GPD MicroPC

[Mr_Loon]

UPDATE: GPD have decided to make the RAM on the MicroPC 6GB instead of 4GB. The price has gone up to $314 on IGG

Seems a little odd to me, has there been any word on why they didn't go for 2X4GB in dual channel rather than I presume 3X2GB?

Has a 3GB / 6GB ram Module become a thing?

 

[ckblackm]

Apparently it has... they seem resistant to go to 8gb simply for monetary reasons.

 

[MJPIA]

The MicroPC only has one ram chip, its not dual channel so 2x4 isn't an option.
I asked the CEO of GPD several days ago about this and his response was that 8GB chips are no longer made and hard to source in the package they are using.
These 6GB chips are the same ones that would have been used for the Galaxy Note 7 phone before it crashed and burned and the device got recalled globally.
The 6GB chips aren't made anymore either but there is a ton of them floating around in China and more than enough for however many they end up manufacturing.

 

[WizardStan]

I hope they know what they're doing with swapping RAM chips like that. We've seen firsthand how bad things can go wrong.

 

[ckblackm]

That would be good information for them to have put in an update.

 

[EvilDragon]

Wait a minute, but the Pyra uses MIPI. There must be some sort of support for it!

Yes, that's what's puzzling me as well.
Linux has MIPI video stream support, though you need to write the display driver for it - which only works if you've got the documentation of the screen (the initialization sequence is different with different screens).
Also, if they have a screen that only supports command mode (no idea if that exists or if they all support videos stream as well), then you're out of luck, as command mode is not yet supported.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Well they're probably using command mode then. Why is there no support for it? No documentation?

 

[ckblackm]

I tried to get the fellow who is working on it (Martin Wimpress‏ @m_wimpress) to strike up a conversation with ED about it on twitter... but it didn't go very far.
I hope I wasn't stepping on any toes... I was just trying to help.
cb

 

[EvilDragon]

Well they're probably using command mode then. Why is there no support for it? No documentation?

Well, the whole MIPI stuff is pretty confidential, you don't even get the standard documentation without paying a lot of money.
The video stream mode is (AFAIU) basically the same mode old displays used - probably to keep compatibility. So you need to enable the display and switch it to video stream mode. However, the commands for these are a mixture of standard MIPI commands (which are in that mythical documentation) and of the display driver chip.

I think someone even works on command mode for Linux...but I don't know the status.

Command mode would be cool - it's what smartphones use. It only sends a stream when needed - for example, while playing games or when something is happening on the screen.
When you're reading something, it doesn't stream and the display just shows the last frame it received - which saves quite a bit of power when nothing is happening on the screen.

Video stream constantly sends a 60fps, regardless of what is happening on the screen.
[doublepost=1552417916,1552417895][/doublepost]

I tried to get the fellow who is working on it (Martin Wimpress‏ @m_wimpress) to strike up a conversation with ED about it on twitter... but it didn't go very far.
I hope I wasn't stepping on any toes... I was just trying to help.
cb

Well, not on mine

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Command mode would be cool - it's what smartphones use. It only sends a stream when needed - for example, while playing games or when something is happening on the screen.
When you're reading something, it doesn't stream and the display just shows the last frame it received - which saves quite a bit of power when nothing is happening on the screen.

Video stream constantly sends a 60fps, regardless of what is happening on the screen.

Would it be possible for the Pyra to use command mode if a driver is developed? Or would it need hardware changes?

 

[levi]

They can talk to the screen, so I guess they've got all of the hardware they need. It might be a cool battery boost if they can enable it fully though, although I'd have thought the backlight alone would amount for more of the battery budget than the simple streaming of video, or the wifi chipset, or USB power or something; there's plenty of power consuming parts in a Pyra even at rest. Every little helps though, as they say.

 

[Mr_Loon]

These 6GB chips are the same ones that would have been used for the Galaxy Note 7 phone before it crashed and burned and the device got recalled globally.
The 6GB chips aren't made anymore either but there is a ton of them floating around in China and more than enough for however many they end up manufacturing.

Ah, that makes perfect sense, sounds like a good choice.

Thanks for the info

 

[bluedeer]

Ah, that makes perfect sense, sounds like a good choice.

Thanks for the info

6GB is better than 4Gb any day anyway. 8GB would have been better, but for a low power device such as this I suspect you'd probably run into CPU bottlenecks long before you ran into ram storage bottlenecks for most tasks anyway. 4GB just seems a bit anemic for Windows 10 and most applications anyway. I used to get by just fine on 6Gb on my i5 desktop PC before some of the newer patches, and then bumped up to 8 which made a huge difference as it was. Granted I now have 16GB because I run a bunch of stuff all at once, but when I go back to a unit with 4Gb I notice a major difference, especially if things are disk swapping a lot. Which usually isn't much of a problem on a sufficiently fast drive of course. But hey, if there's a ton of those 6GB chips floating around for a marginal increase in price, and we'd be getting 6Gb instead of 4, who am I to complain? I still want a GPD Win 2, but I've been taking a hard look at the MicroPC and that makes my decision a lot harder especially considering cost.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Only 5 days remaining for the MicroPC Indiegogo campaign

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes, but you can also preorder it after that period from my shop

EDIT: Just noticed... they are actively advertising Ubuntu on their IndieGogo... has the MIPI issue been fixed or did they start the campaign before knowing that there are these issues :O

 

[ckblackm]

The posted a reply to a question about Linux 17 days ago in the "comments" section:

Hello, 1.The shipped machine defaults to Windows,not windows and ubuntu mate dual system. 2.Support for MicroPC ubuntu mate 18.10, to wait until ubuntu mate official June or July to provide,and some driver issues are being addressed. 3.There are no plans to provide support for any other Linux distributions.

 

[Eight Bit]

Yes, but you can also preorder it after that period from my shop

At 278 Euro?

 

[vcoleiro1]

Yes, but you can also preorder it after that period from my shop

EDIT: Just noticed... they are actively advertising Ubuntu on their IndieGogo... has the MIPI issue been fixed or did they start the campaign before knowing that there are these issues :O

Martin Wimpress from Canonical is still working on it. And a MicroPC unit will be going to another dev (who has some MIPI experience) to also work on the issue , at the end of the month

 

[EvilDragon]

Sounds good
Hopefully they can do it in time, as I can imagine that a lot of backers of this system want to run Linux on it... it's the typical admin station.
And I know how backers can behave if they don't get what they expected.
[doublepost=1554990861,1554990827][/doublepost]

At 278 Euro?

Not sure yet, but you won't have to send it back to China in case you have any issues and will receive a replacement quickly and without any issues

 

[Eight Bit]

How will the choice between Ubuntu or Windows be made?

I ordered one and want to run some windows only lighting desk software on it, but I'd like it to run Linux too...

Choices choices...

In the end I might have it windows only and have the Pyra for Linux but you know....