Raspberry Pi Compute Module • Hacker News Board

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#51

Post by MrMeker » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:17 PM UTC

ris wrote: post #37

Zuph wrote: post #2

I'll be interested to see how this progresses. With any luck, it'll open up a market of cheap, well-distributed SOMs, similar to the Pi opening up a market for cheap, well-distributed ARM/Linux Dev Boards. The situation's surprisingly similar: Powerful ARM Dev boards existed before the Pi, but the price was steep, they couldn't be found in traditional distribution channels, and the OS/Driver support was poor at best.…

You really see these being sold in Radio Shack? With Pis, all the average person needed was a regular keyboard, mouse & monitor to plug in. That's why it worked. That's all been thrown out here.

The normal RaspberryPi is available at Radio Shack. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=289254...

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#52

Post by apawloski » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:23 PM UTC

So for many distributed computations in my field (pretty much anything that isn't embarrassingly parallel [0]), the limiting factor is often network communication -- how quickly nodes can send messages to each other.

Even as just a toy, putting an affordable arm chip with a serious interconnect would be a really big deal. This is a great step closer.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#53

Post by kelmop » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:32 PM UTC

is this now viable for cluster? I mean simple backbone for 20+ for these with combined network and power unit? is there still any point at all?

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#54

Post by astrodust » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:33 PM UTC

chrisBob wrote: post #17

The SODIMM form factor is interesting. I know in this case they are just using it because the connectors are easy to come by, but are there any examples of a computer designed to fit in a RAM socket and do processing rather than just statically storing the memory information?

I recall one processor upgrade for a 1990-era Mac that slotted into the L2 cache slot, back when L2 cache was on the motherboard and used a similar DIMM format.

It was extremely unusual, but apparently worked.

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#55

Post by tcas » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:34 PM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #47

Zuph wrote: post #2

I'll be interested to see how this progresses. With any luck, it'll open up a market of cheap, well-distributed SOMs, similar to the Pi opening up a market for cheap, well-distributed ARM/Linux Dev Boards. The situation's surprisingly similar: Powerful ARM Dev boards existed before the Pi, but the price was steep, they couldn't be found in traditional distribution channels, and the OS/Driver support was poor at best.…

There are really great cheap SOC's out there, in ARM land, to play with. Just look at these guys: http://www.acmesystems.it/aria Look, the rPi started off as a play-thing for kids, and there is now a valid rPi generation. It is expanding as a platform. But: in the industrial world, the rPi is a small fish. You can get an rPi precisely because some other industry has already driven the demand/price/costs down for it t…

There are, but they aren't close in specs and price to this one. The AT91 series are completely different in terms of functionality vs the Broadcom. The AT91SAM9 series don't even have a floating point unit last time I checked. This chip can do full 1080p h264 encoding/decoding/and support that resolution for display output (HDMI and DSI). This also has flash storage and 2x more ram onboard.

This might be a close equivalent, but is more expensive, and will almost certainly require a large order to get those prices: http://www.variscite.com/products/system-on-module-som/corte...

If this brings down prices of the commercial SoM vendors that benefits all of us however.

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#56

Post by Narishma » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 4:07 PM UTC

ris wrote: post #35

kragniz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends what you want to use it for. I'm imagining this being used in small embedded projects where the physical size of the current Pi is undesirable.

But there are plenty of SODIMM-sized ARM embedded modules with much more compute power than the Pi already.

And they are also probably a lot more expensive than $30.

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#57

Post by timthorn » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 4:07 PM UTC

apawloski wrote: post #52

So for many distributed computations in my field (pretty much anything that isn't embarrassingly parallel [0]), the limiting factor is often network communication -- how quickly nodes can send messages to each other. Even as just a toy, putting an affordable arm chip with a serious interconnect would be a really big deal. This is a great step closer. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel

The Calxeda ECX-1000/2000 would have been ideal for you then - 4x10GbE interconnects with a quad core A9/A15.

Shame they went under - but there are alternatives from Marvell, Applied Micro and others. Look for ARM server chipsets and you'll usually find a good fabric attached.

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#58

Post by Narishma » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 4:09 PM UTC

samstave wrote: post #50

jnbiche wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the existing RPi's GPU has 24 GFLOP capability, which is roughly the same as the GPU on the baseline i.MX6 (the Vivante GC2000). Now, a lot of that capability has historically been unavailable to RPi users, but they're slowly responding to pressure and opening up the GPU. But I also saw the headline and was hoping for some nice little GPU compute add-on the RPi. Oh well. I still think this is a very promising f…

Does the compute module have the GPU on it? Or is it on the connector board?

The GPU is part of the SoC, which is exactly the same on the Pi and on the compute module.

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#59

Post by noonespecial » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 4:14 PM UTC

The price is getting better but it's still in the "I used my pi for the project" vs the "I used a pi..." range.

Things get interesting when a general purpose Linux computer reaches disposable pricing where you just pull a new one from the bin for each project. This feels like about $20usd or less to me.

Re: Raspberry Pi Compute Module

#60

Post by outside1234 » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 4:19 PM UTC

ris wrote: post #4

Isn't the Pi incredibly underpowered for use as a compute node?

Hilarious - i was just thinking it was overpowered!

It depends on your use case. If you are thinking of this for industrial controls, its overpowered. If you are thinking of this for mining bitcoins, it is underpowered.