4 ms·

Upcylce Old Speakers with C.H.I.P

30 points by dcschelt 11y ago

kieranhunt 11y ago
I was one of the C.H.I.P. kickstarter backers. I actually have two. I've been quite pleased with them. Apart from the issue with early C.H.I.P.s not booting[1], I've been had very few issues with mine. I really like the idea of these small, cheap, hackable and ubiquitous computers that we can assign to a project and not worry about the cost. One issue with the multitude of different companies making these things (Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, Next Thing, etc.) is that some systems garner large communities (and subsequently lots of support) whilst others seem to remain small. Most of my endeavours with these computers has been software related but I imagine that the size of the community comes into effect when it comes to hardware support. Is there something that can be done do try to minimize this difference? [1] https://bbs.nextthing.co/t/c-h-i-p-boot-repair-tool-for-mac/2780 https://bbs.nextthing.co/t/c-h-i-p-boot-repair-tool-for-mac/... (that site was having issues with its CSS at the time of posting)
- dindin123 11y ago
  I'll join the community once I could actually buy it. It really helps you know...
  - digi_owl 11y ago
    Yep. Once it can order it locally as easily as i can order the Pi3, i'm game.
- jdietrich 11y ago
  Open drivers, open documentation. Trying to work with these cheap SoCs is like pulling teeth, because their manufacturers are completely indifferent to the open source community. Video drivers are a particular sticking point.
  - makomk 11y ago
    They're working on it. The company behind C.H.I.P seems to be paying someone to develop drivers for it and get them into upstream Linux, including non-accelerated video drivers. A lot of the hardware on this era of Allwinner SoC actually already has support thanks to community efforts, too.
agumonkey 11y ago
Some mod could fix the upcylce / upcycle typo.
Timethy 11y ago
Sounds like the CHIP guys are desperate for use cases. That LePai amp already plays MP3 off USB and SD card.
- makomk 11y ago
  The user interface on that LePai amp appears to be rather lacking though - it's apparently limited to a numeric LED display and an IR remote that lets you skip through one song at a time. Probably not much fun with a large collection.
- aceperry 11y ago
  Since the CHIP is similar to other single chip SOC platforms like the Raspberry Pi, beagle bone, etc, the use cases are very similar. The CHIP has the advantage of being smaller in size than the other small cpu's but also much cheaper.
  - manyxcxi 11y ago
    It's only much cheaper if you get it without any of the adapters. I Kickstarted it and paid $24 for one w/ an HDMI adapter and $19 for one w/ a VGA. That being said, now that I have both adapters, any proceeding purchases go back to being much cheaper if I don't need the display adapters full time. The thing that really got me was their aim of being entirely open source. I like the Pi, but there's a lot of stuff closed off.
    - Nexxxeh 11y ago
      It's also cheap to go from HDMI to VGA now, a "Ugreen" HDMI to VGA converter (with 3.5mm audio out) is about $8.50. I think the popularity of the Pi has helped there. (The adapters are great, but depending on what you're plugging in, you may need to supply power as well. A microUSB cable is included in the box. If what you want to display has HDCP, that needs to be removed before the adapter.)
Hydraulix989 11y ago
Upcylce?
- dspillett 11y ago
  A common portmanteau of upgrade and recycle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling
  - unwind 11y ago
    I'm pretty sure the grandparent was pointing out the typo in the title. It seems we're low on moderating power at the moment. :)
    - dspillett 11y ago
      Ah. I'd not noticed the type either time. Dyslexia rules KO!
      - Hydraulix989 11y ago
        You mean typo?
        dspillett 11y ago
        Yes. I fail at both reading and writing. I'm not going to try 'rithmetic, I'll only embarrass myself.
toomanybeersies 11y ago
> veneer, plastics, and MDF rule the day when it comes to speaker materials There's a reason for this. It's because MDF gives far more consistent sound properties, not only between speakers, but within parts of the speaker box. MDF is about as uniform as you can get timber.

