<div dir="ltr">Here's another website where they specialize in the devices they've gotten Linux working on: <a href="https://www.miniand.com/">https://www.miniand.com/</a> I've personally put Linaro Ubuntu on the Hackberry and the GK802. I've got an Mk808B but haven't had a chance to work on getting a Linux distro working on it.<div>
<br></div><div style>Here's a blog posting from the person who I followed to get Ubuntu working on the GK802: <a href="http://jas-hacks.blogspot.ca/2013/05/imx6-gk802-xubuntu-1204.html">http://jas-hacks.blogspot.ca/2013/05/imx6-gk802-xubuntu-1204.html</a></div>
<div style><br></div><div style>I haven't tried any video acceleration stuff as I don't need it for the application I'm using them for, but some of the devices do have drivers for it. Jas says he's gotten it working on the Gk802.</div>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 12:32 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org" target="_blank">hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">| From: Evan Leibovitch <<a href="mailto:evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg@public.gmane.org">evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg@public.gmane.org</a>><br>
<div class="im"><br>
| OK, you've convinced me. I wanna get a Raspberry Pi. Maybe more than one.<br>
| Probably to play around with, but maybe ultimately as a home theatre client<br>
| running Rasplex.<br>
<br>
</div>I think that they are great toys, and a bargain. If you want a<br>
"production" HTPC, you might be ahead with something that is less DIY.<br>
It depends on how you value several dimensions: openness, community,<br>
price, required effort, perfection.<br>
<br>
In the worst case, you'll learn a lot from the RP, even if you end up<br>
wanting something else.<br>
<br>
One neat feature of the RP: CEC support. That means it can control<br>
your devices over HDMI.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
| Now ... about procurement...<br>
|<br>
| The two sites that are the direct sellers -- Newark and Allied -- both<br>
| appear to make you create an account before they'll tell you shipping<br>
| costs. What are they? Is one suppier clearly better than the other? Is<br>
| there any clear advantage to multiple people pooling into one order?<br>
<br>
</div>I've bought a few from Newark. They charged me $8 shipping and were<br>
very very quick. Slight hickups:<br>
<br>
- they've advertised free shipping a couple of times but in the fine<br>
print exclude shipping to Canada. Once was on their Canadian web<br>
page; another in email to me, even though they have my location.<br>
Grr.<br>
<br>
- once I ordered two RPs and two power supplies. They were backordered<br>
on the RPs so they made it two shipments, charging me twice for<br>
shipping. Apparently I missed the tick box to request that everything<br>
to be shipped in one shipment.<br>
<br>
Their phone people are not like mass-market CSRs. That's good.<br>
<br>
Their power supplies are $7.00 (including the cable). You could hunt them<br>
down for less.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
| And finally ... what are people doing for cases?<br>
<br>
</div>I've cut a few cases at Hacklab. Scott is the expert. Paul Wouters<br>
really helped me. The blank plexiglas came from Plastic World, in<br>
your neck of the woods. Slightly tricky: get the right thickness (my<br>
first attempt used slightly too thick stock that I had already; the<br>
result was cracking as I forced the bits together).<br>
<br>
The cases from Newark are probably fine. Just less in the DIY spirit.<br>
<br>
| From: Nicholas <<a href="mailto:nicholas-D2Whf1L5i00@public.gmane.org">nicholas-D2Whf1L5i00@public.gmane.org</a>><br>
<div class="im"><br>
| Which reminds me -- you'll want an SD card. I got a high speed Phillips<br>
| 16GB SD card from Fortune Computers (also at College & Spadina) for $10.<br>
| It does a pretty good job.<br>
<br>
</div>I've heard that Sandisk SDs do better than (most?) others because of<br>
their superior performance on short writes. I've not verified this.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
| From: John Martin <<a href="mailto:martjh-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org">martjh-Re5JQEeQqe8@public.gmane.orgm</a>><br>
