VIM1 is the original Amlogic S905X ARM development board designed by Khadas for hobbyists, makers and electronic fans; many also affectionately refer to it as an “Open Source TV Box”. It is tiny, slightly smaller than a Raspberry Pi with dimensions similar to that of a credit card. VIM1 is only available in two versions: VIM1 Basic with 8GB EMMC storage and AP6212 (b/g/n) Wi-Fi, and VIM1 Pro with 16GB EMMC storage and AP6255 (b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi. Both versions have 2GB of DDR3 RAM and Bluetooth 4.2.

 

Just like your familiar desktop computer, the VIM1 single board computer supports the booting of multiple operating systems. You can choose from a variety of OS images (ROMs) from our Khadas Docs or Community Forum. Popular OSes include: Android 7.1 / 9.0, Ubuntu 18.04, LibreELEC, Armbian, Buildroot, and so on. There are even dual-boot images, for developers to boot both Android and Ubuntu from the same EMMC.

 

Developers will find the built-in 40-pin GPIO, real-time-clock (RTC) and VIN port for an extra power supply, to be very handy. In addition, the three user-buttons on the side provide easy access to power, reset and function keys. Full open source code is available on Github, and hardware schematics can be found in our documentation. To top it all of, there’s even a built-in power control unit for supporting power-cycling via a remote control.

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In comparison with the Octa-Core Amlogic S912 SoC in the VIM2, the Quad-Core S905X SoC in the VIM1 generates significantly less heat. This makes the VIM1 especially useful in environments that only allow passive air convection for heat dissipation, rather than forced airflow. In many instances, a single heatsink is sufficient, and some users may even find a heatsink unnecessary for their applications.