Boot Camp VIA Style

Forget the early morning starts and gruelling workouts, VIA's boot camp involves the APC board, Android and creative ideas.

In January 2013, registered participants in the VIA boot camp will turn up at VIA's headquarters in Taipei Taiwan for two days of one on one mentoring with experts from VIA on their APC board. Participants will be able to develop and prototype their designs and applications for the APC, even having access to a 3D printer while they're there. A couple of months later, in April 2013, the final results will be showcased at an event, also in Taipei.

The program kicks off at the VIA global headquarters in Xindian, New Taipei City over the weekend of January 19th and 20th, 2013. It will allow participants to form teams to take on the challenge of designing and building connected hardware devices using the APC platform. Industry experts will be on hand to assist and mentor teams as they work through their prototype builds. Participants will also have the opportunity to experiment with 3D printers for conceptualizing and prototyping. 

Event Schedule: The APC Boot Camp will kick off the weekend of January 19th and 20th, 2013, followed by regular progress meet-ups and a final showcase event April 14th, 2013.

To register your spot, visit VIA's APC website.

VIA APC finding more traction across the world

The VIA APC is slowly but surely becoming available in more places around the world. With a new distribution deal with Comtronics, Canadians can now get their hands on the board more easily, for a price of $64.99

For information about APC availability through Canada Computers, please visit: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_706&item_id=053384 

For retailer information within Canada, please contact Comtronics at: http://www.comtronic.ca/cci/home.php?do=ShowProducts&cmd=detail&cid=MB&pid=016589

 For more information about APC please visit: apc.io

VIA Pico-ITX, a boutique item with a niche of its own

Considering the price of the VIA EPIA P-910 Pico-ITX mainboard against the $49 you can spend on a VIA APC or a mid-range cost of a Mini-ITX board, where does the Pico-ITX fit in? TechRepublic thinks there is a niche there that it fulfils:

"If you are truly limited in space for a traditional computer and are looking for a system that can mount behind a desktop monitor or are building Windows-powered kiosks, and in-car PCs, the EPIA-P910 might be worth taking a look at, despite the high price. Because VIA doesn’t have the market penetration that Intel or AMD has with their x86/x64 products, the company tries these interesting form factors as a way to carve out a market for itself with boutique items."

Turn your LCD TV into a smart device with a VIA APC

Tech BU have published a handy guide to turning your LCD TV into a smart device on which you can play Angry Birds, catch up on your YouTube videos and surf the web. If you don't have a PC in your lounge room hooked up to your LCD TV then this is a great, cost effective way to get computer functionality on your main screen real estate in the house.

VIA APC Cycles Into Europe

The 'Bicycle for your mind', the ultra-cheap and compact VIA APC, now has a European distribution partner, making it an easy online order for DIY computer enthusiasts across the continent and the UK.

"We are pleased to announce that APC is now available for order across Europe through RS Components for £39.99. RS Components is the worldwide leading distributor of electronics and maintenance products, and is an ideal partner to provide quick and reliable service to customers looking to purchase an APC." - Source.

The little APC board is virtually a plug and play with Android package, allowing people to experiment and develop applications quickly and affordably, without the tie-down of a traditional desktop OS.

VIA's latest ARTiGO is the world's smallest quad-core system

Now in its fourth iteration, the VIA ARTiGO series of computers are well known for being silent, sleek, compact and versatile. The latest, the VIA ARTiGO A1250 is similar to the other designs, except that it's a quad core system.

"The VIA ARTiGO A1250 is an ultra slim system for those seeking a compact solution without sacrificing computing power. Taking inspiration from the Pico-ITX form factor, the VIA ARTiGO A1250 offers an impressive range of features including a full 64-bit quad core processor, 3D and HD video support, dual independent display support, up to 8GB of DDR3 system memory and a rich I/O set with USB 3.0, in a chassis that is a mere 3cm in height."

The little system makes for a lovely PC for a kid's bedroom, or for commercial applications like in restaurants or hotels.

The VX11H debuts quietly

Blink and you will have missed the new VIA chip on the EPIA M-920 released last month. The new chip features on VIA's latest Mini-ITX board, but it didn't garner its own Press Release. Let's take a look at the new chip.

