Khadas VIM 4: Powerful ARM SBC with HDMI Input
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- VIM 4 SBC review, including demos running Ubuntu 22.04, Android 11 and the board’s OOWOW embedded firmware.
The VIM 4 featured in this review was purchased from the Khadas website here: www.khadas.com/product-page/vim4 And you can learn even more about the VIM 4 here: www.khadas.com/vim4
If you want to purchase a VIM 4 and accessories from Amazon.com, you can find them in the Khadas SBC section of the ExplainingComputers storefront here: www.amazon.com/shop/explainin...
Please note that as an Amazon Associate I earn a commission from any qualifying purchases you may make via the above link.
My recent review of Ubuntu 22.04 is here:
• Ubuntu 22.04: An Excel...
And my previous review of the Khadas VIM 3 is here:
• Khadas VIM3: 4K NVMe S...
If you want to edit video on an ARM SBC, I also have a guide here:
• SBC Video Editing: Ras...
More videos on SBC and wider computing and related topics can be found at / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:44 Unboxing
03:20 Specification
07:05 Case & OOWOW
10:55 Ubuntu Demo
15:14 Android Install
17:40 HDMI Input
#VIM4 #SBC #ExplainingComputers - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
19:21 - I long for the day when one of these boards finally has the software to bring out the best in the hardware (especially in Linux, where we could actually do things with it, instead of Android).
Greetings Jeff -- and I totally agree!
Being $200 rather than $20 makes it all the worse when one tosses the board into a pile of junk.
Agree
Sadly by the time you get a stable platform getting close to using the onboard feature set to its full, the next generation of the platform has come along with all new hardware to optimise drivers and distracts those who would be tweaking and edging out that 1% more, shift to the new stuff as for the same effort they can get that extra 10% more as early days to shine. Besides, people like new things. Rinse repeat.
A ZX81 would be running power stations today if we stuck with it. :)
@@PaulGrayUK why go so advanced as a zx81 you can run a power station on an AGC with with about a cubic foot or two of LOL Memory, or you take that zx81 and try training a confrontational bidirectional recurrent neural network on several petabytes of video, good luck living to see the output. Old != Better no matter how much you wish it was, there's only so much that something can do no matter how optimised.
"We turn the board over. The excitement continues."
Made my day!
When it comes to videos introducing SBCs etc Mr Barnatt sets the standard. Other channels are not bad, but i often find myself wishing for the clarity of the video work and commentary which is provided so effortlessly by Explaining Computers.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks. :)
Indeed. This is what keeps me coming back for more :)
Sadly, there are a lot of people who don't have patience for this style of video, but I love how it's quite methodical and always answers the little questions I have about a particular board. Often better than the manufacturer's own documentation.
@@JeffGeerling Don't worry Jeff, you're not too shabby yourself ;-)
I like how Mr Barnatt treats things with respect. Don’t you hate it when TH-camrs throwing things (probably from sponsors) on the table during unboxing videos to try to look cool?
@@JeffGeerling Fully agree!
Now I know what your intro song reminds me of! It’s a mix between inspector gadget & dr.who 🤣👊 I love it.
Reminds me of Chockablock. An early BBC computer :)
Go go gadget scissors 😅
😂
Well, in the words of the firmware, "OoWow". This looks like a game-changer in the world of SBCs. Willing to bet this is the watershed moment where all SBCs will start including some sort of BIOS/Firmware from now on. Can't wait to get my hands on one of these.
I agree. I do hope that other SBC makers will copy the firmware idea.
Doesn’t the Raspberry Pi already do something similar?
This is kind of "Pixie boot from the Cloud" - making OS installs as effortless as installing an app from the Linux command line.
@@karimjordan9461 if you mean NOOBS, that's just a tiny operating system that does more or less what Oowow does. The point is that NOOBS has to be written to an SD card, just like any other Pi OS. It isn't firmware and, more importantly, it doesn't include Tetris!
