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CHIP $9 Computer
- codezero 10y agoI'm stoked for the PocketCHIP.
- fit2rule 10y agoHell yeah, me too. Its the latest in a very cool line of portable Linux machines designed for hackers to have a hell of a lot of fun. I hope that it is successful, and sits alongside other successes such as the Open Pandora (and soon: Pyra) as an example of how to do a portable, open, fun platform based on Linux, away from all the walled gardens and app jails that are prevalent on the other pocketable platforms. There is one thing that bothers me, however. With the Open Pandora, the community has been amazing - and much of that has been because the focus is on developers^3. The online repo of apps for the OpenPandora is a true treasure trove of amazing things (see http://repo.openpandora.org/ http://repo.openpandora.org/) - an app store done right, in that you have total freedom to do whatever you want with the platform, but you can also just have the plug 'n play experience of browsing a well-curated and maintained list of apps, which can be installed with a single click - no BOFH'ism required. The Pandora has proven to be a very good balance of free and curated apps. Developers can make money as well, if they choose to, and for the most part the community has been very remunerative towards the key devs pushing the platform forward. However, this doesn't seem to be a key strategy for the guys behind CHIP, who are a bit behind the ball with setting up a common, community-focused repository for developers to contribute to .. alas, it seems that its going to be a total free-for-all with CHIP development. The best we will have is "at least we can push our own .deb's up on a website somewhere to distribute our software". I seriously hope that, when the PocketCHIP starts to launch (its trickling out now, will be ramping up towards the end of the month), the NextThing guys will realize that they've got to get on top of this issue before someone else does - it'd be quite feasible, for example, to turn on a "PocketCHIP apps" section of repo.openpandora.org, and if NextThing doesn't do it - someone will. Such is the nature of the Open Handheld community. As a developer and user, I'd much rather have an 'official' repo, with curated apps and quality control for the end user, than just a free-for-all wild frontier of .deb's being passed around by all and sundry. Actually, what I'd really like to see happen is the guys behind the OS for the Open Pandora/Pyra consoles work in coordination with the NextThing team, so that maybe - just maybe - all systems could be running the same basic OS core. There really isn't any good reason for this not to happen - its only because of politics and control issues and NIMBY'ism/DRY'ishness that its not on the table at the moment.
- tluyben2 10y ago> Actually, what I'd really like to see happen is the guys behind the OS for the Open Pandora/Pyra consoles work in coordination with the NextThing team, so that maybe - just maybe - all systems could be running the same basic OS core. Exactly. I would say now the Pyra will run Debian instead of Angstrom and Chip runs a Debian as well there could be an option of unifying. Angstrom was kind of horrible to work with IMHO; I use my Pandora a lot but from a Debian chroot.
- fit2rule 10y agoTotally agree with you. Could this be the first stages of seeing a unified Debian system for open Linux mobile systems? That'd be coool.
- tluyben2 10y agoThat would be excellent indeed. And now there is not much reason not to. Mobile systems (and enough embedded as well) have enough storage/memory now to run those systems and Debian has no issue installing .debs on different partitions or drives. Basically the core packages can be on the internal flash drive and others on the SD drive which would've worked fine for the Pandora too.
- jamespo 10y agoI'd really like to see a palmtop linux machine with Psion 5 style form factor with a similar keyboard... these tiny keys are not great.
- codezero 10y agoI actually prefer the landscape mode with blackberry type keyboard to the wider models in particular because thumb typing while holding it is easier for me than having a wide qwerty in a small form factor.
- AlexeyBrin 10y agoWow, if I try to order a Pandora from North America is more than $300. I mean with these money you can buy a decent Chromebook, install Linux on it and any old console simulator you need. PocketChip on the other hand looks more interesting.
- donquichotte 10y agoIt's interesting that they distribute the "CHIP Flasher" as a Chrome app. It seems very user friendly but somewhat opaque. And it's a pity there's not much info on the hardware. Anyway, I've ordered two pieces. They're probably going to gather dust alongside my Raspberry Pis and Arduinos once the initial excitement has worn off. :) [EDIT] OK there's lots of info on the hardware, just not easy to find on their sales page: https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/ https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/
- nraynaud 10y agoMade a chrome app myself, for a reason that might seem odd. It fulfills the java promise: write once run everywhere, and access more stuff than java (bluetooth, USB, serial etc.)
