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I find it odd that there's so little choice between Raspberry Pi and Intel NUC. With all these high powered mobile phones there should be plenty of chips that w

I find it odd that there's so little choice between Raspberry Pi and Intel NUC. With all these high powered mobile phones there should be plenty of chips that would be fast enough. I can buy a phone with CPU, GPU, battery, modem, screen, etc for $100, but there's very little cheap low powered PCs.

knolan 8y ago
I’ve stuck Intel Compute Sticks onto a few lab machines with good success. Like NUCs they’re a bit too expensive but they are great for a running a tool off a VESA mounted panel, especially as many of these things need Windows.
shams93 8y ago
Yeah the only device that fits that profile is the asus chromebit but it runs chromeos and can't yet run android or linux apps so its a much more limited device than the pi even with double the ram.
AceJohnny2 8y ago
I'm in the same boat as you, but I can understand why, based on the market: You can buy a cheap powerful phone because there's a market for it. The margins are in the scale of the consumer market. However, there isn't as much a market for a generic "beige-box" cheap CPU. It's one of the difficult realizations of being a techie: the kind of undifferentiated, cheap, flexible box we want just doesn't carry itself as a product.
giobox 8y ago
Have you tried looking much? There's actually a fair bit of choice, and has been for the past few years, with many quad-core ARM based Pi competitors in the sub $100 market these days, all using various mobile phone style CPUs: > https://all3dp.com/1/single-board-computer-raspberry-pi-alternative/ https://all3dp.com/1/single-board-computer-raspberry-pi-alte... The reason you don't see them all that often is that none of them have close to the popularity of the Pi, and therefore don't have nearly as good community resources. The Odroid boards seem to have fairly active Reddit communities from what I've seen, but haven't tried using one personally. > https://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php https://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php
- dcbadacd 8y ago
  > The reason you don't see them all that often is that none of them have close to the usability of the Pi I think what OP wanted is usable NUC alternative on ARM (popularity is the result of that and is really proportional), so little ARM hardware is tolerably compatible with Linux (be it GPU driver, network driver, bootloader or whatever else cr*p ARM hardware makers keep to themselves), unlike NUCs which is actually really nicely compatible with Linux.
  - giobox 8y ago
    > I think what OP wanted is usable NUC alternative on ARM (popularity is the result of that and is really proportional) There's a little truth to that, but it also overlooks the huge effort the Pi Foundation has made to foster a community, which I think is the one thing the Pi team do that other board manufacturers simply haven't come close to matching. I'd personally argue it's the work of the Pi Foundation that has lead to the boards success more so than the boards themselves, which to be honest are increasingly pretty under powered compared to almost all rivals and have very long intervals between upgrades. It has probably also helped that the Pi Foundation is a charity promoting CS education in schools, rather than a commercial enteriprise.
    - dcbadacd 8y ago
      > but it also overlooks the huge effort the Pi Foundation has made to foster a community I think I didn't overlook it, Linux already has a huge community, they had to roll their own (community) because they weren't compatible enough, this is better than none, but not as good as it could be.
    - HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
      Mainline drivers or bust. Today we no longer absolutely need to make compromises and rely on corporate support for out of tree kernelsm
    - imtringued 8y ago
      I don't think so. I feel like the Pi is dragging down the rest of the industry by using broadcom chips based on a GPU that has been obsolete for a long time.
jdietrich 8y ago
An entry-level NUC is just barely powerful enough to give a tolerable experience in Windows 10. There are a gazillion single-board computers and Android TV boxes that will run Linux with a bit of hacking. https://www.armbian.com/download/ https://www.armbian.com/download/
- petecox 8y ago
  I am typing this on a 3GB amlogic s912 streaming box, with ports for USB type A, ethernet and 4K HDMI. Performance for around $40 is what you would expect from a smartphone, albeit the quirks of Android with a mouse and/or tv remote. The modding scene might not have the same level of polish as a rpi - there are ROMs for Android/Armbian/CoreElec but you may be at the mercy of building it yourself, e.g. When the wifi module isnt precompiled for your particular no name OEM device.
piyh 8y ago
I was trying to find a little server to host a friends wiki. I wanted to host it on an x86 server so my docker containers would be portable to AWS, but there's nothing that can compete with the rpi unless you're willing to spend over $200. I'd like to see the Y series processors on an SBC, but Intel ARK lists those for going over $250 for the processor alone.
windexh8er 8y ago
I'm with you here. I think the new AMD SoC that's coming out in the Udoo Bolt looks like a nice middle ground. I've been using Skull Canyon as a Linux desktop for about a year and a half now and the new model doesn't look a compelling upgrade for the price. I'm hoping the Bolt architecture is repeated in more products going forward. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/udoo/udoo-bolt-raising-the-maker-world-to-the-next-leve https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/udoo/udoo-bolt-raising-...
ChuckMcM 8y ago
https://96boards.org https://96boards.org it has spawned its own "form factor" if you will. And given that the form factor is reasonably similar you can build a NUC like system (I've got several for various servers). There is also a Coursera course starting up on the Dragonboard 410c in their IoT specialization that can give you a solid basis for a good example board of this class.
inetknght 8y ago
Asus Tinkerboard is about twice the price and (mostly) compatible with the Raspberry Pi. Its biggest upgrade, for me, is gigabit LAN. Worth looking into.
pmorici 8y ago
Intel has the Minnowboard.
morganvachon 8y ago
The Pine64 set of devices may be worth a look: https://www.pine64.org/ https://www.pine64.org/
- apple4ever 8y ago
  They have terrible software support too.
  - moderation 8y ago
    I have a Rock64 and a Rockpro64 and the software from https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-kernel https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-kernel is rock solid. Zero complaints. Both units require heat sinks if you are doing compilation work. The 6 cores of the Rockpro64 is a nice bump up and it is much faster on large compilation jobs like Envoy proxy or CockroachDB.
  - jquast 8y ago
    made k8's cluster with 10 rock64's, no complaints
derefr 8y ago
Install Linux on an Nvidia Shield TV?

