Allwinner A80 based Rikomagic MK80 Android TV box, now has a Linux sibling with Rikomagic MK80LE (Linux Edition) running Ubuntu 14.04, and allegedly supports 2D/3D graphics acceleration, and hardware video decoding. Two versions are available MK80LE with 2GB RAM & 16GB Flash, and MK80LE Plus with 4GB RAM & 32GB flash.
The hardware specs are the same as the Android versions (and Tronsmart Draco AW80 Meta / Telos):
- SoC – AllWinner Ultra Core A80 4x Cortex 15 @ 2016 MHz, 4x Cortex A7 @ 1320 MHz big.LITTLE processor with Imagination Technologies PowerVR GC6230 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0, Directx 9.3
- System Memory – 2GB (MK80LE), or 4GB (MK80LE Plus) RAM
- Storage – 16 GB (MK80LE) or 32GB (MK80LE Plus) eMMC, external SATA port (via a USB 2.0 bridge), and micro SD slot up to 64GB
- Video Output – HDMI 1.4 + AV port
- Audio Output – HDMI, AV and optical S/PDIF
- Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with external antenna (AP6335), and Bluetooth 4.0.
- USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 2x USB 2.0 ports.
- Power Supply – 12V/2A
- Dimensions – N/A
The device ships with an HDMI Cable, a SATA cable, a USB Cable, a power adapter, a remote control, and a user’s manual. The company has filmed a video showcasing hardware video decode @ 1080p with VLC (VideoLAN), which appears to work pretty well.
The platform also supports 4K in theory, but I guess it might not be implemented yet in their Ubuntu firmware, or they would have shown the capabilities. I’m not sure Kodi 14 supports hardware acceleration either with this setup, but it’s still good to see it working, at least with VLC.
Both media players can be purchased on CloudSto for respectively for £124.99 (~$184 US) for MK80LE, and £154.99 (~$229) for MK80LE Plus including worldwide shipping by DHL. The Linux versions cost £10 (~$15) more compared to the Android ones, and although you could install Ubuntu yourself, Rikomagic Ubuntu version adds video hardware decoding, and is likely to include Exagear software to let you run x86 applications. However, you might be better off purchasing a low cost Intel Bay Trail-D or Bay Trail-M mini PC instead, as it should support all these features out of the box, and be as powerful if not more.
Via Liliputing
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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