After so many years, Ubuntu has not really broken into the PC market (with few exceptions).
One opportunity might be in the low-end cheap fanless PCs. A TV Box with 2 GB RAM can be had for about 30 to $40, including delivery, and would make a wonderful FANLESS PC. The cheapest Intel mini PCs start at about $120.
I am a long-time Lubuntu user and absolutely love it. It runs well on 2 GB RAM and will manage even on 1 GB RAM. It uses only 138 MB of RAM at idle. Lubuntu is Ubuntu + LXDE.
Lubuntu has a version for the Raspberry Pi. However, even the Raspberry Pi comes out twice as expensive as a Tv Box once you add all the extras and postage. And, it is not for a general audience.
It could even be a new Ubuntu flavor.
Existing expertise:
-
Lubuntu already has a certain expertise with arm processors from developing its Raspberry Pi version.
-
Armbian is a system that could be installed on a TV box. However, as a private issue I would not trust it for doing my banking and other stuff. Only an official distro would do. Armbian is also incredibly difficult to install and is full of bugs.
-
http://www.geekbox.tv/ is also doing something of what I am talking about. Again, it is not an official distro.
By uniting their efforts to developing an official distro: they would not only save time but could make a lot of money. Anyone else could also do it.
I personally have a rooted TX3 mini TV box that has an amlogic S905X processor. I very much hope that a Ubuntu version could be developed for it. Other common processor for TV boxes are the s905w and s912. There are also some RK processors.
This is related to: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2396324&p=13786925#post13786925
People a the forum suggested I post it here.
Thank you all.
Hi, I’m the Lubuntu developer at the moment.
Are you kidding? Raspberry Pis are super mainstream at this point. ![:slight_smile: :slight_smile:](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=12)
Up to today, that’s been done by the fine folks over at the Ubuntu Pi Flavour [sic] Maker Team. So while we do provide testing feedback, we’re really not the ones developing it.
I’m not entirely sure what your request is here, either way. Here’s a couple of concerns I have:
- An absolute prerequisite is that there is mainline support in the Linux kernel and Debian has a port for it.
- The devices should be around for a little bit to make sure they won’t disappear tomorrow.
- Who’s going to do the work here?
Just my two cents.
Thanks.
1 Like
This is a serious matter. There are some people out there connected to the Chinese tv box makers, who are doing good work on porting , Lubuntu, Ubuntu Mate to their boxes.
The devs are here, they maybe able to do something about this, as they can code. Hope this will take some speed.
http://www.geekbox.tv/2018/06/geekbox-flashing-or-installing-lubuntu.html
http://www.geekbox.tv/2018/06/geekbox-first-steps-in-lubuntu.html
2 Likes
That’s cool. How much ram and storage do these boxes have? Typically most media boxes sold that I’ve seen, are rather limited at 16Gib and 1 or 2 Gib of ram. I’d be tempted if one could get 128/4/8 GiB on these things to install Linux and Kodi on one.
If you’d go to the known online shops, you’d find quite a lot of them. They won’t go away, the ARM processors would be more. Amlogic S912, for example is 8 core.
There won’t be much of a problem installing on TV boxes with Intel processors, but those are quite expensive. A 3GB/64GB S912 octa core processor and with Mali T820MP3 gpu with Android 7.12 and with a voice control remote control, dual wifi and so on at ~78$ is a real deal. If Lubuntu can be installed in 30GB partition to dual boot. It’d be a super deal.
1 Like
I found another “box” with Dual OS here. And, guy explaining how that Dual OS is installed here. Android 7.1.2 and Ubuntu Mate 16.04.
1 Like