Over on the EEVblog, someone noticed an interesting chip that's been apparently flying under our radar for a while. This is an ARM processor capable of running Linux. It's hand-solderable in a TQFP package, has a built-in Mali GPU, support for a touch panel, and has support for 512MB of DDR3. If you do it right, this will get you into the territory of a BeagleBone or a Raspberry Pi Zero, on a board that's whatever form factor you can imagine. Here's the best part: you can get this part for $1 USD in large-ish quantities. A cursory glance at the usual online retailers tells me you can get this part in quantity one for under $3. This is interesting, to say the least.
The chip in question, the Allwinner A13, is a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor. While it's not much, it is a chip that can run Linux in a hand-solderable package. There is no HDMI support, you'll need to add some more chips (that are probably in a BGA package), but, hey, it's only a dollar.
If you'd like to prototype with this chip, the best options right now are a few boards from Olimex, and a System on Module from the same company. That SoM is an interesting bit of kit, allowing anyone to connect a power supply, load an SD card, and get this chip doing something.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
$1 processor that runs Linux.
Spotted this today at HackADay blog, its is a $1 processor that is capable of running Linux with a few support chips.
The author goes on to point out that the support software and documentation for this thing is a mess, BUT it only costs a dollar. This is cheap enough to justify using to run Christmas lights. Cheap enough to build lots of little boxes to do all kinds of things, run them on batteries and just leave them lying around.
The thing here isn't the capability or amazingness of the chip, because its a piece of crap compared to what's out there right now. The thing that is powerful is the price. Once the price of a thing comes down past a certain break-point, it makes possible all kinds of applications that are not feasible at a higher cost.
I assume you're up on the convergence of Linux through Linus himself.
ReplyDeleteSo can it run OpenBSD?
I saw the thing about Torvalds "stepping back" because of "hurt feewings" some people claimed over his focus on code-over-bullshit. The article you linked implies enemy action by heavy industry, I see no reason to say that's unlikely.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the Shirt-storm aspect where every time Torvalds calls some identifiable minority contributor out for a code error, the Victimology bunch drops into overdrive and floods everything with their crap. There are entire kernel maintenance threads taken over by nothing but SJWs for days. These are presumably the same freelance assholes who infest things like science-fiction fandom and all kinds of other nerd-related enthusiasms. Even Bronies have SJWs these days.
About the chip itself, it appears to be mostly a piece of shit. It doesn't really do anything well, or easily. But. If one company can make a $1 part, another company can do it too. It won't be long before the market has lots of choices for these cheap solutions. 200 core network for $200, that might be something to have chewing away in a closet on some problem or other.