VolksPC S905X..................
Fancy a $90 desktop? Will Meister takes a spin on an ARM-powered TV box that doubles up as a capable – if a little barebones – Linux PC.
We explore the latest ultra low-cost ARMbased mini PC and a crazy hybrid Linux/ Android solution that runs Debian.
Fanless smart TV boxes have been with us for several years. Built to run Android on ARMbased systems-on-chips (SOCs), they combine low cost with excellent specs. However, implementation issues have made them hard work for the few Linux developers who’ve tried to engage.
US startup VolksPC wants to see the boxes repurposed as low-cost PCs. The company has built a lightweight Xwindows alternative called MicroXwin, which it uses in a customised Linux that runs on top of the Android kernel. VolksPC is selling the software as a Debian image for Odroid’s C2 developer board, and preinstalled on an Amlogic S905X smart TV box.
The one-line pitch is: full Linux on a cheap ARM SOC. How could we resist?
A boxful of ARMs
The S905X is a 2016-model quad-core TV box with 2GB of RAM soldered in place, HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports, a microSD slot, and built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It feels solid and well-built, but it’s still light and small enough to knock off the desk with your mug of tea.
The unit ships with an international adaptor (but no UK plug), an HDMI cable and a remote control. The latter’s rather handy given the box’s lack of a hardware on-off switch. But only two USB ports meant we needed a robust, externally powered USB hub.
We connected it to a Samsung Syncmaster HD TV. The VolksPC synced up at 60Hz, cycling in a few seconds through a startup screen to a blue Debian desktop with a customised version of the XFCE ‘rodent’ theme.
It took a few seconds longer for the mouse to start responding. That’s an indication of the VolksPC’s main quirk: you’ll need to switch the device into Android to apply settings like Wi-Fi passwords and date-and-time. Switching is easy and instantaneous, but we found it confusing to deal with two different interfaces. If you can cope, you might prefer to get your Netflix or Skype in VolksPC’s Android mode.
VolksPC’s Linux implementation is built on Debian Jessie. It resembles Lubuntu in its utilitarian setup. The system arrives preconfigured with Desktop and Root accounts, and a handy quick-start guide – although we’d have liked more on printer installation.
VolksPC’s complex relationship with Android made us apprehensive about installing our own software, but Synaptic fired up as usual and we soon had TheGIMP, Filezilla and a bunch of familiar tools up and running. Performance was consistently good, with even notorious slow coach Inkscape loading in seconds.
Installing CUPS was a different matter. Aptitude problems and Synaptic crashes that persisted even after a restart had us checking back with the developers. It turned out that VolksPC operates within a tight 2.4GB subdivision of the larger Android filesystem, which we’d managed to fill without noticing. The lack of any obvious means of keeping track of this storage is our single largest criticism of the system. Yet reinstalling Debian turned out to be as simple as logging out, downloading a disk image to microSD card and launching the company’s app in Android. We managed a full, clean install in minutes.
After a second, more discriminating session with Synaptic – and a betterinformed CUPS install – we had a working system with more-thanacceptable performance and near 100 per cent access to familiar peripherals. The only device that wouldn’t play was our scanner, which remained invisible to Simple-Scan… although Xsane would probably have got it eventually.