4 ms·

I have a board in front of me. It in fact does.

by xena 11y ago

mwcampbell 11y ago
Have you played audio on it? How's the quality and reliability? For example, does it have background noise or limited volume like the Pi model B/B+ (which actually uses pulse width modulation rather than 16-bit PCM)?
- SwellJoe 11y ago
  I'm also curious on this front. My interest in the C.H.I.P. or one of those interests would be to have a tiny computer for music experiments. The Pocket add-on would make this a very nice little chiptune machine, if it has some sort of audio output that can be worked with. Running existing Linux compatible trackers, or building a small custom thing, would be reasonably easy if it has 16 bit PCM that is reasonably clean. Even one channel would be sufficient for this purpose, though stereo is fun, too.
  - tracker1 11y ago
    Just curious, is innexpensive a requirement, and would one of the nuc/brix setups work for you?
    - SwellJoe 11y ago
      Nah, I like the PocketCHIP thingy which has a screen and keyboard. I currently mostly use a Gameboy (the original style in a grey box, running LSDJ) for portable music fun. But, a more realistically programmable toy with the same basic form factor (pocket sized computer with a hardware keyboard) running Linux would be ideal. I could use a programming environment I'm familiar with, and work directly on the device itself (no need for cross-compiling and such). I don't really think of my Gameboy as programmable, despite knowing vaguely how to put together system to build for it and how to run an emulator for testing. I just don't want to program within those limitations, even though I appreciate the art that goes into doing so (and think very highly of the author of LSDJ). The very small PC form factor (like a NUC or brix) requires a monitor and a keyboard. A tablet with a keyboard more closely fits the bill, but also isn't ideal. I have a tablet, but can't really develop directly on the device, as far as I know. I want a self-contained pocket sized toy for tinkering with, without need for an external build system. CHIP with the Pocket add-on fits that bill perfectly, at a great price.
      - w-ll 11y ago
        This is why I loved the original Motorola Droid series, and wish we could get another modern Android phone with the slide-out, Sidekick style keyboard.
        SwellJoe 11y ago
        I had a Sidekick II, I which I liked a lot for the time. And, I miss my G1 for the same reason. I had two of them; the original G1 and the original Google Devel phone. Loved them both, but sold the G1 when I got the dev phone for free, and gave away the dev phone when I got a Nexus One. Have missed having a keyboard ever since. I've finally found that a 8"+ tablet has a large enough soft keyboard for me to be able to type at a reasonable speed without ridiculous numbers of typos. If the platform itself were more hackable, I'd just go grab an old Droid or similar. I don't really need modern for this particular task (though building Android apps has only recently gotten nice on a level comparable to building for Linux). But, running an unmodified Linux is non-trivial, and running an old Android version is also challenging. But, maybe I shouldn't worry so much about it, and just pick up and old Android phone that's known to be root-able and can run CM, disable the radio, and build the stuff I want to play with for Android. Unfortunately, there aren't any competent existing music trackers written in Java that I'm aware of.
- makomk 11y ago
  The Allwinner SoCs not only have an actual onboard audio DAC (up to 24-bit, 192ksps I think), they even have a built-in headphone amplifier. Haven't had a chance to try the C.H.I.P, but the Allwinner-based board I have seems pretty respectable. You'll need Linux 4.4 to use audio though, or one of the Allwinner-specific kernels.

I have a board in front of me. It in fact does.

by xena 11y ago

I have a board in front of me. It in fact does.

Have you played audio on it? How's the quality and reliability? For example, does it have background noise or limited volume like the Pi model B/B+ (which actually uses pulse width modulation rather than 16-bit PCM)?

SwellJoe 11y ago
I'm also curious on this front. My interest in the C.H.I.P. or one of those interests would be to have a tiny computer for music experiments. The Pocket add-on would make this a very nice little chiptune machine, if it has some sort of audio output that can be worked with. Running existing Linux compatible trackers, or building a small custom thing, would be reasonably easy if it has 16 bit PCM that is reasonably clean. Even one channel would be sufficient for this purpose, though stereo is fun, too.
- tracker1 11y ago
  Just curious, is innexpensive a requirement, and would one of the nuc/brix setups work for you?
  - SwellJoe 11y ago
    Nah, I like the PocketCHIP thingy which has a screen and keyboard. I currently mostly use a Gameboy (the original style in a grey box, running LSDJ) for portable music fun. But, a more realistically programmable toy with the same basic form factor (pocket sized computer with a hardware keyboard) running Linux would be ideal. I could use a programming environment I'm familiar with, and work directly on the device itself (no need for cross-compiling and such). I don't really think of my Gameboy as programmable, despite knowing vaguely how to put together system to build for it and how to run an emulator for testing. I just don't want to program within those limitations, even though I appreciate the art that goes into doing so (and think very highly of the author of LSDJ). The very small PC form factor (like a NUC or brix) requires a monitor and a keyboard. A tablet with a keyboard more closely fits the bill, but also isn't ideal. I have a tablet, but can't really develop directly on the device, as far as I know. I want a self-contained pocket sized toy for tinkering with, without need for an external build system. CHIP with the Pocket add-on fits that bill perfectly, at a great price.
    - w-ll 11y ago
      This is why I loved the original Motorola Droid series, and wish we could get another modern Android phone with the slide-out, Sidekick style keyboard.
      - SwellJoe 11y ago
        I had a Sidekick II, I which I liked a lot for the time. And, I miss my G1 for the same reason. I had two of them; the original G1 and the original Google Devel phone. Loved them both, but sold the G1 when I got the dev phone for free, and gave away the dev phone when I got a Nexus One. Have missed having a keyboard ever since. I've finally found that a 8"+ tablet has a large enough soft keyboard for me to be able to type at a reasonable speed without ridiculous numbers of typos. If the platform itself were more hackable, I'd just go grab an old Droid or similar. I don't really need modern for this particular task (though building Android apps has only recently gotten nice on a level comparable to building for Linux). But, running an unmodified Linux is non-trivial, and running an old Android version is also challenging. But, maybe I shouldn't worry so much about it, and just pick up and old Android phone that's known to be root-able and can run CM, disable the radio, and build the stuff I want to play with for Android. Unfortunately, there aren't any competent existing music trackers written in Java that I'm aware of.
makomk 11y ago
The Allwinner SoCs not only have an actual onboard audio DAC (up to 24-bit, 192ksps I think), they even have a built-in headphone amplifier. Haven't had a chance to try the C.H.I.P, but the Allwinner-based board I have seems pretty respectable. You'll need Linux 4.4 to use audio though, or one of the Allwinner-specific kernels.