- saiya-jin 10y agosurprising as it might sound, not everybody is using Chrome. my parents don't have it, I don't use it, fiancee the same. Firefox all around. because big brother google and no visible advantage over Firefox.
- BHSPitMonkey 10y agoIt's easy to get Chromium on any platform. It's harder to say that for Java, or native apps that the author may or may not know how to build and support across OSes.
- seibelj 10y agoI'm in the process of porting libusb to chrome apps via emscripten. Once that's complete, you can port anything using it (SANE, libimobiledevice, etc.) to chrome apps
- jetskindo 10y agoThis is amazing. Just need to figure out how I can attach a battery to it and everything in my house will be a computer.
- digi_owl 10y agohttp://docs.getchip.com/chip.html#chip-hardware http://docs.getchip.com/chip.html#chip-hardware First image shows a battery connector top right.
- dboreham 10y agoI ordered these the day they announced. Not sure if mine have shipped yet. Excited to see them.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- SloopJon 10y agoCan't remember whether I've seen this before. A few details after reading through some of the docs: * powered by Allwinner R8 (ARM Cortex-A8) with some proprietary bits * Debian-based CHIP O/S preinstalled on 4 GB flash * one micro USB port for power (supports USB OTG if powered by battery) * power connector for battery * one USB 2.0 port * one TRRS port for audio and composite video * built-in WiFi and Bluetooth * VGA adapter available for $10 * HDMI adapter available for $15 (no audio) * case available for $2
- messel 10y agoThat's wild. The computer is cheaper than the adapters.
- gmazza 10y agoFreebie marketing, a.k.a. razor and blades business model? [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freebie_marketing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freebie_marketing
- anilgulecha 10y agoNo, because clearly the CHIP is usable without adapters, and provides the main functionality.
- heinrichf 10y ago
- mavci 10y agoWhy is HDMI adapter worth $15? It's like create a hardware and split expensive parts and sell with low price marketing. It's not $9 computer, It's actually ~$35
- pawadu 10y agoMaybe because there are tons of patents on HDMI cables? US6932640 Oct 22, 2004 Aug 23, 2005 Yun-Ching Sung HDMI connector US7059914 Feb 20, 2004 Jun 13, 2006 Advanced Connectek, Inc. HDMI plug connector US7192310 May 16, 2006 Mar 20, 2007 Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd. HDMI connector US20060148319 Mar 3, 2006 Jul 6, 2006 Advanced Connectek Inc. HDMI type electrical connector assembly US8500489 Jul 15, 2010 Aug 6, 2013 Luxi Electronics Corp. HDMI locking connectors
- ekianjo 10y agoI seem to recall Display port is much cheaper in that regard.
- NTripleOne 10y agoWhy doesn't everything have DP then? Legit question, not sarcasm or anything.
- petecooper 10y agoAnecdotally, I see far more screens driven by HDMI, be they TVs or computer monitors of some sort. HDMI carries audio. Some DisplayPort versions carry audio. This may be a factor for mass market appeal.
- raihansaputra 10y agoprobably because the early adapters of high-res in consumer markets (TVs, game consoles) were using HDMI in the first place (PS3 and XBOX 360). Displayport is more prevalent in PC use (not even laptops except macbooks which uses mini-dp).
- tluyben2 10y agoAnyone know what is that vertical scroll shmup on the image above the gaming header?
- musha68k 10y agoLooks like Psikyo's Aero Fighters to me. The proportions seem off though, so most likely a PAL console port played on NTSC TV and/or a sub-optimal emulator config we see there :) Great game and astonishing feat for a $9 computer!
- jokoon 10y agoI'd prefer such product if I can just power it and control it over SSH. I don't really need an actual screen plug, as I would not use a home screen on such a tiny thing: it doesn't make sense. Although the rasbperry pi zero seems interesting, I don't know if I can plug a minimalist, small and cheap screen on a mini-hdmi. Overall there is no point using a classic screen on such tiny devices. This seems to compete with the raspberry pi zero, and RPi zero doesn't have wifi.
- IanCal 10y ago> I'd prefer such product if I can just power it and control it over SSH. It would seem like you can, or is there something I'm missing? Is it a concern with how you'd actually do the initial setup?
- fit2rule 10y agoIn fact, this is no problem at all. You can configure CHIP for ssh access, stick it in a panel in the wall somewhere, and just forget about it.
