ARNU Box Linux Triple Play

Innovation, Speed and Performance Delivered to you from an ARNU Pure Linux Box

You may already be familiar with Armada, a company that gave us our first Quad Core XBMC/KODI Pure Linux box, along with an innovative Code Red launcher, Cloudword Sync for Android and the one-of-a kind Cloudword installer.

After a trademark issue, Armada recently rebranded themselves as ARNU Box. Along with this news, comes an exciting new line of products including one of the fastest Linux media players to date to be released soon, the ARNU Box Pure Linux Mach 10.

While there are many media streamers that use the Android operating system available, the amount of low cost media streamers running pure Linux is still quite limited.

Linux is one of the most stable and best operating systems for Kodi and XBMC. While Android offers a wide range of apps for watching TV content. When it comes to Kodi or XBMC, the Android operating system is still not yet as reliable as Linux.

The reason for this is the Android OS comes with a lot of extra bloatware that takes up resources. Resources, which on low cost Android media streamers are still pretty limited. Also Linux can adapt the refresh rate to match the framerate of content being played. This is something that Android can't do.

A pure Linux box only runs Kodi. All the other stuff like email, google play plus a host of other Android widgets which act as performance parasites are not running in the background.

This will let a Linux box run Kodi and XBMC at the fastest and best speed possible. All four cores are devoted to giving you the best out of box Linux media streaming experience. Something you just won't get with an Android box unless you do major tweaking and turn off a many system processes and apps. This can also cause instability if you disable the wrong things.

ARNU Box currently offers two models that support Linux the Mach Q and the Mach 8. Plus, they have a new top tier Mach 10 on the way soon that will offer even more incredible pure Linux performance.

ARNU Box - Mach Q - Pure Linux

Model	Mach Q Pure Linux Kodi 15 Isengard
CPU	Amlogic S802 Quad Core Cortex A5
GPU	Octa-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 600MHz
FLASH	8 GB NAND FLASH
SDRAM	1GB DDR3

The ARNU BOX Mach Q Linux Box

Affordable, excellent metal build quality plus an external WiFi antenna are all attributes that make the ARNU Box Mach Q a great value for Linux fans on a limited budget.

While you may not find many of the same apps on Linux as on Android, there are still a nice collection of apps available. These apps are popular for streaming media and offer a wide range of codec support.

Popular Streaming Media Apps for Linux:

Guided Setup

If you are worried about setting up a new media streamer with Kodi, don't be. The ARNU guided setup makes it easy to setup your new box quickly. Simply follow the onscreen prompts to be up and running in minutes.

Add Your Favorite Kodi Addons Quickly with Cloudword

Cloudword is another ARNU feature that rocks. Anyone that has installed Kodi addons in the past knows what a time consuming and often frustrating process this can be. Cloudword lets users type in the name of a plugin and add it quickly from the cloud. Downloading and adding individual repositories one at a time in Kodi from many different websites is no longer needed with Cloudword.

External USB Storage

While the ARNU Mach Q and Mach 8 does not include an internal drive for file storage. It does support a wide range of external USB devices for storing a large collection of media files.

For the best external streaming media storage solution, we highly recommend a NAS box like one of the excellent models available from Synology or QNAP.

OTA Updates

ARNU Boxes offers over the air firmware updates. These are a joy to use. Especially if you ever had to update firmware on an Android box hooked to a windows computer. With paperclip in hand, waiting for just the right moment to press the tiny reset button during the boot process.

OTA updates on ARNU make flash sticks and paperclips a thing of the past. Simply check for updates, if one is available it will tell you and you can automatically download and install it. You can be up and running with the latest stable OS release or newest features in just a few minutes. Paperclip not included, or even needed.

How They Performed

It's been a while since we played with Linux and XBMC. In fact the last time was with a Jailbroken 1st generation Apple TV which only had 256 MB of onboard DDR2 SDRAM running Crystalbuntu Linux on a 1 GHz "Dothan" Pentium M.

Processors and memory specs have changed a lot since then and the Quad Core processor inside the ARNU Boxes were lightning fast. Kodi played quite smooth, menus were snappy and we did not notice any glitches or abnormal playback on 1080p HD videos.

We do miss some of the apps available for Android, and really wish there was a simple way you could dual boot or switch between both operating systems. Linux for Kodi and Android for apps. Maybe in the future, ARNU may be able to pull this off.

ARNU Box Mach 8 - KODI - Pure Linux - Quad Core

Model	Mach 8 Pure Linux 14.2 Helix
CPU	Amlogic S802 Quad core Cortex A9r4 2GHz
GPU	Octa-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 600MHz
FLASH	8 GB NAND FLASH
SDRAM	2GB

The ARNU Mach 8 is their other pure Linux media streamer based on an Android M8 box. It also handled Linux and Kodi quite nicely.

One thing you will quickly notice especially at night on the Mach 8 or any Android box based on an M8 case design is the annoyingly bright blue LED light on the front. It's easy enough to cover with some black electrical tape if you keep it out in the open. Otherwise, keep it inside a cabinet with a IR repeater remote extender and this won't be an issue.

The Mach 8 is a little more expensive although it has double the DDR Ram. We still like the metal case better on the Mach Q and even with 1 GB of ram this would be our first choice.

We are happy to see ARNU decided to drop the plastic M8 case for a higher quality metal case in their Mach Q and new upcoming Mach 10.

Watch the video below to get an idea how fast this box really is. Boot time to Kodi in only 32 seconds!

Coming Soon - KODI - Quad Core Ultimate Performance ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux and Android Streamers

ARNU Box latest Mach 10 streamers have not yet been released. With 2X the memory of the Mach Q, along with a faster Amlogic S812 Cortex A9 r4 2GHz CPU. The Mach 10 should also be an outstanding Android or Linux Kodi streamer and a nice addition to the ARNU Box family of media streamers.

Find out more at www.arnubox.com including more info on their
ARNU Box (Formerly Armada) Mach 8 - Quad Core - Android 4.4 - KODI - with the CodeRed Launcher

Get support and find the latest firmware updates at the ARNU Forum.

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