30 points by dcschelt 11y ago

I was one of the C.H.I.P. kickstarter backers. I actually have two. I've been quite pleased with them. Apart from the issue with early C.H.I.P.s not booting[1], I've been had very few issues with mine. I really like the idea of these small, cheap, hackable and ubiquitous computers that we can assign to a project and not worry about the cost. One issue with the multitude of different companies making these things (Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, Next Thing, etc.) is that some systems garner large communities (and subsequently lots of support) whilst others seem to remain small. Most of my endeavours with these computers has been software related but I imagine that the size of the community comes into effect when it comes to hardware support. Is there something that can be done do try to minimize this difference? [1] https://bbs.nextthing.co/t/c-h-i-p-boot-repair-tool-for-mac/2780 https://bbs.nextthing.co/t/c-h-i-p-boot-repair-tool-for-mac/... (that site was having issues with its CSS at the time of posting)

dindin123 11y ago
I'll join the community once I could actually buy it. It really helps you know...
- digi_owl 11y ago
  Yep. Once it can order it locally as easily as i can order the Pi3, i'm game.
jdietrich 11y ago
Open drivers, open documentation. Trying to work with these cheap SoCs is like pulling teeth, because their manufacturers are completely indifferent to the open source community. Video drivers are a particular sticking point.
- makomk 11y ago
  They're working on it. The company behind C.H.I.P seems to be paying someone to develop drivers for it and get them into upstream Linux, including non-accelerated video drivers. A lot of the hardware on this era of Allwinner SoC actually already has support thanks to community efforts, too.

agumonkey 11y ago

Some mod could fix the upcylce / upcycle typo.

Timethy 11y ago

Sounds like the CHIP guys are desperate for use cases. That LePai amp already plays MP3 off USB and SD card.

makomk 11y ago
The user interface on that LePai amp appears to be rather lacking though - it's apparently limited to a numeric LED display and an IR remote that lets you skip through one song at a time. Probably not much fun with a large collection.
aceperry 11y ago
Since the CHIP is similar to other single chip SOC platforms like the Raspberry Pi, beagle bone, etc, the use cases are very similar. The CHIP has the advantage of being smaller in size than the other small cpu's but also much cheaper.
- manyxcxi 11y ago
  It's only much cheaper if you get it without any of the adapters. I Kickstarted it and paid $24 for one w/ an HDMI adapter and $19 for one w/ a VGA. That being said, now that I have both adapters, any proceeding purchases go back to being much cheaper if I don't need the display adapters full time. The thing that really got me was their aim of being entirely open source. I like the Pi, but there's a lot of stuff closed off.
  - Nexxxeh 11y ago
    It's also cheap to go from HDMI to VGA now, a "Ugreen" HDMI to VGA converter (with 3.5mm audio out) is about $8.50. I think the popularity of the Pi has helped there. (The adapters are great, but depending on what you're plugging in, you may need to supply power as well. A microUSB cable is included in the box. If what you want to display has HDCP, that needs to be removed before the adapter.)

Hydraulix989 11y ago

Upcylce?

dspillett 11y ago
A common portmanteau of upgrade and recycle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling
- unwind 11y ago
  I'm pretty sure the grandparent was pointing out the typo in the title. It seems we're low on moderating power at the moment. :)
  - dspillett 11y ago
    Ah. I'd not noticed the type either time. Dyslexia rules KO!
    - Hydraulix989 11y ago
      You mean typo?
      - dspillett 11y ago
        Yes. I fail at both reading and writing. I'm not going to try 'rithmetic, I'll only embarrass myself.

toomanybeersies 11y ago

> veneer, plastics, and MDF rule the day when it comes to speaker materials There's a reason for this. It's because MDF gives far more consistent sound properties, not only between speakers, but within parts of the speaker box. MDF is about as uniform as you can get timber.