kuru
Who the heck is Stephan Kramer?
A little off-topic: Received a load of stuff from China yesterday, one was an iPEGTOP A2 HDMI stick.. D.O.A., light comes on, but no signal on any of the things I plug it into. Sad Panda :-/
The smallest steambox or retro games dream
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Grench
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You might look into the Intel NUC computers.
Or you might want to wait for the next generation of them...
http://liliputing.com/2015/01/closer-look-intels-new-broadwell-powered-nuc-mini-pcs.html
thatgui
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My brother in law wants to replace his old Ion based HTPC, he hasn't any big requirements except that it should be around 100 bucks, and LAN is preffered as there is a wall socket already in place for that, and WLAN reception isn't good where his TV is. Intel NUCs are too expensive and probably overpowered - all he wants to do is watch films on it and as a bonus maybe playing some old PS1 classics now and then.
thatgui
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That thing is interesting, looking at all the ribbon cable connectors and the built in battery, one might get the idea, that this board was actually ment for a tablet device
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Grench
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There is such a product vacuum for a modern X86 palm-top computer (NOT a tablet). These tiny set-top computers - some of them are smaller than the Pandora and have a good size battery - but no controls or monitor. It's like they made half of a palm-top computer and quit.
The OQO was abysmal at gaming - or much else, since it's controls were ill thought out. It was a bit of a victim of it's own success - eaten by hype and an over $2K price tag.
The Pandora is fantastic. The Pyra should be amazing - it will fix where the Pandora is feeling dated. (Screen size & resolution, card speed, WiFi speeds and WAN.) However, there are things that I want to do with a palm-top computer that require X86. Note - I did NOT say those things require Windows. Yes, I want to buy a Pyra. The ARM architecture though - it often feels like everything is a work-around to get to what is already available and compiled on X86. VirtualBox for example.
I wish we could have a PyraX with a Bay Trail or maybe Cherry Trail tablet SoC in it running 64bit Debian. Yes, I know - not going to happen any day soon. Frankly, that would be my dream device. If that ever comes out as a Pyra successor or optional board or sister model I'd trip over myself trying to get my wallet out fast enough. I suspect I'm in a minority in this community, but I also suspect there are more people with similar thoughts out there than there are people in this community.
The OQO was abysmal at gaming - or much else, since it's controls were ill thought out. It was a bit of a victim of it's own success - eaten by hype and an over $2K price tag.
The Pandora is fantastic. The Pyra should be amazing - it will fix where the Pandora is feeling dated. (Screen size & resolution, card speed, WiFi speeds and WAN.) However, there are things that I want to do with a palm-top computer that require X86. Note - I did NOT say those things require Windows. Yes, I want to buy a Pyra. The ARM architecture though - it often feels like everything is a work-around to get to what is already available and compiled on X86. VirtualBox for example.
I wish we could have a PyraX with a Bay Trail or maybe Cherry Trail tablet SoC in it running 64bit Debian. Yes, I know - not going to happen any day soon. Frankly, that would be my dream device. If that ever comes out as a Pyra successor or optional board or sister model I'd trip over myself trying to get my wallet out fast enough. I suspect I'm in a minority in this community, but I also suspect there are more people with similar thoughts out there than there are people in this community.
WizardStan
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I would like that as well, honestly, but I think ED made the right choice this time around, if for no other reason than potential support nightmare when everyone and their dog start asking how to get WoW running on it. Next time around I hope he can do it.
tdp
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Ok. I already had an idea of what this device would be capable of, as I already have a great little Linx 8 tablet. However, this little unit packs a little more performance (I'm guessing that's down to 2GB of ram rather than the 1GB I have on my tablet.
For emulation:-
Mame - great, but don't run the latest and greatest
NeoRageX - perfect - pocket size neogeo
Snes - perfect, you can't add all of the toys, but smoothing the graphics with smooth fps, sure
Sega Megadrive - perfect...... sigh..... perfect
PSX - as long as you don't turn on the toys - very good
For emulation, mini console, or the brain for a mame arcade machine - recommended
Steam gaming:-
Remember me (Capcom published game) I know overkill right? Well with everything on low, it runs at about 25-30 fps
Double Dragon Neon - Perfect (apart from the gradual slow issue)
GTR/GTR2/Race on (basically any Simbin racing game) - perfect with maxed out graphics and forcefeed back steering wheel
Geoff Crammons GP4 - very good with out mods, slowdown with mods
Dirt - on low settings great fun and still looks better than most of your mobile phone fodder
Grid - same as Dirt
Oblivion - every on low - very,very playable, and still manages to look better than the PS3 version (don't go beyond 720P)
Castle Crashers - a blast!!!
For the older, smaller lighter, indie (and some AAA) games, this could make for a nice casual gaming steam box, especially with a Logitech F710 wireless. It's handles racing sims pretty well (installing and trying to run Assetto Corsa was ..... just ....... wrong.......!!!!!)
Multimedia:-
Audio - The built in sound is 16bit 48Khz - not audiophile, but not horrific. Makes for a nice media/steaming box. I have tested my old Sound Blaster external soundcard, works perfectly and does enhance the sound.