@@johnm2012 No, there is beta firmware that downloads rpi-installer, (not NOOBS). This can write the OS to any attached storage. Unfortunately the RPi4 doesn't include eMMC so an SD card or use storage is needed.
I would love to attend one of this guys lectures.....on anything. Very informative and entertaining.
Thanks. :) I did some online lectures recently here: th-cam.com/video/shW8MIbNyuM/w-d-xo.html
Awesome. I hope these SBCs keep coming. Great job, Chris 👍
The most entertaining review channel ever! I love it.
Thanks. :)
I love these SBC videos along with the RISC-V. Keep up the great work!
Thanks, will do!
Let joy be unconfined! It's been a while since I've got enthusiastic about buying a new SBC. Love the HDMI capture possibilties. Thank you.
Another great video. Thank you Chris. Love the ending.
Thanks 👍
Sunday is always the day to take....... a closer.. look 💪🙏
It is so amazing how much technology can be put into such a small board. Looking forward to your next video!
Greetings Perry.
I love watching your videos and passing them on and sharing them to other people or interested in this.
This is totally awesome Chris
Keith
Thanks Keith. :)
These SBCs are getting amazing
I really enjoyed the candid outro from the SBC, a change is as good as the rest I guess they say!
I absolutely love the purple case.
The Khadas VIM 4 seems to be a very impressive board. Thanks for reviewing it.
It's the first ARM SBC I've looked at that really feels like using a desktop computer.
I can't wait to get one of these.
Shows promising innovation other sbc makers could follow.
That get fun section is a nice touch!
Yet another excellent vid. Cudos. Look forward to the next installment.
I just ordered one last week. Can't wait to play around with it!
Have an awesome weekend Christopher, another excellent showcase of, less is more, form factor in computers. As Always, Be Smart and Stay Safe.
Another great video! I enjoyed seeing another cool piece of kit that I may very well purchase in the future. I quite enjoy seeing what this little computer brings to the table and I have to say there is plenty of potential here!
Thank you Chris, that was most interesting. That is quite a capable computer.
Concerning all the product features without support that you mention, have you considered doing a few follow-up reviews of such products? As a person of constrained finances, I am cautious about buying products that have relatively poor support for hardware elements that form the basis of the company's marketing. I first ran into this with my Odroid C2. That SBC is now running a later and Odroid oriented version of LibreELEC (CoreELEC) very well. But when I received it, that machine/environment was not a particularly stable solution, and Debian was not functional at all. There are other manufacturers that do not seem to keep up the process of supporting their hardware, and you are one of the few people who are in a position to tell us buyers about the progress, or otherwise.
Thanks for this -- and a great video idea. Noted! :)
Fantastic which way this is moving, thank you Christopher.
Long time no see :) been out of the loop, just saw this what a great video! The future is looking bright for SBC's! Would loge to see a cluster of these!
Welcome back! :)
I wouldn't be surprised if they're not allowed to distribute the playstore portion. I know some Chinese phones come with their own app managers and don't have playstore even though they run android. On one of those that I have you could install playstore from an apk though and it seems to work fine. Thank you Chris for the fine segment as usual. Consistently both a top and accessible channel for this type of content.
Another great sunday, and a new fresh video :)
Jolly excellent as ever. Thank you. Helps to understand the direction of the non-rPi SBC ecosystem. Only EC does it so well.
A new SBC is out well I guess it's time to get our dose of *ExplainingComputers* ❤️❤️❤️
This man is an international treasure. Thank you for your channel
My pleasure!
On a side note, it is of course obvious, however when someone with disastrous narrative style such as this typist can at least recognize superb narrative style, it speaks more to the speaker than the listener. Thanks for another informative video.
Great SBC, but even more wholesome video. Thanks.
Yeah that’s the future.
Keep up the good work fella and stay safe.
Your enthusiasm is great Christopher, a great intro to the Vim 4.
