PicUntu: Latest Linux Distro For Smart TV Sticks

Bangalore,India: TV sticks may be the size of a USB drive, but they pack a punch. Connecting one to a HDMI-enabled television allows the user to run the full android operating system smoothly without a hitch. One of the popular TV sticks available is the MK808, which runs using the powerful rockchip RK3066 dual-core CPU. Although Android traditionally runs from these sticks, other operating systems such as linux can also be installed and run from the stick. PicUntu is one such OS, which weighs a light 110 MB as a base system. This Ubuntu-based branch can support resolutions upto 1920*1080, and supports ethernet, WiFi and audio. Desktop environment packages such as GNOME and Xfce can be installed to use PicUntu like a traditional windows-type desktop. Although hardware graphics acceleration is not present on this distro, it will be a very useful tool for SMBs looking for a “windows-style” open source alternative to use in their office workspace. The TV sticks can have peripherals attached to them, as there are USB ports and SD card slots available on them. Most of these TV sticks are below US $100, making them affordable and powerful computing devices. For example, the MK808 is priced around US$50, and just needs to be attached to a HD TV display and power to work as a regular PC. With the availability of many productivity apps in the google play store, or OpenOffice on the linux platform, there are an endless number of possibilities in using these small sticks for productivity. For installing PicUntu, you will require Linux to complete the process. The code repository for PicUntu, which has the source code for the Linux distro, can be found at http://code.google.com/p/rk3066-linux/wiki/PicUntu.

Soon, we will be doing our own shootout on the best TV sticks available in the market, so stay tuned!

What are your thoughts about these “mini PCs”? Let us know in the comments below!