- cstuder 10y agoDocumentation for using the CHIP headless: http://docs.getchip.com/chip.html#headless-chip http://docs.getchip.com/chip.html#headless-chip
- makomk 10y agoYeah. One of the nice things about CHIP is that in theory (mine hasn't shipped yet) you can just plug it into your computer over USB right out the box, open a serial terminal to it and configure it that way, no messing around with SD cards etc. The Pi Zero can't do that because it requires an SD card and also the driver support for USB-OTG is poor and requires manual configuration of device mode.
- johncalvinyoung 10y agoNot just in theory--that's precisely how I got mine (I KSed it, and got my pair at least two months ago) booted up and configured for the first time. Super easy, in fact--way easier to bootstrap than a RPi (I ordered a RPi 3 some time since).
- Illniyar 10y agoThe chip has been on HN on and off for months. Is there something new happening?
- digi_owl 10y agoGeneral availability of the Pocketchip dock?
- Aissen 10y agoMore like the $15.22 computer with shipping. And said shipping cost is hidden at the third stage of ordering, well after you've given your email (hello dark pattern). At least the $6.22 shipping cost to my European country is reasonable and the same for two CHIPs (3: $7, 4: $9, 5: $11). I recall it was much higher during the kickstarter (and they worked to reduce it, as it seems on the campaign page). Edit: PockeCHIP shipping is $11
- out_of_protocol 10y agoYou can get Orange Pi One for ~$14 with delivery - which looks more powerful http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orange-Pi-One-ubuntu-linux-and-android-mini-PC-Beyond-and-Compatible-with-Raspberry-Pi-2/32603308880.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orange-Pi-One-ubuntu-linux-an...
- amelius 10y agoOrange Pi is Cortex-A7, while this one is Cortex-A8.
- makomk 10y agoOrange Pi is based on a much newer generation of SoC - A7 is newer than A8, and the Orange Pi is also quad core rather than single core and built on a more modern process node. They're not really direct competitors though since they have such different peripheral sets and intended uses - the C.H.I.P can be battery powered and has WiFi, whereas the Orange Pi is more suited to fixed/media applications thanks to its higher power usage, Ethernet, HDMI out, and better video decode hardware.
- Narishma 10y agoI think Cortex A7 is faster than A8. Or at least more modern.
- nimmer 10y agoThat's really cheap, but it's worth noticing that it doesn't comes with a WiFi NIC and on-board storage.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- mvdanj 10y agoIs it shipping soon ?
- rbanffy 10y agoIt's a bit frustrating there is no easy way to change the shipping address after the preorder.
- SwellJoe 10y agoI've been waiting for the PocketCHIP to become reality before ordering anything. It looks like they're planning to ship this month, so it might be time to order. I love that it includes a game dev kit that includes a music tracker...that's what I want it for. I have an original GameBoy for making music with LSDJ, and it's a lot of fun. But, it is difficult to find good condition GameBoys for anything approaching a reasonable price these days. I'd love to have something a bit more modern with the same basic feel and sound. The PocketCHIP has the advantage of having a "real" computer inside and a QWERTY keyboard, so if I get bored with four note polyphony, I could run something like SchismTracker or SunVox or whatever. It is in the sweet spot for me for this kind of device, in a way that the Raspberry Pi hasn't been (though the Pi is cool, too).
- thisisandyok 10y agoI backed the KS at the PocketCHIP level. My PocketCHIP arrived Monday, FWIW.
- FroshKiller 10y agoHey, so did I! I haven't gotten mine yet, but I'm very pleased to hear that they're arriving already. Thanks for commenting!
- thisisandyok 10y agoSure thing. It took about two weeks to arrive after I received the shipping notification
- SwellJoe 10y agoIs it awesome?
- thisisandyok 10y agoIt's a neat toy, but I wouldn't say it's awesome yet
- zhte415 10y agoA big market for these that doesn't seem to be mentioned is the potential for business presentation use: sales, training, basically anything in an office. Why carry a laptop, when the location you're going to has a projector screen you'll use, and likely has a keyboard (or carry a portable input device), and a power supply. And your files are cached on your favourite cloud. Make a nice looking case for these, and they're impressive novelties, lighter than the lightest laptop, and probably a bit more stable than driving a projector from a phone.
- schoen 10y agoThere's a clever feature in the Optoma Pico Pocket Projectors where you can store presentations inside the projector, or on removable media that the projector can read directly. So you can present from the projector itself without an external device. Of course, the projector currently doesn't run a general-purpose operating system, so your suggestion is more useful if you need to do something beyond showing slides or video.
