CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer • Hacker News Board

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#11

Post by Animats » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 8:12 PM UTC

The impressive thing is that some IC manufacturer can design, manufacture, and sell all that capability in one IC for a few dollars. That's an incredible achievement. Soldering it onto a breakout board, not so much. There have been lots of little boards in that price range or lower. If you go to hardware conferences, you probably have a few free breakout boards given out at company booths.

As for the $40 version with keyboard and screen, you can beat that price on Amazon.[1] There are several tablets under $40 now, and by $50 or so, they're not that bad. That's what those low-cost SOIC chips are made for, after all.

The tablet/phone industry is desperately trying to prop computer prices up. The industry would like a price point around $500 for tablets. But it's not working.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Android-Allwinner-Cameras-Capacitive-S...

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#12

Post by sctb » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 8:19 PM UTC

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9513850

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#13

Post by simple10 » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 8:22 PM UTC

yuvadam wrote: post #8

This SoC has notoriously bad kernel and firmware support. I'm expecting similar devices with much better support to hit the market by the end of the year.

Agreed, Allwinner doesn't put much effort into device drivers on Linux, especially graphics.

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#14

Post by nivla » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 8:29 PM UTC

beambot wrote: post #4

And then you have the $12 Gonkai phone with 32-bit 260MHz CPU, quad-band GSM, Bluetooth, MP3 playback, and an OLED display plus keypad for the UI. http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=3040 Western "open source" pales in comparison to the hacker communities in Asia. EDIT: To be clear... CHIP is a very cool effort. But the headline is entirely too sensationalist; it is not the "world's first $9 computer."

Phones, the most compact DIY computer if they could be rooted. A while back I picked up the Alcatel C1 for $9 at the local frys. It had decent specs but could not be rooted despite being an android. :(

Windows phone is better in this category. Cheap and packed with features but not rootable. I really wish if someone could jailbreak Windows Phones. Christ, for the specs, the price of those Lumia's could get ridiculously low. Quad-core cpu, 5mp camera, IPS Touchscreen/GPS/Bluetooth/NFC/Proximity sensor etc in a compact size with backup battery and micro sd support for somewhere between $35-$50? [1][2]. Aghh never understood why these manufactures are too keen on locking down their phone. Wouldn't they get a bigger sales by opening them up?

[1]http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-Nokia-Lumia-530-Prepaid-S...

[2]http://www.bestbuy.com/site/boost-mobile-microsoft-lumia-635...

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#15

Post by mcphage » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 8:36 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #11

The impressive thing is that some IC manufacturer can design, manufacture, and sell all that capability in one IC for a few dollars. That's an incredible achievement. Soldering it onto a breakout board, not so much. There have been lots of little boards in that price range or lower. If you go to hardware conferences, you probably have a few free breakout boards given out at company booths. As for the $40 version with…

That's what these are—SoCs from cheap Chinese tablets. They've been pretty up-front about that fact.

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#16

Post by noxin » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 8:58 PM UTC

Well, unless it actually costs 39 dollars.[0]

> After the Kickstarter their computer will sell for 39$.

[0] https://olimex.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/how-to-get-in-the-ne...

Re: CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer

#17

Post by beagle3 » Sun, Jul 05, 2015, 4:21 AM UTC

nivla wrote: post #14

beambot wrote: post #4

And then you have the $12 Gonkai phone with 32-bit 260MHz CPU, quad-band GSM, Bluetooth, MP3 playback, and an OLED display plus keypad for the UI. http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=3040 Western "open source" pales in comparison to the hacker communities in Asia. EDIT: To be clear... CHIP is a very cool effort. But the headline is entirely too sensationalist; it is not the "world's first $9 computer."

Phones, the most compact DIY computer if they could be rooted. A while back I picked up the Alcatel C1 for $9 at the local frys. It had decent specs but could not be rooted despite being an android. :( Windows phone is better in this category. Cheap and packed with features but not rootable. I really wish if someone could jailbreak Windows Phones. Christ, for the specs, the price of those Lumia's could get ridiculous…

> Wouldn't they get a bigger sales by opening them up?

At these prices, they aren't making any money on the phone - perhaps even subsidizing it. So they might get bigger sales, but they won't be making more money (or even losing more). Keep in mind that the old .com adage "We're losing on every sale, but we're making up for it in volume" is not the way to success.

Also note that the models you linked to are vendor locked. This almost surely means vendor subsidized as well - if you find the unlocked version of the same phone, it will likely be $30-$50 more.