New kid on the block the pcDuino ...

jamodio wrote:

 

There is no such thing as an "EDM standard".

there was a reason I put 'standard' in quotes    anything called a standard is only of use if you can convince others to follow it, and short of being a government and being able to pass a law forcing people to use your 'standard' none are any better than others, they're mostly cooked up by some company anyway.  but does that matter ?  as long as it's free to use and you can build a consensus that it's a good idea.  I'd venture to think that any 'standards' that come with patent claims, licensing fees etc. are a bad thing, but the world has no shortage of those.

The only company to use EDM is them

Doing some research a few months ago I did come across both TechNexion and a couple of places in Germany using the same non-standard while the wandboard appears to be a barely disguised version of the EDM2-CF-iMX6, the german company was using older SoC's like the imx233 clearly aimed at industrial use with price tags to match.  Simple searches for 'EDM' aren't bringing me back to their page, so I fully understand you're not likely to believe me

I did however turn up a couple of competing 'standards', SMARC from Kontron http://uk.kontron.com/about-kontron/news-events/ulpcom+is+now+smarc.6720.html and Qseven, both sponsored by "Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies" http://www.sget.org/ who do seem to have some members and Qseven has a bunch of products form several manufacturers.

Interestingly SMARC uses the same connector as the EDM one.

To add to the amusement, there's the AMD version of the Minnow http://www.gizmosphere.org/

And it seems likely we should get used to angstrom like setups or be prepared to roll our own:

http://linuxgizmos.com/gumstix-adopts-yocto-for-overo-modules/

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

An OSHW kickstarter campaign to put one (or all) of TI, Allwinner, Samsung and ST applications processors on the same EDM form factor as was used by Wandboard for Freescale's i.MX6 aren't beyond the bounds of possibility.

As jamodio points out, TechNexion the company behind EDM has some of those covered already http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/10/technexion-edm-modules-open-software-and-somewhat-open-hardware-arm-x86-cpu-modules/

jamodio wrote:

On the other hand, the BBB is both CE and FCC certified (class B). You can even download the certificate of compliance https://github.com/CircuitCo/-BeagleBone-Black/blob/master/10238105EUS1.pdf?raw=true

There's an interesting chunk of documentation available in that github repo, quite unusual for that to be made quite so open.  My memory is hazy, but did the RPF ever publish quite so much detail for the Pi ?

selsinork wrote:

 

As jamodio points out, TechNexion the company behind EDM has some of those covered already http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/10/technexion-edm-modules-open-software-and-somewhat-open-hardware-arm-x86-cpu-modules/

That's an interesting article, referring to various nice goodies coming our way from TI:

Arrow Europe also leaked TI Sitara Roadmap until 2014, which shows AM437x being available in 2013, and AM2x single and dual Cortex A7 as AM5x Cortex 15 planned for 2014.

And about TechNexion specifically, cnxsoft writes:

they appear to have some interesting solutions, and because I’ve heard him say “all the software code can be found on our home page, we don’t believe in NDAs, everything needs to be open source” and later “the baseboard schematics are available”. This is extremely unusual for companies that make CPU modules or SoMs to open most of their design.

It seems like a company worth supporting, although it's hard to offer our support when their market presence is so low here.  Their position on openness does however made their EDM format a  candidate for adoption by the OSHW community.

jamodio wrote:

 

I think we can have an interesting discussion somewhere else in the forum about BGA vs ???, there are pros and cons, and as I always say it depends on the application and the target "customer."

 

If you are in this just for a hobby, a DYI project or some basic integration, don't mess with what you don't know how to do or have the tools to do it, you will waste more time and money, just buy a ready made BBB and have fun with it.

Although I agree that BBB is well in the lead for embedded OSHW capability up to Cortex-A8 level, I was looking beyond that.  It's not like there is a Beagle roadmap catering for all our needs into the distant future, and even if there was, we still wouldn't want to be dependent on a single manufacturer.

The community of OSHW enthusiasts would be stronger if it took control of its own destiny than by being mere consumers of OSHW designs that commercial companies feel like providing.  It's just like what happened when 3D printing enthusiasts discovered that they could build their own printers and that this independence from commercial 3D printing gave them immense power and control over their own destinies.