As a side note, I think the image of you sat at your desk is a good look, more of it please! :-)
Thanks for this. The ending was a spur-of-the-moment thing! I intended to point the camera at the SBC. But then I realized that a static shot would not prove anything about the HDMI input! :) So I pointed it at me, and then decided during the take to roll into the ending.
When I first saw this board, I was surprised to see how smal it is! Once you get some software on this, it will probably be pretty amazing!
Great demo. Thank you for contributing. I really appreciate your work.
'ooWow'
Also wow lol I was just watching your old USB3 video and I kinda laughed at the way you said '.com' at the start. You've improved so much!
Great video thanks again Chris
Impressive hardware - ordered it today
18:44 in the video is something you can't see every day, love the setup Cris.
Nice it's Sunday again again just in time for my breakfast but I know I will like the video because I love boards related videos have a nice week.
Greetings! Have a great breakfast, and a great week.
Thank you... Always interesting.
Can't get enough of you 💙
Thanks for another great review of the latest VIM 4 SBC. After the hardware has been developed I am sure there is a scramble to provide software support for such things as HDMI input on Ubuntu and the Play store on Android... As SBCs become more powerful they will have wider applications for edge computing, which will be great to see.
Oh Wow!
I love that boot utility; Greetings Mr Barnnatt, Thank you for the great content
Greetings! The utility is indeed excellent, and something it would be great to see on other SBCs.
@@ExplainingComputers For sure, let alone desktops and workstations, right from the Firmware! is very easy to see the benefits for big deployments.
Fantastic video. I decided I'd buy one of these. I wish more SBCs had POE+.
Good luck with it. This is a very nice SBC.
I love that the Android image isn’t bloatware. Much better base for building a system
I really enjoy your videos.
Thank you!
Thanks for your support, most appreciated. :)
Thanks for the great video!👍
I wish I knew what you know. That's all I can say. About a decade ago or more, I knew some things, but I got out of building computers and so much has changed, that I'm lost now. I used to build about 5 to 6 computers a year just for fun and sell them for what I had in them. I haven't done that in years, and now I have no clue about anything. I'm subscribed and I'll keep watching and maybe I'll be able to catch up.
Nice touch with the end mod.. and hopefully they catch up the images
love your endings,
Thanks. :)
Now this new SBC has me very interested. Would live to see more on what it can do. I’m hoping you will have a follow up video in the work Chris.
What a nice way to your Sunday morning, a new SBC review from EC. Thanks as always.
Thanks for this. I will indeed return to this board when (if!) there is software support for the HDMI input in Linux, and/or better software support in Android. Lots of possibilities for video capture, streaming, etc.
That is an interesting point you made, maybe you should do something like a six month, year, and two year retrospect of these single processors. Since these are less mainstream they may not get the attention they deserve. You could also include comparison to earlier iterations.
I like that it seems to have all of the interfaces on one side. Great for doing a case mod, say with a Mac mini case.
I love your channel. Very beautiful work.
Thank you! Cheers!
I really enjoyed the fact, that you really give all the information here. I hope they get the GPU drivers as well as the HDMI IN fixed for Ubuntu and an Android image with the Playstore (or at least the option thereof without all the hassles) would be a nice bonus.
Certainly looks awesome especially if one wants to just do some work.
I could imagine my daughter having this for her school - attached to a monitor and with a keyboard and mouse. I think it should be possible to run Teams on Linux since it's Electron-based, though I wouldn't count on it without checking. But the rest seems fast and snappy. I like it!
I liked the firmware the most, it's new of its kind I'd guess,
and the conclusion part is the best,
I hope to see you again the next Chrisday (or was it Sunday 🤔),
Thanks Chris,
Well done khadas letting users choose their exposure to malicious software as google playstore / play services. Highly interesting with a virus free android.
Most major league pimps have been planning to upgrade to these after what went down in the hood last summer. OG's my not have much use for the HDMI input, but the younger G's will I'm sure. Thanks for the great review. 5000.
