Via announces $49 PC with Android OS

[giZmo350]

Might also be fun to mess around with..... click on the company website link below to get on the waiting list... I did!
 
The PC is a mini-motherboard without a case, but has the components necessary to make it a functional PC. The APC PC will go on sale in July, according to the company's website.
 
The PC comes with 2GB of flash storage and 512 DDR3 RAM
 
BeagleBone, which is priced starting at $89 and runs on a faster ARM processor looks very interesting too!
 
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227385/Via_announces_49_PC_with_Android_OS
 
 

[XDelusion]

Hmmm.

I just saw that they have PrBOOM (DOOM source port) for Android.

Now if they can get PrBOOM Plus running in GL mode and or Odamex, they have a sale!

[partycentralpartygirl]

I am probably going to get one of these:

https://www.genesi-usa.com/store/details/11

It has double the memory of the beaglebone and has 8 gig memory onboard for only a tad more than the beaglebone.

These cheap ARM machines remind me of the low cost 8 bit computers of the 80's.

The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess.

[XDelusion]

I am probably going to get one of these:

https://www.genesi-usa.com/store/details/11

It has double the memory of the beaglebone and has 8 gig memory onboard for only a tad more than the beaglebone.

These cheap ARM machines remind me of the low cost 8 bit computers of the 80's.

The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess.

That does sound more attractive.

[Iggy]

That does sound more attractive.

Well, it DOES cost quite a bit more.

The VIA system uses the same ARM processor that is in the Sylvania net appliance I just bought.

800MHz isn't blindingly fast, but it ought to be adequate.

[partycentralpartygirl]

That does sound more attractive.

Just watching this:
http://youtu.be/PmHNecNguDM

Looks like they will be coming out with a new version that is an A8 Cortex 1.2ghz for a similar price. I will wait for that one, but will be buying the ARM11 unit that VIA has announced, I signed up for the e-mail notification so hopefully VIA can roll these out with enough quantity to meet demand.

[partycentralpartygirl]

Well, it DOES cost quite a bit more.

The VIA system uses the same ARM processor that is in the Sylvania net appliance I just bought.

800MHz isn't blindingly fast, but it ought to be adequate.

The VIA is using an ARM11 chip, but the genesi and beagleboard are using the ARM8. The ARM8 is quite a step up from the ARM11 in terms of speed, like Pentium 2 to Pentium 4 from a performance standpoint. Though I do have a ARM11 running Android 2.3 and it performs okay, graphically intense games stutter quite a bit, but it can watch youtube (not in HD) and surf the web just fine on it. The VIA is very attractive to me as I need an excuse to buy more crap to play with. I think I will make a media player for my daughter to watch her TV shows on with it. Right now I am using an old Dell PC and it is noisy, big and probably has 50 times the power consumption of this little board.

[Iggy]

A8 is OK, but if we're getting into power discussions an A9 would be even better.

[Methanoid]

The VIA is using an ARM11 chip, but the genesi and beagleboard are using the ARM8. The ARM8 is quite a step up from the ARM11 in terms of speed, like Pentium 2 to Pentium 4 from a performance standpoint. Though I do have a ARM11 running Android 2.3 and it performs okay, graphically intense games stutter quite a bit, but it can watch youtube (not in HD) and surf the web just fine on it. The VIA is very attractive to me as I need an excuse to buy more crap to play with. I think I will make a media player for my daughter to watch her TV shows on with it. Right now I am using an old Dell PC and it is noisy, big and probably has 50 times the power consumption of this little board.

ARM11 is not better than ARM8? Whats the deal with that....

[Iggy]

ARM11 is not better than ARM8? Whats the deal with that....

Actually, its ARM Cortex-A8 (which is based on the ARMv7) vs the ARM11 (which is based om ARMv6).
So yes, the A8 is better.

[psxphill]

ARM11 is not better than ARM8? Whats the deal with that....

it's not arm8, it's arm cortex a8.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A8
 
then came the a9, and coming soon is the a15.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A15_MPCore
 
All of the arm cortex chips implement armv7 instructions, while the arm11 implements armv6 instructions.
 
armv8 adds 64bit, but there are no cores announced that support it.

[takemehomegrandma]

@gizmo350

Press Release with info

It seems it's using an ARM11 CPU from WonderMedia, meaning it would be WonderMedia Prizm WM8750.

The Raspberry Pi is also using an ARM11 CPU, but the CPU Via will be using is clocked at 800MHz and the Raspberry at 700MHz.

The ARM 11 is a really old and slow design though, and I would say that many of my arguments in favor of Efika MX instead would be true for this one as well...

[tone007]

BeagleBone, which is priced starting at $89 and runs on a faster ARM processor looks very interesting too!

If I'm reading that one correctly, it seems to not come with a video interface ($50 additional for a DVI-D board.)

[KimmoK]

Some performance info about ARM chips:
http://www.ptxdist.org/development/kernel/arm-benchmarks-20100729_en.html
http://www.bdti.com/Resources/BenchmarkResults/Processors/Cortex-A8

[tone007]

Woo, Atom for the (crushing) win.