GV2-B device and its applications
I recently ordered one such device on one of the Chinese resources, with the unpretentious name GV-2B.
It is not possible to determine who the manufacturer is, suppliers skillfully hide it, hiding behind a weak knowledge of English.
I hesitated to choose between a GV-3 on the Cortex A9 with a Mali400MP (on the Amlogic 8726-M) of the same GV-2B form factor, and a stick (not much more than a USB stick), also on the Cortex A9, entirely built on the Renesas reference board . The disadvantage of the latter is a reduced number of connectors (there is HDMI, 1xUSB and 1xmicroSD). Initially, I planned to take the Raspberry Pi, I had already ordered a case, a USB hub, WiFi and Bluetooth plugs, a power supply, but it turned out that the Raspberry wasn’t exclusively shipped to Russia. Good guys from ModMyPi, selling cases to it, promised to order several pieces and send them to the Russian Federation together with the order of cases, but for now silence.
It was probably worth taking the GV-3, but judging by the reviews, the Rockchip 2918 is not far behind , and in some places and faster than the Amlogic 8726-M, other things being equal.
It must be said, in just 8 days, which is the exception to the rule. Having felt my desire to create a service to assist in the return of delivery amounts in case of delayed mail, I did everything as it should normally do.
')
I'll tell you a little about the device itself, and about what it is done on, and how I plan to use it.
A box with photos of the fact that the device allegedly may be completely unnecessary to the user technical specification.
Reduced 3 "CD.
The device itself.
Power supply 5V 2A.
Remote Control. As I understand it, it works in the IR band, and not at 2.4 GHz.
HDMI cord. The HDMI version is not written on the cord, which raises suspicions about its quality and ability to work in 1.3 mode.
3xRCA-jack 3.5mm cord, suitable for connecting to the component input (YPbPr), as well as to composite + audio.
Rockchip 2918 Cortex A8 1.2GHz processor with Mali400 3D GPU.
Memory 512MB DDR3,4GB.
Communications WiFi b / g / n, IrDA, RJ45, HDMI, SPDIF, 4xUSB 2.0, SDCard.
Android OS 2.3
The device did not turn on. The voltmeter showed that the remote unit is dead. Fortunately, I had a universal power supply, and it all worked at 4.5V at max. current 1400mA (standard was 5V 2000mA).
The device turned on and showed its menu consisting of 5 items (immediately in English):
- Settings (familiar to owners of Android devices);
- view files from devices (SD Card, USB, DLNA);
- Watch videos from YouTube and Tudou (Chinese Youtube);
- applications;
- browser.
It took me about 15 minutes to drive a 14-character password on WPA WiFi using the included remote and an on-screen keyboard, almost led to a nervous breakdown, and ended up not being accepted by the router. I had to use the connection with the press of a button on the router.
To use the browser after driving in the password, the desire is gone completely. So I got into the Youtube section, and watched a couple of videos. Immediately, I note that the video does not scale to full screen, and if the video is only in 320 to 200 format (of which YouTube is not small), then on the TV screen it will occupy 4% of the screen, and in order to consider something, you will have to sit closer . Much closer.
When you select a video, a list of available resolutions and formats is loaded, and only flv is normally played. WebM twitches nervously, but 3gpp and mp4 do not play trite. Videos are loaded quite briskly and play without slowing down.
In the applications, the Android Market was discovered, which, when loaded, reported that it was out of date and is going to give way to Google Play, which was installed in a couple of minutes. Using Play from the remote is difficult, not all controls are available for navigation with buttons (including Top Rated, Free stuff, etc.). The very first loaded and installed application did not work, taking off without any errors at startup. Well, traditionally for Android.
Everywhere Android mistakenly calls the device "phone" (phone).
I have a positive evaluation of the device. The mystery remains a gray platform on the control panel. As a touchpad, it does not work, and on a photocell, the contaminating battery is also not very similar.
Evaluation of embedded software 3 out of 10 points.
From all this we can conclude that in its current form the device is ready for use as a DLNA file player or from a USB flash drive, but nothing more, but for this I was ready.
The result of unscrewing the 8 screws. In principle, nothing interesting. Holographic sticker after disassembly-assembly miraculously remained intact.
The first thing I want to download to the device is Archlinux-ARM via an SD card, and later flash it on the built-in flash memory. I still do not understand how it will be labor-intensive. In devices based on the AllWinner A10 (Cortex A8) processor, the SD card always takes precedence over the built-in flash memory, which protects the device from poking.
I have a good selection of software (XBMC, ...), which will allow to use the device as a full-fledged set-top box for the TV, with blackjack and torrents.
Connect the Wii remote control. For these purposes, a previously purchased Wii bar is suitable, which is simply a set of infrared diodes, a Bluetooth plug into a USB port and an existing Wii console. This will allow you to play Quake, and maybe what else.
Connect several popular and working in the Russian Federation services that provide video and audio content.
Pour onto Astesisk / FreeSwitch device for home office use.
Some kind of MacMini, with a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Unless, of course, satisfied with the performance.
I ordered a monitor with an aspect ratio of 4 to 3 and an ergonomic keyboard.
But all this is the topic for the next posts and blog DIY.
The price of the device at $ 65 makes it quite affordable, but the delivery cost has been solid.
GV-2B $ 65
Bluetooth plug $ 1.5
Wii Bar $ 7
Wii Remote $ 15
Shipping $ 40
Total: $ 128.5 (about 4t.r.)
PS Week of gadgets on Habré ( 1 , 2 )!
