Quad-Core PC on a Stick $99 !!

I think this stuff is just awesome. You plug this baby directly into an HDMI port on your monitor, hook up the keyboard and mouse via bluetooth or usb IR, and the system is good to go!








These PC sticks can even run a full operating system! Here it is running OpenGL:



It will come ready to go with Jelly bean Android 4.1 OS, but there are guides to setting up Linux distros online as well! I'm going to pick one of these up in a week or two just to play around with. Also plan on getting one of those Acer A7 "chromebooks" and rigging it to run ubuntu 12.

Here's another video which shows off all the specs and all the jazz:

So awesome!

Gonna have to get one of those.

These are great... in case you want to buy one (I do not work for these people but I have bought thruogh them) Thi is the fastest one they have available and DOES have bluetooth which is nice since lack of usb ports and power you can easily bluetooth a keyboard/mouse and game controller also tv changer if you want.. Also has the highest amount of memory and speed available..

www.geekbuying.com... its on sale through xmas I ordered 2 more of them

I am working on clustering these I want to see if I can put 10 of them together which would only be like $600 or so and have a super crazy awesome fast linux powered cluster that is faster then a $1000-2000 computer :0

reply to post by unityemissions


Ya, that is pretty darn cool.

I've been looking for more in depth technical specifications (RAM, HDD, etc) but can't seem to find it... any thoughts?

reply to post by ErtaiNaGia


I just typed in i.mx6 in a search on the link above and it pulls up some specs:

Freescale i.MX6 Quad Core CPU&GPU 1.2GHZ
1GB RAM + 8GB Flash
Android 4.0 OS (Android 4.1/4.2 upgradeable)
Support Full HD 1080P resolution play
True 1080P HD decoding the perfect hardware solution
Built in WiFi module 802.11b/g/n,max speed 150Mbs
Built-in Bluetooth makes you transport music ,data and listen to music freely

GeekBuying

The only thing that kinda sucks is you have to power the thing from the wall socket with an adapter. I'm thinking this tech will push a new standard that will allow up to 15w or so coming out a new HDMI socket. Something like that is much needed.

reply to post by unityemissions


nerdgasim.



thats insanely cool.

yeah..now it will be a lot easier to steal some pc...

lol

you can power on any usb port if it has enough power.. like if ur tv has usb then you can hook to that usb..

The link I posted on geekbuying has lots of spec info you wont likely find one cheaper with better specs that is the newest model that I found about a month or so ago unless there is a better one.. even on ebay they cost more $

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater


I am working on clustering these I want to see if I can put 10 of them together which would only be like $600 or so and have a super crazy awesome fast linux powered cluster that is faster then a $1000-2000 computer :0

Yeah..good luck with that mate. For one thing, how fast is it actually? Clock frequency has little to nothing to do with actual performance when comparing 1 model of CPU to another. Just because CPU A is 1.6GHZ and CPU B is 1.8GHZ does not automatically mean that CPU B is the faster chip. It all depends on the architecture amongst other things. So you thinking that you can chain 10 of them together and get what I guess you think will be a 40 core "cluster" running at 1.2GHz per core. And that that's going to get you something like a 48GHZ machine.

You're dreaming. That's not how it works and in reality things don't scale that way. Just look at SLI as an example or probably even more fitting would be running dual CPU Xeons. You never double your performance by simply adding an extra CPU. And not only that, if the software that you're running is thread limited to 1 2 3 4 or 8 physical cores you're going to see no advantage at all by adding more and more CPU's even if it's possible.

And also take into account that modern day servers and for that matter even desktop gaming PC's require massive heatsinks that pull the heat out and away from your CPU just to keep them from burning to a crisp, so how on earth are these things going to have any sort of meaningful performance output all the while running passively cooled in a very very restricted space?

Originally posted by RMFX1

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater


I am working on clustering these I want to see if I can put 10 of them together which would only be like $600 or so and have a super crazy awesome fast linux powered cluster that is faster then a $1000-2000 computer :0

Yeah..good luck with that mate. For one thing, how fast is it actually? Clock frequency has little to nothing to do with actual performance when comparing 1 model of CPU to another. Just because CPU A is 1.6GHZ and CPU B is 1.8GHZ does not automatically mean that CPU B is the faster chip. It all depends on the architecture amongst other things. So you thinking that you can chain 10 of them together and get what I guess you think will be a 40 core "cluster" running at 1.2GHz per core. And that that's going to get you something like a 48GHZ machine.

