Let's talk about Raspberry Pi and some alternatives a little more ...

I'm thinking about putting together a system that boots up a Unity game for a private project.
It's juat a very rough idea and I don't know if it will be really worth it (so the idea might very well get scrapped again) but either way I need some input from you guys.

I'd like the whole thing to be sort of a system that boots the OS, then starts the Unity game automatically and ideally even shuts down when the game is exited. Startup and exit can probably be handeled by most OSs via some scripts or other means.
Since there isn't even a game yet - think small. I don't need DirectX12 or shader model 3. Rather easy 2D or mobile stuff probably.

Since this is supposed to be very slim and as cheap as possible I thought about a Raspberry Pi 3 at first. After reading through the forums, though it seems it isn't really there yet. The hackyest way would here probably be via an Android installation. Correct?
So to think further - other and maybe better solutions would probably be barebone PC systems that can boot up standard Linux or Windows, right?

Ideally the hardware setup (without peripherrals of course) should not exceed ~125,-€. Preferrably much more towards the 70,-€ a basic Pi3 setup would cost.
Do you have any current experiences with this sort of thing?
Are there alternatives to a RB Pi3 you can recommend or is the Pi3 even there yet booting Unity games (despite the ARM processor) with an official OS release, somehow?

 

There is a known process for getting Unity games running on a Raspberry Pi 3 booting Android 6.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-Running-Unity/?ALLSTEPS

 

Yes - I've seen that one and am considering it. I am not sure how good it would work compared to a desktop OS or at least one that was designed to support the Pi natively, though. The android installation for the Pi installs a super basic system which I am not sure of whether I have to take extra steps to make it run my files with (for example) 2 joypads or run into problems because it wasn't designed that way, maybe. I don't have enough experience building to Android that way. I just build to existing Systems on a smartphone at best.

If possible I would preferrably like to keep unexpected extra problems to a minimum since it feels like a rather compicated thing to do, already. So will Unity Android projects run on a Pi just like that, then or will I run into trouble because it is a rather uncommon setup for Android?

Or in other words: Does it really work as easy with a Pi3 as installing Android?
And can android do the startup/shutdown scripting thing?
Or would I be better off with a different Mini computer or barebone (suggestions)?

 

*bump* Anyone have any experiences with UDOO x86?
Anyone bought it or even make any Unity tests with it?

 

I've been planning to test an Up Board SBC to see it is viable for a RetroPie cab: http://www.up-board.org/specifications/

Here's a link to a video review:

The UDOO looks very interesting. I'd like to try one but I'll wait for them to start shipping and reviews to come it before ordering.

 

hardkernel's odroid can be a reasonable substiture too
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php

 

I've tried this process.

Android works but it's quite glitchy.

I think they are working on an official port now so it will get better in the future.

 

I've heard nice things about the ODROID, as well. Good suggestion.

 

is there a version not behind a paywall?

 

I can't see a paywall on the site. It's three steps with the last one being a 16 minute youtube video. (??)
I assumed that an installation like this could be rather glitchy, though. I think in case of android for the Pi I'd rather wait for an official release.

Either way Odroid looks cool. I'll look up a few reviews.
Too bad that the UDOO is still preorder as the x86 version. I didn't even notice that before.

Thanks for the alternatives so far. If you know of anything else.

 

I don't see a paywall either. Maybe you've got a browser issue.

 

I had a similar need and went with the Intel Compute Stick, which is a $145 bare bones PC running Win10.
I'm able to run the 32bit version of Unity Editor and Visual Studio at the same time (with only 2GB RAM). So I can compile the game right on the device which is better IMO.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ASB0DJ8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

That is pretty cool. How good does the editor run on the Intel Compute Stick?
How fast is the system to work with in general for you?

 

Editor and all runs fine, just slowish as expected.

It's an R&D project. I have a scene with simple 3d cubes + dir light, rendering a streaming webcam video (from USB port) to the cube's texture, have FinalIK plugin with turret scripts, 2 way USB com with an Arduino UNO. It's been running very smooth at >100 FPS. This is all in the editor. Stand alone Windows App is even smoother.

Where it got annoying was when I imported Playmaker to run a few actions (me being lazy), script compiling went from <5 seconds to >30 seconds. Just gets old after a while. So I don't recommend running the editor for thousands on thousands lines of code. I deleted playmaker from the project and compile times were short again.

 

Cool thanks.