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Why wouldn't you save a few bucks and get a full ARM board that can run mainline Linux? https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html https://m.aliexpress.com/

Why wouldn't you save a few bucks and get a full ARM board that can run mainline Linux? https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html

Koshkin 7y ago
Because, no VGA, no PS/2, and too much RAM?
- metildaa 7y ago
  VGA and especially PS/2 are getting rarer by the day, if anything having extra ram can be handy for fully utilizing all the I/O a board has to offer...
  - ianai 7y ago
    I don’t see vga leaving server hardware anytime soon.
    - metildaa 7y ago
      VGA seems to be leaving monitors en masse
      - ianai 7y ago
        Desktop monitors, sure. Rack mount KVMs, not so much. Nonetheless you have a point, I think, but I hope it’s considered. HDMI would be awful for something like this. It’s liable to fall off in use where vga can be screwed down. Displayport seems like overkill. Etc.
- LIV2 7y ago
  The VGA and PS/2 are bitbanged in software so it'd work just as well
andrewstuart 7y ago
Get both and have fun! It's a fun hobbyist computer, not a technical shootout. There's a community of esp32 users who like making small devices do cool things.
- dplgk 7y ago
  Where's the community? Interested to see what they're building.
  - andrewstuart 7y ago
    Search YouTube for esp32 - many videos and makers working with it. https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/ https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/ Search Twitter for esp32 https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.html https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.... There's lots going on.
- geezerjay 7y ago
  > It's a fun hobbyist computer, not a technical shootout. It is obviously a technical shootout. Time and money are a finite commodity and having to spend more on a less capable device that takes more work to get up and running is not a good way to invest our resources.
  - detaro 7y ago
    No, having fun is not about on-paper specs. These are entirely different classes of devices, and one isn't totally better than the other - e.g. the ESP32s are a lot more low-level accessible than a complicated ARM SoC. Want to run Linux: sure, get a <something>PI. Want to build something on bare-metal, maybe pick something more accessible on that level.
    - geezerjay 7y ago
      > No, having fun is not about on-paper specs. Actually, it is. Specs dictate the potential uses of a device, and a more expensive but less capable option simply means users have to pay more to be able to achieve less. In this case one option appears to be outclassed im every criteria. If these technical aspects weren't relevant then the specs wouldn't have been presented as the device's selling point.
m-p-3 7y ago
maybe power efficiency, and for the pure challenge of building something awesome with a minimum amount of resources? :D

Why wouldn't you save a few bucks and get a full ARM board that can run mainline Linux? https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html

Koshkin 7y ago

Because, no VGA, no PS/2, and too much RAM?

metildaa 7y ago
VGA and especially PS/2 are getting rarer by the day, if anything having extra ram can be handy for fully utilizing all the I/O a board has to offer...
- ianai 7y ago
  I don’t see vga leaving server hardware anytime soon.
  - metildaa 7y ago
    VGA seems to be leaving monitors en masse
    - ianai 7y ago
      Desktop monitors, sure. Rack mount KVMs, not so much. Nonetheless you have a point, I think, but I hope it’s considered. HDMI would be awful for something like this. It’s liable to fall off in use where vga can be screwed down. Displayport seems like overkill. Etc.
LIV2 7y ago
The VGA and PS/2 are bitbanged in software so it'd work just as well

andrewstuart 7y ago

Get both and have fun! It's a fun hobbyist computer, not a technical shootout. There's a community of esp32 users who like making small devices do cool things.

dplgk 7y ago
Where's the community? Interested to see what they're building.
- andrewstuart 7y ago
  Search YouTube for esp32 - many videos and makers working with it. https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/ https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/ Search Twitter for esp32 https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.html https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.... There's lots going on.
geezerjay 7y ago
> It's a fun hobbyist computer, not a technical shootout. It is obviously a technical shootout. Time and money are a finite commodity and having to spend more on a less capable device that takes more work to get up and running is not a good way to invest our resources.
- detaro 7y ago
  No, having fun is not about on-paper specs. These are entirely different classes of devices, and one isn't totally better than the other - e.g. the ESP32s are a lot more low-level accessible than a complicated ARM SoC. Want to run Linux: sure, get a <something>PI. Want to build something on bare-metal, maybe pick something more accessible on that level.
  - geezerjay 7y ago
    > No, having fun is not about on-paper specs. Actually, it is. Specs dictate the potential uses of a device, and a more expensive but less capable option simply means users have to pay more to be able to achieve less. In this case one option appears to be outclassed im every criteria. If these technical aspects weren't relevant then the specs wouldn't have been presented as the device's selling point.

m-p-3 7y ago

maybe power efficiency, and for the pure challenge of building something awesome with a minimum amount of resources? :D