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+--- Thread: 9$ CHIP computer (/thread-1242.html)
9$ CHIP computer - Larz60+ - Dec-16-2016
Seems I heard about this before, but not sure.
This is the $9.00 answer to the raspberry pi The CHIP
[/url]
[url=https://getchip.com/pages/chip]I guess it was released back in September, but I just found it.
Console kit $29 includes:
- Wi-Fi Built in
- 1 ghz processor
- 4 GB storage
- 512MB RAM
- Bluetooth 4.0
- works with any display
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - j.crater - Dec-17-2016
Blimey, up to now I considered myself informed when it comes to this kind of hardware, but now this struck me out of blue. It looks like a great gizmo, thanks for sharing! I'm afraid shipping options are too limited for now for me to get hold of one. But there might be, or will be, another way to aquire it =)
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - Larz60+ - Dec-17-2016
Perhaps there will be a distributor near you that will carry these soon,
or get a group of local geeks to each buy a few, and have the order
shipped to one address.
Just found the following here:
Quote:Shipping prices & Duties and Taxes
A new shipping partner requires an update in our shipping prices. After modeling all our current pre-orders based on DHL's prices, there was an average increase of only $0.75 per pre-order.
We've also received a ton of feedback regarding duties and taxes charges. For much better transparency, we are implementing a duties and taxes calculator into our webstore. For the countries we are able, we’ll charge the duty and tax as part of the shipping calculation during the checkout process. This way, there won’t be surprise charges upon delivery and your package will arrive faster to your door. We hope to have this fully implemented by the end of the month, if not sooner.
More news as it comes! Stay very tuned.
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - j.crater - Dec-17-2016
Yeah, I have read this and hope that I will see some good news sometime soon =) Thanks for relaying. My impression is they're not going in direction of having other distributers/components dealers involved, but I could be wrong ofc.
If size of community/resources will amount to quarter of what RPi has now, it'll be a little revolution on its own. Chip seems much more favourable for "single purpose" projects, like IoT device, simple server, music player and so. Taking its price into account as well. I'd even consider writing a tutorial or two for the forum.
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - Larz60+ - Dec-17-2016
Quote:Chip seems much more favorable for "single purpose" projects, like IoT device, simple server, music player and so.
I think so, there are other much larger applications that might be done in a populated area by setting up a mesh network with the WI-fi capabilities.
I ordered a couple to play with, if nothing more, they'll be fun to play old arcade style games on. I haven't found the specs (haven't looked too hard either),
But hoping there's some A to D, timers and such available. Power consumption would also be an issue if batteries are involved.
I did some projects using TI's MSP-430's which I think still holds the record for lowest power consumption on the market.
(20 years on watch battery (if the battery was capable of lasting)), and has lots of peripherals,
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - Larz60+ - Dec-18-2016
Here's a link to the not so easy to find docs: http://docs.getchip.com/
Also the OS is Linux Debian.
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - j.crater - Dec-18-2016
Thanks for finding the docs and sharing, it's handy. I also came across this:
https://github.com/NextThingCo
It includes software and hardware sources. As expected it uses buildroot to produce a system image, that is flashed on the board.
So what I wanted to know is how to flash the chip fresh:
http://docs.getchip.com/chip.html#flash-chip-with-an-os
It seems like it can be done via their online interface (Chrome/Chromium based) or you can download an SDK to your Ubuntu (or Ubuntu VM) and do the job yourself entirely. Pretty good!
RE: Perhaps not news (except for me) - Larz60+ - Dec-18-2016
I sent one to my grandson, he's 12 years old, and getting quite interested. He learned scratch probably 4 years ago,
his mom and dad learned the elements of Python back then as well, and can give him some help. I can when I visit,
but the ride is about 300 miles so I go only once a month is the summer, and rarely if at all in the winter.
I sent two to me as well.
RE: 9$ CHIP computer - Larz60+ - Dec-18-2016
Here's another github address for a Python library
[url=https://github.com/xtacocorex/CHIP_IO][/url]
On Mesh networking:
Quote:AkidanSource: https://bbs.nextthing.co/t/does-c-h-i-ps-wireless-radio-supports-adhoc-mode/3425/5
So, I had success with this, using the NTC-provided driver. But, only from buildroot! When I used CHIP-buildroot to flash my device, and deployed out the stock environment it had, ad-hoc mode worked like a charm, first time, no problems at all. This was on branch chip/stable (c4a3224).
Granted, most people do not want to run from buildroot, but this is at least promising that it's possible!
RE: 9$ CHIP computer - j.crater - Dec-18-2016
Wow lucky grandson, he's got programming flair in his blood. And with your support included he's on a great way to develop his coding skills to max.
I see this Python library is an offshot of RPi library, so it shouldn't be hard to get used to, let alone find learning materials. Also documentation on their site (with commands, lines of code, photos) is one of best I've seen, and the project isn't even in full swing yet.
About the Mesh networking quote, I didn't really catch the point of that message... =/