Kimdecent announced it started to sell MK809 II mini PC with Rockchip RK3066, 1GB RAM, 8GB Flash and built-in Bluetooth. This HDMI TV dongle is very similar to Rikomagic MK802 IIIs in terms of specs, and I’ve been told the user interface is also nearly identical.
Here are the specs of the device:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3066 Dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked @ up to 1.6 GHz with Mali-400MP4 Quad-core GPU,
- System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM
- Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot (Up to 32 GB)
- Connectivity:
- Wifi – 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 2.1
- 3G support via external 3G USB dongle
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 Host, 2x micro USB Host
- Video Output – HDMI
- Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, Divx, Xvid, RM8/9/10, VP6
- Video Containers – MKV, TS, TP, M2TS, RM/RMVB, BD-ISO, AVI, MPG, VOB, DAT, ASF, TRP, FLV etc full formats
- Audio Codecs – DTS, AC3, LPCM, FLAC, HE-AAC
- Power – 90-230V, 50/60Hz input, Output: 5V/2A
- Dimensions – 11 x 3.2 x 1 cm
- Weight – 32g
The package includes the power supply, a USB cable, and a user manual in English. This is basically the same specifications as UG007, except MK809 II has one extra micro USB port. The device also features a software power button missing in many devices.
Even though some developers are working to port Ubuntu to Rockchip RK3066 devices, don’t expect to be able to do too much with Linux, as GPU and hardware video acceleration won’t be ported to Linux due to a complete lack of open source (and even binary) drivers. It would still possible to use it as a small Linux server however.
MK809 II can be purchased on Aliexpress for $56 on Kimdecent store, but other Aliexpress sellers also offer it at various prices. You can also get it for $5 less with “mainagame5” coupon.
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 reviews full time later in 2011.
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What are the chances of a multicore Arm processor supporting Linux, including GPU, hardware graphics acceleration etc coming out soon? :s
it is already here, under the name of Odroid by hardkernel.
@j1nx
AFAIK, Odroid boards (Exynos 4) have no GPU accel in Linux yet, but it’s coming.
Hardware video decoding is limited to H.264 to limit costs, and I think it’s not implemented in Linux yet. It’s also true that platform might be powerful enough to handle video decoding by software, but in that case power consumption increases a lot.
Origen boards (Exynos 4 dual and quad) might also work, but I don’t know the status.
@onebir
Apart from Exynos boards, TI OMAP 4 boards (e.g. Pandaboard) should also properly support Linux, and Freescale i.MX6 boards as well in Ubuntu 11.10.
Actually, I find it hard to follow which boards are working, since it seems to break regularly (cf. Linaro) as the kernel is updated, but the graphics drivers can’t always be as SoC manufacturers must update the code, but don’t.
@cnxsoft
Yes you are right, but I have good hopes they sort it all out. People couls also take a look at the cotton-candy. It also has the same SoC I believe, maybe they are so expensive because they paid for all the licenses and such!