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Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick
- voltagex_ 11y agoKudos to Google for building this one, but I've gotta wonder what drove the decision to use Rockchip. I'll be very interested if firmware flashing tools / kernel sources become available for this.
- sowbug 11y agoIt's the same RK3288 chip as the one in the ASUS Chromebook Flip and Hisense Chromebook. All three devices are low priced. It's likely that price drove the decision to try Rockchip.
- voltagex_ 11y agoRight, turns out my Rockchip knowledge is very outdated. Nothing on eLinux.org about RK3288 which is a bit of a worry.
- pgeorgi 11y agoIt's veyron_mickey, supported by upstream coreboot (https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/tree/master/src/mainboard/google/veyron_mickey https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/tree/master/src/mainboa...) As for Linux, other veyron devices (that's the RK3288 family of Chrome OS systems) are already supported in upstream (look for veyron on http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/arch/arm/boot/dts/ http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/arch/arm/boot/dts/), so I expect that this will follow as soon as the Linux development process allows.
- viraptor 11y agoIf it supports both chromecast and some reasonable open protocol screen sharing, I'd really like to upgrade my chromecast stick. While I'm usually happy with android/chrome integration, there are times when I want to cast some app, or even someone else's itunes. Currently that's not possible. If this can destroy some garden walls, I'll be happy to pay.
- tonteldoos 11y agoI wonder how much it shares with the cromecast, and whether (possibly) being able to hack at this, will open up the chromecast a little. Should be interesting to watch, since I expect there might be a few spare chromecasts lying around now ;-)
- Sanddancer 11y agoAccording to the people who rooted the chromecast a couple years ago -- https://blog.exploitee.rs/2013/chromecast-exploiting-the-newest-device-by-google/ https://blog.exploitee.rs/2013/chromecast-exploiting-the-new... -- the chromecast is using a modified Google TV base. So any hacking between the two platforms wouldn't be easily transferred. Even with the chromecast 2, there probably won't be easily transferable exploits as that is using a Marvell chip at its core.
- pgeorgi 11y agoThe Chromebit is similar to the Asus C201 ("Flip") Chromebook. Chromecast has very different lineage.
- dil8 11y agoCan I install Arch on this?
- jmhain 11y agoProbably not easily, if at all. Additionally, it's ARM so you'd be limited to what's available in Arch Linux ARM. There's a Linux version of the very similar Intel Compute Stick for about $110 that you may be interested in.
- Sanddancer 11y agoHonestly, you don't want the Linux version of the compute stick. It's got a gig of RAM and 8 gigs of flash. Getting a windows stick for the increase in RAM and flash, and then doing a nuke and pave seems like a much easier route.
- something123 11y agoThe Asus Flip has very similar hardware (same chip) and it runs Arch ARM. http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/index.html http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/index.html So almost definitely yes...
- eljimmy 11y agoThat review sure didn't sound very positive lol
- eatonphil 11y agoFor anyone confused/interested like I was, this is an ARM device.
- monochromatic 11y agoI'm trying to figure out what in the world people are going to use these for. Single-app kiosk? Sure, but that's gotta be a tiny market. TV streaming box? Maybe, but it's not clear to me that it really offers anything I care about that isn't already done by Chromecast/Roku. I dunno. It's kind of a cool idea, but it feels like a solution in search of a problem.
- rtl49 11y agoI think there is a demographic of casual internet users who might be interested in this product. It's inexpensive and occupies little space, one need only provide peripherals and a monitor. It runs ChromeOS, which is reputed to be very secure (except from Google) and easy to use. Yes, the kiosk application seems of dubious value, if only because people tend to prefer touchscreen kiosks. But I don't believe you are correct that this solves no problem. Where before one might buy a $300 HP tower for one's grandmother, this product is a less expensive and possibly superior alternative.
- viraptor 11y agoYou can get a touch panel and put it over the screen. A lot of them just work with X server. Connect to the usb port and you're done.
- rtl49 11y agoI don't know that ChromeOS uses X server (I know almost nothing about it, in fact). But by the time you've paid for the additional hardware, it may be the case that it's cheaper to buy a tablet or a professional-grade IDS display.
- sunnyps 11y agoChromeOS doesn't use X11 any more. It uses a custom graphics stack called Ozone[1] that runs on top of libDRM on Linux and uses features such as hardware overlays which are common now that X11 knows nothing about. [1] https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/ozone https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/ozone
- dazzla 11y agoCould be useful for a conference room TV. Slides, hangouts video, demos, etc.
