells for 50 USD

iPPea Inc announced iPPea TV, an Android 4.0 dongle based on Ingenic JZ4770 MIPS SoC that “brings the ‘smart’ Android experience to any HDMI-enabled DTV for $50 US”. This is the first MIPS based Android mini PC that I’ve seem among all the ARM based floating around. Here are iPPea TV specifications: Ingenic JZ4770 applications processor (MIPS-Based XBurst CPU)  @ 1.2 GHz. 2GB storage with support for up to 32 GB external storage via a microSD slot. 512 MB of DDR2 RAM HDMI ouput (up to 1080p) 802.11b/g/n Wifi USB 2.0 port and micro USB 2.0 OTG port Video format – AVI,MKV(XVID/px/H.264),MOV,TS,M2TS, RM/RMVB,FLV,3GP,MPEG,DAT,MP4 Audio format – AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A Picture format –  GIF, BMP, JPEG, PNG Ebook format: PDF,EPUB,HTML,TXT Dimensions – PCB: 80 mm x 20mm x 6.5 mm | mini PC: As small as 95.5 mm x 31.5 mm x 12 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments on 72.90 USD AK802 Android Mini PC with AllWinner A10 and 1GB RAM

72.90 USD AK802 Android Mini PC with AllWinner A10 and 1GB RAM

No, it’s not a typo in the title, and I did not mean to write “MK802”, but a company (which does not appear to be Rikomagic) released a product called AK802 which looks very similar (not to say exactly) the same, but comes with 1GB by default. Here are the specifications of the device partially taken from Dealextreme, so there must be an error somewhere, we just need to find out where ;). CPU AllWinner A10 @ 1.5GHz + Mali 400 GPU Memory 1 GB RAM Storage 4 GB Flash microSD slot (Up to 32 GB) Connectivity WiFi 802.11b/g USB micro USB 2.0/OTG port USB 2.0 Host port Video output HDMI (up to 2160p) Video Codecs & Containers WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2M4V, AVI, MJPEG, RV10, DivX/VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264/1280*720P HD 30 fps, 1080P/720*480 D1 30fps Audio Codecs AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on Equiso Smart TV: 69 USD Android mini PC with Wireless Remote

Equiso Smart TV: 69 USD Android mini PC with Wireless Remote

Here’s yet another Android mini PC HDMI Stick. Equiso has started a KickStarter compaign to raise funds to complete development and manufacture the Equiso Smart TV, an Android mini PC based on Telechips TCC8925 Cortex A5 processor. It looks very similar to CX-01 mini PC with Android 4.0 running on a TCC8925 processor, 512 MB RAM and the lack of a microSD card slot. The only hardware differences are that it includes 8GB internal storage (vs 4GB for CX-01), and it features an HDMI 1.4 port (vs 1.3 for others). Here are the specs of the device: Telechips TCC8925 Arm Cortex A5 Processor @ 1GHz + Mali 400 3D Graphics Processor 512 MB DDR3 RAM 802.11 N wireless radio 8 GB Memory Internal (WiFi) 1.4 HDMI Plug n’ Play Interface, 3D, ESD protection, CEC USB 2.0 port microUSB 2.0 port to power the device Dimensions – 80mm x 30mm x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Rikomagic MK802 II Mini PC Will Be Available in September

Rikomagic MK802 II Mini PC Will Be Available in September

Rikomagic announced that they are working on two new versions of the MK802 Android mini PC. The first version (MK802 II) will be based on basically the same hardware (AllWinner A10 SoC), but with a different casing, an HDMI male connector, and 3 USB connectors (2 microUSB and 1 standard USB). They will apparently add some holes to the casing for better ventilation in order to decrease excessive heat. The company also mentioned they are working on a version with a dual core processor without giving further details. If we want to play guessing games, it could be next generation AllWinner dual core Cortex A9 processor (codenamed sun6i), or a low cost dual core Cortex A5 processor such as TCC8925. Source: Rikomagic Forums Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments on List of 39 Low Cost Linux Friendly Boards and Products

List of 39 Low Cost Linux Friendly Boards and Products

Dmitry (omgfire), one of my awesome readers, compiled a great tabular list of Linux friendly boards and products that sells for less than $300 US (usually less than $200). This list includes technical details such as the processor, GPU, memory, NAND flash, connectivity, ports, supported Linux distributions… as well as availability and pricing information. There are currently 39 Linux devices in total. The vast majority are ARM based boards, but he also included 2 x86 products by VIA, but those are relatively pricey ($265 and up). Here’s a summary list with SoCs used, links to blog posts and product pages (if available), as well as price information. Raspberry Pi Model B – Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM11) – Blog post (That’s my first post about the R-Pi last year, and the board is much different now) –  Product page – Price: $35 + shipping Rikomagic MK802 – Allwiner A10 (Cortex A8) –  […]