$99 Windows 10 PC ( Kangaroo)

[JDFan]

Holy crap.  I knew it was small, but actually seeing it, wow.  Interesting when the plugs are almost larger than the comp itself!  Do you think this little guy would be a good machine for general desktop use?  Non gaming, I mean.

Right now I've been using it instead of my regular desktop for surfing the web and light work - the web pages load just a bit slower than my regular desktop but that is probably due to using wireless instead of the lan connection but the thing boots very quickly and works well for everyday tasks - Haven't loaded Office or Photoshop to try them since I already have them on my other system but I'd think it would be fine for most tasks that did not require heavy graphics processing or lots of Memory (the eMMC drive is pretty fast ( ran Crystal Mark 5.0.3 and got seq Q32T1 reads of 151.1 MB/s 4k reads 29.85 MB/s writes of 59.16 and 18.43 and random seq 130.9 read and 53.06 write and 4K reads 14.6 MB/s - 4k writes 12.70 MB/s) so faster than my SD card and normal HDD and a bit but slower than a conventional SSD.

Pretty sure they designed it for everyday use as well as to take on the road for salesmen etc. that do presentations to businesses since you can carry it around easily and plug into a projector or TV on site for your demo etc. and also use it at night hooked up to the Hotel/Motel TV set if you need to finish things up before a presentation. And I can definitely see it being used for that type of thing.

The microSD slot is wired through the PCI-e bus (at least that is what windows reports) and doe go faster than USB 2.o specs so getting a UH1 or UH3 rated microSD is worth the bit more cost oover an older slower card for it. ( my EVO+ reached 70.55 MB/s seq Q32T1 reads and 24.98 writes (it's rated 80/20 according to the spec) so did reach above the USB 2.0 max spec of 60 MB/s.

If what zebidia says is true, I'd probably wait and get the upgraded version when released instead, since the extra couple of GB of RAM would probably help if Multi tasking - but for most single tasks the 2GB works fine so it's still worth the price now - and you never know what else might change. Guess it depends on if you have the $100 sitting around for a new toy to play with.

Personally I went ahead and got one because I wanted to see if I could get used to win10 before the free upgrade cycle is over or if I wanted to just leave my win7 systems alone and this was a fairly cheap way to find out and will be able to be used in an arcade system if/when I finish with testing win10. 

Zibidia - I'm using a cheap ($0.99 shipped from China) USB sound adapter that is connected to the USB port on my Dell monitor (see pic on earlier post) and it has not had any problems with the sound so might be something in the HDMI interface or driver causing the problem - If you can't figure it out you might order one of the USB Sound adapters and try it instead of your HDMI - VGA. 

[zebidia]

I worked around the audio problem by simply disabling system sleep.

JDFan: please allow me to pick your brain for a minute... you seem highly technical-minded:I
I am putting the Kangaroo in my nearly-completed bartop, but it presents me with a functional problem WRT turning the system on and off. In a previous full-size cabinet I built, handling power was a simple as wiring a button to the desktop PC's power connector, and having the PC plugged into the master plug of a smart power bar. All other peripherals (monitor, speakers, marquee lighting, etc) were plugged into the slave plugs, and turned on/off automatically with the PC. But this simple technique appears unworkable with the Kangaroo, for two reasons: I don't want to open the Kangaroo to tie into its on/off switch, and it's almost a certainty its wall wart wouldn't work as a master in the smart power bar. Do you have any ideas how to implement a one-button on/off mechanism in this type of scenario?

Thanks.

[pbj]

Can you get into the bios and see if it has any settings that would turn the system on if power is restored?

Tried jamming in the power button?

[zebidia]

Can you get into the bios and see if it has any settings that would turn the system on if power is restored?

Tried jamming in the power button?

Great idea, pbj. I'll check it out. But it is, perhaps, a bit more complicated with this device. The wall wart plugs into the Kangaroo's battery, and the battery is presumably always providing power (at least while it has a charge). Gonna check bios anyway.

Thanks.

[JDFan]

Can you get into the bios and see if it has any settings that would turn the system on if power is restored?

Tried jamming in the power button?

Great idea, pbj. I'll check it out. But it is, perhaps, a bit more complicated with this device. The wall wart plugs into the Kangaroo's battery, and the battery is presumably always providing power (at least while it has a charge). Gonna check bios anyway.

Thanks.

