[TriEmbed] Why *not* a Raspberry Pi ?

[Pete Soper]

On 09/11/2013 12:50 PM, David Atoji wrote:
> I came across Arduino YÚN -what do think of this option?
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwHVeWADs2Y

Interesting. A recurrent conversation at TriEmbed meetings has been the 
challenge of networking on Arduino systems, the cost and library 
footprint, etc vs just using a Raspberry Pi. This YUN system is perfect, 
it's just priced wrong by a factor of two :-) (What I mean is, if this 
add-on card worked with a $30 Uno the combination would be the same as a 
cost of a model B RPi. I should mention at this point that I'm not 
religious about RPi except in regards to its charter being about 
education and not making money. Whatever floats your boat.)

But being able to write a Python script in the Linux portion of this 
system would be pretty convenient. The nicely refined wireless config 
looks very interesting.  Keep a few things in mind for the Linux piece 
of this system:
   1) MIPS is a niche chip these days, so don't expect to find a large 
number of binary apps. Just about anything you can imagine being around 
for current Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint is available for Raspberry Pi.
   2) Building binaries requires cross-tools, most likely on another 
Linux machine.
   3) The memory resources are modest, so big apps won't fly. The ram is 
1/16th as much as an RPi.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears this would have to be ordered 
from Europe for the time being. Digikey, Mouser, and 
Element14/Farnell/Newark are listed as distros by the Arduino folks, but 
none of those three distributors show stock for this thing when searched 
for as an "Arduino YUN"

While we're discussing very cheap ARM boards, here's one for $15:

http://www.newark.com/freescale-semiconductor/frdm-kl46z/dp/87W8000

In the datasheet <http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1728679.pdf> for 
this board it mentions "Easy access to MCU I/O via Arduino ^(TM) R3 
compatible I/O connectors." (Notice Newark is down to one (or probably 
zero by the time you read this). They'll get 400 more on the 27th.) But 
this is also a *very* modest system.

And here's another ARM-based eval board for $25 featuring Arduino 
compatible shield connectors:

http://www.newark.com/cypress-semiconductor/cy8ckit-042/eval-brd-psoc-4-pioneer-kit/dp/69W7455?Ntt=PSoC+4+ARM

Finally, here's something for folks who just can't decide what to do but 
have an extra $40. It can be a standalone ARM-based board, a bridge to 
an Arduino shield, or a bridge between a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino shield:
http://www.newark.com/embest/embedded-pi/stm32-i-o-bridge-raspberry-pi-arduino/dp/67W2379?in_merch=Popular%20Products&in_merch=Popular%20Products&MER=PPSO_N_C_EverywhereElse_None

-Pete
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.triembed.org/pipermail/triembed_triembed.org/attachments/20130911/6a22bcf6/attachment.htm>