Exactly the same would happen if we took computer design and construction into our own hands.

selsinork wrote:

 

jamodio wrote:

On the other hand, the BBB is both CE and FCC certified (class B). You can even download the certificate of compliance https://github.com/CircuitCo/-BeagleBone-Black/blob/master/10238105EUS1.pdf?raw=true

There's an interesting chunk of documentation available in that github repo, quite unusual for that to be made quite so open.  My memory is hazy, but did the RPF ever publish quite so much detail for the Pi ?

Yes, they posted the recipe in Food Network ...

BTW I'd love to see the same document from the FCC certification for both the Raspberry Pi Model A and B.

-J

BTW, I really like the Wandboard, it's good quality, has a ton of features and stuff, and has been working glitch free since I turned it on.

Just only one clock config issue after boot but so far I'm impressed about how it is performing even doing video playing via VNC.

And talking about BGA, Adapteva just posted a picture of the parallela board "naked" .... how sexy

-J

Another board from a crowdfunding campaign arrived yesterday, the Iteaduino Plus:

- 1GHz ARM cortex-A8 processor, NEON, VFPv3, 256KB L2 cache

- Mali400, OpenGL ES GPU

- 1GB DDR3 @480MHz

- HDMI 1080p Output

- 10/100M Ethernet

- 2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 USB OTG

- 70 extend pin including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP.

- Running Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions

It arrived with the USB cable, SATA cable, laser cut acrylic protective "case" with standoffs, a heatsink for the A10, a *** tool to remove the core board, all in a very nice box.

How much did I pay for it ?

            $39 including shipping...

SO LONG Raspberry Pi :-)

That looks quite excellent!

I had a look around their Indigogo project page and the whole Iteaduino Plus package looks amazingly polished and featureful, both hardware and software.  At "$39 including shipping" that seems better value than any other board currently available.

This video of "ITEAD OS GPIO And UART Operation Demo" shows how slick they've made it --- this is no bare board with the software left for the user to sort out.  And I was tickled by the video showing the GSM module connecting to the Iteaduino Plus through an "RPi compatible 26-pin connector".  That's pretty funny, and makes for good marketing.

Here is CNXSoft's writeup -- "$59 Iteaduino Plus ARM Linux Board Features Raspberry Pi and Arduino Compatible Headers".  Interesting comment there -- "The baseboard has been designed for both A10 and A20 if we are to believe the silk screen markings, so a version with AllWinner A20 CPU module may be coming soon."  -- Awesome.

I love the detachable CPU module.  A clear rival to the EDM and EOMA-68 form factors, this modular approach is how all systems should be made, allowing you to upgrade just your CPU and memory parts rather than the whole board.  And with an A20 module likely to come ...

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

The Wandboard is indicated as ex-stock at Mouser UK , both the Solo and the Dual versions, and I was happily going through the process of ordering a Dual.  Then I got to the delivery options page, and discovered that the GBP price, UK site, and "Stock 182 Can Dispatch Immediately" does not mean that it's in stock in the UK.  Everything is dispatched from Texas.

So I ordered a couple of Wandboard Quads from Future Electronics this week. Much like Mouser/Digikey they ship from the US even when you go through their UK site.

Sabre-Lite is the obvious alternative and is ex-stock at Farnell UK, but at £128.06 it's well outside my "below the radar" cut-off point for snap purchases.

£76.42 for the WBQuad from Future, based on todays exchange rates that's slightly below the $129 list price. I need to add UK VAT onto that, so they come in at £91.70

Currently with free shipping.

The downside was a couple of days lost to export compliance paperwork much like mcb1 had when buying his BBB. However once complete, it's valid for three years.

On the shipping side, the package left their Memphis warehouse at approx 04:00 GMT Thursday morning and arrived here at 13:02 Friday.  Ok, that's still going to be 2 days best case, but not too shabby.

I considered the CubieTruck, but the cost of getting one locally is £94.99 plus delivery here Cool Components Cubietruck Kit - Dual Core Single-board Computer which really doesn't compare well. I could probably have tried to get one from China, but quoted shipping costs ant times are not good which means the CT looks very overpriced given it's a dual core with otherwise similar-ish specs.

On the Cubieboard front, they now also appear to be available in the UK here http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/All_Cubieboard/Cubieboard2 at what's likely to be a bit less than CoolComponents. No CT on that site for comparison though.