You're dreaming. That's not how it works and in reality things don't scale that way. Just look at SLI as an example or probably even more fitting would be running dual CPU Xeons. You never double your performance by simply adding an extra CPU. And not only that, if the software that you're running is thread limited to 1 2 3 4 or 8 physical cores you're going to see no advantage at all by adding more and more CPU's even if it's possible.

And also take into account that modern day servers and for that matter even desktop gaming PC's require massive heatsinks that pull the heat out and away from your CPU just to keep them from burning to a crisp, so how on earth are these things going to have any sort of meaningful performance output all the while running passively cooled in a very very restricted space?

Agreed I was wondering about the heat. This is very interesting tech I have to say but I believe is very limited.

reply to post by RMFX1


I didnt say it was going to be a $40k computer when I cluster them... The cpu is actually a very good one and they are high quality... You also don't seem very informed on how clustering works.. I guess thats why big hosting companies are using clustering and cloud systems now because they dont work well...

I have done allot of research and I think I would know what I am talking about, thanks.

Excellent. No more need for me to downgrade audio files, to be compatible with other recording studios. I can just roll with my own ubuntu install, record, and leave. Brilliant!!!

This is "relatively" cool.

Why "relatively"?

Because any router, or Kindle ereader etc. is already a complete computer, with Linux filesystem and everything. I remember years ago already telneting into my linksys router and playing in the linux shell.
So....this stick is basically just everything a little more tinier.

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater
These are great... in case you want to buy one (I do not work for these people but I have bought thruogh them) Thi is the fastest one they have available and DOES have bluetooth which is nice since lack of usb ports and power you can easily bluetooth a keyboard/mouse and game controller also tv changer if you want.. Also has the highest amount of memory and speed available..

www.geekbuying.com... its on sale through xmas I ordered 2 more of them

I am working on clustering these I want to see if I can put 10 of them together which would only be like $600 or so and have a super crazy awesome fast linux powered cluster that is faster then a $1000-2000 computer :0

a) as you know well, the Android-on-a-stick devices are somewhat old news, I don't get the excitement in this thread. Some of them go for $40 these days.

b) anything that's mobile (or derived from mobile) is designed to conserve energy. Hence, there are limits on its performance. Just to point out that if you get a lame video card for your PC (which would be practically free), the rest of the $600 can buy you quite a bit of computing power. And with "real" CPU you get more cache and faster memory access. I'm not convinced at all that you can beat a decent PC in a cost effective way

c) speaking of graphics, it's going to really suck with Android sticks. I know even my Google TV has hard time once in a while, rendering even moderately complex games and video

d) these things often run hot

As a means to browse, read e-mail and stream music (and some video) it will probably work great.

reply to post by RMFX1


Right on. We've been working to make multicore efficient for years now, in my working group. Architecture does matter, as you rightfully say. And it's pretty hard even with one CPU. With a cluster, it will come down to workload management pretty quickly. And it's not a trivial subject. If you have some nodes idling, what good do they do?

And to people who think that clustering equals cloud computing -- it doesn't.

Very nice.

reply to post by unityemissions


$99? And I find out about this AFTER Christmas...

Originally posted by Wide-Eyes
reply to post by unityemissions

 

$99? And I find out about this AFTER Christmas...

Don't be on the bleeding edge. There seems to be proliferation of these devices, it's a good idea to let this market mature a little.

One reason I'm not buying one is that I have a good tablet and a long HDMI cable. This rig can run circles around these Android "sticks", graphics included, with Nvidia Tegra 2 (or 3 in newer tablets). And the UI is way better.

Originally posted by flexy123
This is "relatively" cool.

Why "relatively"?

Because any router, or Kindle ereader etc. is already a complete computer, with Linux filesystem and everything. I remember years ago already telneting into my linksys router and playing in the linux shell.
So....this stick is basically just everything a little more tinier.

Router doesn't have the same connectivity, or a gpu, and much less ram. They're totally different.

Originally posted by buddhasystem
Don't be on the bleeding edge. There seems to be proliferation of these devices, it's a good idea to let this market mature a little.

One reason I'm not buying one is that I have a good tablet and a long HDMI cable. This rig can run circles around these Android "sticks", graphics included, with Nvidia Tegra 2 (or 3 in newer tablets). And the UI is way better.

Agreed. Most people should let the tech mature, and it seems to be rapidly changing by the weeks. I think that in a year or two, there will be absolutely no reason for the average home user to purchase a desktop. We'll have tablets, smartphones, and these thumb computers powerful enough to do everything except hd video editing and high end gaming.

There's even a $99 gaming system coming out based on the same tech:

ouya