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$25 PC alpha board successfully runs Linux
- corin_ 15y agoGeek.com is very late to the party, see submission of the original source at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2822255 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2822255
- ukdm 15y agoThat was the submission into alpha. They have now received their first boards back from manufacturing and are busy getting Linux and testing out its capabilities. I'm hoping we see some more videos very soon of the PC in use.
- corin_ 15y agoAh I picked out the wrong old HN submission, but my point stands that this is old news, 12 days old to be exact - see the date on http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78
- ukdm 15y agoApologies, but I don't think Raspberry Pi will mind the extra coverage. I think we all want this thing to sell like hot cakes and prove there is a market for gimmick-less, cheap computing that can become part of every school kids' back-to-school kit.
- reemrevnivek 15y agoThe original source was posted 11 days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2880507 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2880507
- wccrawford 15y agoWhat I'd really like to see is the ability to program this like an Arduino. My Arduino's cool and all, but the extra power you'd get from this for the same price... Wow.
- Game_Ender 15y agoIf it's a true linux PC you can just scp/ftp over binaries, just as easy as you could over USB with an Arduino. What it probably lacks is the digital and analog IO ports that you can easily access in the Arduino.
- wccrawford 15y agoRight. Actually, I was thinking of putting the data on the SD Card, but it doesn't really matter how it gets there... Just that there are IO ports to mess with. I suppose a USB device could be made for that, though... If it doesn't already exist.
- sasvari 15y agoactually it does exist, i.e. the SerIO from SparkFun (which is a pretty neat device, btw): http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9521 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9521 but then you're back again at arduino, with the SerIO having a higher price tag than the device itself.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- noahc 15y agoThat's a lot cheaper than something like this: http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=0&product_id=1019 http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=0&product_...
- wccrawford 15y agoWell aren't they just awesome? :D I'm starting to really like them. For twice the price of an arduino, the $25pc+SerIO could still be a really nice way to create some entertainment. In fact, since it has audio out and SD card, it would already be cheaper than another project I was working on. lol The Arduino would probably boot faster, though, so that's a consideration as well.
- 15y ago
- rch 15y agoIf they list $25 and $35 as price points, then how much could it cost to have all the components sourced from within 500 miles of where I live? Surely twice as much, once such a thing is even possible, but something in the neighborhood of that price point could still move at sustainable volume given the embedded product opportunities. I spend around that much every time I stock up on local produce, bison steaks, the latest micro-brew, etc. - why not hardware too?
- mhd 15y agoI'm not sure if you're serious (Pollan vs. Poe's Law), but local electronics manufacturing doesn't particularly strike me as ecologically and economically sound. Never mind that you could take this ad absurdum and demand local mining, which simply isn't possible (as opposed to e.g. local hops, which is often just bad, but at least feasible).
- rch 15y agoWell, not too serious of course -- but with the right approach to manufacturing, it would be both possible and desirable [1]. I'm similarly interested in using 3d printers to build enclosures for small electronics like this. In fact, I would appreciate being able to head down to some future kinkos and print out a replacement cell phone case, even if I could have one for pennies on the dollar if it was shipped over from Malaysia. I'm not (just) being an eco-hippie either. but I will just ignore the bit about mining. [1] http://www.innovaelec.com/ http://www.innovaelec.com/
- mhd 15y ago3D printing and electronics manufacturing strike me as two totally different animals for most applications. There's a lot of variation in cases and the like, so this is great if you need it right now, nobody has to keep a warehouse of that stuff and if you're doing something new (i.e. iterative design and development), the immediacy can't be beaten. This has a lot in common with POD books. For a computer like this, you simply don't gain a lot. It's mostly prefab components, with a bit of PCB and soldering. No big need for made-to-order, built from scratch items. You'd get almost nothing out of this, apart from a "support your local automated shop" deal. The eco impact of transport for electronics is negligible. Now, I'm not saying that there isn't a spot for "local electronics", but that would involve other devices, ones that are highly experimental, customizable and/or short run. If you'd get things like this (or an embedded systems) with oodles of different connectors, memory options, different processor subtypes, or open source hardware (probably FPGA based, to make it more reproducible). I've been dreaming about stuff like that since I read about "nano-facs" in the Cyberpunk RPG… But again, I don't see the big deal for the Raspberry. It makes sense to print a sole copy of "Best fly fishing sites for Llarregub Creek in late autumn" in your Kinko's, not to get a copy of the Bible or Harry Potter.
- rch 15y agoSometimes designers on HN ask how to get into open source projects... Sounds like these guys could use a brand database. http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=55 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=55
- pbhjpbhj 15y agoCould you explain what you mean by a "brand database"?
- rch 15y agoMaybe package is a better term? I'm just referring to all of the materials constituting a brand: logo in various vector formats and configurations (logo+text, logo only, b/w logo, etc. etc.), fonts, colors (print and web), usage guidelines, messaging, etc. etc. etc. Package all those materials together, and you end up with something along the lines of a database.
- jackmoore 15y agoThe word you are fishing for is 'identity' or 'corporate identity'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity
- mkup 15y agoInteresting. I'm going to automate my new greenhouse with two Ardiunos + some single-board, low power computer like this one. Arduinos will drive motors (window openers, fans etc), analyze data from temperature/humidity sensors in real time, i.e. "convert" USB port to a bunch of 5-volt analog and digital signaling lines. 8-bit realtime architecture is well-suited for that purpose. 32-bit ARM-based computer will drive Arduinos via USB, keep logs on SD card, act as http server, keep me informed via email, maybe even tweet, and also download weather forecasts from the Internet. New code will be uploaded to it via ftp. 32-bit multitasking architecture is well-suited for that purpose. I was looking at different ARM-based single-board computers recently, all of them are with ~$150 price tag. This one seems much cheaper. I'm not sure about its aptitude as a cheap computer for third world countries, but it is indeed usable as "next-level Arduino". Because 8-bit realtime and 32-bit multitasking architectures ain't mixable anyway.
