The ODROID U-series and X-series

The ODROID U2 and X2 are two smallish, squarish designs with a quad-core Samsung Exynos SoC (seems to be the most talked-about quad-core ARM SoC at the time of writing), which integrates Cortex-A9 CPU cores with MALI 400 graphics cores. The makers (Hardkernel of South Korea) claim gives them PC-class performance.

Specifications

	X	X2	U	U2
Processor	Exynos4412	Exynos4412 Prime	Exynos4412	Exynos4412 Prime
CPU Clock	1.4GHz	1.7GHz	1.4GHz	1.7GHz
GPU Clock	400MHz	440MHz	400MHz	440MHz
LPDDR2-DRAM Capacity(POP) Data Rate	1Gbyte / 800Mega	2Gbyte / 880Mega	1Gbyte / 800Mega	2Gbyte / 880Mega
Flash Card Slot	Full size SD	Full size SD	MicroSD	MicroSD
eMMC Connector	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port
USB2.0 Host	6 Ports	6 Ports	2 Ports	2 Ports
Audio Output	3.5mm Phone Jack	3.5mm Phone Jack	3.5mm Phone Jack	3.5mm Phone Jack
Audio Input	3.5mm Phone Jack	3.5mm Phone Jack	No	Digital Microphone
System Console UART(1.8Volt)	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port
Fast Ethernet(10/100Mbps)	LAN9514	LAN9514	LAN9730	LAN9730
USB2.0 Device (ADB/Mass Storage)	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port
HDMI with Digital Audio	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port	1 Port
MIPI Camera Interface	1 Port	1 Port	No	No
Parallel LCD / IO interface	50pin IO Port	50pin IO Port	No	No
DC Power	5V 2A	5V 2A	5V 2A	5V 2A
PCB Dimension	90 x 94mm	90 x 94mm	48 x 52mm	48 x 52mm
Heat Sink	45 x 45 x 12mm	45 x 45 x 23mm	56 x 59 x 60mm	56 x 59 x 60mm
Auto Power-on by DC Plug-in	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Price	$129	$135	$69	$89

VIA's APC range

Time was when you couldn't get an ARM development board without paying large sums of money, now it seems everyone and his dog is selling them. But even in amongst the plethora of Raspberry Pi's and Beaglebones and so on, VIA's APC (for Android PC) range of boards stands out because its Neo-ITX form factor fits in a standard (for PCs) Mini-ITX case (at 170mm x 85mm it is exactly half the size of the 170mm x 170mm Mini-ITX).

The APC range was launched in mid 2012 with the 8750 — a WonderMedia Prism 8750 SoC running at 800MHz with VGA and HMDI display ports, four USB 2.0 ports, one microSD slot, one 10/100 Ethernet port, audio-out/mic-in ports, 2GB NAND Flash and 512Mb DDR3 SDRAM, at a $49 price point. Android 2.3 rounds out the spec. And all this for a price of £39.99, $49.

Things stepped up in mid-January 2013 with the announcement of the Rock and Paper models for availability in March. the Rock is best described as a redesign of the 8750, using a newer, more powerful WonderMedia Prism 8950 (ARM Cortex-A9), the 2Gb flash is now 4 Gb, there's moer I/O options, and it's got Android 4.0 ICS instead of 2.3. The Paper model is basically the same as the Rock but in a compressed recycled paper case, made to look like a book, and with an aluminium strip to hold the ports, which are all on one side of the board. Paper also loses the VGA output and one of the USB ports, but is priced at $99 to the Rock's $79.

If you want to know more, VIA has created an entire website devoted to the APC range,

The OLinuXino iMX233 and A13

The OLinuXino project is run by the people at Olimex.com. This is a completely open-source project, software and hardware, right down to the CAD files for the boards.

There are two sub-projects: the older iMX233 boards and the newer A13 boards.

The iMX233 is named after the processor used: a Freescale i.mx233 running at 454 MHz. Freescale refer to this as an "application processor", while Olimex call it simply a microcontroller. Either way, don't expect too much oomph out of this beastie, but it does help to keep the board cheap: 30 euros is the target cost. Olimex describe these boards as suitable for machine control and home automation. Boards range in size from micro through mini to maxi, i/o possibilities differ according to size, and prices go from 24 euros to 45 euros. All boards have an SD card connector for the Linux boot image.

The A13 is also named after the processor used; in this case it's the Allwinner A13 SoC (a single-core ARM Cortex A8 cpu paired with an ARM MALI 400 gpu).

