New kid on the block - meet OLinuXino

Former Member over 13 years ago

Looks like certain berry-constant named device has opened Pandora's box, Olimex Ltd. just announced another low cost Linux SBC, but this time it is going to be OSHW and they are looking for developers that could help them round up the device for general use. Ok, enough talk, here's announcement - http://olimex.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/imx233-olinuxino-development-started-today/

PS read the article comments, this is not going to be the last OSHW SBC by Olimex

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morgaine over 13 years ago

One device on which to keep an attentive eye is the US$7 Allwinner A10 SoC. In addition to being a more modern ARM, it has Ethernet MAC on the chip (unlike the iMX233) so you just need external PHY, magnetics and an RJ45 for Ethernet, and can avoid messing around with the USB for networking.

Lots of other goodies on the Allwinner A10 too, eg. it's a Cortex-A8 and has MALI-400 graphics -- http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/ . It's no surprise at all that it's been such a colossal success in its country of origin (the majority of cheap Chinese tablets seem to use it).

I bet the A10 ends up in various boards which target the Rpi $25-$35 price niche before long. Rhombus Tech has their own idea for this in an EOMA68 form factor -- http://rhombus-tech.net/ -- and apparently they have a projected BOM cost of US$15 for it.

Morgaine.
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to morgaine

Next planned OLinuXino iteration will be based on Allwinner A13, that is A10 stripped of some peripherals (like SATA) and comes in hobbyist friendly package, QFP. This is according to Olimex. There is only one problem with Allwinner CPUs, they lack any documentation whatsoever.
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morgaine over 13 years ago in reply to Former Member

Wow, brilliant!

And yes, I have noticed the total absence of Allwinner datasheets in any of the languages I speak, which doesn't include Chinese.
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to morgaine

According to well informed sources, there is none in Chinese either, only reference design and premade software. But as Allwinner CPU is based solely on ARM IPs, people hack away based on that information, so not everything is that bad
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morgaine over 13 years ago in reply to Former Member

The zillion A10 and A13-based tablet manufacturers must have datasheets for the SoCs, surely? If they are all just cloning Allwinner's reference board, that would be .... bizarre.
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to morgaine

read this - http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/pipermail/arm-netbook/2012-March/002881.html
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morgaine over 13 years ago in reply to Former Member

Heh, I saw that post of lkcl's when I first discovered the Allwinner and chased up the links. Funny isn't it. Although I've never read anything like that before about Chinese tech manufacturing, I can well believe it.
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to morgaine

I grew up in the USSR, I totally believe in what's written there
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morgaine over 13 years ago in reply to Former Member

I wonder what ARM Holdings' view on it is. I've never seen an ARM license, but ARM licensees are probably contractually obliged to not do anything that could be construed as harming the brand. And in a small way, this does.

I rather doubt that ARM ever expected a licensee to treat documentation in such a cavalier manner because that's not done in the West, so it may well be that the ARM license says nothing at all about it.
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to morgaine

I guess Allwinner never targeted western market, so ARM does not really care about what they do as long as they pay their royalties (or part of those) but having somebody from ARM here and sharing his/her point of view would be nice.
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to morgaine

I guess Allwinner never targeted western market, so ARM does not really care about what they do as long as they pay their royalties (or part of those) but having somebody from ARM here and sharing his/her point of view would be nice.
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