Does this device allow raw access to the microphone array? Considering the SoC I might want to stream it elsewhere for processing. How many independent channels does the array provide?
Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
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Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#12I'm half surprised they are still around as they seem to never restock most of their products, and half pleased they are still around and releasing products.
> as they seem to never restock most of their products
There is a product development strategy (I'm not sure if there's a formal name for it) where you're given a lead on a finite-but-large supply of parts you can acquire for absurdly cheap; so you buy the batch; develop and price a product around the part; market your product until you run out of the part; and then, rather than switching over to paying retail for the parts and pricing up your product, you just put your product on indefinite restock hiatus (only ever to be fulfilled if you happen to get another lead on a cheap supply of that same part.)
Usually, though, you get a lead on a cheap supply of a different part; and so the cycle begins again.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#13i just wonder how good it sounds. open audiophile grade hardware is something of a gap.
Nah. A true audiophile would be analog only - no room for anything digital, smart or connected. “Wifi EM interferes with the sound”
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#14Would love for Pine64 to thrive. I don't own any of their products, but I am glad they exist.
I have their Pinecil and PinePower Desktop. They're really great products, I use the PinePower daily to charge my stuff at my desk and the Pinecil made soldering a joy, now I no longer dread it and can enjoy tinkering with hobby electronics again.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#15It’s funny that it comes with a 30 day warranty.
I love that this is out and one day hope to replace my alexas and whatnot so I can turn on my lights without hearing an ad for amazon prime.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#16> With just 32 MiB of embedded pSRAM memory and 16 MiB of flash, and 128 KiB ROM storage, the specs may sound meagre – although in the current AI climate, generous – but this is an embedded device not a full-blown PC hiding in an aroma diffuser1.
It somewhat reminds me of the PineCube, which had 128MB DDR3. Once the Linux tax was paid it was basically unusable.
> Factory shipped firmware is open-source and provides Wyoming Satellite, compatible with assistence platforms such as Home Assistant.
They are at least supposed to be able to show it working with some factory software [1]. I would have just liked to have seen some edge compute capability.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#17Does this device allow raw access to the microphone array? Considering the SoC I might want to stream it elsewhere for processing. How many independent channels does the array provide?
From the sources it is based on BL606P
https://en.bouffalolab.com/product/?type=detail&id=16
voice processing is in hardware unfortunately, but it exposes some things like DOA
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#18[dead]
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#19> PineVoice is in an early-stage development and early adopters will encounter quirks and performance issues. Future firmware updates should resolve issues in time, but like all of Pine64’s products, you’re not buying a consumer-grade product.
Like the Penny Arcade comic about a director who’s making a movie that’s not meant for the critics. “Wait, you can do that?”
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#20> PineVoice is in an early-stage development and early adopters will encounter quirks and performance issues. Future firmware updates should resolve issues in time, but like all of Pine64’s products, you’re not buying a consumer-grade product. Like the Penny Arcade comic about a director who’s making a movie that’s not meant for the critics. “Wait, you can do that?”
This one: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/24/the-adventures...>