snickerdoodle/snickerdoodle black (really needs a better name)

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$60 including shipping is attractive until you realize that to do useful things with the board you probably need one of the base boards (e.g., the $55 piSmasher), which means you need to add $10 to put the high-density connectors on the bottom of the board.  This configuration is now $55 + $10 + $55 = $120 plus $10 if you want as much DRAM as RasPi 2 plus shipping.  That's still a competitive price for a Zynq, but not an amazing deal.

I haven't delved into Zynq for several reasons.  First is the high cost of development boards in past years.  Second, I've read too many comments on what a pain it is to get software running on Zynq.  This is all second-hand, so I don't know what the answer is.  Xilinx makes outstanding silicon, but their tools have a very steep learning curve and their previous foray into integrated Power PC cores didn't go so well.  I'm also leery of an FPGA family that's still so expensive (single-chip pricing from distributors) even though it's been out for several years now.  The original Zynq article in Xilinx's Xcell Journal 2Q2011 suggested "a starting price below $15".

RE: Crowd Supply, I bought my Open Source Hardware Novena laptop through them last year and was pleased with their service (Novena: Open Source Hardware laptop launches!)

One of the founders was recently on FLOSS Weekly:

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RE: snickerdoodle/snickerdoodle black (really needs a better name)

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Actually no, I do not need/want/see much use for the PiSmasher (-$55), although I would probably put the connectors on the bottom (+$10), and go for the 1 GB SDRAM ($+10, total $80).

Somehow you also forgot to mention the "other" expansion board that is $25 but I don't need it either. And to do what I want this board for  you would also need to add a FPGA board to the

Pi (+$70+ dollars) so now we are talking about apples/apples.

Development board costs in the past are irrelevant here, I am talking about this board. Since this is a dual-core ARM part I don't see past PowerPC products as a problem either. FPGA tools

for complicated FPGAs are going to have a steep learning curve. I think it has something with complicated but I might be wrong. I don't really care about retail prices for chips as I usually am

not developing products (there are exceptions, this is not one).

Hi Gary, one of the snickerdoodle creators here. We've been working with the Crowd Supply team very closely throughout the campaign. They have a different focus compared to KS/Indiegogo in that they more thoroughly vet projects/teams, their campaigns are solely for physical goods (i.e. no Veronica Mars movies), and they directly help creators actually deliver product (packaging, manufacturing, logistics, etc.).

Ultimately you're backing the project, product, and team, not the platform. Hopefully you decide to join us by backing snickerdoodle (even if you hate the name ).

If there are any other questions you might have, please feel free to reach out here or via email at hello@krtkl.com.

-Ryan

Just depends on what you're looking for, John. If all you need is a couple USB ports and an HDMI jack, you're probably set with R Pi. But if you need I/O, want Gigabit Ethernet or HDMI in, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, you're much better off with snickerdoodle + piSmasher (or just getting snickerdoodle alone if you don't need the bulkier connectors).

Hi Ryan,

Yeah I bought in on the snickerdoodle with the 1GB and down connectors. I really wanted the black version but sometimes you just got to compromise.

I was a little harsh with John in my reply but I simply don't need what he assumes I do and none of the FPGA add on boards for the Raspberry Pi

have this kind of capability. The nearest one I can find is the Logi-Pi with a much smaller FPGA and a price of $90. So if you throw in the price of

the Raspberry PI 2 you get two more/faster ARM cores but a lot less FPGA for about the same price as John's snickerdoodle example. Since I don't

need the PiSmasher, can live with two fewer and lower speed cores (the FPGAs help here), and need the vastly better FPGA the snickerdoodle is

an excellent alternative at a very reasonable price.

P.S. I don't hate the name, I just love the cookie so it is the first thing I think about when I read it

Yeah, I hear ya Gary - and thanks for backing the project! We specifically designed snickerdoodle so folks like yourself who don't need/want things like HDMI, USB, etc. aren't forced to pay for them and have them taking up space/weight. Of course, as far as video processing/capture platforms go, anything comparable to even the snickerdoodle+piSmasher setup is probably going to run you upwards of $1,000.

And don't worry, you can always synthesize a few more ARM cores in programmable logic...or accelerate the things your quad core chip would otherwise be handling by 10x in the FPGA at a fraction of the power of a GPU (a la R Pi).

Ryan Cousins wrote:

 

Just depends on what you're looking for, John. If all you need is a couple USB ports and an HDMI jack, you're probably set with R Pi. But if you need I/O, want Gigabit Ethernet or HDMI in, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, you're much better off with snickerdoodle + piSmasher (or just getting snickerdoodle alone if you don't need the bulkier connectors).

US$55 ($65 with down connectors) is a great price for a Zynq module, so if you want something to plug into your own custom baseboard it's a nice way to go.

I'd probably be interested in getting one for myself if I weren't already swamped with FPGA projects, mostly creating open-source tools for FPGA design.  So for me the Lattice iCE40 is particularly interesting.  It has a tiny fraction of the capabilities of a Zynq, but has a documented bitstream and an open-source toolchain, which isn't available for Xilinx FPGAs (yet).

Thanks, John. Maybe you can get one on order just in case your schedule frees up in a couples months... Can't go wrong with $55

The open-course Lattice stuff is certainly interesting and they have some great parts (we've even used a few of them on various snickerdoodle baseboard designs). There's some tricky stuff when it comes to open FPGA tools but a cool concept nonetheless.