Marketplaces and e-waste recycling centers are practically overflowing with the things: ARM-based streaming TV boxes that run some — usually very outdated and compromised — version of Android. While you can use them for their promised streaming purposes, they’re invariably poorly optimized and often lie about their true hardware specifications. Which leaves the most important question: can you install Linux on these SBCs and use them as a poor man’s Raspberry Pi alternative? The answer, according to [Oleksii’s Tech] on YouTube is ‘sorta’.
Ooh, this could be really for me. I have one of those but never used it much, but I hated the idea of it sitting there doing nothing, and loved the size and shape; this lead me to think of repurposing it but my meager knowledge of Linux tinkering stopped me before even starting.