knolan 8y ago

I’ve stuck Intel Compute Sticks onto a few lab machines with good success. Like NUCs they’re a bit too expensive but they are great for a running a tool off a VESA mounted panel, especially as many of these things need Windows.

shams93 8y ago

Yeah the only device that fits that profile is the asus chromebit but it runs chromeos and can't yet run android or linux apps so its a much more limited device than the pi even with double the ram.

AceJohnny2 8y ago

I'm in the same boat as you, but I can understand why, based on the market: You can buy a cheap powerful phone because there's a market for it. The margins are in the scale of the consumer market. However, there isn't as much a market for a generic "beige-box" cheap CPU. It's one of the difficult realizations of being a techie: the kind of undifferentiated, cheap, flexible box we want just doesn't carry itself as a product.

giobox 8y ago

Have you tried looking much? There's actually a fair bit of choice, and has been for the past few years, with many quad-core ARM based Pi competitors in the sub $100 market these days, all using various mobile phone style CPUs: > https://all3dp.com/1/single-board-computer-raspberry-pi-alternative/ https://all3dp.com/1/single-board-computer-raspberry-pi-alte... The reason you don't see them all that often is that none of them have close to the popularity of the Pi, and therefore don't have nearly as good community resources. The Odroid boards seem to have fairly active Reddit communities from what I've seen, but haven't tried using one personally. > https://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php https://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php