Greetings!
This fan on VIM 4 is quite beautiful and shiny.
Interesting SBC video with fascinating SBC firmware option.
Thanks for the review . Hope to see updates on it , like how to use the HDMI input . Hope you get a Hackboard 2 to review when it gets released soon .
very interesting SBC, only issue I would have is the price point. But thanks for the introduction to the Khadas VIM 4. Until next time have a great day.
Very impressive SBC, and the OOWOW firmware is genius. May not be ready for primetime with no HDMI input in Ubuntu and no apps in Android, although hopefully Khadas is working on those :)
The firmware is a great idea. Hopefully, more distros will be available to choose from, in the future.
Looks like a great board, especially in the way it installs its operating system. I do hope others follow this lead. I am impressed with its speed. But I will stick with my PI for now.
Wow you have the coolest stuff.
M.2 slot. 8 gigs
Of memory.
It just keeps getting better and you are really on top of your game.
Keith Kuhn
Great video as always 👍
Interesting soc
Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us 👍😀
Another devise I got dream of
The potential for this board is amazing, HDMI 'IN' is a game changer for commercial use, I'm not too bothered regards the play store but have ordered one to check out, would like to see support for the HDMI 'IN' in Linux and hope some cases specific to this board appear soon, as per usual anotherfantastic review.:-)
Great job, Chris 👍
Thanks 👍
@@ExplainingComputers Thank you so much
It seems to ship quite quickly to the US from China. I ordered mine last week, and it already made it to the O'Hare International Airport a few days ago.
I think this little SBC is more powerful than the ancient laptop I'm watching this video on.
Great presentation Chris. Whilst it is generally true that software lags behind hardware, it's a shame they didn't include more software options that were tried and true that were in the previous iteration of the sbc. I do like to small amount of onboard memory and I hope developers head towards including it in their new sbcs
Automatic network installation of operating system does reduces the barrier for entry a lot, But one should have extraordinary trust on the brand to install OS without any possible means of verification; In the age of NixOS it's a steep drawback for power users.
Great video as always Chris!
you totally right , oowow also have this possibility to install os like fedora ubuntu armbian debian etc from official sources , but at this moment linux kernel form official distros not ready, hope will be soon too
It's a shame: I was checking out different channels on SBCs the other day, just to find out, that the first channel that I have subscribed to, namely Explaining Computers, is simply the best one. Chris has just the best hands-on-mentality and I dig the pace of his reviews. It's relaxing as well as very infomative... Thank you very much for everything you do here!
And, yes, I totally agree: It is a shame that software lags so much behind hardware these days, very similar to the beginnings. The big problem seems to be, that nobody would invest in software on such a cheap hardware. Imagine somebody would buy a licence of an OS for 150€ :D Maybe there was a market for that. I would love to see an in depth video about this issue...
Thanks for this. And an interesting video idea -- noted! :)
BIOS OS installer. That's awesome!!
I can’t understand why it’s taken until now for someone to add a decent bootstrap environment in the firmware like this. It can’t be that much development effort, but the quality of life improvement it provides is huge.
Agreed.
The problem is that the download sites also have to be configured in such a way that they can be added to the list.
As a bonus you can play Tetris while you wait for a download. So it's double awesome.
Ah yes, here we see the Christopher Barnatt in his native habitat. Really enjoyed this video!
That's really neat
As always, another excellent video. If the software support for the HDMI input becomes available in Linux, this SBC could be a good basis for less expensive version of standalone HDMI recorders like those from Atomos or Blackmagic Design.
Agreed. :)
Robert ... Exactly. I'd like to build some type of HDMI recorder with one of these one day. Just something simple like the old VCR where I can record video content without thought.
@@PoeLemic Yes! I've got a device which I bought for recording TV and it makes a garbled mess after just a year of use. With something open I could actually record stuff that isn't made available on the network's website and watch it at my schedule.