Oh, wait, that's kind of hard to do since the chip doesn't even have a page to itself on VIA's website.

The VX11H is presumably an upgrade from the VX11, which is a media system processor with DirectX11 capability. The key features of the VX11 are:

• High Performance Hardware HD Video Decoder: Smooth hardware acceleration for MPEG-4, H.264, MPEG-2, and VC-1 for advanced browser streamed video technologies
• Advanced Display Connectivity: Supports the latest display standards including DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI and VGA in multi-display configurations
• DX11 Graphics Performance: The VIA Chrome 640/645 integrated graphics processor is fully DirectX 11 certified and includes a 128-bit 2D engine
• SuperSpeed USB Certification: Has received SuperSpeed USB certification form the USB-IF and supports up to 3 USB 3.0 ports
• HD Audio support: VIA Vinyl HD Audio controller supports up to eight high definition channels with a 192kHz sampling rate, delivering a richer all-round digital media experience
• Memory Support: Memory controller technology supports the lower power, high-bandwidth DDR3 memory modules with speeds up to 1600MHz
• Fully Integrated technology support: Supports the low power device interfaces of SDIO 3.0, UART, SPI, LPC as well as six USB 2.0 ports

It's not clear what the difference is between the VX11 and the VX11H.

The VIA Magic Box has arrived

Sporting a flashy and catchy title, VIA is offering another product for digital signage. This time the focus is on software combined with VIA hardware. The VIA Magic Box offers a complete plug, customize and play system for digital signage solutions.

"Currently available with the choice of a VIA ARTiGO A1150 or fanless VIA ARTiGO A1200, VIA Magic Box provides full HD support and playback of the most popular video codecs through video decoding hardware acceleration including WMV9, VC1 and H.264, in ultra compact, low power designs. The VIA Magic View content management software has been optimized to provide a user friendly interface to manage digital signage content, layout and scheduling.

VIA Magic Box has been designed as a scalable solution to meet the needs of a wide range of customers and is available in two versions, VIA Magic Box Standalone version designed for stand alone displays and kiosks which does not require a network connection, and VIA Magic Box Server version for control of multiple clients and displays through secure networking."

Key Features:

• User-friendly interface 
• Easy schedule management 
• Supports system reboot and shut down 
• Supports Sleeping mode/wake up function 
• Client status/history review 
• Monitors hardware function 
• Media library management

VIA and Capital Networks team up for Android digital signage system

VIA has offered digital signage solutions for many years; it must be close to a decade in fact. One of the leaders of the field is Capital Networks, and the two companies have just announced a partnership which will see the development of an Android-based system for digital signage and advertising.

"The recently released VIA ARM DS will leverage Capital Networks Audience for Android software to create a complete Android digital signage solution for an ever widening range of applications in the digital market from kiosks, POS systems, video walls, and menu boards to TVOIP, cloud streaming, and Out of Home Advertising across a broad spectrum of retail, hospitality, education, and entertainment environments." ... read more.

VIA's latest EPIA board offers Quad core & 3D

VIA last week launched a new Pico-ITX board which features two stand-out features that have not been seen before in this form factor:

1) The VIA QuadCore E-Series processor
2) DirectX 11 support, for richer textures as well as 3D stereoscopic display

Here's some more information about the specs of this little powder keg known as the EPIA-P910:

• Compact 10cm x 7.2cm Pico-ITX form factor
• High-performance 64-bit VIA QuadCore E-Series processor
• Latest VIA VX11H media system processor with DirectX11 support
• Flawless 3D and HD video performance up to 1080p
• Supports 2 USB 3.0 and 6 USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI, VGA and one single-channel 24-bit LVDS support
• Supports high-bandwidth DDR3 1333MHz memory, up to 8GB
• Support for two SATA
• HD audio support
• Supports digital I/O

Newegg Update: The APC is now in Stock, at $60

Coming in some 10% more expensive than the original $49 price point, the VIA APC is now in stock on Newegg, making it easily accessible to DIY computing enthusiasts in the US.

