Hi,
There was a thread from over a year ago about single board computers which
has been closed. There have been developments since then. If there is another
forum more suitable for this topic, please let me know. I haven't been able
to find one.
I need a single-board computer with:
1. A cost of $75 or less
2. supported (or very soon will be) by linux mainline kernel.
3. 64 bit
I want to get the most libre one possible that will do the things I need.
Those things are:
1. Surf the web smoothly and quickly without the need for browser extensions.
(Especially Facebook)
2. Stream 1080p from youtube smoothly.
3. Playback 1080i mpeg2 with good quality deinterlacing and rendering.
To achieve #1, will I need 2 GB of RAM? (My current SBC, the Intel Compute
Stick base model with Atom Z3735 and 1GB of RAM doesn't cut it)
To achieve #2 and #3, will I need a powerful processor? (powerful in the
world of ARM processors). My 1.33GHz Intel Atom quad core x86 processor
struggles with #3.
I like the work that linux-sunxi is doing (even though I don't like
Allwinner). Regarding the A64, the Pine forum is clear that it doesn't handle
video well with linux and won't do so anytime soon. But does that apply to
mpeg2? Does the reverse-engineering of the VPU help in that regard? Is a GPU
needed for 1080i video or is that just for video games?
Another one that has caught my eye is the Odroid C2 that uses Amlogic S905.
Plus there are many TV boxes (some calling themselves mini PC's) using the
Amlogic S905 with Android. Once there is mainline linux kernel support, could
a linux distro be put on these devices?
I don't know how freedom-supporting these Amlogic S905 devices are.
Does this project (http://linux-meson.com/doku.php) have anything to do with
freedom?
Thanks so much for your input.