@@anon_y_mousse Exactly. I wish someone would cobble together a simple SBC solution to this problem. See, I've got a lot of crap on my Xfinity DVR that I'd like to save into MP3. But, I'm not the best at knowing all of the steps to do it. I bought a screen capture card for PC, but it's not simple & easy. So, I'd like to find something that can just record 720p / 1080p @ 24 / 30 fps. That's all and convert into MP3 / MP4.
Hey Chris!
Thanks for your great video.
I think It's very similar to Firefly RK3588S. It's Rockchip instead of Khadas Amlogic.
Been waiting for you to review the Khadas VIM4, since I'm considering switching from Raspberry to Khadas.
Gonna buy my new SBC in December, and unless Raspberry come up with something in a hurry, this is gonna be my next SBC
(unless something better comes along, obviously :-))
Thanks for the review...
Thanks for this. Do keep on eye out for the Rock 5 model B, due out soon now (hopefully), which will be a major competitor to this board.
@@ExplainingComputers Thanks - already looking forward to your review 🤓
Often thought that a useful piece of video gear would be effectively an Android smartphone with an HDMI input in place of its rear camera so that you could plug in an arbitrary video and audio source and do a livestreamed broadcast using some of the smartphone specific video streaming and media platforms. Something like an Atomos recorder with a version of Android running on it. This seems to be getting closer to that but the software isn't there.
Fantastic video!! Please do a follow up on this in 6 months to see if software support has improved!
Thanks. I will follow the software situation with great interest.
A great overview of an interesting piece of hardware. Hopefully they will provide a better Android image in the not too distant future.
Very good. Very interesting
_Just yesterday_ I was thinking that ExplainingComputers should make a video on the newly released Khadas VIM 4. I guess you can telepathically read minds of your fans 🤷🏽♂️
:)
Thats best linux experience ive seen so far on SBCs. Looks like it has 2D/3D gpu drivers, but not video decoding module for libva. But still best. And mouse cursor is not blinking while moving.
With all those camera inputs and screens, it might make for an interesting DIY car entertainment/backup camera/dash cam setup. But of course that is a bit involved.
Oh, wow! I think I like OoWow a lot!
I've got a box full of these things, and the Pi's are the only ones I don't regret buying. Half-baked software doesn't cut it, I don't care if it IS self-installing! No, I'm probably not going to rush out and buy one. But, great video, nonetheless! :)
Something like this could do well as a capture device if the software gets there.
The OS installer needs to happen for PC BIOS, too.
The Khadas Vim 4 is an interesting SBC, I like the ability to download an OS without using another PC, definitely an OOWOW moment. I think that better software support & graphic acceleration would help it. Would it be possible to test it without the cooling fan, running it as a passive solution? I'm looking to see if it could be a desktop replacement contender! I look forward to Sunday as I always learn something new from Chris @ EC! :)
For 5 of the past 6 years I had been using an RPi3 and then an RPi4 as my only computer. With YT-DL I was able to watch most things that wouldn't even run in the browser or at the same resolution that I wanted. I was even able to get Doom3 and Half-Life running natively, though only within the last year or two of using them. Most old game systems emulated fairly well. It's only been since this past year when I got a decent desktop that I've only been using the RPi as a media viewer for the big screen, but it's still capable of being a desktop PC, just not a great one.
Really interesting, they are getting close to a VAX 11/780 in the palm of your hand. My Zoran laptop is doing well, thanks.
Greetings! I've glad the laptop worked out. :)
nice video, thx!
I pray no one is strong-ARMing you into these SBC (Small British Computer) board cameos.. for money or fame, Sir Alan Turning would be rolling over in his MOSFET shaped casket (no disrespect) if he even suspected it was not for TH-cam education and enrichment. FYI, Alan was more of a analog computer fan, but I digress. The board is just North of Muscle Bound! Good job and another great one in the can (sorry for that visual). Cheers.
I rather like your sign-off from the desk :).
Thanks. :)