Customer reviews thus far are very positive:

The VIA APC is now on sale at Newegg

The premier online portal for sales of computer parts in the US has started selling the VIA APC. Strangely labelled the "Avatar APC 8750 WM8750 Processor (ARMv6) - ARM1176JZF @800Mhz 6.69" x 3.35" Motherboard/CPU Combo" on the store, it is currently listed as 'Out of Stock' and has no price. So VIA have got Newegg to list the product, but there's no stock available. Mmm ...

VIA APC gets unboxed

Wondering what it would be like to get a VIA APC in the mail? Take a look:

The story behind the APC

Richard Brown, VP of Marketing at VIA, talks on TED TV about the development of computing and computer manufacturing in Greater China, and how 'the bicycle for your mind' came to be:

eProjects: First impressions of VIA APC good

Despite app downloads from Google Play not working (but third party app sites working fine) eProjects seem to be suitably impressed with their APC that has just arrived.

"First impression out of the box and first boot, so far so good, I did connect it to my Samsung monitor via the VGA interface, small mouse and keyboard, hooked up to my lab network, powered it (power supply is included) and it took Android less than 10 seconds to boot."

VIA's APC arrives in people's actual hands

Netbooknews have published a video interview of VIA's VP of Marketing, Richard Brown, talking them through the $49 APC board. Sitting in a Mini-ITX case you really get a good look at the size of the thing.

VIA based HP thin client "intuitive"

The HP t510 is set up to be an umanaged thin client .... so reliable that it doesn't need to be maintained.
Featuring a "duo-core VIA Eden 1Ghz processor, 2GB memory, Via ChromotionHD 2.0 graphics adapter, gigabit LAN and optional 802.11/a/b/g/n WiFi adapter" it takes only 22 seconds to boot and 2 to shut down.

"Overall the HP Smart Zero operating system looks very good, its intuitive and well designed. Being “HDX Ready” and capable of client-side rendering of multimedia content makes it an interesting thin client. The out-of-the-box experience (OOBE) is very good and is similar to what the unmanaged HP Zero Clients can expect." - Source

DIY computer enthusiasts will flock to APC

When VIA's $49 APC went on sale for pre-orders, it sold out in less than 24 hours. Indicating that supply is not that far away, VIA have launched technical documentation and a forum where hobbyists and developers can discuss their APC projects.

This is like a tailor-made computing DIY platform. VIA is not new to this game, with the Mini-ITX having been adopted by case modders as the platform of choice some 10 years ago. Perhaps by setting up their own forum and website, VIA hopes to retain the development to their own site, and I must say, they have done a cracking job on their presentation and the enthusiast language used.

Here's what has been added to the APC Library:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Kernel and Bootloader
• Board 2D/3D (DXF and STP)
• APC System Software (firmware image for re-installing)

VIA adds an ARM processor to its Pico-ITX board range

VIA is branching out and now offering a Pico-ITX board that does not feature a VIA CPU, in fact surprisingly it doesn't feature  Wondermedia ARM processor either, but a Freescale 800Mhz or 1GHz processor.

The VAB-800 features an integrated GPU that is not named, with support for up to 1080p. Other features are akin to VIA Embedded products in general: the lower power consumption, and cramming everything needed for an industrial or in-vehicle application into a tiny package.


Compact 10cm x 7.2cm Pico-ITX form factor
Choice of 800MHz or 1GHz Freescale Cortex-A8 SoC
Supports two independent, integrated graphics processing units (GPU) for 3D/2D graphics acceleration and dual display support
Flawless HD video performance up to 1080p
Supports up to 4 USB 2.0 ports
Mini HDMI, VGA and two single-channel 24-bit LVDS support
Up 64GB on-board eMMC Flash memory
1GB high performance DDR3 SDRAM
Support for one SATA, two Boot flash pin headers and CAN Bus HD audio support
Wide operating temperature range from -20°C to 70°C

More information.

