Rikomagic launched a new TV box with a Rockchip RK3288 processor and Google Android software this summer. It’s called the MK902 II and I’ve got one sitting on my desk waiting for me to find the time to put it through the paces.

While the box is designed to let you run Android apps on a TV, it’s basically a tiny computer… and if you don’t want to use Android there’s a Linux model.

Rikomagic UK is now selling the MK902 II LE (Linux Edition) at its Cloudsto store for  £110 ($179) and up.

mk902 ii le

That price may seem a bit high when you can get an Android model for $115. But at least you won’t have to install Linux yourself, and Rikomagic UK tells me there are a few small differences in the hardware for the Linux Edition model.

The MK902 II LE features a RK3288 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 8GB to 16GB of storage, a microSd card reader, 802.11n WiFi, HDMI output, 4 USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, AV, and SPDIF jacks.

It ships with Xubuntu 14.04, which is basically Ubuntu Linux with the Xfce desktop environment.

Rikomagic UK offers a handful of other ARM-based mini PCs with Linux, but this is the fastest model to date. It reportedly boots to a desktop in just about 10 seconds and it supports virtualization software that lets you run apps compiled for x86 processors to run on this ARM-based system. That lets you run Linux apps that wouldn’t otherwise be available including Skype. It also opens the door to running some Windows apps with WINE.

What you don’t get is support for hardware-accelerated video playback, so if you want to use a box like this as a media player you may have better results with Android than with Ubuntu.

The MK902 II LE with 8GB sells for £110 while the 16GB model is £115.

You can find more videos of the MK902 II LE in action at the Rikomagic UK forum.

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31 replies on “MK902 II LE is a tiny Ubuntu PC with a Rockchip RK3288 CPU”

  1. Would u be able To game with the box if using the Linux version? (like steam)

  2. I got a beelink r89 and Linux is running fine on it with the same probs as this rikomagic unit. I’m sure there is no different hardware on this rk3288 device that ain’t on the others.

  3. While benchmarks are.. well, benchmarks… does anyone know why the Mini NEO X8/X8-H consistently score higher than these MK902 IIs?

      1. Scratch that, I’m now seeing benchmark reports that favor the MK902 II, and several that say PROBOX2 EX blows both away. Makes one leery about jumping for any of them!

  4. Brad, you possibly could have made it clearer that yes, the MK902 II is a “TV box” but the Linux Edition (MK902 II LE) is intended to be used as a workstation meaning entirely different use cases and that it will more likely live in the office than in the TV room. An inexpensive HDMI/DVI adapter will possibly be needed to connect to a computer monitor instead of a TV for desktop use.

  5. @Brad, these arm boxes are a complete waste of time. With Intel selling baytrail nuc and google’s Chromeboxes, there are no place for these devices. I love arm soc, but these boxes just don’t have a future. Just like Intel and AMD in phones (just not going to happen). I hate to see you distracted with these devices.

    1. “Just like Intel and AMD in phones (just not going to happen).”

      Disagree with you here. Intel is starting to make serious headway in Tablets with Atom Bay Trail. Give Intel a little more time and you’ll start seeing some new low power Intel chips in phones to compete with ARM.

      1. Cherrytrail and Broxton are Intel’s follow-up on 14nm (this is public information). No phone products announced publicly. I would think that these devices would make excellent sff Linux boxes with good driver and OS support. The boxes will be manufacted by well known OEMs and will have warranties and support (not just promises).

    2. Distracted? He’s covering a new hardware release, which is what his website does. Surely you have enough discipline not to read articles of no interest to you without Brad having to do the job for you?

    3. The android version of this is just over $100 – I’d certainly call this relevant.

    4. You seem indignant that Brad does not share your tunnel vision. Perhaps that is why Brad operates an interesting blog while you are anonymously not_impressed.

  6. QUESTION

    Will the existence of this device make it easier for me to install Linux on another Android RK3288 device?

  7. hardware acceleration is key here, without linux + hwa.. its no different to a rk3188 or any other SoC from ebay for £20 – 30 quid.

    1. Rk3188 has video and graphics acceleration for linux already. Go visit Radxa Rock website and see. And so will the Radxa Rock 2 and Cubieboard A80.

    2. It is irrational to compare components (SoC, RK3188) with the system being discussed here. Worse than comparing apples with oranges, it’s like comparing apples with molecules. The MK902 II LE is a system intended for use as a work station (NOT play station, NOT media centre) in conjunction with a display, mouse and keyboard. Hardware acceleration is NOT key to the satisfactory use of the productivity applications that are normally employed at workstations. Your remarks suggest to me that you simply do not understand the intended use of this system.

      1. Hardware acceleration is CRUCIAL on RK3288 if using OpenCL can improve application performance!

        1. I don’t doubt that OpenCL has great potential in some cases. I also have no doubt that RK3288 has plenty of performance without OpenCL for productivity applications. Can you name any CRUCIAL productivity application that uses OpenCL today to improve performance?

          1. Yes, the one I’m writing for myself. 😀 (Of course, that’s a stretch, there’s still a lot of work to do, but still…)

  8. The Wine claims might be a bit misleading for some readers.Wine on ARM is very limited for now.

    1. Right, but the point is that he’s running an x86 emulator so he can use the x86 build.

      Don’t expect bleeding edge performance, but it’s impressive that it works at all (which is how I usually feel about WINE in general).

      1. Does this Optimusboard have 4GB RAM? That would be amazing.

        What I can’t see is if it has a Linux developed for the board. I can only see Android.

    1. Only no *video playback* hardware acceleration. Other things are accelerated.

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