mini pc News - Page 139 of 149 - CNX Software

April 10, 2013April 10, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

$55 AX-14 DLNA, WiDi & Miracast Dongle Works with Android / iOS Devices, and Windows 7/8 PC

Miracast is a new standard allowing you to play videos or mirror your Android device display on a TV via Wi-Fi direct. All you need is a Wi-Fi device that can be connected to the HDMI and USB (for power) ports of your TV, and decode common video codecs. There are not many devices available on the market, but I’ve just found out about AX-14, a Wi-Di and Miracast HDMI adapter that lets you connect your Windows 7 or 8 to your TV via Wi-Di, or your Android / iOS via Miracast. The device also supports DLNA. The hardware specs are said to be as follows: Processor – MIPS24Kc processor (RTD1185PA) @ 500MHz System Memory – 256 MB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 128 MB NAND Flash Video and Audio engine with HW acceleration Video Codecs & Formats – MPEG-1,MPEG-2,MPEG-4 SP/ASP( Xvid), MPEG-4 AVC(H.264), AVS, VP6, Motion JPEG, H.263 , H.264, […]

April 9, 2013May 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

CloudnetGo CR9 RK3188 mini PC Review

The folks at AndroidPC.es have received a preliminary sample of CloudnetGo CR9 HDMI TV dongle powered by Rockchrip RK3188 quad core processor with 2GB RAM and 8GB flash, and posted an unboxing video and a review of the device. That’s the first review of a RK3188 mini PC I’ve ever seen. It’s in Spanish, so let’s provide a summary of their findings in English. Please note that it’s an early sample, so minor hardware changes may occur, and Android 4.1 will be upgraded to 4.2 once it ships later this month. CloudnetGO CR9 Unboxing The package contains the device itself, a 5V/2Apower supply, an extra short HDMI cable, a micro USB to USB cable, a micro USB to USB adapter and a user manual. If you prefer unboxing videos, they uploaded one with background music, no commentary. First Boot and First Impressions Let’s connect the device to the TV HDMI […]

April 5, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Preliminary Ubuntu 12.04 RootFS for GK802/HI802 mini PC

After releasing a pretty good Ubuntu 11.10 image with both VPU and GPU acceleration for Freescale i.MX6 based HDMI dongles last month, Jasbir (aka jas-hacks) has released an Ubuntu 12.04 image with GPU support thanks to the help of Octavio (Yocto Project contributor), and Wi-Fi support. It’s possible to select Unity 2D or Xubuntu desktop, and Chromium and Neverball, a 3D ball game, are part of the image. There’s still more work however, as VPU (Video Processing Unit) support is work in progress, Bluetooth does not work yet, and OpenGL ES test programs such as glmark2-es2 or es2gears do not work properly with Xubuntu, even though they do work fine with Unity 2D. Jasbir uploaded a video showing Neverball 3D game in GK802, and it works pretty good, although the framerate does not seem optimal for now. If you want to give this image a try, install GK802 Ubuntu 11.10 […]

April 3, 2013April 3, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

CX-803 II Android mini PC Features 2GB RAM, an External Antenna

Several mini PCs have been claimed to come with 2GB RAM (e.g. S21H, MK812), but it turned out the sellers simply made a mistake, or possibly lied to sell a few more sticks. To date, the only HDMI TV dongle which you can buy and expect it to really come with 2GB RAM is the PQ Labs iStick A200, but we’ve now got another option with the CX-803 II (aka CX-803B or FX5) powered by Rockchip RK3066 with 2GB RAM, 8GB flash and a short external antenna. If the picture below looks similar, it’s because it’s an upgrade of CX-803 / AVS-TV603 with more RAM, more flash and built-in Bluetooth. Here are CX-803 II specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity: […]

March 28, 2013October 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Droid Stick A2 mini PC Recovery with AMLogic’s Hardware Flash Tool

In some circumstances, for example by installing the wrong firmware or doing something wrong by playing god (as a root user), it’s possible to brick your device. This happened to me with one of my Droid Stick A2 mini PCs based on AMLogic AML8726-MX. I changed some files in /system/etc/permissions directory, lost Wi-Fi access, and even replacing my changes with the backup files would not solve the problem. It also changed some permissions in the system, and it was not possible to restore the firmware the usual way. At the end of last month, dbtablets left a comment with download links to “Amlogic USB Burning tool”, but I only decided to give it a try today, and after some efforts I was successful. Just make sure you only use this method as last resort, i.e. a standard firmware upgrade does not work, and you’re about to throw your device in […]

March 27, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Mini PCs (MK802+, UG802, GK802 & iStick A200) Linux Performance Comparison

Ian MORRISON (linuxium) has tested Linux with several mini PCs powered by different processors. The main point of his tests was to evaluate the performance difference between running Ubuntu 12.04 natively, or in a chroot in Android using tools such as Complete Linux Installer. I previously tried Linux on Android in ODROID-X, and found the applications start time when running from an low-end SD card pretty dismal, and the graphics performance poor. Ian had a different approach, and decided to use a subset of Phoronix Suite benchmarks to compare different hardware / software combination and posted the results in “mini PCs” G+ community. There’s a lot of data, and analyzing the results is not really straightforward without spending some time looking at the data. In this post, I’ll explain how the tests have been conducted, explain the results and try to draw a conclusion. Mini PCs and other Hardware Under […]

March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Ugoos UG007B Rockchip RK3188 mini PC Sells for $74

My very first article about Chinese mini PCs was about Rikomagic MK802, an Android 4.0 HDMI TV dongle with a cortex A8 processor, 512 MB RAM and 4GB flash, and the device was selling for $74 at the time. Ten months later, it appears that for the exact same price you can now buy UG007B, an Android 4.2 mini PC powered by Rockchip RK3188 quad core Cortex A9 processor with 2GB RAM, and 8 GB Flash. Here are UG007 IIB specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 Quad Core ARM Cortex-A9 Processor up to 1.6Ghz + Mali-400MP4 Quad-core GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB Nand Flash + microSD card slot (up to 32GB) Connectivity Wifi – 802.11 b/g/n (MediaTek 5931 in CDT-K25931 module) Bluetooth 3.0 (MediaTek 6622 in CDT-K25931 module) 3G support via external USB dongle USB – 1 x USB 2.0 Host + 2x micro USB host Video […]

March 19, 2013May 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 47 Comments

How to Root Rockchip RK3188 mini PCs

CloudnetGo CR9 was the first Rockchip RK3188 mini PC I had ever seen reported, but since then others apparently based on the same board have started to show up including Tronsmart T428, Rikomagic MK802 IV, as well as Ugoos UG802B, UG007B and MK809 III. We’ll get a lot of choices, but most of time the firmware does not provide root access. I noticed AndroidPC.es published instructions to root those device in Spanish yesterday, but today, Geekbuying rooted the Ugoos devices with the same method used for RK3188 Tablets. You have to follow those 5 simple steps: Make sure USB Debugging is enabled on your mini PC (Settings -> Developer Options) Connect your RK3188 mini PC to a Windows PC via the USB port. Your PC should detect a new device, and try to install the driver. You can download the driver at https://www.dropbox.com/s/uqisjj4hqftlaxa/GEEKBUYING_Rockchip_Batch_Tool_v1.6.rar (password: GEEKBUYING.COM) After having installed the driver, download […]