- mappu 11y agoSee also: the Intel Compute Stick (RRP 150USD) which runs x86 windows, useful for basically the same scenarios but also Steam in-home streaming.
- hackaflocka 11y agoDo you know if one has to buy Windows separately for the Intel Compute Stick?
- mappu 11y agoIIRC it has two SKUs, one with windows bundled and more RAM; one with Ubuntu bundled and less RAM.
- hobs 11y agoI heard it wasnt that great (http://gizmodo.com/intel-compute-stick-review-don-t-buy-it-1699377058 http://gizmodo.com/intel-compute-stick-review-don-t-buy-it-1...) any personal experience?
- mappu 11y agoI have one, no complaints whatsoever for streaming 1080p hi10p over wifi-n with kodi or MPC-HC. I would agree with the article when it complains that (A) streaming requires good wifi, and (B) an Atom isn't as powerful a desktop workstation as an i3/i5. They seem self-evident to me and as an HTPC i'm quite happy with it. Steam streaming was my specific use case, so now that the Steam Link is out, i might have purchased a cheaper arm device and attempted to port or RE its software.
- hobs 11y agoCool, thanks. I was thinking about buying one for parents but the whole bluetooth/wifi at the same time having problems spooked me, I will probably pick one up!
- trarman 11y ago
- anindyabd 11y agoIt's interesting that after Amazon stopped selling the Chromecast Google is still letting them sell the Chromebit.
- ossreality 11y agoWhy? Amazon doesn't have a direct competitor with a "computer on a thumbdrive with an HDMI connector". Well, they do, but it's sold as "media center on a thumbdrive with an HDMI connector" and that's what a Chromecast is.
- nkozyra 11y agoLikely because Amazon has no competitive product (yet).
- tshtf 11y agoossreality, you appear to be hellbanned.
- jsmeaton 11y agoWhat I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.
- peterhadlaw 11y agoRaspberry PI has pretty much what you're looking for. I one set up exactly for this purpose.
- jsmeaton 11y agoI've been thinking about a raspberry pi for this purpose but I'd prefer something already packaged up (even if it was a pi underneath).
- Washuu 11y agoOnce the case, wireless adapter, and a few other items are added in to make the Raspberry Pi 2 function as a nice HTPC it comes out to about $100. The same cost for much less hardware.
- codfrantic 11y agoI only used a Pi (1B) (20$) 4GB SD Card (5$?) case (6$) and hdmi cable (0.5$) My TV has HDMI CEC built in which means my tv remote works with the OSMC / Kodi / etc install. This gets me to a total of 31.5$ for my full HD supporting mediacenter :) (the case is even optional since it sits on the back of my TV, out of sight)
- datashaman 11y agohttp://www.xbian.org/ http://www.xbian.org/ XBian is a small, fast and lightweight media center distribution for the Raspberry Pi, CuBox-i, Hummingboard and many more devices to come. It is based on a minimal Debian and therefore offers much of the same freedom as Debian offers. Very simple to install and get running.
- protomyth 11y agoI wonder as USB-C gains popularity, will we see a USB-C stick?
- peteretep 11y agoI have wondered this myself. Would make a pretty interesting next-gen Mac Mini.
- gcb0 11y ago> almost what everyone though the Chromecast was
- loginusername 11y agoBootloader? Can we use our own? Network settings? Is this like Chromecast where they try to prevent the user from changing them (gateway, DNS, etc.)?
- pgeorgi 11y agoboot process: coreboot plus depthcharge, like every Chrome OS device (since 2013 or so). network settings: like every Chrome OS device it defaults to DHCP with whatever comes through that (incl. DNS), but can be manually configured.
- annnnd 11y agoA few ideas how to make it better: - include a small screen so I can still do stuff even if I don't have TV at hand - use touch screen so I can use it without mouse / keyboard too - use Android instead of Chrome OS so I can play games with it - while you are at it, can this thing make phone calls too? In other words, why not just make it simple to plug an Android smartphone to peripherals (screen, mouse, keyboard)? That would be much more valuable to me. Also, why is there just one USB port? If I were to use such a stick the first thing I would add to it is a separate USB hub just so I can use it... why do I need to carry two pieces of HW around? EDIT: reformatting. EDIT2: can someone explain the downvotes? My point is that I don't see a niche that couldn't be better served by a smartphone, especially if you could plug in the peripherals.