<div class="im"><br>
| I bought mine from Newark. If I remember, the cost with tax and<br>
| shipping was $53.11 so the shipping would have been $12. I think it<br>
| was Purolator.<br>
<br>
</div>Maybe my $8 charges were sale prices, but that's what I've paid each<br>
time, as far as I recollect. I think that that is a minimum charge<br>
and would increase when the mass reaches a certain threshold.<br>
<br>
Hmm... from their FAQ:<br>
<<a href="http://canada.newark.com/help-delivery-information" target="_blank">http://canada.newark.com/help-delivery-information</a>><br>
<br>
Standard delivery<br>
<br>
We use Canada UPS for next day delivery to all major cities in Canada.<br>
Please add additional days for remote locations. All deliveries will be<br>
shipped UPS at a shipping cost of $8.00 CDN per parcel up to 50 lbs.<br>
Shipments greater than 50 lbs will ship ground with the cost based on the<br>
actual weight.<br>
<br>
| From: Stewart C. Russell <<a href="mailto:scruss-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org">scruss@gmail.com</a>><br>
<div class="im"><br>
| • HDMI cable — cheap ones (~$5 from College St or Active Surplus) are<br>
| fine. Sayal might be $6-8. If you want to buy a Monster cable, can I<br>
| also interest you in this lovely beach-front timeshare just outside<br>
| Phoenix, AZ …?<br>
<br>
</div>Short ones are even cheaper from Dollarama.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
| • powered USB hub — optional, but the Raspberry Pi has very little<br>
| protection on its USB ports, and hot-plugging something has a good<br>
| chance of resetting or hanging the board.<br>
<br>
</div>Will a powered hub prevent that? I've only once tried hotplugging on<br>
the RP, and it wasn't successful. Apparently a well-known bug.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
| > And finally ... what are people doing for cases?<br>
|<br>
| I think the Allied (or whoever's aligned with RS [Radio Spares]) ship<br>
| it in a small plastic box that can be used as a case — it has cutouts<br>
| for ports, and most importantly, the SD card is fully enclosed.<br>
<br>
</div>Neat!<br>
<br>
Scott (I think) recommended Newark and I've stuck with them.<br>
<br>
| From: Tim Tisdall <<a href="mailto:tisdall-DXT9u3ndKiSh7up9GtFB90EOCMrvLtNR@public.gmane.org">tisdall-DXT9u3ndKiSh7up9GtFB90EOCMrvLtNR@public.gmane.org</a>><br>
<div class="im"><br>
| Might I suggest something like this:<br>
| <a href="http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MK808B-Dual-Core-Android-4-1-Jelly-Bean-TV-BOX-RK3066-Cortex-A9-1GB-RAM-8GB-ROM-Mini-PC-TV-Box---Black-313213.html" target="_blank">http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MK808B-Dual-Core-Android-4-1-Jelly-Bean-TV-BOX-RK3066-Cortex-A9-1GB-RAM-8GB-ROM-Mini-PC-TV-Box---Black-313213.html</a><br>
|<br>
| There's a ton of these small stick-like machines out there that primarily<br>
| run Android, but there are Linux builds for them as well. This one is a<br>
| dual-core processor. There's also some quad-core processors out there now.<br>
| This one has built in wifi and bluetooth.<br>
<br>
</div>Those are intriguing. I've not tried them. Not as much of a culture<br>
of open-source hacking.<br>
<br>
These have much more CPU horsepower than the RP. Doubly so for the<br>
quad core ones. And more RAM -- most have 1G but the quad core ones<br>
have 2G.<br>
<br>
I think that the RP's video is more powerful (but less open, oddly<br>
enough).<br>
<br>
They might have better I/O bandwidth that the RP. In the RP, All SD,<br>
USB, and ethernet goes through a single internal USB 2.0 port, which<br>
sure sounds like a bottleneck. I don't know the topology of these<br>
sticks.<br>
<br>
These sticks are specialized for HTPC so might be better for that<br>
purpose.<br>
<br>
Is there a reasonable ordinary linux distro for these?<br>
Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch/...? Most of the activity appears to be<br>
custom permutations of Android, key parts of which are binary-only.<br>
<br>
The Geekbuying link you gave is for US$44, a very attractive price.<br>
They have quad cores for twice that price too.</blockquote></div><br></div>