VIA's Android Digital Signage System stirring up the industry

Digital Signage display systems have in the past been run on Microsoft Windows or Linux mainly, but with VIA's new ARM DS all-in-one system, Android has become a violable option in the world of digital signage. Here's what media who specialise in this field have said:

DigitalSignageToday.com:
"Developed for the Android operating system, the Energy Star-rated VIA ARM DS is an all-in-one system-ready solution for managing dynamic displays for cost-sensitive, high-volume segments where high performance video and connectivity are paramount for enhanced customer engagement, according to a company press release."

AndroidNewsCentre.com:
"Featuring ergonomic design, ARM Digital Signage system measures 18 x 12 x 2.5 cm and incorporates ARM Cortex A9 SoC. Energy Star rated product aids management of dynamic displays in applications such as kiosks, POS systems, video walls, and menu boards as well as TVOIP, cloud streaming, and out of home advertising. It is also compatible with latest digital content management software."

VIA's Android trend continues with display system

VIA's APC, the $49 little pocket rocket which sold out last week, was the company's first foray into the Android space. Now they're taking the OS to a new segment with the VIA ARM DS, an all-in-one display system.

The ARM Cortex A9 SoC system is 18cm x 12cm x 2.5cm and it's adaptable for use as kiosks, POS systems, video walls, and menu boards to TVOIP, cloud streaming, and Out of Home Advertising. Like many of VIA's products it's set up as a development kit, with software development and support being provided by VIA. That makes it highly customisable.

More information here.

Get your APC now ... oh no wait, they're sold out!

I got an email the other day from VIA announcing that pre-orders are now being accepted for their pocket rocket "bicycle for your mind" $49 Android PC (APC). I was a little busy with other things, thought I'd blog about that later this week and so today I followed the link and low and behold, all the pre-orders are sold out. It took less than 24 hours. Very impressive indeed.

I wonder when round two of sales will be?

VIA's APC at Computex

This week in Taipei the luminary of the IT media world have been interviewing reps from the manufacturing world as they show off their new kit. For VIA, the focus has been on the $49 APC. Here's a video by Hexus, interviewing VIA VP Richard Brown about the system and showing you what the default interface is like.

VIA's PAC one of the 8 cheapest PCs in the world

Gizmodo has put together a list of the top 8 cheapest computers out there. Here's a summary:

Raspberry Pi ($25)
Aakash 2 ($40)
VIA APC 8750 ($49)
DataWind Ubislate 7 ($60)
Mele A1000 ($70)
MK802 ($74)
Intel NUC (>$100)
Aionol Novo 7 ($120)

With the pricing, VIA's solution comes in as a mid-range option, although it does require a chassis.

VIA merges Android with a tiny motherboard or a $49 package

Most of what the average person does on a computer doesn't require a lot of computing power and doesn't require a desktop level operating system with full-blown software. General web surfing, social media, email, basic desktop publishing and blogging can all be handled by apps. Android is a free app-based operating system that is most often found on mobile phones, but also the occasional tablet. It has been tried on netbooks too, but now VIA is bundling it up with an ARM-based motherboard, measuring just 17cm x 8.5cm. The $49 motherboard with built in Flash storage and RAM just requires a monitor (or TV), keyboard and mouse to set up a fully functional Android PC. The USB ports mean that additional external storage can be added easily.

This setup is ideal for lounge room PCs, kids PCs, a PC for the kitchen bench top, etc and is also ripe for development into kiosks, car PCs and other applications.

"Powered by a WonderMedia ARM processor, APC integrates memory, storage, and a full set of consumer I/O features in a small footprint Neo-ITX motherboard that can be connected to a TV or monitor. The system also features a custom build of Android that has been optimized for keyboard and mouse input, and comes with a browser and a selection of preinstalled apps."

[Source]

VIA's new AMOS 3002 touted as infotainment solution for vehicles

I've heard the story of entertainment in cars for at least ten years now. The excitement started with getting MP3 players in cars. Then it was video. Then it was GPS. Then it was general Internet access. Now it's social media. To run it all you need a small computer that can handle bumps and heat and cold. Enter the VIA AMOS 3002. As Embedded M2M Solutions reports ...