It is not possible to determine who the manufacturer is, suppliers skillfully hide it, hiding behind a weak knowledge of English.
I hesitated to choose between a GV-3 on the Cortex A9 with a Mali400MP (on the Amlogic 8726-M) of the same GV-2B form factor, and a stick (not much more than a USB stick), also on the Cortex A9, entirely built on the Renesas reference board . The disadvantage of the latter is a reduced number of connectors (there is HDMI, 1xUSB and 1xmicroSD). Initially, I planned to take the Raspberry Pi, I had already ordered a case, a USB hub, WiFi and Bluetooth plugs, a power supply, but it turned out that the Raspberry wasn’t exclusively shipped to Russia. Good guys from ModMyPi, selling cases to it, promised to order several pieces and send them to the Russian Federation together with the order of cases, but for now silence.
It was probably worth taking the GV-3, but judging by the reviews, the Rockchip 2918 is not far behind , and in some places and faster than the Amlogic 8726-M, other things being equal.
It must be said, in just 8 days, which is the exception to the rule. Having felt my desire to create a service to assist in the return of delivery amounts in case of delayed mail, I did everything as it should normally do.
')
I'll tell you a little about the device itself, and about what it is done on, and how I plan to use it.
Kit
A box with photos of the fact that the device allegedly may be completely unnecessary to the user technical specification.
Reduced 3 "CD.
The device itself.
Power supply 5V 2A.
Remote Control. As I understand it, it works in the IR band, and not at 2.4 GHz.
HDMI cord. The HDMI version is not written on the cord, which raises suspicions about its quality and ability to work in 1.3 mode.
3xRCA-jack 3.5mm cord, suitable for connecting to the component input (YPbPr), as well as to composite + audio.
Specification
Rockchip 2918 Cortex A8 1.2GHz processor with Mali400 3D GPU.
Memory 512MB DDR3,4GB.
Communications WiFi b / g / n, IrDA, RJ45, HDMI, SPDIF, 4xUSB 2.0, SDCard.
Android OS 2.3
First impressions
The device did not turn on. The voltmeter showed that the remote unit is dead. Fortunately, I had a universal power supply, and it all worked at 4.5V at max. current 1400mA (standard was 5V 2000mA).
The device turned on and showed its menu consisting of 5 items (immediately in English):
- Settings (familiar to owners of Android devices);
- view files from devices (SD Card, USB, DLNA);
- Watch videos from YouTube and Tudou (Chinese Youtube);
- applications;
- browser.
It took me about 15 minutes to drive a 14-character password on WPA WiFi using the included remote and an on-screen keyboard, almost led to a nervous breakdown, and ended up not being accepted by the router. I had to use the connection with the press of a button on the router.
To use the browser after driving in the password, the desire is gone completely. So I got into the Youtube section, and watched a couple of videos. Immediately, I note that the video does not scale to full screen, and if the video is only in 320 to 200 format (of which YouTube is not small), then on the TV screen it will occupy 4% of the screen, and in order to consider something, you will have to sit closer . Much closer.
When you select a video, a list of available resolutions and formats is loaded, and only flv is normally played. WebM twitches nervously, but 3gpp and mp4 do not play trite. Videos are loaded quite briskly and play without slowing down.
In the applications, the Android Market was discovered, which, when loaded, reported that it was out of date and is going to give way to Google Play, which was installed in a couple of minutes. Using Play from the remote is difficult, not all controls are available for navigation with buttons (including Top Rated, Free stuff, etc.). The very first loaded and installed application did not work, taking off without any errors at startup. Well, traditionally for Android.
Everywhere Android mistakenly calls the device "phone" (phone).
I have a positive evaluation of the device. The mystery remains a gray platform on the control panel. As a touchpad, it does not work, and on a photocell, the contaminating battery is also not very similar.
Evaluation of embedded software 3 out of 10 points.
From all this we can conclude that in its current form the device is ready for use as a DLNA file player or from a USB flash drive, but nothing more, but for this I was ready.
A bit of hardcore
The result of unscrewing the 8 screws. In principle, nothing interesting. Holographic sticker after disassembly-assembly miraculously remained intact.
My great DIY plans
The first thing I want to download to the device is Archlinux-ARM via an SD card, and later flash it on the built-in flash memory. I still do not understand how it will be labor-intensive. In devices based on the AllWinner A10 (Cortex A8) processor, the SD card always takes precedence over the built-in flash memory, which protects the device from poking.
Media Player / Game Console to TV
I have a good selection of software (XBMC, ...), which will allow to use the device as a full-fledged set-top box for the TV, with blackjack and torrents.
Connect the Wii remote control. For these purposes, a previously purchased Wii bar is suitable, which is simply a set of infrared diodes, a Bluetooth plug into a USB port and an existing Wii console. This will allow you to play Quake, and maybe what else.
Connect several popular and working in the Russian Federation services that provide video and audio content.
Telephone exchange
Pour onto Astesisk / FreeSwitch device for home office use.
My next PC
Some kind of MacMini, with a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Unless, of course, satisfied with the performance.
I ordered a monitor with an aspect ratio of 4 to 3 and an ergonomic keyboard.
But all this is the topic for the next posts and blog DIY.
Issue price
The price of the device at $ 65 makes it quite affordable, but the delivery cost has been solid.
GV-2B $ 65
Bluetooth plug $ 1.5
Wii Bar $ 7
Wii Remote $ 15
Shipping $ 40
Total: $ 128.5 (about 4t.r.)
PS Week of gadgets on Habré ( 1 , 2 )!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/145601/
All Articles