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My "Remix Mini" Still Works!
Mar. 16th, 2023 10:20 pmWay back in 2016, I'd backed the Kickstarter campaign for Jide Tech's Remix Mini, a hand-sized (including fingers, so not palm-sized) Android PC, claiming to be the first Android desktop PC. Being very small and lightweight, but supporting most Android apps at the time, the idea was to get a pretty full desktop experience from the device.
I enjoyed fiddling around with it once I got it, but at the time I hadn't figured out how I was going to use it on a regular basis, as well as them launching a second campaign for a newer device that was supposed to be way more powerful. So I'd shelved it for a while, as I thought it was going to be replaced with a newer model that should have been better.
Unfortunately for me (but I guess fortunate for them), they drew the attention of a thin-client enterprise company, and they were basically swallowed whole. The campaign was shut down, and everybody got their money back, but nobody else got the product in the end.
A few years ago, I'd tried to boot my Remix Mini again to see if it still worked, but it didn't do anything at the time, so I put it even deeper on the shelf and forgot about it again.
Well, I came across the power cables again, and precariously perched it on my desk to give it another try. Unfortunately, I don't have any monitors with a spare HDMI port, so I plugged it into my HDMI capture device, and viewed the stream with VLC. And it booted all the way up, even to the desktop again, with no problems. Even connected to the WiFi again (we might need to change the WiFi information at some point) and realized that I need to update my login credentials!
Anyway, I've shut it back down for the moment so I can figure out my next step. I'd like to be able to have it running on my desk alongside everything else, as I do a lot more things now that would actually work on a system like this. Only, it's a really old OS now, I'm not sure how many of my apps would actually support it anymore.
Oh well. Back on the shelf again. But more towards the front this time, I think...
I enjoyed fiddling around with it once I got it, but at the time I hadn't figured out how I was going to use it on a regular basis, as well as them launching a second campaign for a newer device that was supposed to be way more powerful. So I'd shelved it for a while, as I thought it was going to be replaced with a newer model that should have been better.
Unfortunately for me (but I guess fortunate for them), they drew the attention of a thin-client enterprise company, and they were basically swallowed whole. The campaign was shut down, and everybody got their money back, but nobody else got the product in the end.
A few years ago, I'd tried to boot my Remix Mini again to see if it still worked, but it didn't do anything at the time, so I put it even deeper on the shelf and forgot about it again.
Well, I came across the power cables again, and precariously perched it on my desk to give it another try. Unfortunately, I don't have any monitors with a spare HDMI port, so I plugged it into my HDMI capture device, and viewed the stream with VLC. And it booted all the way up, even to the desktop again, with no problems. Even connected to the WiFi again (we might need to change the WiFi information at some point) and realized that I need to update my login credentials!
Anyway, I've shut it back down for the moment so I can figure out my next step. I'd like to be able to have it running on my desk alongside everything else, as I do a lot more things now that would actually work on a system like this. Only, it's a really old OS now, I'm not sure how many of my apps would actually support it anymore.
Oh well. Back on the shelf again. But more towards the front this time, I think...
