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No idea why anyone would want to use this. There's dozens of SBCs with 2x better specs than a Pi, but the Pi is arguably the most dominant board out there. Fo

by Hasz 9y ago

No idea why anyone would want to use this. There's dozens of SBCs with 2x better specs than a Pi, but the Pi is arguably the most dominant board out there. For makers (for anyone really), documentation is king. Working code, lots of examples, and good forums make the SBC, not the hardware. As for the other group, "hardware startups": Why on earth would you lock yourself into another startup for the brains of your new project? It makes no sense. Remember what happened to Intel's SBC? If a company that big can't provide decent EOL support, what do you think will happen if Neutis folds? Pick a ARM something core with a certified BT/WiFi module, and choose from several manufacturers with real EOL schedules and a history of following them Don't get me wrong, the 10 year guarantee is nice, but I don't think anyone can afford to believe it.

fake-name 9y ago
This isn't competing with the pi at all. It's competing with the pi compute module, and it's significantly nicer (onboard eMMC, WiFi). Also, you're really, REALLY underestimating the additional effort involved in a complex BGA layout for any modern device. For low-volume, specialist stuff, it's generally FAR more economical to buy-in a compute module then design in house. If you expect to sell a few thousand expensive specialty $INSTRUMENT_THINGs, the hundreds of hours of engineer time needed to bring up linux on a new board layout can buy a lot of compute modules. After all, if at a later point you do want to move to in-house, you can always just design a footprint-compatible module at a later date. Shit, I'd personally have been really excited about this if it were a few years ago. I was doing board layout for a project with a compute-module. The selection now is so much better then it was in 2012.
nrp 9y ago
It's a niche, but I can see real value in this for small runs (<10,000 units) of space-constrained designs. Using a SoM is a huge time-saver for development, but most available are either expensive and have painful and partially closed BSPs (most SoMs on the market) or are bulky and weaker (Raspberry Pi Compute Module, C.H.I.P. Pro). In the event Neutis is at risk of folding or you want to go to larger scale production, you can put the time and effort into dropping the Allwinner SoC and SoM peripherals straight onto your design. I have a couple of projects in mind that could use this, where I was otherwise considering the C.H.I.P. Pro or going through the effort of integrating a SoC.
- qume 9y ago
  My thoughts exactly. I think many of the posts here are from people who are not designing for manufacture and are just looking at the specs like it's a small standalone computer like the rpi. It looks pretty good to me. Havent had to use those high density connectors before but assume its straight forward enough.
digi_owl 9y ago
Also, i can have a Pi from any number of stores. Most of the other boards are either direct from manufacturer, or via some kind of specialized store that can set any markup they like. That said, i would love to see some kind of mobile device built around this.
hengheng 9y ago
Well, Intel Edison was a different story. The elephant in the room is chip availability for the Allwinner CPU. Is that guaranteed to be in stock 5 years down the line?

by Hasz 9y ago

fake-name 9y ago

This isn't competing with the pi at all. It's competing with the pi compute module, and it's significantly nicer (onboard eMMC, WiFi). Also, you're really, REALLY underestimating the additional effort involved in a complex BGA layout for any modern device. For low-volume, specialist stuff, it's generally FAR more economical to buy-in a compute module then design in house. If you expect to sell a few thousand expensive specialty $INSTRUMENT_THINGs, the hundreds of hours of engineer time needed to bring up linux on a new board layout can buy a lot of compute modules. After all, if at a later point you do want to move to in-house, you can always just design a footprint-compatible module at a later date. Shit, I'd personally have been really excited about this if it were a few years ago. I was doing board layout for a project with a compute-module. The selection now is so much better then it was in 2012.

nrp 9y ago

It's a niche, but I can see real value in this for small runs (<10,000 units) of space-constrained designs. Using a SoM is a huge time-saver for development, but most available are either expensive and have painful and partially closed BSPs (most SoMs on the market) or are bulky and weaker (Raspberry Pi Compute Module, C.H.I.P. Pro). In the event Neutis is at risk of folding or you want to go to larger scale production, you can put the time and effort into dropping the Allwinner SoC and SoM peripherals straight onto your design. I have a couple of projects in mind that could use this, where I was otherwise considering the C.H.I.P. Pro or going through the effort of integrating a SoC.

qume 9y ago
My thoughts exactly. I think many of the posts here are from people who are not designing for manufacture and are just looking at the specs like it's a small standalone computer like the rpi. It looks pretty good to me. Havent had to use those high density connectors before but assume its straight forward enough.

digi_owl 9y ago

Also, i can have a Pi from any number of stores. Most of the other boards are either direct from manufacturer, or via some kind of specialized store that can set any markup they like. That said, i would love to see some kind of mobile device built around this.

hengheng 9y ago

Well, Intel Edison was a different story. The elephant in the room is chip availability for the Allwinner CPU. Is that guaranteed to be in stock 5 years down the line?