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Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

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Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#82

I am continually amazed that we're able to buy better and cheaper processors that no one could have dreamed about at such power/cost 50 years ago. I estimate it would take me and you maybe 1 year to learn how to build / assemble most things you find in your house that cost $1000 in a store -- a couch, a rug, even a simple kitchen appliance (the dumb kind). But a CPU / computer? I could not invent that given 10,000 ye…

You should read "From NAND to Tetris". You could totally build a CPU yourself after a year of study. Not something that can compete with a modern microprocessor of course, but then again you probably couldn't build a compressor for a fridge with the same quality as a factory either.

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#83

I like the barrel jack for power on the development kit version, I wonder what sort of power requirements it has as that seems to be an issue with the RPiS. On a side note that is a very impressive heatsink too!

What problems are you facing on the pi? The USB power to me is a big win. I already have a ton of cables sitting around.

Pi needs way more than 500ma, which a USB 2 port maxes out at, I think.

I think a pi3 needs at least 2 or 3 amps.

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#84
post #8

Now I just need something to DIY with it. Any ideas?

self driving small car, nerf turret that shoots anyone who is not you, following drone, cat stalking drone, cat stalking self driving "rc" car, auto bird identification camera in your backyard "this is a bird of type X" with voice or screen with instance detection/segmentation

>self driving small car

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JMHRKQG

Classic Amazon: they're charging $399 for it, when obviously it's a Starfighter-style test for their AI engineer hiring pipeline. It would hugely increase their own expected revenue to give it away to anyone with an AWS account, but they couldn't resist skimming a couple bucks off of each sucker.

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#85
post #66

Is there hope for Nouveau on these embedded chips?

To answer my own question, there is active work on this chip family, eg https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Tegra-X2...

So there's hope that it might be usable for f/oss enthusiasts at some point.

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#86
post #82

I am continually amazed that we're able to buy better and cheaper processors that no one could have dreamed about at such power/cost 50 years ago. I estimate it would take me and you maybe 1 year to learn how to build / assemble most things you find in your house that cost $1000 in a store -- a couch, a rug, even a simple kitchen appliance (the dumb kind). But a CPU / computer? I could not invent that given 10,000 ye…

You should read "From NAND to Tetris". You could totally build a CPU yourself after a year of study. Not something that can compete with a modern microprocessor of course, but then again you probably couldn't build a compressor for a fridge with the same quality as a factory either.

Look at this lead pencil. There's not a single person in the world who could make this pencil. [0]

[0]: Milton Friedman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#87
post #52
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheaper than the $150 Google TPU Dev Board, and looks like it can do training as well as inference. Training is a slight win (although it's going to be too slow for anything useful really). But it looks like the TPU will outperform this somewhat for inference. The 256 core Jetson (this has 128 cores) could run MobileNet-v2 at between 12 and 20 ms per image (depending on batch size)[1], while the USB TPU adapter takes…

>> Nor does the TPU dev board. Yes it does require you to send your model to Google: https://coral.withgoogle.com/web-compiler/

And you have to check a box that says "I agree that my model will only be used for applications that follow Google's AI Principles." Wow.

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#88
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should read "From NAND to Tetris". You could totally build a CPU yourself after a year of study. Not something that can compete with a modern microprocessor of course, but then again you probably couldn't build a compressor for a fridge with the same quality as a factory either.

Look at this lead pencil. There's not a single person in the world who could make this pencil. [0] [0]: Milton Friedman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8

If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe - Carl Sagan

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#89
post #82

I am continually amazed that we're able to buy better and cheaper processors that no one could have dreamed about at such power/cost 50 years ago. I estimate it would take me and you maybe 1 year to learn how to build / assemble most things you find in your house that cost $1000 in a store -- a couch, a rug, even a simple kitchen appliance (the dumb kind). But a CPU / computer? I could not invent that given 10,000 ye…

You should read "From NAND to Tetris". You could totally build a CPU yourself after a year of study. Not something that can compete with a modern microprocessor of course, but then again you probably couldn't build a compressor for a fridge with the same quality as a factory either.

You don't even need a year. If you pick a really simple instruction set like in "Mano's basic computer" you can get it done within couple of months.

Ref: http://sandsduchon.org/duchon/cs311/ManoTutorial/ManoIntrodu...

I built one years ago for university course in Matlab Simulink.

Re: Nvidia's $99 Jetson Nano Is an AI Computer for DIY Enthusiasts

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problems are you facing on the pi? The USB power to me is a big win. I already have a ton of cables sitting around.

Pi needs way more than 500ma, which a USB 2 port maxes out at, I think. I think a pi3 needs at least 2 or 3 amps.

Most phone chargers now are 1.5-2A standard... My first pi (a B, not a B+, gen 1) it was pretty common for phone chargers to be 1A. I still remember over clocking it no problem. Just looking at the 3 chargers sitting next to me they are 3A (phone), 1A (tablet) and 1.6A (IDK, probably a phone). I've had all these for several years (you can probably guess the order). I think I'd be hard pressed to find one that was For reference, documentation says Pi3 B needs 700mA - 1A[0] depending on peripherals (they recommend 2.5A, but that's hogwash). To match my experience, I've run B+'s overclocked (and overvolted) with a camera (+250mA) no problem with a 1.5A charger. If I remove the camera they run fine with a 1A charger (so we have a kind of bound there for "typical" usage +/- error in charger). They boot loop with the camera and a 1A charger.

So I'm a little confused by your statement. I've only ever run into a power problem once. And that was a few years ago when I was pushing the pi's CPU/GPU, adding a camera (doing object detection), and using an old USB charger. Swapped that out and problem solved.

I'm not saying that your problem doesn't exist, I just don't really understand how you see it as a problem and what your statement has to do with it. You're also not quite right about power outputs[1], which let's be honest; do you think your phone charges at 500mA? Your numbers are for signal, not power (though I get the easy confusion). 500mA is like what you'd get from plugging it into the computer, not a charger. It isn't the cable that controls the power^, it is the supply. I for one rather like only needing one cable for everything.

[0] https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberry...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power-related_specificatio...

^ Well... wire gauges have limits and you can burn up the wire. But you're going to be pretty hard pressed to find a supply that accepts a USB and will also output enough power to burn the cable.

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