Within one hour (without having anything ready in advance but parts were scattered about) I unpacked the small, Apple-esque box and re-reviewed the quick start guide, downloaded a Debian image and mounted it on a 16 GB SD card, plugged my Kindle's USB charging cable in and a wireless mouse and keyboard and booted right into Linux Debian. Typed startx and got the GUI - no problems. It got here at 3 and booted to an HDTV I have with a spare HDMI input before 4 PM.
I swear this has to be the biggest thing since the home PC - a fully functioning ARM computer - whole computer, with HDMI and RCA out, boots from SD card and supports all Linux supported USB 2.0 devices. You could build a MAME cab, home theater PC, or even a tablet given the right hardware. Want a handheld Sega Genesis? Reconfigure it. It outputs to any analog TV with RCA inputs for sound and video or HDMI for digital sets.
I know everything I mentioned has been already done, but this part is a beauty - $35 with enough power to almost rival an original XBOX console for gaming, but with a video chip that supports HD playback. Admittedly it is not for the novice, but it's so damn cool that you can get a complete computer for this price and then do with it what you will. It's the Arduino of the new century. I have to get a few more...envisioning a MAME mini (this is small enough to make a one foot high multi game with the right LCD); a handheld wireless battery powered home theater PC, and a homework computer for my son for school.
You literally only need a power supply, video monitor, and input (plus SD card with OS).
With a pinball emulator in Linux this would be an awesome tabletop pinball machine.
And yes, I know there are drawbacks - you can't upgrade the RAM, no VGA, the serial port is non standard, ARM processors are not powerful, and no 3D - but otherwise who can argue with this level of flexibility for the price?
I swear this has to be the biggest thing since the home PC - a fully functioning ARM computer - whole computer, with HDMI and RCA out, boots from SD card and supports all Linux supported USB 2.0 devices. You could build a MAME cab, home theater PC, or even a tablet given the right hardware. Want a handheld Sega Genesis? Reconfigure it. It outputs to any analog TV with RCA inputs for sound and video or HDMI for digital sets.
I know everything I mentioned has been already done, but this part is a beauty - $35 with enough power to almost rival an original XBOX console for gaming, but with a video chip that supports HD playback. Admittedly it is not for the novice, but it's so damn cool that you can get a complete computer for this price and then do with it what you will. It's the Arduino of the new century. I have to get a few more...envisioning a MAME mini (this is small enough to make a one foot high multi game with the right LCD); a handheld wireless battery powered home theater PC, and a homework computer for my son for school.
You literally only need a power supply, video monitor, and input (plus SD card with OS).
With a pinball emulator in Linux this would be an awesome tabletop pinball machine.
And yes, I know there are drawbacks - you can't upgrade the RAM, no VGA, the serial port is non standard, ARM processors are not powerful, and no 3D - but otherwise who can argue with this level of flexibility for the price?