- Jedd 11y agoTo answer your EDIT2 - I suspect it's because your main / original post was somewhere between not-funny, and not-useful. That is, you described a device that already exists (a mobile phone) in a roundabout way, and seem to be demanding that this device should be yet another mobile phone -- rather than considering the features of this particular device as delivered. It's possible that neither ASUS or Google considered the option of making a mobile phone, but this seems unlikely. It's equally unlikely they could develop the same kind of CPU/AV grunt along with the features you want and still ship at USD$85. To your other questions - there's one USB port because this is intended to plug into something else (specifically using HDMI), and not have a deskload worth of cruft plugged in to it. As observed in the article most people will use BT mouse & keyboard. Network (802.11ac) is built in. What use more USB?
- annnnd 11y agoThanks for the clarification on downvotes, I guess you are right. As far as BT mice and keyboards goes, well, I wouldn't want to give them to my grandmother. What happens when battery goes out? Yes, she could always put it in charger, but why is this any better than regular USB cable then? But I recognize that some people like (and use) BT peripherals, so there might be a market for it. I agree with your other comments, I'm sure my idea is not unique. If I'm not mistaken, MS is working in this direction (and has some advantage here because their OS is more desktop oriented anyway).
- hyperpallium 11y agoMore specs at anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromebit-cs10-hdmi-stick http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromeb... Its Mali T764 GPU seems more powerful than an xbox360: the T760 has 326 GFLOPS; xbox360 xenos GPU has about 240 GFLOPS. Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 makes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) These PC sticks have been around for years... I wonder if the killer app will be 4K streaming? 4K TV's look great, but no TV programming available; no media (4K blu-rays are not out yet); downloading 40GB takes too long; whereas streaming is popular.
- msh 11y agoDont all 4K TV's have a 4K capable netflix app build in?
- baddox 11y agoFor the big brand TVs, yes. Most seem to have some set of Amazon and YouTube 4K support as well. My new TV is missing YouTube 4K support, because apparently they use a different codec than Netflix and Amazon.
- oflordal 11y ago>Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 It says it is a 4 core device.
- jra101 11y ago326 GFLOPS is with 16 GPU cores. Most likely it has 4 GPU cores which would be ~82 GFLOPS @ 600 MHz.
- Rubu 11y agoYeah, I think so too. There's a list [0] over here with common mobile GPU specs which states the same (actually denotes T764 as an alternate name for T760 MP4). Not sure what his/her source is though so take it with a grain of salt. [0] http://kyokojap.myweb.hinet.net/gpu_gflops/ http://kyokojap.myweb.hinet.net/gpu_gflops/
- bad_user 11y agoIt's a pity that it needs a power adapter though, with the standard USB port not sufficing for the needed power. That ruins the feng shui.
- codfrantic 11y agoMy Samsung TV has a USB port specced for connecting an HDD (for recordings and such) This port provides my Raspberry Pi running OSMC with enough power to work flawlessly.
- scott_karana 11y agoThat, and I hate that Google's product shots always omit even the USB port, much less showing the power supply in action. It's really deceptive advertising... :/
- netcan 11y agoLowering prices and adding form factors is great, but for me, I kind of wish they the chrome project had started immediately after rather than before the smartphone revolution. I think they got locked into "The Web is Enough." Smartphones reminded us that apps matter too. Chrombooks sell well, apparently, but I rarely see them in the world. I just think it's past time for a new desktop OS. Windows is not a great option for most home users. OSX's job is to sell a premium apple product. I wish there was an android of laptops and I think chrome OS would be doing it if not for the bad timing. It might also be the a solution for TV.
- mkohlmyr 11y agoWhat "app" are you saying matters that couldn't be built as a chrome app? It's just a different platform. It could be argued it's a better platform than most operating systems and more similar to the smartphone app model than not. I still have faith in chrome os as an idea. I really believe most personal machines will be front-ends only. There is no reason I should need more computing power than it takes to display things on my screen. I look forward to the day I have a passive box running git and ssh and I can run a terminal and editor in a browser tab wherever whenever I need to from a usb stick. In fact I don't know why that stick couldn't also be my phone.
- kirk21 11y agoThat's so cool. Link to the product: http://goo.gl/T1km6m http://goo.gl/T1km6m
- thebosz 11y agoThanks for using an affiliate link to Amazon!
- terinjokes 11y agoNon-affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0181JTPCU/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0181JTPCU/
- sklogic 11y agoThe main question is how hard would it be to install a proper Linux on this device. ChromeOS is useless.
