$200 ARM Smartbook with Ubuntu

[Warpnow]

I just thought I'd throw this out there and see what people have to say.

https://www.genesi-usa.com/store/details/12

and there's a customized ubuntu distro here:

http://www.powerdeveloper.org/platforms/efikamx/linux



Anyone have any experience with that processor and know what it is capable of? Not looking for people who only look at its clock speed...that's pretty much useless speculation.

[Swagman]

Not a bad offering from Mr Bill Buck & Co.

http://bbrv.blogspot.com/

[Dragonbite]

Looks interesting. I'd be more interested with a 6-cell battery (and the corresponding additional hours!).

[Cracklepop]

The A8 is a bit old and under-powered (my phone has more grunt), and 6 hours of battery life isn't much compared to an Eee 1005 or 1015, but at $200 it's very appealing...

[divergex]

It's very interesting. I would love to get an evaluation version and test the heck out of it.

[Hyporeal]

That is a nice looking netbook there. If the customized distro is no longer supported in the future, are we stuck with an old version of Ubuntu or can we expect future versions of Ubuntu to gain full support for this hardware?

[Warpnow]

There is an official ubuntu ARM release, but how it performs compared to the custom version...hard to say.

I imagine its a custom kernel, in which case you could drop that kernel into a future Ubuntu ARM release I'd think.

[kerry_s]

:lolflag: i been shopping for a tablet & a lot have those exact same specs.

[gnomeuser]

I just ordered one, it is sufficiently cheap to warrant buying one for testing. Expect a review on OMG Ubuntu once it arrives.

[jerenept]

Do want

[Warpnow]

I just ordered one, it is sufficiently cheap to warrant buying one for testing. Expect a review on OMG Ubuntu once it arrives.

If you can make sure to note flash performance in particular. There's a youtube video of someone playing a youtube video on it so I know it does work, but how like Hulu/Hulu HD works would be nice.

Also it says no moving parts which makes me wonder if they are including a fan in moving parts. Is it fanless?

These are the two questions I've been asking and a review would be nice to include such. :D

[gnomeuser]

If you can make sure to note flash performance in particular. There's a youtube video of someone playing a youtube video on it so I know it does work, but how like Hulu/Hulu HD works would be nice.


Can't test Hulu as it is unavailable in Denmark, but I will do YouTube and other testing.

I will be fair on the performance. I am used to working on a dual core atom nettop. I am familiar with how to live on a low end machine day to day.



Also it says no moving parts which makes me wonder if they are including a fan in moving parts. Is it fanless?


No moving parts implies no fan.



These are the two questions I've been asking and a review would be nice to include such. :D

I will give it my very best try. I ordered express delivery (since they already wanted more than 100$ to ship it the extra 15$ didn't feel that extravagant). So hopefully soon.

[Copper Bezel]

Very, very pretty, but damn, I know how Ubuntu deals with 800 Mhz, and it's not pretty. My machine used to scale down to that on battery until I disabled the feature. I'll be very impressed (genuinely) if Flash video works smoothly.

Damn, though, that barrel hinge is just damned nice looking. I don't know why those aren't more common.

[Dragonbite]

I will be fair on the performance. I am used to working on a dual core atom nettop. I am familiar with how to live on a low end machine day to day.

Heh! I'll trade with you! Then you can enjoy living "on a low end machine day to day."
:lolflag:

[aaaantoine]

Very, very pretty, but damn, I know how Ubuntu deals with 800 Mhz, and it's not pretty. My machine used to scale down to that on battery until I disabled the feature.

800 MHz in an ARM processor achieves different results than 800 MHz in an x86 processor, FYI.

Not saying it'll be snappy, but to put things in perspective, the Cortex A8 is the same chip that's in the iPhone 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4).

[mips]

Very, very pretty, but damn, I know how Ubuntu deals with 800 Mhz, and it's not pretty. My machine used to scale down to that on battery until I disabled the feature. I'll be very impressed (genuinely) if Flash video works smoothly.

Multi-format video decoder (H.264, H.263, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, DivX, and RV10) at up to 20 Mbps, 720p, 30fps
OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1 hardware accelerators
Multi-format HD 720p video decoder and D1 video encoder hardware engine
24-bit primary display support up to WXGA resolution
18-bit secondary display support
Analog HD720p component TV output
High quality hardware video de-interlacing
Image and video resize, inversion, and rotation hardware
Alpha blending and color space conversion
Video/graphics combining: four planes plus hardware

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.MX#i.MX51_family

It uses the same CPU as the Freescale Android 2.2 and that plays Flash content just fine.

[Copper Bezel]

aaaantoine & mips:

Oh, cool then. I didn't realize.

It's not much lighter than my netbook, but it looks quite a bit thinner, and not needing a fan makes everything better. Definitely not bad for the price.

[del_diablo]

My only complain is the ludricrude screen resolution.
The worst part is that there is also a unused portion of the screen at the bottom, which means it could have had a higher resolution.
Is there a 4:3 version with 1200x900 screen resolution somewhere?

[Warpnow]

I just ordered one, it is sufficiently cheap to warrant buying one for testing. Expect a review on OMG Ubuntu once it arrives.

