CHIP Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: CHIP Pro

#11

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 4:46 AM UTC

ZenoArrow wrote: post #7

Jasper_ wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every chip vendor I've dealt with, from Amlogic to Allwinner to Freescale, requires a signed NDA for full documentation. Public documentation is usually heavily redacted. The GR8 seems to be a rebadged Allwinner chip, and the no-NDA datasheet seems to be next to useless, to be honest.

> "The GR8 seems to be a rebadged Allwinner chip" It could be, but reading up on the features of the C.H.I.P. Pro it supports mainline Linux. I assumed this meant without blobs. Is there mainline support for any Allwinner chips?

[deleted]

Re: CHIP Pro

#12

Post by kenOfYugen » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 4:51 AM UTC

Seems like a good enough prototyping kit for open source hardware. I wonder why the 'no-price-scaling' per unit for bulk orders is considered a feature though.

Re: CHIP Pro

#13

Post by durkie » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 4:52 AM UTC

How is it optimized for SMT? It seems like the PCB that you mounted it to would need to have a hole or milled pocket in it to accommodate the backside thickness of the CHIP. Not sure how feasible a pocket is, but a hole would mean you then lose all your layers/backside in that area.

Re: CHIP Pro

#14

Post by andycjw » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 4:55 AM UTC

I order the original CHIP at end of May, and I still haven't received it today, it was supposed to ship by June. They kept getting delayed. Latest update is that the shipping is for November. Can't help but suspect they are doing this on purpose to wait for price drop on the components to sustain the business.

Re: CHIP Pro

#15

Post by avhon1 » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 5:01 AM UTC

stuartaxelowen wrote: post #2

What's with the "no NDA required"? Who requires NDAs for their datasheets?

Pretty much every SOC manufacturer. To protect their intellectual property, they control access to the documents that describe the behavior of their products. Also, if you leak any of their intellectual property, the NDA allows them to sue their lost profits (due to clones of their product) out of you.

Re: CHIP Pro

#16

Post by tluyben2 » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 5:05 AM UTC

dcw303 wrote: post #8

I'm waiting for a PocketCHIP (mainly to mess with pico8) that I preordered at the start of this month, and it has estimated shipping of November. I wonder if the Chip Pro shipping in December will have any impact on my order.

I have the PocketChip; great device. Recommended for sure. Together with come CHIPs you can do nice things. Sure for the same price as the PocketChip you can pick up a far more functional Android / Windows 10 tablet but this has a keyboard and you can replace anything in it yourself and do interesting hacking for both software and hardware.

Edit: (I bought the PocketChip for the introductory price; it's more expensive now but still cheap I find, especially as I would really like more people to make things like this... Is there anything else than the Pyra & this for handheld devices with a keyboard that you can actually order now and be quite sure you'll get it instead of throwing money away?)

Re: CHIP Pro

#17

Post by Waterluvian » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 5:12 AM UTC

kenOfYugen wrote: post #12

Seems like a good enough prototyping kit for open source hardware. I wonder why the 'no-price-scaling' per unit for bulk orders is considered a feature though.

Perception that you're always getting the lowest price maybe? I agree with you, it's odd.

Re: CHIP Pro

#18

Post by ekianjo » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 5:13 AM UTC

tluyben2 wrote: post #16

dcw303 wrote: post #8

I'm waiting for a PocketCHIP (mainly to mess with pico8) that I preordered at the start of this month, and it has estimated shipping of November. I wonder if the Chip Pro shipping in December will have any impact on my order.

I have the PocketChip; great device. Recommended for sure. Together with come CHIPs you can do nice things. Sure for the same price as the PocketChip you can pick up a far more functional Android / Windows 10 tablet but this has a keyboard and you can replace anything in it yourself and do interesting hacking for both software and hardware. Edit: (I bought the PocketChip for the introductory price; it's more expensiv…

I know it's cheap and all but the keyboard is hardly anything I would recommend for typing anything for more than 5 minutes. It's probably among the worst things out there to type on.

Re: CHIP Pro

#19

Post by sbierwagen » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 5:19 AM UTC

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1065/9514/t/18/assets/chip... Those USB sockets are mighty close together.

Re: CHIP Pro

#20

Post by dcw303 » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 5:22 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #18

tluyben2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the PocketChip; great device. Recommended for sure. Together with come CHIPs you can do nice things. Sure for the same price as the PocketChip you can pick up a far more functional Android / Windows 10 tablet but this has a keyboard and you can replace anything in it yourself and do interesting hacking for both software and hardware. Edit: (I bought the PocketChip for the introductory price; it's more expensiv…

I know it's cheap and all but the keyboard is hardly anything I would recommend for typing anything for more than 5 minutes. It's probably among the worst things out there to type on.

When I was googling the PocketCHIP I was surprised to find some random forum posts warning people NOT to peel the clear plastic coating off the keys, as apparently they hold them in place! That's certainly something I can imagine doing.