Linux Format forums

Re: VIA Initiates APC: The $49 Android PC

nelz — Fri May 25, 2012 10:59 am

Author: nelz

Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 10:59 am

...and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.

Re: VIA Initiates APC: The $49 Android PC

AndyBaxman — Fri May 25, 2012 9:40 am

Author: AndyBaxman

Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 9:40 am

Paradigm Shifter wrote:

AndyBaxman wrote:

The Broadcom SOC used in the RPi is an ARM 11 device.

Yes, of course it is; sorry. I'm getting myself tied in knots with it being 'version 6' of ARM architecture.

Yes, ARM processor family terminology is confusing at best. The nVidia Tegra 3 SOC has 5 ARM Cortex A9 cores which support the ARMv7 instruction set, for example.

I pine for the days when a Z80 was a Z80 and a 6502 was a 6502.

Re: VIA Initiates APC: The $49 Android PC

Paradigm Shifter — Thu May 24, 2012 4:21 pm

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 4:21 pm

AndyBaxman wrote:

The Broadcom SOC used in the RPi is an ARM 11 device.

Yes, of course it is; sorry. I'm getting myself tied in knots with it being 'version 6' of ARM architecture.

Re: VIA Initiates APC: The $49 Android PC

AndyBaxman — Thu May 24, 2012 10:01 am

Author: AndyBaxman

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:01 am

The Broadcom SOC used in the RPi is an ARM 11 device.

About the only advantage the VIA board has over the Pi is the RAM (the increase in clock speed is marginal).

The VIA board has no GPIO, boots from onboard Flash memory (and, so, is eminently brickable) and has 720p video compared to the Pi's 1080p.

It also comes pre-loaded with Android 2.3, with no indication of when or if alternative OSs will be available or if it is even possible to update.

Given how resource hungry Android is, the Pi running any variety of Linux will fly in comparison to the VIA board.

Re: VIA Initiates APC: The $49 Android PC

Paradigm Shifter — Wed May 23, 2012 6:56 pm

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 6:56 pm

The ARM11 arch could be a boon, as would the increased RAM over the RPi. I'd like to know more details about the NIC - what is it, 10/100 or gigabit? (VR-Zone don't seem to know)... is it piggy-backed off a USB port, or is it on the PCI/PCI-E bus? If it's gigabit, and not piggy-backed off USB, then I'll take twenty as a cluster experiment. And if that works well, I'll buy more (work related ideas).

The other interesting development is the PandaBoard... but it's a lot more expensive.

VIA Initiates APC: The $49 Android PC

Dutch_Master — Wed May 23, 2012 5:40 pm

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:40 pm

This could be an interesting development:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/pressrelease.jsp?press_release_no=6327

It'll give the Raspberry Pi a good run for their money...

Review, sort of:
http://vr-zone.com/articles/via-announces-ultra-affordable-49-android-pc-we-go-hands-on/15949.html