Puppy Linux on the MK802 $74 mini PC | Hacker News Reader

Puppy Linux on the MK802 $74 mini PC

liliputing.com

43 pointsvoodoochilo24 comments

Note that Puppy Linux runs as root.

I really can't fathom why that is. The wiki mentions something about "bloat". I can hardly imagine that properly using multiple users would bloat much of anything!

It has 512MB of memory and a 4GB flash drive. That's enterprise level compared to what many people around here first started using Linux on.

"Puppy isn’t the prettiest or the most user-friendly Linux-based operating system I’ve used."

Saying it's not pretty is like saying outer space is kind of cold.

We have Doctors Without Borders for a reason. What we need now is the same thing for designers to rescue open-source projects like this from their miserable, hideous state.

Why people get excited by a 1.5ghz and half gig ram running something?

I've run web browsers alongside heavy cad applications on way lower hardware and not that long ago.

...think my most responsive desktop so far have been a 150mhz 129mb ram Indy pizza box running irix 5 something, driving a 24" crt with considerable more pixel count than fullhd.

Funny thing, back then, The system config whole ui was Mozilla 2.0 engine with js and css1 or something.

...because many of them are probably too young to remember those ... other days:)

But then there's the size...

The novelty is the size of these devices. I also run Word and Excel on a 386 at 40 Mhz but it was a full tower not a credit card sized box.

yes, 20 years ago nobody could've dreamed about that.

Agree. But we should then be saying "omg 1.5ghz full system in that form factor!" Not that such high spec system can run a sub average set of software intended for old 486

Btw, the pizza boxes were considered incredible small back in early 90s :)

The sgi Indy even had a "portable" version with attached lcd screen.

Yes the Indy was a very cool machine. There was also another one that was a cube... cannot remember what it was.

The excitement is more about being able to carry it in your pocket

I'd wager that your sgi workstation drew considerably more than 10 watts though. That's why people get so excited about these things, that and the form factor.

The other thing is the hardware accelerated video decoding, watching 1080p h264 with just 10 watts is undeniably impressive.

EDIT: I have reason to believe the sgi pizzaboxes cost somewhat more than $74 as well, even 80s dollars.

It's not a battery-powered device. Why is 10 watts exciting except to people interested in power optimization?

Note that there are passively cooled (albeit larger: ITX) Cedar Trail boards available now for about 60% more (total system cost) which outperform this box by a factor of 8x or so, and consume about 30W peak. They have hardware accelerated video too (though the GPU acceleration requires proprietary 32-bit-only drivers).

Do you have link to the $120 Cedar Trail system you are speaking of?

Here's one (just the motherboard for $79US -- add a DIMM and some kind of storage, stick in a box):

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079VVLZG

I haven't bought one yet, but am eyeing them for my next gadget project. Intel has a family of boards in this price range.

The GMA3650 (aka PowerVR SGX545) graphics chipset used by Cedar Trail is not supported under Linux: http://communities.intel.com/message/158477

Not quite (this was discussed just yesterday). There's a framebuffer driver that works just fine. There's a binary GPU driver you can grab from the MeeGo archives which will run on current i686 distros. Graphics are about as well supported under linux (which is not to say "well") as this device is, which limits you to this "Puppy Linux" thing.

And of course for things that are not graphics, it's a PC, not a no-name ARM SoC. You can run RHEL or Ubuntu on it, plug in your favorite PCI card, etc...

what's the market for this thingy? you need a larger storage, a wireless keyboard/mouse, and assuming a hdmi-display is somewhere ready for use, with all that i could just bring a 7" tablet or a 10" netbook, or a smartphone. the only place i see is schools, every student can carry one and use it in the computer lab for projects., but then it might get lost, and you probably end up with more management issues comparing to a thin-client setting or a multi-head configuration. in short, i don't see a good market for it, no matter how cheap that is.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers"

what's your exact point? I'm in talk with some minipc vendors myself and am not sure where the market is for that.

my exact point is: don't judge too early.

btw: the freedombox (https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/) is one possible market from my pov

> you need a larger storage

Why?

> [you need] a wireless keyboard/mouse

Why?

You are presuming a certain use case here. I don't think there is a market for this product as a portable, general-purpose computing device. I do think there are a number of other use cases, though:

- Limited functionality, interactive kiosk/infowall type systems - Remote logging and processing systems, particularly for complex sensors - Embedded industrial or robotics systems

by minipc i think it's trying to be a portable PC? 2GB NAND might be too limited for any PC, thus the storage. If it's for a IP STB, you still need storage for media files. without a wireless keyboard/mouse, how can I use it as a consumer electronic device? The rest are actually good example, i wish it exposes more IO pins for robotic and industrial usage, but meanwhile the chip needs to be industrial-qualified, not all tablet/cellphone chips can be used in industrial, if at all

It can drive digital signage. That's a pretty giant market, actually.

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