"The AMOS (News - Alert)-3002 can serve a variety of applications including digital signage and kiosks, telematics and M2M controller, but the design may be primarily marketed for in-vehicle infotainment. The tiny computer measures approximately 8” by 4” by 2” and can handle up to 50G’s of shock and can function in temperatures ranging between -4F and 140F."

New VIA credit card sized COM module

VIA's miniaturisation of the X86 form factor continues with the release of the VIA COMe-8X91 module which measures just 84mm x 55mm. The tiny board features:

• 800MHz VIA Eden X2 dual core processor
• VIA VX900 MSP 
• 18/24-bit single-channel LVDS and either one display port or one HDMI port 
• SATA II ports
• GigaLAN port
• 8 USB 2.0 ports shared with one USB client port
• 1 HD audio digital interface
• 2 serial ports
• 1GB of onboard DDR3

OEMs and manufacturers who use the board in their embedded designs will find SDK, system monitoring tools, design guide, display guide and other materials, ready for their project.

More information.

Head of VIA Embedded interviewed about new COM modules

Why did VIA decide to release the new series of COM modules, asks Embedded TV at the Embedded World 2012.

A living legend of Mini-ITX PC modding

Jeffrey Stephenson is a named you have probably come across over the years if you find yourself reading news about VIA, about small form factor PCs or about case modding. Jeffrey's designs don't involve a fun but crude gutting of an old appliance, they are carefully planned and meticulously executed masterpieces.

Jeffrey and his work have been honoured in an article in SiliconValleyWatcher. His passion for modding began with a VIA Mini-IT board:

"Stephenson bought one of the first mini-ITX form factor motherboards by VIA Technologies in 2003. He liked the idea of having a small, high performing computer. He had trouble finding a case that wasn't expensive or boring. "Then I stumbled across a site that sold wooden desktop cigar humidors, which had perfect dimensions and a stylish exterior," he said."

VIA still leading the embedded field

VIA invented the Mini-ITX platform ten years ago and it's now used by Intel and AMD as well to offer fully featured boards to embedded developers. VIA is still leading the way though, launching the world's first quad core Pico-ITX boards last Friday.

The VIA EPIA M900 and M910 feature the VIA 1.2GHz QuadCore E-series processor.

"The VIA QuadCore E-Series processor features a highly optimized, energy efficient multi-core architecture, which is natively 64-bit compatible and comes with a host of additional performance features including Adaptive Overclocking. To meet the low power demands of the embedded market, the VIA QuadCore E-Series processor offers industry-leading energy efficiency, with the VIA QuadCore E-Series 1.2+ GHz processor delivering a thermal design power (TDP) of only 27.5W. The distributed power of the VIA QuadCore E-Series processor makes it ideal for handling the most demanding HD video formats for immersive multi-display applications and environments."

By continuously improving the hardware offerings on embedded boards, VIA will ensure its longevity well past its first decade of innovative design.

HP announce new VIA thin client

A new low powered thin client from HP will see VIA re-visit an area where they have enjoyed much success in the past. The "HP t510, relies on a 1 GHz VIA Eden X2 U4200 dual-core chip and the VIA Chromotion HD 2.0 graphics. "With these new, flexible thin clients, businesses can protect their data more effectively, and they get an exceptional user experience with better graphics and video performance," said Jeff Groudan, director, marketing, Thin Clients, HP."

Source: Softpedia

Ports Galore!

Windows for Devices have done their usual in-depth look at VIA's new VB7009 Mini-ITX board. Their overview reveals just how port-friendly this board is:

"The VB7009 supports up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, provides eight USB 2.0 ports and up to six serial ports, has two gigabit Ethernet ports, and offers a PCI expansion slot, according to the company."

The VB7009 is designed for kiosk and PoS applications and the multitude of connectivity options no doubt let developers explore many options.

VIA Promotes their eBook and gives away a new VE-900

I just got an email about a new competition that VIA is running to promote their 'Small is Beautiful: 10 Years of Mini-ITX' book. Download a free copy of the eBook version, check out the featured mods, let VIA know which is your favorite and why, and you could win a hardy copy of the book and a VE-900 Mini-ITX board to create your own mod.

Check it out.