It's a fascinating little thing, to be sure.
However, the lack of (modern) video hardware on the main system (seriously, why not vga instead of composite video? It cant really have been cost; you still need memory for a frame buffer, still need a clock generator circuit, still need a DAC, etc. does the vga port itself really cost so much?) makes this less attractive than the beaglebone black, which has similar GPIO shield expansion capabilities.
It has a very attractive price point, but you blow the GPIO interface to get a vga or hdmi video signal, because the sheild lacks passthrough. I think BBB is the better offer, even if higher priced.
Now, if they included a mini dimm interface on the back side of the unit, it would make up for the above shortcomings. Much of the headache with these very tiny PCs is the inability to add more ram, in the face of software designed for desktops with multiple gigabytes of the stuff installed. (and in some cases, the heavy memory requirements of some runtime environments. --I'm looking at YOU, Java!) One can sorta squeeze some extra out of these little systems by compiling with zcache and zram turned on in the kernel, but then the CPU is buried under zlib compression/decompression cycles all the damn time (which can make these little ARM SoCs misbehave terribly!)
(run into these problems getting openwrt running routers to do neat things, since processor and ram wise, they are getting about on par with offerings like this mini PC. The SoC is just not meant to do hard crunching like that.)
I will give it some time; it certainly is a neat little project board, and it certainly has potential, but it's lacking in ways that most other offers are also lacking, and thus is not leading, IMO.
The biggest request from, eg, the rPi community is access to the memory bus. This device has the same problem, because the SoC makers embed the memory into the cpu, and then dont expose the interface anywhere. that means that you cant hang things directly on the memory bus, like dimms or custom roms, or specialized DMA ICs.
This is not a new request, and has been there since the rPi and pals came out. Such devices could be much more useful to hobbyists if that interface was exposed. it just costs the SoC maker a few more cents per unit to expose the leads on the package, so they wont do it, and since the SoC maker wont do it, the small computer maker CANT do that.
If these guys are working with allwinner as closely as they say, then maybe if they sell enough units, they can make a deal for a special version of the IC that DOES expose the memory bus-- but I wont hold my breath.
But seriously, exposed memory bus == killer feature when it comes to these things this point in the game.
(some of the things you could put on if the memory bus was exposed: Custom secondary support CPUs(special encoders/decoders), disk controller sheilds that are actually fast and dont need the host CPU (like genuine sata controller sheilds), additional RAM, whole CPU upgrades (turn into SMP system with shared memory architecture), community derived REAL expansion bus designs, etc. It would be a HUGE thing! But SoC makers are fixated on thier primary markets of phones, tablets, and limited embedded devices, and dont want to provide that functionality, because to them it would be a cost without benefit-- chips with exposed leads that dont get connected with anything on those embedded devices. Just wasted fab process and solder in thier eyes. To makers though, it would be a killer app feature on a mini pc.)
I'm hopeful for CHIP, but it doesnt bring much other than FOSS FRIENDLY and PRICE (Per base unit) to the table.
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Topic: $9 computer... (Read 3292 times)