While this is "technically" a "Linux computer", in practice with such a small amount RAM the name is a stretch.
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The $8 Linux Computer
51–60 of 166 posts
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#52what is the memory management unit supposed to do on embedded computers? I'd rather like one for 5$ without mmu.
You can't run Linux without an MMU. There are thousands of MCUs that can't run Linux for much cheaper than 5$...
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#53Does anyone know of cheap touch screens to hook up to this. I feel a lot of cheap computers are available by now but the expensive pieces are displays which would 100X the value of these boards.
You can find used monitors really cheap these days, at least in N. America. $40 gets you something decent, but not touch screen. I'm sure you could get a used mouse, keyboard and screen for $50.
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#54Wasn't Pi Zero around $5 on release?
And didn't require a PhD in UART to get an OS running on it. Seriously, who the hell thought the process described in that blog makes any kind of practical sense at all.
I mean the thing has two USB ports, TWO! And you can't use either, hahaha!
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't run Linux without an MMU. There are thousands of MCUs that can't run Linux for much cheaper than 5$...
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/nommu-mmap.txt
Ok fair enough, Linux can't run normally without an MMU. It kind of defeats the purpose of using a UNIX, but yes, you get all the Linux drivers and the UNIX API for free.
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#56There's another post on HN several days back with similarly price Sipeed M1s that's based on the same Bouffalo Lab BL808 RISC-V SoC module including NPU providing support for WiFi/BL, 802.15.4 Zigbee connectivity and interfaces such as UART, I2C, SPI, etc: $10.80 RISC-V AIoT module supports Linux: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33874032 EDIT: This is the official website for the Sipeed M1s showcasing the specs…
Wooha, thats kind of awesome. Does this mean you could make your own zigbee sensors or whatever?
Zigbee?
My man, ESP32 boards get you 802.11 WiFi for like $5 these days.
Zigbee is the kind of protocol designed for even simpler, more power efficient microcontrollers. Think closer to a $1 microcontroller instead.
There is a reason we have lol WiFi light bulbs. The uC that powers the smarts are really cheap these days.
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wooha, thats kind of awesome. Does this mean you could make your own zigbee sensors or whatever?
Zigbee? My man, ESP32 boards get you 802.11 WiFi for like $5 these days. Zigbee is the kind of protocol designed for even simpler, more power efficient microcontrollers. Think closer to a $1 microcontroller instead. There is a reason we have lol WiFi light bulbs. The uC that powers the smarts are really cheap these days.
I think his point was something to sense zigbee? Would be nice to set it in your house and bridge your power meter, water meter, whatever, onto your wifi. Could have it incorporated into your budget app live. "huh, no dinner out this week, better turn down the heat!".
And if anyone figures outbhow to use that NPU you could even do some inference to get some trends or something. Or even a classifier that could detect a short or water leak perhaps.
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
The RRP is now $15, if by some small miracle you find one in stock somewhere. https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/supply-chain-update-its-goo...
I'm a bit over Raspberry Pis at this point. They're impossible to find, and their performance is terrible. I tried getting back into one of my Raspberry Pis from scratch just earlier today, and even with setting up the OS from scratch and the most up to date version, it was unbearably slow. So slow as to be unusable for even the most simple tasks. So that kickstarts forum hopping trying to figure why, and there's lau…
By the time you get a Rpi 4, a decent power supply and an external SSD, it's usually around the same price as a mini PC which you can get with a 7th/8th/9th Gen i3 or even i5 with everything included.
I get that the Rpi will use less power, but I imagine many people will be like me and have it overclocked to 2.1ghz, and my heatsink was pretty warm all day long.
I've recently picked up a Optiplex 3070 with a i5 9500t for $120 and bought 32gb of ram off ebay for another $40. Considering a Rpi 4 is going for $100 on eBay, it's not a bad deal at all.
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is actually a common pattern you get from multiple vendors.
The TI AM335x is a good example of that. An ARM core with 2 "PRU" microcontrollers, and they share access to the memory. The BeagleBone Black uses the AM335x, and there's various projects that make use of the PRUs. A list of some of them: https://beagleboard.org/static/prucookbook/
Also the TI AM6442. Its an awesome chip but the sdk and tooling for the evaluation board is a little rough around the edges.
Re: The $8 Linux Computer
#60Wasn't Pi Zero around $5 on release?
And didn't require a PhD in UART to get an OS running on it. Seriously, who the hell thought the process described in that blog makes any kind of practical sense at all. I mean the thing has two USB ports, TWO! And you can't use either, hahaha!
PhD in uart. Loled on that one. Thanks.