The Allwinner A13 is a cheaper version of their A10, so these boards compare with the first generation of sticks. The main difference is that the A13 does not support HDMI out. These boards therefore offer only VGA and LCD output options for video. Suitable LCDs are available from Olimex.

As with the iMX233 boards, there is a range of the A13 boards, with micro and standard sizes, and with wi-fi as an option. Prices range from 35 euros to 55 euros.

The Gooseberry

The Gooseberry is an uncased board with a 1Ghz Allwinner A10 processor (overclockable to 1.5Ghz), 512MB RAM, a Mali-400 GPU, 4GB of onboard storage (NAND flash), and a microSD card slot for up to 32GB of additional space. It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The boards are priced at £40, £45 with a cable bundle. Supplies seem erratic.

The suppliers, atspace.co.uk (a UK ISP), describe the Gooseberry as a small tablet PCBA, and say that it's sourced from china. T^o be clear, it's not a tablet-style board, its a board that actually goes into some, so far unnamed, Android tablet(s). Atspace have neither designed nor manufactured the board themselves.

Although the suppliers claim that the Gooseberry can run Ubuntu or any other (properly configured) Linux distro, they note that some recent change to the board (made, presumably, by the manufacturers for their own reasons), it no longer boots reliably from the micro SD card.

The Gooseberry project seems to have been started out of irritation with the Raspberry Pi's slipping shipping dates. With the small size of the batches being ordered from the manufacturers, and the limited activity on the project's home pages, I have to say it looks a bit moribund now.

The Cubieboard

Well described by one wag as "a slightly higher specification Raspberry Pi, for slightly more money", the Cubieboard is an uncased board measuring 100mm by 60mm sporting an AllWinner A10 (ARM Cortex A8 + ARM Mali 400) running at 1Ghz.

512M/1GB DDR3 @480MHz, HDMI 1080p video out, 10/100M Ethernet, 4Gb Nand Flash, 2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 infrared port and two 2x24 2.0mm male header expansion ports (including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT and R-TP) round out the spec. It runs Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

The Cubieboard seems popular, and at the time of writing was out of stock at several of its distributors (see the list here).

There's a thriving community around the Cubieboard, including a Google+ group and a traditional forum.

Stick PC buyer's survival guide - part 1

As of now there are broadly two generations of stick PCs still available in the market.

First generation sticks had a single core Allwinner A10 SoC, so if you see that in the tech specs you can be sure it's a early model. They can still be attractive because of their very low price: around £38, $50. [Despite its name, the Allwinner A10 has an ARM Cortex A8 CPU (which, despite its name, contains an ARMv7 instruction set architecture processor). Unbelievably, this information will actually make things clearer further on... The A10 also incorporates an ARM MALI 400 graphics processor.] These models tend to be a bit on the slow side, sport an older version of Android and can be short of RAM (512k is common). Plus, some of the older models could get a bit hot...

Second generation sticks [that's the current crop] all seem to have gone for the Rockchip RK3066 SoC, which pairs a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 (still ARMv7 architecture) with a quad-core ARM MALI 400 gpu. They also tend to be clocked a little higher. For these reasons, they are a bit faster than the first generation. RAM tends to be standardised at 1 gig, which also helps, and flash memory at 8/16 gig. The second generation units may also have better electrical and thermal charateristics. They run either Android 4.0 or, very lately, 4.1. Perhaps because of the tendency to add features and engineering smarts, these devices cost about half as much again as the first generation ones — £50 to £60, around $75.

You need to know beforehand how you are mostly going to be using your unit: plugged into a TV in your living room, whether primarily as a media centre or primarily as a computer, or plugged into a monitor on a desk. If in a TV in your living room, you are going to need to control it remotely: at the very least an infrared or Bluetooth mouse (an "air mouse"), perhaps also a remote keyboard (you can also get mouse/keyboard combos). If in a monitor, you might be better plugging a USB mouse and USB keyboard into a USB hub and attaching that to the stick.

Be aware that most models will output audio through the TV speakers if attached to a TV; if attached to a monitor without inbuilt speakers, there will be no sound. If you want to use a monitor AND have sound, look for an audio output port on the stick [I don't currently know if they will work with USB speakers].

Welcome to Stick PCs

Stick PCs are complete smartphone-class systems in a USB-stick form factor and intended for desktop and media centre use. They started to appear in mid-2012 and are perhaps the most rapidly evolving devices on the market today.

Here at Stick PCs we will be reviewing new products, analysing market trends and helping you find the stick that's right for you.