That's one of the things I haven't figured out yet - Because shutting down merely shuts down but doesn't completely power off (though it isn't using much power from the battery to light the one blue LED that is all that is still drawing power after shut down. What I was thinking is placing metal rod of some sort with a spring so that you can press the end of it and compress the spring and press the on/off button on the Kangaroo to completely shut it down after the rest of the system is turned off at the power strip ( Having everything else turn off immediately when the power plug is turned off isn't a problem) - so to power down you'd have the front end run the windows shut down procedure when you exit from the front end - which would shut down properly and then once it shuts down you press the rod for long enough to turn off the kangaroo and turn off the powerstip (either on the strip itself or the inlet point if using one of the Power Socket Inlet Module Plugs on the back of the bartop.) - Or add a hidden drawer to give access to remove the Kangaroo from the dock like the hot swap HDD docks (which would have the added benefit of being able to be used elsewhere when the bartop was not going to be used for awhile if you purchased a second dock)

Then again the only thing that would still be on if you run windows shut down procedure would be the blue LED ( not sure if the light would go off after awhile or not until the battery fully discharged but even if it stayed on the battery drain from one bulb should be minimal so might not even be something to worry about. - Might be enough to just exit the front end which then shuts down the kangaroo and immediatly shut off the power inlet to shut off everything else (since turning the power inlet off would turn off everything but the Kangaroo would just go to the battery and still shut down windows properly leaving just the one blue light illuminated or just let it go to sleep mode and have everything else connected to the smart strip using the monitor as the Main  - Figure when in sleep mode it probably only uses a few watts of power so wouldn't cost much per year to leave on always (assuming you get the Sound issue resolved)

Guess I need to test running the shut down from windows and then seeing if that blue light shuts off after a bit of time passes or if it stays on until the battery drains. If it is on some sort of timer and then turns off completely it might actually not even need to be worked on and just using another device as the master would work - as that shuts everything off leaving the Kangaroo on battery to finish the shut down and then the blue light shuts off after some time. 

EDIT : Another alternative might be to just not use the kangaroo power adapter at all and instead charge the battery using the 5v micro USB connector on the Kangaroo itself rather than the AC connecting to the dock - Not sure if that would make a difference in what happens after a windows shut down but it might

[JDFan]

Just noticed in the power saving settings it sets itself to sleep when shut down if plugged in and when on battery  by default - switching this to SHUT DOWN instead of sleep gets it to work like a desktop usually does and shuts the Kangaroo off completely rather than leaving the blue light on ( might have to turn both when plugged in and when on battery to shut down as if you shut off power and it goes to battery mode when beginning to shut down not sure which it would do if they are set differently.) 

[zebidia]

Thanks for the ideas and info, all. I think all I am going to do is wire up all the cabinet's accessories (marquee lighting and audio amp) to an ATX power supply (overkill, I know, but I have a few lying around) and have the power supply be the master in a smart power strip to control the monitor. I will also have a separate button to turn the Kangaroo on and off (perhaps just a hole near the back of the cabinet that you can stick your finger through, or maybe even a sprung button that actuates the Kangaroo's power button from outside the cabinet... Perhaps a modded game button.

On a side note, I tried an N64 emulator on the Kangaroo tonight, and it ran every game I threw at without issue. 1280x1024 rez, sound crisp and clear and in sync. Nice! Makes me want to put an UltraStik360 in my cabinet, but alas, I don't have enough digital buttons to fully emulate the N64 controller.

Edit: spelling.

[severdhed]

to those of you who own one of these, any chance of testing out some n64 emulation?  i need something small that will fit inside an n64 case and be able to run games at full speed...this thing looks like it might do the trick.   if you can please test n64 with a few different games in case some run better than others

perfect dark
turok
wcw vs nwo revenge
mario kart
goldeneye
mario64
f-zero
donkey kong

etc

thanks..

[SNAAKE]

is it possible to open this thing?

I bought one too because it looked tempting. just need a way to power it on using an arcade button or something..

[JDFan]

is it possible to open this thing?

I bought one too because it looked tempting. just need a way to power it on using an arcade button or something..

Probably the easiest method would be to mount it to the inside of the arcade and drill a small access hole to place an actual metal rod or similar that would physically press the on/off button on the Kangaroo - rather than trying to get access to the button connections.

If you are set on opening it - there is the small bracket that has air 2 air circulation cut outs on the top end (near the LED light) If you put some tweezers into the air vent that metal piece can be removed by lifting up and sliding it off - then it seems to be able to lift off the top of the case (I could lift the one edge with a pair of tweezers placed where that bracket had been and lift the one corner of the top (the piece with the Kangaroo LOGO imprint) but stopped after getting the one edge up (since I was not sure if anything was connected or if whatever was holding it on would break and didn't want to chance it just to see ! )

EDIT : Interesting - I just looked up the Kangaroo again and they have a couple new ones out that are interesting

1st they released a + version that has 4GB. which would be interesting except it does not come with Windows ( I think the cost for the OS from MS is much higher for devices with more than 2GB. of RAM so they dropped the OS inclusion to keep the price down - but that also takes away part of the reason this was so interesting in the first place (a full windows 10 PC for $99)

2nd the released the PRO model which goes back to the 2GB. and WIn10 OS included but includes a very interesting new Dock which has VGA input - Audio input connector - RJ45 ethernet connector - and a 2nd USB 2.0 connection in addition to the ones the original had ( HDMI, micro SD, USB 2.0 , USB 3.0) and a removeable bottom plate that gives access to a 2.5" HDD connection -- Only bad thing about this one is the $199 price point
( see attached pic)

[southpaw13]

Do you think this video might help to figure out how to open a Kangaroo to get the power button issue solved???



Yes, old thread but I am looking for a small PC solution.