- pingswept 15y ago8-bit realtime and 32-bit multitasking architectures ain't mixable anyway. That is some wisdom, right there. I'm working on an ARM board (http://rascalmicro.com http://rascalmicro.com) that plugs directly into an Arduino. If you're serious about building this system for your greenhouse in the next few months, I'd love to have you as a beta tester. My email is in my profile if you're interested. If not, good luck with the vegetation.
- ph0rque 15y agoApologies if you've answered this elsewhere, but what is the Rascal Micro ballpark price? Is it going to be similar to Raspberry?
- pingswept 15y agoThe Rascal will cost around $150, though I'll lower the price if I can figure out how to do it. I'm a little skeptical of the Raspberry Pi being sold at $25 in reasonably small quantities. But, if they can pull it off, I'll be delighted, because it will mean I probably can too. One of my beta customers has a demo up at http://angerlights.com http://angerlights.com that is pretty amusing and demonstrates the Rascal's basic functions. All the code is on Github too: https://github.com/rascalmicro https://github.com/rascalmicro If you want to try a Rascal in person, and you happen to be in New York, I'll be doing a demo at the Open Hardware Summit in NYC in mid-September.
- Sukotto 15y agoI wish people posting pictures would take the time to include a ruler of some kind for scale. Looks about 3 x 4 inch, is that right?
- joezydeco 15y agoI wish people posting pictures would actually look at what they're posting. The picture in this article looks to be a Broadcom evaulation board for the processor they're using (look at the silkscreen). That ethernet jack with integrated magnetics is $4 alone. There's no way this board is $25. The actual board looks like this: http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry2.jpg http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry2.jp...
- mjschultz 15y agoTheir own site has the same pictures that are on the original post: http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 Looking through the media section says that the picture you have is a prototype board, not the manufactured alpha board they're talking about here.
- icebraining 15y agoThe Model B ($35), which they refer to in the post, does have an ethernet jack with magnetics.
- poslathian 15y agoAgreed. That could be a dev board (seems pretty dishonest though). I was thinking it might be advertising. Lots of devboard companies do this - sell advertising space on the silkscreen to supplement their income on each unit (see digilentinc.com who does this a TON). the $25 price point is out of the question unless: A) They sell at or VERY near cost B) They sell advertising on the PCB C) They are subsidized by a tech vendor selling them parts at a discount D) They are subsidized by a charity or an angel E) They are planning on making 100,000 units in one shot. At least SEVERAL of the above have to be true, or the $25 is just made-up nonsense.
- mebigfatguy 15y agothis was interesting the first time it was on hn several weeks ago.
- rplacd 15y agoTantalizing. I wonder how well it holds up to adverse conditions - wouldn't mind lashing this to a monitor, opening up a dashboard, and forgetting about it.
- peterwwillis 15y agoWith a few minor changes this would be an awesome wearable computer. Android touchscreen phones are just too impractical to me. (For those who would rage and say how great touchscreen phones are, go pick up a 15EUR candybar phone and text someone with T9, then text someone with a touchscreen-only android phone) Ditch the Ethernet, add Wifi, GPS and a mic jack (and maybe a riser for a GSM/GPRS board?) and I would throw away my Android phone. A little eye-mounted analog HUD and an earpiece with attached mic would be all I need, and speech to text could do simple commands and transcription for me with maybe a micro-querty keyboard I could unclip and type on when necessary. Call me crazy but I think it would be cheaper than a phone and extremely practical for hands-off interaction. Plus, plug it into a monitor and keyboard and use it as a PC.
- krschultz 15y ago'Ditch the Ethernet, add Wifi, GPS and a mic jack' And the price would no longer be even close to $25
- waitwhat 15y agoYup. A four-port USB option would be nice, though, to make it just a touch easier (and cheaper) for those who want to pile on the features. With only two, after you've added a keyboard and mouse, you're already out of expansion options for the desktop pc use-case. (Of course you can add easily a hub, but I just have a feeling that you really shouldn't have to.)
- LXicon 15y agopick up a Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard and a compatible mouse (like the M305) and they can both use the same USB receiver. plus, it's a solar powered wireless keyboard! * you'll need to bind the mouse and keyboard to the same receiver on a windows machine before you connect it to your linux box until linux unifying support is available.
- waitwhat 15y ago
- Zomb1 15y agoDo you think this will be able to act as an HTPC?
- frodwith 15y agoYou'd probably need a lot more oomph to render even moderate resolutions of compressed video.
- dholowiski 15y agoHm... might be fun to build a web server cluster (with servers for caching, db, memcached, load balancing etc) out of these. I don't know how usable it would be but it would be a great learning experience for a few hundred dollars.
- putman 15y agoAn ARM board running Linux. Is this really news?
- ctdonath 15y agoWhat was, not long ago, a multi-million-dollar supercomputer now crammed into a postage stamp for cheaper than a frying pan, yes.
- sneak 15y agoHow long until I can boot iOS on my HackintoshTV? (I kid... sort of.) Seriously though, throw WiFi in there and lock the output down to 720p, and you've got a $99 AppleTV sans software.