Author Topic: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone: Choosing between tiny DIY computer kits (Read 44910 times)

4wd · « **Reply #25 on:** February 24, 2016, 10:47 PM »

Something new for the IoT crowd among you: Mixtile GENA
-4wd (February 24, 2016, 06:29 PM)

did you just get the littlebird email too?
-Target (February 24, 2016, 09:15 PM)

Lot cheaper on GeekBuying though.

Target · « **Reply #26 on:** June 05, 2016, 02:17 AM »

Ello is quite a bit more expensive that most of the other options but interesting nonetheless

https://www.crowdsup...ly.com/knivd/ello-2m

mouser · « **Reply #27 on:** June 05, 2016, 07:29 AM »

that's pretty neat looking.

40hz · « **Reply #28 on:** June 05, 2016, 09:12 AM »

Ello is quite a bit more expensive that most of the other options but interesting nonetheless

https://www.crowdsup...ly.com/knivd/ello-2m

-Target (June 05, 2016, 02:17 AM)

Nice!

Sort of reminds me of the old Timex/Sinclair - except updated to today's technology.

f0dder · « **Reply #29 on:** June 05, 2016, 12:16 PM »

Ello is quite a bit more expensive that most of the other options but interesting nonetheless
https://www.crowdsup...ly.com/knivd/ello-2m
-Target (June 05, 2016, 02:17 AM)

Man, I really love the look of that one!

wraith808 · « **Reply #30 on:** June 05, 2016, 02:35 PM »

I should hopefully have my CHIP with HDMI soon. I'll let you know how that is. I was disappointed with the Onion- mostly because I couldn't get it to turn on because of their quality problems with the power switch. Hopefully this will be better.

Target · « **Reply #31 on:** June 05, 2016, 07:31 PM »

I was disappointed with the Onion- mostly because I couldn't get it to turn on because of their quality problems with the power switch. Hopefully this will be better.
-wraith808 (June 05, 2016, 02:35 PM)

presumably the switch is one of those damn SMD jobbies - could you perchance just scrape it off and short the traces?

wraith808 · « **Reply #32 on:** June 05, 2016, 07:41 PM »

I was disappointed with the Onion- mostly because I couldn't get it to turn on because of their quality problems with the power switch. Hopefully this will be better.
-wraith808 (June 05, 2016, 02:35 PM)

presumably the switch is one of those damn SMD jobbies - could you perchance just scrape it off and short the traces?

-Target (June 05, 2016, 07:31 PM)

It was actually a piece of plastic that jutted out from between the sandwiched part, so I can't even get in there to see. Most people used a pin to move the position, but for some reason that wouldn't work for me.

Target · « **Reply #33 on:** June 05, 2016, 08:21 PM »

of course, where else would you mount a switch!

I know you've had it for a while, but wouldn't this be a 'warranty' claim?

wraith808 · « **Reply #34 on:** June 05, 2016, 09:37 PM »

of course, where else would you mount a switch!

I know you've had it for a while, but wouldn't this be a 'warranty' claim?
-Target (June 05, 2016, 08:21 PM)

It is. But I have to pay postage from China, and their shipping options suck. So at that point, I decided to just write it off. Too much trouble for what it's worth. I might revisit it if the CHIP doesn't work out well.

Deozaan · « **Reply #35 on:** June 06, 2016, 12:23 AM »

Ello is quite a bit more expensive that most of the other options but interesting nonetheless
-Target (June 05, 2016, 02:17 AM)

Yeah I don't get this one. They say it's both more expensive and less powerful than other things out on the market right now... Anyone who is OK with that already owns an Apple product (

), so why would they go for an Ello?

Target · « **Reply #36 on:** June 06, 2016, 01:28 AM »

Yeah I don't get this one. They say it's both more expensive and less powerful than other things out on the market right now... Anyone who is OK with that already owns an Apple product (), so why would they go for an Ello?
-Deozaan (June 06, 2016, 12:23 AM)

loos like something that would probably be targeted at schools or colleges.

No assembly required, all the parts are in one place, basic coding and/or electronics on the one platform.

That said, it does seem a little expensive and underpowered for the average tinkerer (horses for courses) but I suppose if you added up all the components and paid someone to build it for you it's probably not far off

Deozaan · « **Reply #37 on:** June 06, 2016, 01:33 PM »

Here's a summary/comparison of 81 open spec SBCs:

http://hackerboards....acker-friendly-sbcs/

mouser · « **Reply #38 on:** June 06, 2016, 01:36 PM »

very nice list

4wd · « **Reply #39 on:** June 18, 2016, 10:07 PM »

Two C.H.I.P.s with HDMI sauce for the price of a Pi:

Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone: Choosing between tiny DIY computer kits

Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone: Choosing between tiny DIY computer kits

Next to an original RasPi B:

Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone: Choosing between tiny DIY computer kits

EDIT: After having a short play with one of them I've found that you really need to use either a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard or a powered USB hub if you're going to connect any peripherals, (barring you've connected a LiPo cell - it can draw extra current from that).
I tried powering it from a couple of USB2 ports on different machines and it always shut down when it came to load the GUI, (I know USB2 is a little underpowered for this but it was what I had to hand quickly).
I then tried using my Tronsmart 54W 5 port 5V desk charger, (2.4A available on each of 4 normal ports), it still shut down when it came to load the GUI.

