Steam Link Beta now Available for Raspberry Pi 3 / 3B+

Raspberry Pi 3 Steam Link

Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation for purchasing and playing video games that was first launched in 2003 for Windows computer only. Since then Mac OS (2010), Linux / Ubuntu, as well as mobile devices running Android & iOS (2012) have been supported in Steam. Mobile could only be used to browse the storefront, manage games, and access the community. However more recently, the company released Steam Link app that allows players to stream games to their mobile devices, while being rendering on more powerful machines.  The good news is that Steam Link (beta) has now been released for Raspberry Pi 3 / 3B + boards. All you need is either board running Raspbian Stretch, and install Steam Link as follows:

Once the app is installed launch it in the command line with steamlink, or launch it from the Games menu in the desktop environment. Steam […]

An Attempt to Benchmark Entry-level x86 Boards against RK3399 & Exynos Arm Boards

Arm vs Intel C-Ray

Some Arm boards have become quite powerful, while hardware based on low power Intel processor has generally become cheaper with both architectures somewhat converging in terms of performance and price. Piotr Maliński got interested and purchased some low cost (<$150) Intel hardware to compare to mid-range Arm boards, throwing a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ into the mix as well for comparison. Those are the Intel test boards / computers: Qotom motherboard with Intel Atom Z3735F Bay Trail processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB flash – $74 + shipping on Aliexpress Piesia nano ITX board with Intel Celeron N2806 Bay Trail processor, DDR3 SO-DIMM socket, SATA / mSATA interfaces – Piotr found it for around $85 on Aliexpress, but the price now jumped to over $150 plus shipping, which does not make it very attractive Generic thin mini ITX motherboard based on Celeron N3160 “Braswell” processor, DDR3 SO-DIMM socket, SATA / mSATA interfaces. $62.68 […]

Diskio Pi 13.3″ DIY Tablet Kit for Raspberry Pi – Take 2 on Kickstarter

Diskio Pi with ODROID-C2 Board

Diskio Pi was a DIY tablet kit for Raspberry Pi, ODROID-C2/XU4 and other compatible boards with a 13.3″ Full HD display that launched last year on Kickstarter. But the project failed likely due to the high costs (350 Euros and up for early bird pledges without battery nor SBC) and an elevated funding target of 400,000 Euros. But the team did not give up, worked on reducing costs, improved the design, and recently relaunched Diskio Pi on Kickstarter with a more achievable 52,096 Euros target, and reasonable pricing with rewards starting at 189 Euros including VAT. Diskio Pi “basic” DIY tablet kit content and main specifications: Display – Innolux 13.3″ TFT/IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution, WLED backlight + 10-point touch capacitive panel connected over USB 2.0 Video control board with HDMI 1.4 to eDP converter, stereo amplifier, and 2x 1W speakers Daughter board with Genesys USB hub, 9V to 5V/4A […]

Compact Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ Launched for $25

Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+

The Raspberry Pi 3 B+ is likely the most popular maker board available today at $35, but it just got a little brother – Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ – that should also enjoy good popularity with a $25 price tag. The new model features the same BCM2837B0 quad core processor @ 1.4 GHz, and dual band WIFI connectivity, just in a smaller form factor. Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837B0 64-bit ARMv8 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4GHz with dual core VideoCore IV GPU System Memory – 512MB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 and 4-pole stereo audio and composite video port Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.2 LE (via Cypress CYW43455 based module) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB port for power Expansion 40-pin GPIO header MIPI DSI for Raspberry […]

The First 802.11ax WiFI 6 Routers are Now Shipping for $350 and Up

Netgear RAX80 WiFi 6 Router

802.11ax WiFi, to be known as WiFi 6 for consumer, promises a much higher throughput up to 10 Gbps, and a better ability to manage high density scenario (i.e.). crowded places where may users connect at the same time. ASUS announced several 802.11ax routers at CES 2018, and the entry-level model – ASUS RT-AX88U – with a combined maximum throughput of 6000 Mbps (referred to as AX6000) is now sold on Amazon for $349.99. NETGEAR has also unveiled their own WiFi 6 routers with respectively Nighthawk AX80 (RAX80) and Nighthawk AX120 (RAX120) routers. I’ve already covered ASUS routers in a previous post, and the 12-stream RAX120 will only become available in Q1 2019, so I’ll focus on the spaceship looking 8-stream RAX80 router since it’s available now. RAX80 WiFi 6 router specifications: SoC –  Broadcom BCM49408 quad core Cortex-A53 processor @  1.8GHz with network packet co-processor @ 800 MHz WiFi […]

Linux 4.19 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

Linux 4.19 Changelog

With Linus Torvalds taking a leave from the Linux kernel project, Greg Kroah-Hartman was the one to release Linux 4.19 last Sunday: Hi everyone! It’s been a long strange journey for this kernel release… While it was not the largest kernel release every by number of commits, it was larger than the last 3 releases, which is a non-trivial thing to do. After the original -rc1 bumps, things settled down on the code side and it looks like stuff came nicely together to make a solid kernel for everyone to use for a while. And given that this is going to be one of the “Long Term” kernels I end up maintaining for a few years, that’s good news for everyone. A small trickle of good bugfixes came in this week, showing that waiting an extra week was a wise choice. However odds are that linux-next is just bursting so […]

Linux 4.18 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architecture

Linux Changelog 4.18

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 4.18: One week late(r) and here we are – 4.18 is out there. It was a very calm week, and arguably I could just have released on schedule last week, but we did have some minor updates. Mostly networking, but some vfs race fixes (mentioned in the rc8 announment as “pending”) and a couple of driver fixes (scsi, networking, i2c). Some other minor random things (arm crypto fix, parisc memory ordering fix). Shortlog appended for the (few) details. Some of these I was almost ready to just delay to until the next merge window, but they were marked for stable anyway, so it would just have caused more backporting. The vfs fixes are for old races that  are really hard to hit (which is obviously why they are old and weren’t noticed earlier). Some of them _have_ been seen in real […]

Raspberry Pi 3 based Retro Arcade Game Console Sells for under $250

Raspberry Pi 3 Arcade Game Console

When it comes to retro-gaming for the Raspberry Pi 3 board, there’s no lack of option with firmware like RetroPie or Lakka,  a few off-the-self accessories like USB or Bluetooth gamepad, a an HDMI monitor, you can get started in no time. However, if you want to make a retro arcade game console, it may take some more efforts, as you’d normally have have to design the case yourself, source the buttons and controls, the display, extra electronics and so on. But the “DIY classic retro arcade game console” based on Raspberry Pi 3 board currently sold on Banggood for $247.99 should make things much easier, as it’s supposed to be plug and play, while still offering the option to add or remove games, and mess around with the hardware if you wish to. Banggood did not provide the full technical details, but here’s what we know about the specifications: […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC