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Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

vocore.io

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Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#41

Post by joezydeco »

metafex wrote: post #12
etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #7

Related: The Octavo systems system-on-package: https://octavosystems.com/ It's a TI AMxx series linux computer in a package on package module like a raspberry PI is. It comes in two variants, a regular pitch BGA and an ultra wide BGA so that it is actually possible to hand solder it! (or with hot air or a toaster.) It is what is used on the Pocket Beagle. It saves you the need to to most high speed signals and really…

The thing just is that TI didn't exactly retain the people that know the internals of the OMAP series. If you hit any bugs you're on your own unfortunately. (Your milage with the existing documentation may vary also).

OMAP's been dead a long time. Sitara is OMAP with the media blocks stripped out, and it sure looks like it's on their roadmap for a while to come.

https://training.ti.com/sites/default/files/docs/TI%20Missio...

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#42

Post by squarefoot »

logicallee wrote: post #26
janci wrote: post #6

Smallest linux computer I've seen was Transcend SD card (the wifi one). There are more manufacturers and I think Electric imp uses the same chipset.

I looked at what you meant, and first found this article https://hackaday.com/2016/06/30/transcend-wifi-sd-card-is-a-... which links this article: https://jamesone111.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/exploring-the-t... So this is a Linux server in the size of an SD-Card that has 16 GB of storage. And Wifi. And lets clients connect to download whatever's on them. I was thinking, wow, this must be some pro photography thing co…

My use case would be to turn a 7 years old camera (which is still better than most phone cameras) into a WiFi networked camera so that when I shoot photos of items I'm selling on Ebay it directly uploads them to my home server (NFS/SMB). For that use it wouldn't even need the flash storage: just buffer in RAM until the image is uploaded.

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#44

Post by __mp »

I take a major issue in their usage of OpenWRT. It seems to me that every hardware I touch with OpenWRT included is out of date - or "well aged". As soon as you try to modify something in the OpenWrt interface and/or update the system, half of the features do not work anymore - luckily the reset button usually works. At least the OpenWRT variant they are choosing looks recent. Good luck!

I'm at the point where I only get Raspberry PI-based hardware. This way I know that I'm able to update/or reinstall in a year or two.

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#45

Post by squarefoot »

cordite wrote: post #37
voltagex_ wrote: post #4

I'm pretty sure I gave away my original Vocore - the pins were simply too small for me to solder. The Vocore2 looks like a considerable step up, but without mainline Linux support it's of limited utility.

Ditto on the pin size. I wasn’t able to find utility out of it

You may find interesting the NanoPI Duo: https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&...

Not in the same league (faster + more RAM but bigger + more power hungry), but the breadboard friendly form factor makes it very close to be the ideal minimal Linux module.

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#46

Post by logicallee »

plasticchris wrote: post #31
gdfasfklshg4 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is that SD-cards don't last very long when used as the `/` directory.

Use a read only root fs and overlays in ram, this will keep your sdcard based Linux server running much longer, though it is a bit tedious to set up.

For those curious about how much RAM it has, the bottom comment in the more active HN discussion links here:

http://dmitry.gr/index.php?r=05.Projects&proj=15&proj=15.%20...

At first I thought it referred to just 3 MB of RAM (ouch!!) - but it has 32 MB. That's enough to do quite a bit in a stripped-down embedded Linux.

To quote that page:

>An exciting time indeed - now this WiFiSD card is a perfectly working ARMv5 computer with a kernel and ramdisk we can build, and 16GB of storage. Pity it only has 32MB of RAM. Well, we do have ability to modify the kernel now. I added support for swap, ext4, sysfs, loop, and a few other modern conveniences we all know and love. Once again the card booted. Now I was able to swapon a file on the SD card, loop-mount a 2GB ext4 filesystem and chroot into a version of ubuntu in there. Once inside, it is the nice and comfy environment you'd expect. I was able to bring up sshd with X-forwarding, and even run firefox on the card (it was slow). Modifying the card's boot scripts again, I tried to get it to do all this on boot and succeeded. SWEET!

....for about $30 and in the size of an SD-card and weighing less than a penny. With WIFI.

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#47

Post by cptskippy »

squarefoot wrote: post #42
logicallee wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked at what you meant, and first found this article https://hackaday.com/2016/06/30/transcend-wifi-sd-card-is-a-... which links this article: https://jamesone111.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/exploring-the-t... So this is a Linux server in the size of an SD-Card that has 16 GB of storage. And Wifi. And lets clients connect to download whatever's on them. I was thinking, wow, this must be some pro photography thing co…

My use case would be to turn a 7 years old camera (which is still better than most phone cameras) into a WiFi networked camera so that when I shoot photos of items I'm selling on Ebay it directly uploads them to my home server (NFS/SMB). For that use it wouldn't even need the flash storage: just buffer in RAM until the image is uploaded.

Sounds like the Toshiba FlashAir or Transcend WiFi SD cards might suit your needs.

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#48

Post by cptskippy »

askvictor wrote: post #19
tomas789 wrote: post #2

This project looks awesome. I can imagine it being used instead of the ESP8266 in many of my IoT projects. That would be a huge time saver. It will start to become competitive once it is actually cheaper than Raspberry Pi Zero. Especially as the Vocore2 is MIPS-based.

My main issue with using a full-blown linux device for IoT is that it's a full blown linux device. Not only is it harder to get up and running IMHO (vs just flashing your code to esp8266), you need to maintain a full OS which is a hassle security wise in the longer term. I get that there are some advantages, but overall I think IoT is better off as simple as possible. Also, it's not possible to take the RPi zero seri…

> Also, it's not possible to take the RPi zero seriously until they start shipping in any serious quantity - I don't like the play they've made by keeping it scarce.

What do you consider to be serious quantity? You can order 250+ of them off Digikey right now or go into any Microcenter and buy them.

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#49

Post by metafex »

joezydeco wrote: post #41
metafex wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing just is that TI didn't exactly retain the people that know the internals of the OMAP series. If you hit any bugs you're on your own unfortunately. (Your milage with the existing documentation may vary also).

OMAP's been dead a long time. Sitara is OMAP with the media blocks stripped out, and it sure looks like it's on their roadmap for a while to come. https://training.ti.com/sites/default/files/docs/TI%20Missio...

Of course it will be produced for as long as customers want it. But the roadmap makes it also crystal clear where they are going: More DSP cores. We likely won't see anything newer than the Cortex-A15. TI builds what enough customers want, and if you're not locked in enough to their DSPs or general ecosystem, you'll move away. That in return means there won't be anything new. No single customer is big enough to warrant bigger cores alone.

A nice quote I remember "I'd rather buy TI stocks than their products".

Re: Vocore2, a ridiculously small Linux PC

#50

Post by chx »

caccialdo wrote: post #25

Website says: "It will help you to make [...] the tiniest router in the world." Got one of these and I'm pretty sure they're quite smaller: http://amzn.asia/d/idyKhjN Makes me wonder if I could turn those Japanese routers into computers (they're dirt cheap at £8.50)...

If you want tiny, the Elecom WRH-583BK2-S is as wide and high as two RJ45 jacks (yes it has two RJ45 ports) and like 2.5" deep (65 × 35 × 20.5 mm). If there's a smaller dual Ethernet wifi router I have yet to learn of it. Please let us know if you know of a smaller one!

http://www2.elecom.co.jp/products/WRH-583BK2-S.html

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