- pmorici 10y agoI'm having a hard time finding a reason why I would buy this over the Raspberry Pi. Like others have said for this to be useful as a general purpose computer you need to buy add-on boards for video. Compare that to the RPi Zero which is $5 bucks and includes an HDMI port. You can easily add a USB ethernet or wifi adapter to the zero for under 4 bucks and have a real $9 computer. Not to mention the CHIP uses an AllWinner processor which has a record of not playing well with open source and a history of security issues.
- joe9182 10y agoReally ? Under 4 bucks for a MicroUSB wifi dongle - do you have a link ?
- toomanybeersies 10y agoNot OP, but: Dongle: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/150M-USB-Wifi-Micro-Adapter-Dongle-802-11n-Plug-and-Play-for-PC/32572565973.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/150M-USB-Wifi-Micro-Adapter-D... And converter: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ugreen-Micro-USB-OTG-Cable-Adapter-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-S4-Note-2-3-LG/32391841002.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ugreen-Micro-USB-OTG-Cable-Ad... $4.24 all up. Not quite under $4, but pretty damn close.
- mdellabitta 10y agoOnly problem is the Pi Zero has pretty poor availability.
- matthewaveryusa 10y agoI think the problem is that it's so cheap it undercuts all the other more expensive models that have higher margins. When you look at adafruit's website for example, they still have plenty of zeros packaged in kits that sell for 30+ dollars but bare zeros have been out of stock for months.
- makomk 10y ago
- LeonidBugaev 10y agoCan I start using CHIP without a display? Like ssh access when connected to USB or via Bluetooth?
- jboynyc 10y agocstuder already answered this questions below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11908011 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11908011
- Annatar 10y agoImpressive hardware, but UGH!, not yet-another-Linux powered computer! If I had the time, I'd port illumos to it myself, but since I don't, Linux on this thing makes it a non-starter for me.
- ytjohn 10y agoAs someone who spent years maintaining Solaris systems, it always amazes me that there are people out there that like Solaris. Especially in the context of a hobby/experimental system.
- Annatar 10y agoI love Solaris (except Oracle Solaris 11, which I really dislike!), and I love illumos and SmartOS even more. I grew up on Solaris - my first ever UNIX was a Solaris 2.5.1 system on a SPARCStation 20. I've been running Solaris on intel since my first Pentium 90 workstation on Solaris 2.5.1. Since I know how to build and package software for Solaris, I have everything I could ever want or need on it. It's a comfortable system, and it's elegant, once one fully understands all of its capabilities. And it's extremely reliable and high performance, especially on intel based processors. For some context, I am forced to work on Linux and I spend my entire working day working on it. Compared to reliability of Solaris and ease of use, I have grown to dislike Linux in the extreme. If you are thinking, "but that is insane, Linux is so great, how is that possible!", remember that I grew up on UNIX, so I have different criteria for what is comfortable and reliable (even in terms of development) than your average Linux user or Linux system administrator does. I dislike the GNU tools and user land (with very few notable exceptions) because I'm used to AT&T System V tools and that is how I expect the tools to behave; GNU tool chain usually frustrates me to no end. Working with Linux frustrates me to no end (I do professional development and system engineering on it). For example: --some-long-option comes to mind, or lack of proper manual pages ("see the texinfo page"), lack of backwards compatibility support, tar -z (tar is a tape archiver, not a compressor!), and so on, and so on... I miss my ZFS, I miss my mdb, I miss my dbx, I miss my SMF, I miss my fmadm, I miss the simple and effective handling of storage area network logical units, I miss the fiberchannel stack which actually works... I don't have any of those issues on illumos based systems, but it drives the point home: the last thing I want is yet another Linux based computer. I have enough of that as it is at work - almost 71,000 servers, 49% of them running Linux, and it sucks.
- manmal 10y agoDid they really use a banana for scale?
- pi-rat 10y agoStill waiting for the CHIPs i ordered several months ago :/
- akman 10y agoAlso waiting on mine from a little over 6 months ago (the Black Friday deal). It's supposed to ship sometime this month according to when I purchased it. But really, at $8 (+shipping), I see it as one of those things that if it comes, it comes.
- avodonosov 10y agowhere to get time to play with all the toys....
- matthewaveryusa 10y agoDoes anyone know if one of the USB slots can act as a client while the other as a host? I can't seem to find any documentation with that level of detail. edit: looks like one of them can run in OTG mode (i.e client), that's wonderful!