dcbadacd 8y ago
> The reason you don't see them all that often is that none of them have close to the usability of the Pi I think what OP wanted is usable NUC alternative on ARM (popularity is the result of that and is really proportional), so little ARM hardware is tolerably compatible with Linux (be it GPU driver, network driver, bootloader or whatever else cr*p ARM hardware makers keep to themselves), unlike NUCs which is actually really nicely compatible with Linux.
- giobox 8y ago
  > I think what OP wanted is usable NUC alternative on ARM (popularity is the result of that and is really proportional) There's a little truth to that, but it also overlooks the huge effort the Pi Foundation has made to foster a community, which I think is the one thing the Pi team do that other board manufacturers simply haven't come close to matching. I'd personally argue it's the work of the Pi Foundation that has lead to the boards success more so than the boards themselves, which to be honest are increasingly pretty under powered compared to almost all rivals and have very long intervals between upgrades. It has probably also helped that the Pi Foundation is a charity promoting CS education in schools, rather than a commercial enteriprise.
  - dcbadacd 8y ago
    > but it also overlooks the huge effort the Pi Foundation has made to foster a community I think I didn't overlook it, Linux already has a huge community, they had to roll their own (community) because they weren't compatible enough, this is better than none, but not as good as it could be.
  - HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
    Mainline drivers or bust. Today we no longer absolutely need to make compromises and rely on corporate support for out of tree kernelsm
  - imtringued 8y ago
    I don't think so. I feel like the Pi is dragging down the rest of the industry by using broadcom chips based on a GPU that has been obsolete for a long time.

jdietrich 8y ago

An entry-level NUC is just barely powerful enough to give a tolerable experience in Windows 10. There are a gazillion single-board computers and Android TV boxes that will run Linux with a bit of hacking. https://www.armbian.com/download/ https://www.armbian.com/download/

petecox 8y ago
I am typing this on a 3GB amlogic s912 streaming box, with ports for USB type A, ethernet and 4K HDMI. Performance for around $40 is what you would expect from a smartphone, albeit the quirks of Android with a mouse and/or tv remote. The modding scene might not have the same level of polish as a rpi - there are ROMs for Android/Armbian/CoreElec but you may be at the mercy of building it yourself, e.g. When the wifi module isnt precompiled for your particular no name OEM device.

piyh 8y ago

I was trying to find a little server to host a friends wiki. I wanted to host it on an x86 server so my docker containers would be portable to AWS, but there's nothing that can compete with the rpi unless you're willing to spend over $200. I'd like to see the Y series processors on an SBC, but Intel ARK lists those for going over $250 for the processor alone.

windexh8er 8y ago

I'm with you here. I think the new AMD SoC that's coming out in the Udoo Bolt looks like a nice middle ground. I've been using Skull Canyon as a Linux desktop for about a year and a half now and the new model doesn't look a compelling upgrade for the price. I'm hoping the Bolt architecture is repeated in more products going forward. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/udoo/udoo-bolt-raising-the-maker-world-to-the-next-leve https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/udoo/udoo-bolt-raising-...

ChuckMcM 8y ago

https://96boards.org https://96boards.org it has spawned its own "form factor" if you will. And given that the form factor is reasonably similar you can build a NUC like system (I've got several for various servers). There is also a Coursera course starting up on the Dragonboard 410c in their IoT specialization that can give you a solid basis for a good example board of this class.

inetknght 8y ago

Asus Tinkerboard is about twice the price and (mostly) compatible with the Raspberry Pi. Its biggest upgrade, for me, is gigabit LAN. Worth looking into.

pmorici 8y ago

Intel has the Minnowboard.

morganvachon 8y ago

The Pine64 set of devices may be worth a look: https://www.pine64.org/ https://www.pine64.org/

apple4ever 8y ago
They have terrible software support too.
- moderation 8y ago
  I have a Rock64 and a Rockpro64 and the software from https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-kernel https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-kernel is rock solid. Zero complaints. Both units require heat sinks if you are doing compilation work. The 6 cores of the Rockpro64 is a nice bump up and it is much faster on large compilation jobs like Envoy proxy or CockroachDB.
- jquast 8y ago
  made k8's cluster with 10 rock64's, no complaints

derefr 8y ago

Install Linux on an Nvidia Shield TV?