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A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

bbenchoff.github.io

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Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#291

Post by bee_rider »

6510 wrote: post #286
joemi wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of that "$10,000" is because of paying someone else for custom parts. If you use existing parts or make the custom parts yourself (if you have the ability/tools), it's less than $100. So the software equivalent would be if you oursourced a large chunk of your project to someone else, and in that case, I think $10,000 might not be too far off.

Interesting take, I guess trees can be pretty cheap if you grow them yourself.

I'm fairly decent with clay, always wondered if I could make something like a raspberry pi case with sculpey. But not curious enough to ruin my toaster...

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#292

Post by kragen »

snek_case wrote: post #107
anthk wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enough for Tmux, busybox, SSH/Mosh, Lynx, Gopher, NNTP, IRC over bitlbee, music and video playing over Bluetooth speakers, PDF readers (fbipdf, fbpdf2), epub readers (unzip+lynx script), on the go coding...

Would you really want to code on this tiny screen though? I guess some people would, but you'd probably be a lot more comfortable even on a 12" or 10" laptop/netbook.

320x240 with a 5x8 font is 64x30 characters. You could make it work but it wouldn't be comfortable.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#293

Post by kragen »

renonce wrote: post #200

In China we buy second-hand Redmi 2 for 60RMB each (roughly $9.5). Can be bought in quantities. Fully functional with 2GB RAM+16GB eMMC, and battery, touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth, camera, and even 4G support. It's not built from scratch like this one, but if you are just looking for something cheap, then this price is insane.

How easy is it to patch its kernel?

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#294

Post by kache_ »

vagrantJin wrote: post #150
sangnoir wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some real gems & genuine insight to be found. But the comments still follow a Pareto distribution and there's a lot that is worth disdain[1], IMO. Besides, I found it's better when I don't take HN too seriously; I now often enjoy HN the way I "enjoy" Curb Your Enthusiasm 1. Often as a top comment too! A lot of inaccurate, stripped-of-nuance or outright ignorant hot takes get voted up if they confirm the bia…

Whatever you feelings may be, HN brings a breath of fresh air. Compared to other social media, its quite rare for commentary to devolve into nonsense.

No post body was provided.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#295

Post by mrandish »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #229
mrandish wrote: post #40

A similar but more powerful and flexible device is the Core2 from M5Stack. It's expandable through stackable snap-on blocks, USB, multiple I2C and a full set of GPIO and signal pins on a header. It has ESP32 CPU, Wifi, Bluetooth, 2" color touchscreen, microphone, power indicator, 6-Axis IMU, vibration motor, I2S codec, amplifier, speaker, RTC, power button, reset button, 10 x RGB LEDs, SD card slot and 3 programmable…

These used to be a lot cheaper, IIRC I got mine for about $25. I would recommend these to anyone wanting to go beyond "just looking" for ESP development, especially beginners. Yea, you can buy the components you need separately, but having everything integrated in one small package makes it easy to try things out quickly. No breadboards, jumper wires, etc just to have a button to press. And when you're ready to dedic…

The M5Stack Core1 was about $10 cheaper but it's now been replaced with the Core2 which has several nice HW upgrades. It's easy to tell the difference because the Core1 has 3 physical buttons below the screen but the Core2 has 3 backlit soft buttons below the screen.

You can buy dev board ESP32 modules for as little as ~$10 but the M5STack comes with with a bunch of additional hardware that basic ESP32 dev boards don't. As you mention, the upside of the M5Stack Core2 system is all the extra hardware already integrated into a very well thought-thru expandable design. The fit and finish of the Core2 case and all the expansion modules I've gotten is also uniformly excellent.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#296

Post by mrandish »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #188
rsync wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the QWERTY keyboard for the m5stack: https://www.robotshop.com/en/m5stack-faces-qwerty-keyboard-p...

AIUI this can't connect directly to the m5stack. You also need the 'Faces bottom board'. Here's a kit with everything you need, and more: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/face?variant=1729043762389...

FYI the kit you linked shows the M5Stack Core1 and shows EOL. The Core1 has been replaced by the Core2 which has improved hardware. I bought the Amazon bundle of the Core2, which is yellow, and separately ordered the modules I was interested in from M5Stack directly including the bottom board and the QWERTY keyboard.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#297

Post by mhitza »

acomjean wrote: post #213
nine_k wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which devices? Unlike an RPi, this thing has a screen, a keyboard, a sleek case, a battery compartment. What are other devices that have these all, and cost, say, under $40?

These little game things are $40. I have one. They use an old style removable cell phone battery and have a screen that isn't great (320x240 though similar to the one described in the article). It runs linux but Lamentably I don't think its easy to install your own version. https://powkiddy.com/products/powkiddy-v90-3-inch-ips-screen...

Is it possible to load Pico 8 on that thing?

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#298

Post by vinceguidry »

a9h74j wrote: post #277
vinceguidry wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've sometimes thought about going to some small village somewhere and teaching interested locals how to code and use computers. I would need small, cheap devices that I can just replace whenever they get lost/stolen. Also standardized enough that I don't have to spend a ton of time doing hardware support. If someone brought a >$20 fully-contained device to market then I could buy 20 of them and plan a 6 month trip a…

I find out-of-date used Chromebooks are available for $50.

Can I buy a lot of 20 of them? All in the same model and in the same rough shape?

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#299

Post by Teknoman117 »

tdeck wrote: post #272
eternityforest wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could probably build one at home for a few hundred if you really wanted and did not care at all about time. You would just need to 3D print a case and somehow cast your own silicone keypad. DIY electronics is actually not too bad cost wise.

You could probably design a very similar one of tbese wirh a standard enclosure ($5) tactile switches, and a custom PCB for the top. Custom PCBs are ridiculously cheap now and even pick and place has gotten affordable for small runs.

You can even run 4-layer impedance controlled boards that support BGAs for ~$60 and get 10 of them. Problem is I now have a bunch of unpopulated PCBs I don't really intend to use. I made a few PCIe x1 to SMA adapters for an FPGA devkit - even building a single one and considering the rest of the PCBs as write-offs was less than a quarter the price of premade ones.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#300

Post by Karrot_Kream »

anthk wrote: post #75
nine_k wrote: post #7

This is nice. This is a simple, straightforward design, and a reasonably convenient form factor. Two biggest limitations are RAM and wireless interfaces, or rather lack thereof. This thing has less RAM than my router (admittedly a $70 box), and has neither WiFi nor BT. It does not seem to have many GPIO pins, too. With the amount of RAM installed, it's mostly a handheld terminal, and maybe a handheld console with emu…

Enough for Tmux, busybox, SSH/Mosh, Lynx, Gopher, NNTP, IRC over bitlbee, music and video playing over Bluetooth speakers, PDF readers (fbipdf, fbpdf2), epub readers (unzip+lynx script), on the go coding...

Coding... what? Coding on other retro technologies? I guess if you enjoy working on system software sure, but if I can't even allocate enough memory to hold a large-ish JSON payload in memory, then I'm not going to be able to do much with the system. Only protocols like SMTP or NNTP are built around the ability to parse with minimal overhead (and even they can have large line lengths.)
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