Forget the AppleTV3, consider the Mele a2000 - A dedicated xbmc box for $70 or less

Vaevictus2 · 2012-04-28 12:40

This device has been mentioned before - but I feel it needs a bit more attention.

Effectively it is a stylish, energy efficient set top box that runs linux and has USB, SATA, WIFI, Ethernet, better than HD resolution.

The box has already been shown to run ubuntu.

The price: around 70 dollars
The problem: no resellers in the US or Europe.

The A2000 is very similar to the A1000 but has more NAND flash memory.

So what we have is a device that is cheaper than the appletv3, faster, better connectivity and more customisable.

Perhaps someone has the means to order a bunch of these at a reduced price and make them more accessible to US/Europeans?

Lots of information can be found at http://www.cnx-software.com/

I think that this product and its brethren have more potential than the rasperry pi, with the Mele there is no need to buy a wireless adapter, remote, power supply, case, usb hub. The Mele would work out cheaper, have standardised hardware, more RAM, faster CPU and a nice form factor

Vaevictus2 · 2012-04-28 13:41

I found a seller for the a2000 who also has an interest in getting the device ported to linux.

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/546...alers.html

the cost is US $89.89 including shipping.

i am gonna order one now - delivery will take ages though

There is a picture and some other useful links on that page

Sdpbc · 2012-04-28 14:59

Anyone know how fast this thing is?

Vaevictus2 · 2012-04-28 15:10

3 times faster than a Raspberry Pi at its default clock speed of 1.2GHZ
It is apparently overclockable to 1.5ghz but noone has tried yet.

frieten · 2012-04-28 19:22

If it can run xbmc ill give it a go, since it runs linux that shouldnt be a problem?

What sort of audio does it have?

Vaevictus2 · 2012-04-28 19:54

dont know about audio although it has a digital out.
it doesnt run xbmc yet - it barely runs ubuntu properly at this time but there are a bunch of devs working on it both that and also on an opensource GPU driver that will allow hardware acceleration. Openelec guys are working on openelec for the raspberry pi which is also ARM, albeit an older instruction set.

**Ned Scott** · 2012-04-29 03:49

mmmmm, ARM.

tastypotato · 2012-04-29 22:25

Seems like there's a plethora of new tiny HTPC machines coming out on the heels of the Raspberry Pi's success.

Would love to see some sort of a review on which ones will be the best value for money as I don't want to drop $400 on a HTPC that can run XBMC. Not only that, but I am also looking for the least amount of power consumption as possible and these computers certainly seem to foot the bill.

tastypotato · 2012-05-04 04:51

Bumping this, just bought the Mele A2000, and am going to be planning on putting Linux and then XBMC on it. Has anyone heard anything on the development front or have XBMC fully running on theirs yet?

frieten · 2012-05-04 17:46

(2012-05-04 04:51)tastypotato Wrote: Bumping this, just bought the Mele A2000, and am going to be planning on putting Linux and then XBMC on it. Has anyone heard anything on the development front or have XBMC fully running on theirs yet?

Please let us know how u go, if u can get Linux It u should be able top get xbmc on it.

Sdpbc Senior Member Posts: 183 Joined: Mar 2012 Reputation: 0	2012-04-28 14:59 Post: #3 Anyone know how fast this thing is?
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Vaevictus2 Member Posts: 74 Joined: Oct 2010 Reputation: 0	2012-04-28 15:10 Post: #4 3 times faster than a Raspberry Pi at its default clock speed of 1.2GHZ It is apparently overclockable to 1.5ghz but noone has tried yet. (This post was last modified: 2012-04-28 18:12 by Vaevictus2.)
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frieten Senior Member Posts: 256 Joined: Jun 2009 Reputation: 2	2012-04-28 19:22 Post: #5 If it can run xbmc ill give it a go, since it runs linux that shouldnt be a problem? What sort of audio does it have? (This post was last modified: 2012-04-28 19:23 by frieten.)
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Vaevictus2 Member Posts: 74 Joined: Oct 2010 Reputation: 0	2012-04-28 19:54 Post: #6 dont know about audio although it has a digital out. it doesnt run xbmc yet - it barely runs ubuntu properly at this time but there are a bunch of devs working on it both that and also on an opensource GPU driver that will allow hardware acceleration. Openelec guys are working on openelec for the raspberry pi which is also ARM, albeit an older instruction set.
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Ned Scott Team-XBMC Wiki Guy Posts: 12,553 Joined: Jan 2011 Reputation: 137 Location: Arizona, USA	2012-04-29 03:49 Post: #7 mmmmm, ARM. You can make easy links to the XBMC wiki using double brackets around words: [[debug log]] = debug log, [[Add-on:YouTube]] = Add-on:YouTube, [[Adding videos to the library]] = Adding videos to the library, [[userdata]] = userdata, etc
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tastypotato Junior Member Posts: 7 Joined: Feb 2011 Reputation: 0	2012-05-04 04:51 Post: #9 Bumping this, just bought the Mele A2000, and am going to be planning on putting Linux and then XBMC on it. Has anyone heard anything on the development front or have XBMC fully running on theirs yet?
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frieten Senior Member Posts: 256 Joined: Jun 2009 Reputation: 2	2012-05-04 17:46 Post: #10 (2012-05-04 04:51)tastypotato Wrote: Bumping this, just bought the Mele A2000, and am going to be planning on putting Linux and then XBMC on it. Has anyone heard anything on the development front or have XBMC fully running on theirs yet? Please let us know how u go, if u can get Linux It u should be able top get xbmc on it.
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