- thom_nic 10y agoI was an early Kickstarter backer and got mine right around the beginning of 2016. For me the sweet spot was small size, and WiFi. Note this was before The RPi3 was announced with onboard Wifi. CHIP had an early issue with flash corruption (no surprise there are always some issues with v1 hardware) but seem to have that sorted out with a firmware fix and mine has been running without issue for weeks. Compared to the original RPi which required an $11 WiFi USB dongle and a powered USB hub this is a lot simpler. I primarily used it as a headless sensor node or wireless/networked LCD display. It's perfect for that and still one of the lower-cost options even after shipping $$. Their documentation (http://docs.getchip.com/ http://docs.getchip.com/) and forum are actually pretty great. I think this will be a good contender if/ when they reach general availability.
- MistahKoala 10y agoWould be helpful if they were more transparent about shipping. I'm not going to go through the motions of pre-ordering just to find out what the total costs are.
- ruffrey 10y agoI ordered one. With tax and shipping to Northern California, it was over $16.
- codemonkeymike 10y agoBy being/attempting to be the "low cost leader" really brings out the worst people in comments. People who complain about shipping and packaging and the price on other sites and the price of other products, on and on and on. You couldn't pay me to be in such a market I feel bad for those who provide a cheap service or product and then get the worst feedback one could get.
- pandog 10y agoIf your tag line is "The World's first $9 computer" I don't think it's totally unreasonable for people to point out that you have to pay more than $9 to get the thing.
- codemonkeymike 10y agoSo you don't expect to pay taxes or shipping of something you buy online?
- hx87 10y agoI do, but I expect the shipping and tax to be displayed upfront, before I enter any personal information (aside from address) or sign in/sign up for an account.
- base 10y agoMany times the website needs your address to know the shipping, it's quite different sending the thing to an island in the middle of the pacific ocean or to a major US city.
- yardie 10y agoWho are these people that aren't aware that taxes, shipping, and duties are a thing? They must be Amazon Prime members.
- wolfgke 10y ago
- lil1729 10y agoI still can't see a full spec for the soc. Without that, to me, this is uninteresting. Sorry. Perhaps others have different priorities. Having a fully hackable $9 computer would have been a wonderful thing to me.
- unwiredben 10y agohttps://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/tree/master/CHIP[v1_0]/CHIPv1_0-BOM-Datasheets https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/tree/master/CHI...
- znpy 10y agoI made a group order for 40 CHIP computers. I was definitely pissed off by the fact that I could only order five of them at the time (but there was no limit on the number of order I could place). I am looking forward for them to start delivering. I hope that VAT won't be too high.
- Someone1234 10y agoJust because I'm nosy, what do you have intended for your 40 CHIPs? Education?
- znpy 10y agoAs I said, I made a group order. I gathered orders by many people (mostly friends) and ordered.
- tmaly 10y agoI ordered a CHIP over a year ago with the VGA adapter. I think it should be shipping soon. I sort of now wish I had went with the HDMI adapter as I do not have too many VGA systems these days.
- LandoCalrissian 10y agoI ordered mine in November, when are they actually planning on shipping?
- durpleDrank 10y agoDo they keep costs down because they are using conflict minerals? http://enoughproject.org/special-topics/progress-and-challenges-conflict-minerals-facts-dodd-frank-1502 http://enoughproject.org/special-topics/progress-and-challen...
- vegabook 10y agoCHIP's $9 pitch is nothing special anymore, with that Rpi device for $5 now, but the PocketCHIP wrapper is still a strong USP. Here is an IoT device where you don't need a soldering iron to actually get basic, useful stuff going.
- newman314 10y agoI bought one for June delivery, hopefully it shows up. What bums me out is that there is no easy board that I can find of the (get chip, pi zero ilk) that comes with an ethernet port. I know I can get a regular Pi but it's too much for my use case. On a related note, I've been looking for a low cost smart power plug with ethernet (10/100/1000) without much success. If anyone knows of such a beast, please let me know. IMO, $80 for something like this https://www.amazon.com/ezOutlet-Internet-IP-Enabled-Android-Interface/dp/B00KQ4R1RK/ref=pd_sim_23_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41LIb75CyNL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=WD0CR2WX3Q6NYFV37YRC https://www.amazon.com/ezOutlet-Internet-IP-Enabled-Android-... is too much