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Great to see the entry cost of an embedded linux development kit dropping from over $500 few years ago, down to the price of a pizza or two. This means we're g

by xxqs 15y ago

Great to see the entry cost of an embedded linux development kit dropping from over $500 few years ago, down to the price of a pizza or two. This means we're going to see more young talented developers with actual embedded system skills.

joezydeco 15y ago
Will the Pi really teach you embedded system skills? I don't want to be a cynic, but I don't see how this board makes it easier to control anything or interface to any other device. It's still Linux and it's typical set of drivers, right? How will the Pi or the upcoming add-on interface board let me connect an LVDS LCD or capacitive touchscreen? You mean I still have to hack up an I2C device driver and wire it up? I need to spin a kernel? Is there an open-source video driver for the Broadcom chip? I think it's a nice idea to put a cheap laptop into the hands of students. But I'll be more curious to see what those first 10 boards will be used for other than tiny MP3/MP4 players. You're still in Linux-land and that's not the most friendly environment for embedded systems programmers. Resourceful and talented developers can do a hell of a lot with a cheap Arduino or garage-sale laptop, they don't need a magical new Broadcom EVK to do this.
- xxqs 15y ago
  well, one can learn a lot of things if he or she is motivated enough: * Building a bootloader from sources. Trying various boot media sources and ways to launch your code in the raw memory. Probably even some assembler stuff. * Learning how an embedded system is built, from kernel patches to busybox * Learning how a community embedded Linux project works, with Git workflow, tests and updates * The board is small enough to place on a moving platform and learn how the real-time linux interacts with physical environment
  - joezydeco 15y ago
    And you can do all that with other EVKs like the Beagleboard. So the only "motiviation" is that it's $100 cheaper?
    - xxqs 15y ago
      yes, for students it's definitely a good motivation. also it's easier to experiment with a device which is not too tragic to break
    - xxqs 15y ago
      also it opens door for network computing, as buying 10 of them is not such a big deal any more

by xxqs 15y ago

joezydeco 15y ago

Will the Pi really teach you embedded system skills? I don't want to be a cynic, but I don't see how this board makes it easier to control anything or interface to any other device. It's still Linux and it's typical set of drivers, right? How will the Pi or the upcoming add-on interface board let me connect an LVDS LCD or capacitive touchscreen? You mean I still have to hack up an I2C device driver and wire it up? I need to spin a kernel? Is there an open-source video driver for the Broadcom chip? I think it's a nice idea to put a cheap laptop into the hands of students. But I'll be more curious to see what those first 10 boards will be used for other than tiny MP3/MP4 players. You're still in Linux-land and that's not the most friendly environment for embedded systems programmers. Resourceful and talented developers can do a hell of a lot with a cheap Arduino or garage-sale laptop, they don't need a magical new Broadcom EVK to do this.

xxqs 15y ago
well, one can learn a lot of things if he or she is motivated enough: * Building a bootloader from sources. Trying various boot media sources and ways to launch your code in the raw memory. Probably even some assembler stuff. * Learning how an embedded system is built, from kernel patches to busybox * Learning how a community embedded Linux project works, with Git workflow, tests and updates * The board is small enough to place on a moving platform and learn how the real-time linux interacts with physical environment
- joezydeco 15y ago
  And you can do all that with other EVKs like the Beagleboard. So the only "motiviation" is that it's $100 cheaper?
  - xxqs 15y ago
    yes, for students it's definitely a good motivation. also it's easier to experiment with a device which is not too tragic to break
  - xxqs 15y ago
    also it opens door for network computing, as buying 10 of them is not such a big deal any more