Introduction:
Occasionally in life you see glimpses of things to come. I remember fifteen or more years ago sharing music across the Internet was rampant. (It still is of course.) It occurred to me at the time that sharing movies and video content was a logical extension or progression of the trend. I didn't have particular insight regarding what it would mean for our lives or how to profit from it. I just knew it was coming and wondered when it would arrive. Youtube and Netflix even made it legitimate and profitable. I certainly had no insight on how they would do that.
So here I am your lame visionary.
The prevalence of low-cost computing platforms like Edison, RPi, BeagleBone, Arduino and others is an interesting trend today. In the world of computing and electronics we have all seen the trends of miniaturization, performance and cost. My cell phone is the disposable razor blade head in the business model of my telecom service provider. It's camera, which I'm using to take pictures below, is like a detail feature to grab a few more customers and manufacture the need for more telecom service. The camera here is like the fourth blade on a razor.
The concept I wrote up for the element14 RoadTest give away was a "simple low-powered SCADA remote" using Edison. In my line of work we use PLCs as remote telemetry devices. They work well but sometimes I can't help but feel they cost a lot for what you get. I acknowledge that in many ways comparing an Edison to a PLC is silly and not a fair comparison. There is a huge difference between a field-ready PLC and a IOT development platform, and we're not going to be throwing out our Modicons any time soon.
Having said that most of the control functions in our system are fairly simple. A lot of it is just mapping sensor I/O to an address space for our SCADA system. There's nothing our PLCs do which couldn't be replicated with cron-jobs and scripts. (Our control and measurement cycles are quite slow.) PLC vendors provide great tools to set them up using ladder-logic and function-block-diagrams etc. I'm never quite comfortable with such functionality designed to make our lives easier. I'd be happier if I had more visibility into the complete function of the PLC's OS and run-time environment.
Back to my speculation is about technology trends. Just as ladder-logic made PLCs attractive for the plant engineer accustomed to wiring plant logic with relays and wires, I wonder what the PLC market will have to do to retain kids who grew up with coding clubs and IOT maker boards. When today's kids one day enter the workforce in roles setting up SCADA systems and plant automation, my gut feeling is that to stay successful PLC products will have to evolve. I suspect there may be some convergence in the PLC and IOT maker-space device markets. (Remember, my visionary skills are quite lame here.) Anyway - BeagleBones are readily available in extended temperature range versions.
The Box:
Here is the box sent to me by my friend Dave (element14Dave). Edison has been out for a while and this whole review is late enough I doubt this unboxing will be too exciting for anyone. Here goes anyway.
This thing is *very* small. I don't have a banana, so we'll use a quarter for scale.
A full unix host in book of matches. That kinda of floors me. After assembly below.
When I flipped the board over I noticed a serious set of test points. I was impressed with the number. I'm sure anyone attempting to develop a product based on Edison will be happy. (I may not be equipped to fully appreciate them since since my oscilloscope is two short wires and a piezo element.)
Finally the ports shot. Look at those ports clearly made for connections.
My overall impressions of the hardware are positive. The Arduino breakout board is well thought out. The flexibility of being able to choose between the Ardiuno breakout board and mini breakout boards is really nice. The system-on-module with Hirose connector is interesting. I don't know if my aspirations will ever get beyond a hobby level, towards actual hardware product development. If they ever do the prospect of designing a circuit board around that Hirose connector seems less daunting than trying to spin a board including "everything". System-on-module certainly lowers barriers to entry in product design (which is obviously Intel's intent.)
I'm slightly embarrassed I started this post over a month ago. It has far more rambling and far less meat than I would like. (At some point you have to just click "publish".) Even though I have not shared it here I have done more with this kit than take it out of the box. (Honest!) In a next post I'll try to cover my impressions on device and software set up. (Mostly positive.) After that the plan is to get into developing our simple SCADA remote.
And so there you have an Edison un-boxing.
Epilogue:
I have a confession. (Well lots actually but they're mostly beyond scope here.) When I came across the element14 RoadTest giveaway contest I was pretty excited. Some gates switched in my head, and a flip-flop or two even latched. I read about the platform some more and was really enamoured with it. I thought about what it could mean for my industry and how it might be relevant to my area of work. I wrote up my best contest entry and clicked send with bated breath....
Then *the fear* struck. What if I didn't win? Can't take that risk. I found my answer in a Craigslist SF-area posting with with a kit for sale. Emails were exchanged. Three available. Now we're talking. Paypals whisked my hard earned credit through the tubes and a box made it to my home somehow. Hope they're not stolen.
I don't know if this is cheating or if anyone will care, but my write-ups and RoadTest ramblings may include more than one Edison. Knowing the number of devices I have accidently let the smoke out of we may need a spare or two here anyway.
I tried to decide what a group of Edisons should be called. Probably just a cluster. Look out TaihuLight?
-Loren