Video - 1080P - like butter. SVP - NOT LIKE BUTTER!!!! Lol!!!!
Netflix - 1080P smoother than my bum
For multi-media this device excels. I think this is where Baytrail gets into it's stride. Movies, anime, music all handled without issue. Recommended for this function.
Home/Office:-
Open Office - perfect - loaded up a couple of beast class spreadsheets - fine, no slowdown
Websurfing - perfect, Firefox or Opera run very well. Internet Explorer is integrated nicely, but I don't use that browser
Blender - better than I expected. No i7 performance, but perfectly serviceable
Inkscape - perfect
Mixcraft 7 - music production - great, but performance falls off a cliff if you start using vst's
emagic - very old version, lots of midi issues with the built in sound (but like I said before external soundcards work). Performance with vst's better
For home and light to intermediate office use - perfectly fine. If you are doing simple graphics, music work, then this is fine, if you start to get serious - look else where
All in all, baytrail is a MAJOR step up for Intel in the portable/light cpu world. Baytrail is a true contender for ARM based products. As for the Guleek, as you can see it's not bad at all. Hope this proves to be useful.
And yeah I have noticed that DX have removed it from their site - not sure why, but other Chinese online vendors sell it.
For emulation:-
Mame - great, but don't run the latest and greatest
NeoRageX - perfect - pocket size neogeo
Snes - perfect, you can't add all of the toys, but smoothing the graphics with smooth fps, sure
Sega Megadrive - perfect...... sigh..... perfect
PSX - as long as you don't turn on the toys - very good
For emulation, mini console, or the brain for a mame arcade machine - recommended
Steam gaming:-
Remember me (Capcom published game) I know overkill right? Well with everything on low, it runs at about 25-30 fps
Double Dragon Neon - Perfect (apart from the gradual slow issue)
GTR/GTR2/Race on (basically any Simbin racing game) - perfect with maxed out graphics and forcefeed back steering wheel
Geoff Crammons GP4 - very good with out mods, slowdown with mods
Dirt - on low settings great fun and still looks better than most of your mobile phone fodder
Grid - same as Dirt
Oblivion - every on low - very,very playable, and still manages to look better than the PS3 version (don't go beyond 720P)
Castle Crashers - a blast!!!
For the older, smaller lighter, indie (and some AAA) games, this could make for a nice casual gaming steam box, especially with a Logitech F710 wireless. It's handles racing sims pretty well (installing and trying to run Assetto Corsa was ..... just ....... wrong.......!!!!!)
Multimedia:-
Audio - The built in sound is 16bit 48Khz - not audiophile, but not horrific. Makes for a nice media/steaming box. I have tested my old Sound Blaster external soundcard, works perfectly and does enhance the sound.
Video - 1080P - like butter. SVP - NOT LIKE BUTTER!!!! Lol!!!!
Netflix - 1080P smoother than my bum
For multi-media this device excels. I think this is where Baytrail gets into it's stride. Movies, anime, music all handled without issue. Recommended for this function.
Home/Office:-
Open Office - perfect - loaded up a couple of beast class spreadsheets - fine, no slowdown
Websurfing - perfect, Firefox or Opera run very well. Internet Explorer is integrated nicely, but I don't use that browser
Blender - better than I expected. No i7 performance, but perfectly serviceable
Inkscape - perfect
Mixcraft 7 - music production - great, but performance falls off a cliff if you start using vst's
emagic - very old version, lots of midi issues with the built in sound (but like I said before external soundcards work). Performance with vst's better
For home and light to intermediate office use - perfectly fine. If you are doing simple graphics, music work, then this is fine, if you start to get serious - look else where
All in all, baytrail is a MAJOR step up for Intel in the portable/light cpu world. Baytrail is a true contender for ARM based products. As for the Guleek, as you can see it's not bad at all. Hope this proves to be useful.
And yeah I have noticed that DX have removed it from their site - not sure why, but other Chinese online vendors sell it.
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Ian J
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Excellent post, many thanks for your time spent trying all of these out.
Does your version of MAME have "Lucky & Wild" or "Super Chase: Criminal Termination"?
Neither is playable on the Pandora so would be interested to see how this copes.
When you say this how new do you mean?
Does your version of MAME have "Lucky & Wild" or "Super Chase: Criminal Termination"?
Neither is playable on the Pandora so would be interested to see how this copes.
thatgui
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Fully agree, a tiny bit disapppointed about emu performance though
elwing
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it seems steammachine will stay costly x86 machines...
but instead we'll get Steam Link
can't wait to get that, with the amount of game that should be great on TV I own I'll never make a better deal than buying one of those
but instead we'll get Steam Link
can't wait to get that, with the amount of game that should be great on TV I own I'll never make a better deal than buying one of those
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I see you already saw that, was about to post that here when I read it.it seems steammachine will stay costly x86 machines...
but instead we'll get Steam Link
can't wait to get that, with the amount of game that should be great on TV I own I'll never make a better deal than buying one of those
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