[U-Boot] Seeking ARM development platform suggestions

[Stefan Roese <sr@denx.de>]

Hi Graeme,

On 08/21/2012 05:12 AM, Graeme Russ wrote:
>> 2)
>> I have a Mele A2000
>> (http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/04/04/mele-a2000-android-2-3-media-player-powered-by-allwinner-a10/)
> 
> This looks promising at ~ AU$100 with USB, SD/MMC, VGA, HDMI, SATA,
> Ethernet, WiFi, Sound w/ Optical Out
> 
>> which fancier in the Android department (JB4.1 available) and have Linux
>> images, but needs extra dongle for serial. Could "just about" be a
>> mediaplayer for locally attached media (maybe) but once you add network play
>> and a greater selection of codecs, it moves into "not ready to be a full
>> mediaplayer".
> 
> How far off would it be? If I put a really trimmed down Linux xmbc, do
> you think it could handle it?
> 
>> Also not in mainline u-boot, but the u-boot available is less hacky.
> 
> I've seen some comments on a few review sites mentioning U-Boot
> 
>> Neither run XBMC enough to be useful.
> 
> Oh :( - just how far off do you think?

See Jorgen's mail on this. I also followed this XBMC thread closely, as
I'm looking for a low-power ARM box to replace my Atom based HTPC
running XBMC. Fortunately I waited with buying an AllWinner device. My
interest is now also moving to AMLogic now (see below).

>> The general "mood" of the embedded dev community seems to be, to me, to move
>> away from these Companies, as the promised source releases has not been
>> sufficient. The current interest seems to be AM.logic's dualcore board.
>> (http://ao2.it/en/blog/2012/08/10/amlogic-aml8726-mx-linux-kernel-code-released)
> 
> Seems to be more tablet oriented - can't find any 'media players' based on this

There seem to be plenty. Check here for an overview:

http://www.j1nx.nl/xbmc-amlogic-8726-m-pivos-xios-an-initial-investigation/

Cheers,
Stefan