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My Business Card Runs Linux

thirtythreeforty.net

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Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#191

Post by anyfoo »

zimmertr wrote: post #188
nabla9 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling this embedded system feels like insult to the spirit of 'running light without overbyte', because it's so comically capable. My first PC had 66/33 MHz 80486 processor and 8 MB ram, 320 MB HDD. You could run AutoCAD, play Doom, Civilization, have dual boot for Linux, Windows 3.11 etc. It could compile Linux from source.

Oh geez I can't imagine how long it would take to compile Linux on that slow of a processor.

Long. I remember it being something like an hour or so to compile the kernel, but the kernel was also much smaller then. I specifically remember Linux 2.0.0 coming in a 2MB tar ball. Because it probably took me longer to download with my 28800 baud modem from an over saturated FTP server than it did to compile. 8)

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#192

Post by [deleted] »

zimmertr wrote: post #188
nabla9 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling this embedded system feels like insult to the spirit of 'running light without overbyte', because it's so comically capable. My first PC had 66/33 MHz 80486 processor and 8 MB ram, 320 MB HDD. You could run AutoCAD, play Doom, Civilization, have dual boot for Linux, Windows 3.11 etc. It could compile Linux from source.

Oh geez I can't imagine how long it would take to compile Linux on that slow of a processor.

[deleted]

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#193

Post by truth_be_told »

nl wrote: post #17
bsaul wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading the post, i was under the impression that the author really did some shopping for major components and assembled everything into a fun shape. Obviously i know nothing about electronic board design, so could you explain which extraordinary skill this required ? EDIT : ok, i missed the part where he actually designed the whole board, obviously..

Embedded systems engineers are (usually) paid a lot less than full stack engineers. Edit: I seem to be getting (a lot!) of downvotes on this. I thought it was quite well known, but apparently not. Full Stack Engineer salary: $93,598 [1] Embedded Software Engineer salary: $74,758[2] [1] https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Full_Stack_Engineer... [2] https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Embedded_Engineer/S...

True. This is what i dislike about the "market". There is no reward for knowledge, hardwork, solving complex problems etc. Just "commoditization" and "supply and demand dynamics".

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#194

Post by [deleted] »

zimmertr wrote: post #188
nabla9 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling this embedded system feels like insult to the spirit of 'running light without overbyte', because it's so comically capable. My first PC had 66/33 MHz 80486 processor and 8 MB ram, 320 MB HDD. You could run AutoCAD, play Doom, Civilization, have dual boot for Linux, Windows 3.11 etc. It could compile Linux from source.

Oh geez I can't imagine how long it would take to compile Linux on that slow of a processor.

[deleted]

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#195

Post by kragen »

paganel wrote: post #50
thrax wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Major Buzzkill is bucking for a promotion!

Truth being flagged just because it doesn’t look “cool”. This profession desperately needs a re-do. Otherwise I’m pretty sure that the person that flagged my statement really cares about the environment and recycles religiously.

People are flagging your comments because they aren't innumerate enough to be taken in by your silly argument that this project is somehow relevant to our current environmental catastrophe.

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#196

Post by tyingq »

chrismmay wrote: post #53

Very cool project! It would be neat to incorporate WiFi into the next version instead of USB. Then you could publish a mobile app to communicate with it. It would be fun to play with at parties. https://www.gridconnect.com/products/esp8266ex-tiny-wireless... .

There's the Lichee Nano. Same chip, available with a WiFi module that plugs into the SD card slot. $8 total. https://www.seeedstudio.com/Sipeed-Lichee-Nano-Linux-Develop...

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#197

Post by lisper »

CreRecombinase wrote: post #190
zimmertr wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh geez I can't imagine how long it would take to compile Linux on that slow of a processor.

I once read somewhere that the time to compile Linux from source on high-end desktop hardware has remained remarkably stable over the years.

Yes, that's true. It has been O(1 hour) for pretty much the entire history of Linux. And if you think about it, this makes sense. If it were significantly less than that, the development cycle would speed up so it would be easier to add capabilities, which would slow down the build. If it were significantly longer, the addition of new features would slow down until the hardware started to catch up. So the compile time acts as a sort of natural control mechanism to throttle the addition of new features.

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#198

Post by LeifCarrotson »

glandium wrote: post #14

Waw, I wasn't expecting the components to be that cheap. That said I haven't bought such components in a very long while.

The one that blew me away was the JW5211 switching regulator. I thought he was being a bit extravagant by not just using a cheap linear regulator...but that buck regulator costs 4.5 cents.

Guess I'm a little behind the times. Sure, throw three of them on the board at that price.

Only other surprise was the MOSFET labeled "Q_NMOS_GSD" for the status/power LED. At first glance, with the pull-up resistor, it looks like the FET does nothing. Then I located the reference net (a flag would have helped) on pin 13, so you can turn on/off the LED with the processor, or (depending on initial state of that pin) it will power up with the LED on and turn off only after the processor boots. Neat!

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#199

Post by Tempest1981 »

penagwin wrote: post #121
nickreese wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does a web-dev turn to to get started in this as a hobby?

I highly recommend the ESP8266 and ESP32 once you're a little more familiar with the arduinos. They have Wifi, and the ESP32 is actually very powerful and has two cores. They make for great DIY home automation/IOT devices and are pretty easy to work with.

The Wemos ESP8266 was a fun start. The only thing I found a bit tricky, iirc, is the limited number of pins, and figuring our the mapping from D0..8 to ESP8266 number. This answer helped: https://community.blynk.cc/t/solved-wemos-d1-not-working-wit...

Re: My Business Card Runs Linux

#200

Post by truth_be_told »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #60
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know why the downvotes either. Its not intuitive, but a sad fact of life and just the way supply and demand works.

> but a sad fact of life and just the way supply and demand works It's only hubris that makes us discount the importance and difficulty of, say, web client design and implementation. How many developers on HN poo-poo "UX" yet don't even have a single fleshed out README on any of their products because it's "not important"? Turns out raw low-level tech skills aren't the be-all of software and business.

I am sorry, you are very wrong.

A complete "Embedded System" (HW+SW) is orders of magnitude more complex than "Web Client Design and Implementation" (unless you approach Google/Facebook scale). The malleability of SW means you can quickly try out various techniques without too much "learning overhead". With all the existing Frameworks/Libraries/etc it becomes more of a "plug & play" proposition. Not so with Embedded Systems. You have to know EE/Electronics, programming interfaces to HW, Bootloader and OS kernel (if using one), Complex Toolchains/ICE/Simulators/Debuggers and finally; The Application. Each is a huge domain in itself and has a significant learning curve. To have all of them in "one head" is remarkable and non-trivial.

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