- Roritharr 11y agoThe pricing is ridiculous. In Germany it costs 120€. I really don't get why Google is constantly making their products so unaffordable here. That makes it slightly more expensive than the Intel Compute Stick with Win 8.1 which goes for 110€
- ollie87 11y agoExactly, they are £90 here in the UK. For £120 I could build a mITX machine that would destroy this. (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/9LffwP http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/9LffwP) - Granted it's not as small, but who really cares? For £200 I could buy a Chromebook, but instead I bought a ASUS X205TA for £85 from eBay on sale (I had vouchers etc, but even without them it would've been £130). Yes the trackpad isn't as good, but the build quality is okay and it runs Windows 10 absolutely fine for what I use it for.
- smeyer 11y ago>Granted it's not as small, but who really cares? Isn't one of the primary points of this product the extreme size? It seems like an unreasonable comparison if you dismiss that.
- Keyframe 11y agoSomehow either tech companies think we (europe) are made of money or something about our tax/import system is wrong.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- Roritharr 11y agoThis here is an absurdly better deal: http://www.amazon.de/X8-Tablet-Desktop-Windows-Android/dp/B013DDPLHM/ http://www.amazon.de/X8-Tablet-Desktop-Windows-Android/dp/B0... It comes with a touchscreen and all the ports you'd ever want.
- vinay427 11y ago
- cdnsteve 11y agoCouldn't something like this replace a networked based OS (Windows) that use a dumb network base, keyboard, mouse and screen in a corporate environment? AKA: VDI You could walk around with this computer stick and plug in wherever there's a keyboard, mouse and monitor...
- swiley 11y agoHow on earth is that better then a raspberry pi?
- vive-la-liberte 11y ago>it’s a pretty unassuming device that’s mostly meant to disappear behind your screen anyway (hence why I’m not sure why there is an orange version) One reason for having an orange one is it's easier to spot when it's time to unplug.
- mark_l_watson 11y agoI might have a use case for this. I bought a Toshiba Chromebook 2 this year and I am surprised how much I use it for work since it supports SSH shells, and my web based writing setup. I have a nice 1080p monitor sitting on my desk that I seldom use. With this device it could morph into an always setup desktop version of my Chromebook. I mostly just use my laptops when I need IntelliJ for coding tasks, otherwise "lesser" devices like my iPad and Chromebook meet my needs.
- TelmoMenezes 11y agoI wish that every time people wrote "use case", they would ask themselves if removing "case" changes anything. Example: I might have a use for this.
- ytjohn 11y agoThis is great. For the last several years, I have had a ChromeBox connected to my tv. If lets me play amazon video, netflix, regular hulu (non-plus), nickelodeon, and just about anything out there that doesn't require silverlight. In another room, I have plex serving up all my local media. A k400 wireless keyboard/trackpad combo makes it work anywhere. Prior to that, I spent a lot of time messing with android sticks, either with android or putting linux on them. Neither Hulu or Amazon prime work on Android, and if you switched to linux, you couldn't get flash to work. So while I probably won't be replacing my chromebox anytime soon (actually, I also like the better performance of having a wired network connection), I could see putting something like this on a monitor in my office. And if I want something more featured, I'm sure someone will get linux working on here ala crosh.
- randerson 11y agoAlso see the $99 Lenovo Stick which runs Windows 10: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ideacentre-Stick-Computer-90F20000US/dp/B014644NPI/ref=sr_1_1 http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ideacentre-Stick-Computer-90F20...
- mikewhy 11y agoand the MeegoPad T01 / T02: http://www.amazon.com/Meegopad-Pre-Installed-Activated-Windows-Bluetooth/dp/B00Z8VZ6E6/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=ABZVBZVO3I42Y http://www.amazon.com/Meegopad-Pre-Installed-Activated-Windo... Looks like they have the same insides.
- plg 11y agocan you wipe and install linux?
- xigency 11y agoWhile this is surely interesting, it sort of ignores the point of what a computer is. Look at the Raspberry Pi for example. It affords a computer for $20-$30 or less than half this price, for something that simply computes without the peripherals. If someone needs a computer for free they can go to the library. While the 'Chrome OS' might be more powerful than a Pi, you would never know since all it does is connect to the Internet. The amount of storage is also irrelevant since most users won't figure out how to store anything on the stick and flash storage is approaching $0-$2 in price.
- ilurk 11y agoHow much control can you get in one of these things? Are the drivers open source? Could you install GNU/Linux and get a full FOSS system? Since Chromebit also has an USB port, could you boot an untrusted desktop or laptop with it?