When do you think the review will be up?

[dh04000]

When do you think the review will be up?

I want to know that too.

[gnomeuser]

When do you think the review will be up?

Sorry, my only other machine died two nights ago. I now live full time on the ARM netbook which is... an experience.

Also due to a packaging bug I accidentally nuked the alpha flash plugin for ARM which Genesi kindly provided prebundled on my machine. Adobe however are legally preventing them from sending me a copy by email or similar (I don't know the specifics of their development agreement all I know is that it's wording prevents me from actually having Flash to test for you, sorry).

So please be patient, I have requested someone else to take over Banshee news for me for a couple of months till I can afford buying a new nettop (what with moving to Brazil, getting married and having had unexpected rather large expenses in my VISA application process.. well I am broke and simply can't afford it presently).

The ARM netbook review will go up, but I want to be fair and not just review it from the point of view of having powered it up and launched a few applications. Ironically I now have that chance in full :)

I will leave you with this thought. Totally silent, no moving parts, is the way computing was intended to be done.

[stlouisubntu]

I am also quite interested in if it will do Skype video calls? The specs indicate webcam, microphone, and speakers, and Skype capability can be a make or break feature in a netbook. Please include that in your review also.

Thanks friend.

[agiletoddy]

I don't think Skype have a binary for ARM, unless one of the mobile versions can be modified. I'm also interested in a review of one of these, I've been holding off getting a netbook until a decent ARM model arrives, I can feel it getting closer

[r+9]

I was looking at this same device but it seems the posts are nearly a year old. I haven't any experience with non-x86 hardware, except for one adventure with an iMac and xubuntu, and that has me wary about the availability of software.

The skype question above, or for me does google-voice work?

Also any other arm-based netbooks out there that are a little more up to date? Perhaps some website that keeps up to date on this subject? (i'm having a tough time finding contemporary information)

[hedup]

I wouldn't even bother, when they feel too embarrassed to specify ram.

[SemiExpert]

I wonder if the generic Smartbook concept will reappear in a big way with Windows 8 ARM? Not that Windows 8 Smartbooks will help the Linux community, since Microsoft demands locked UEFI. No dual booting, no OS other than Windows 8. However, if the ODMs are producing up-to-date ARM Smartbooks in 2013, there's always the possiblity that there will be smaller companies selling them preloaded with Ubuntu or other distros?

[ikt]

got a HP DM1 4016au for 350$au, does more than I need, the biggest problem is the mouse, it's all over the place, either to slow or to fast, but that's a minor inconvenience at best.

[SemiExpert]

got a HP DM1 4016au for 350$au, does more than I need, the biggest problem is the mouse, it's all over the place, either to slow or to fast, but that's a minor inconvenience at best.

You have a x86 Netbook, whereas this thread is about ARM Smartbooks. Smartbook=ARM. Netbook=x86.

[BrokenKingpin]

What is a smartbook, it is the same as a netbook?

[Copper Bezel]

ARM-powered Android netbooks (http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/21/toshibas-ac100-8-hour-smartbook-runs-android-2-1-on-a-1ghz-tegr/), essentially. It's even less meaningful than the word netbook itself. I don't even know whether something like the ARM-based Transformer Prime would count as a smartbook, or if it has to be a non-touch-based, low-cost gadget. (Prime apparently runs Ubuntu now, though. That's cool.)

[SemiExpert]

ARM-powered Android netbooks (http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/21/toshibas-ac100-8-hour-smartbook-runs-android-2-1-on-a-1ghz-tegr/), essentially. It's even less meaningful than the word netbook itself. I don't even know whether something like the ARM-based Transformer Prime would count as a smartbook, or if it has to be a non-touch-based, low-cost gadget. (Prime apparently runs Ubuntu now, though. That's cool.)

The term Smartbook applies to ARM clamshell devices, not just Android. As to whether or not an ARM Android tablet with a keyboard dock is a Smartbook is a matter that is open to interpretation. The term Netbook seems to currently apply to 11.6 and smaller notebooks with Intel Atom and AMD Brazos (both C and E-series) processors. Confusingly, if an 11.6 inch notebook has a Sandy Bridge processor, it's not a Netbook. So a Thinkpad X120E with an AMD Fusion E-350 chip is a netbook, a Thinkpad X121E with an Intel Core i3-2357 CPU isn't a netbook.

As far as the Asus Transformer Prime, it's not a product that I'd buy, or advise buying, even if I could be confident of running Ubuntu without bricking it. Not a big Asus fan, not all that confident about Asus products or Asus support.

[Copper Bezel]

There's no risk of bricking, as it's an Asus-provided alternate bootloader designed for dual-booting with Android.

And the last time you had the Asus / netbook conversation here was also with me. = P

[dpny]

Curious for the review. For $200 it's almost an impulse buy.

[nutrapi]

i just thought i'd throw this out there and see what people have to say.

https://www.genesi-usa.com/store/details/12

and there's a customized ubuntu distro here:

http://www.powerdeveloper.org/platforms/efikamx/linux



anyone have any experience with that processor and know what it is capable of? Not looking for people who only look at its clock speed...that's pretty much useless speculation.

nice