During these short tests I had either the receiver of a Microsoft All-in-One Multimedia keyboard/trackpad - 100mA draw) plugged in or my G15 v2 keyboard - every time it failed to reach the GUI.

So, let it boot up with no USB device attached, (plugged into a plain old USB2 port on my Microserver), and it booted to GUI. Then I plugged in the MS receiver, (keyboard/trackpad functional immediately), and it worked fine for at most 10 minutes until it came to do some CPU intensive stuff, in this case load the web browser, then it shut down again.

Looks like I'll have to invest in a BT keyboard $:-\$

From this thread:

The AXP209 has a supply limit of 900mA using only the USB power-in. CHIP itself will pull up to 500mA at load, which is indeed reached during each boot when the CPU is maxing out during boot-up.

If you really want to use your peripheral without a separate power source, you can enable the no-limit option with:

sudo axp209 --no_limit

This switch will flip back to the default 900mA on each reboot. You could add the command to an rc.local startup script, but our engineers have warned against it.

Adding a battery would also increase the total amperage output.

Tried to input the above command (sudo axp209 --no_limit) but received an error message saying the plugin doesn't exist, (they are scripts in the /etc/axp209/plugins directory).

Even with a limit of 900mA on USB input power that still should have left 400mA available for the USB port to power the MS receiver, (when powered via the desktop charger) - it should be more than enough.

A little more investigation required to find the mysterious --no_limit script/switch and what it does so I can at least get a decent run out of it.

wraith808 · « **Reply #40 on:** June 19, 2016, 09:04 AM »

I have mine, but haven't been able to do anything with it. It fails on fastboot when trying to flash it for DIP (to use HDMI). Did you flash it for DIP yet?

4wd · « **Reply #41 on:** June 19, 2016, 10:16 AM »

Yes, failed the first two times which was because I had a pending restart for some updates which I hadn't noticed, this is on a Win 8.1 Pro x86 machine.

After the restart the flashing of Debian 4.4 GUI version worked straight off.

Flashed using the C.H.I.P. Flash add-on in Chromodo, took about 15-20 minutes to complete flashing.

wraith808 · « **Reply #42 on:** June 19, 2016, 11:05 AM »

I'm on a Win7 installation. I haven't updated it in forever, and have even turned off the windows update service, because it regularly uses an insane amount of CPU. I'm preparing to give in and update to W10, so maybe I'll try again after that.

4wd · « **Reply #43 on:** June 19, 2016, 02:19 PM »

Could always try one of the bootable Linux distros on a flash drive (providing persistence is enabled to allow you to install Chrome plus add-ons).

wraith808 · « **Reply #44 on:** June 19, 2016, 06:46 PM »

Yeah... that was what my next step was. But I didn't think it should be necessary

4wd · « **Reply #45 on:** June 20, 2016, 02:04 AM »

Did you try the Headless 4.4 No Fastboot version?

wraith808 · « **Reply #46 on:** June 20, 2016, 07:28 AM »

Did you try the Headless 4.4 No Fastboot version?
-4wd (June 20, 2016, 02:04 AM)

I wanted a GUI.

That's the reason I purchased the one with the HDMI DIP.

4wd · « **Reply #47 on:** June 20, 2016, 08:44 AM »

Did you try the Headless 4.4 No Fastboot version?
-4wd (June 20, 2016, 02:04 AM)

I wanted a GUI. That's the reason I purchased the one with the HDMI DIP.
-wraith808 (June 20, 2016, 07:28 AM)

I meant just as a test to see if it would flash at all, it still has DIP support

If it works you can always install X-windows until you upgrade to Win10 and try reflashing.

Went to do my second C.H.I.P. and I couldn't flash it in the Win 8.1 Pro x86 machine, reinstalled the driver, restarted, just didn't want to do it.

So tried in the Win 10 Pro x64 machine, it didn't want to do it either after driver install. So restarted, upgraded Chromodo, ran CCleaner to clean out any cache stuff, stopped any other internet transfers, then tried again ... and it worked.

It says that there are options for downloading the OS image so you can flash offline but I must be going blind because I couldn't see any.

wraith808 · « **Reply #48 on:** June 20, 2016, 10:35 AM »

I can try that... thanks for the suggestions!

4wd · « **Reply #49 on:** June 29, 2016, 08:06 PM »

A bit of serendipity, clearance item ($129->$8.50), folder with detachable Bluetooth 3.0 keyboard/trackpad for MS Surface Pro came up a few days later.

Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone: Choosing between tiny DIY computer kits

Kind of cleaned out the shop

ADDENDUM: OK, running the C.H.I.P. with the Bluetooth keyboard works well, no shut downs so far.
A few figures measured on a USB voltage/current meter:
Current drawn at boot to GUI is a maximum of 540mA.
Current drawn when loading the browser is ~570mA.
Idling at around 320mA as I type this with the keyboard.
6 tabs open caused a spike of ~580mA when it was loading the contents of one.