CircuitCo's Intel-based Open Source Hardware PC on sale for $199

"Intel's first 'open-source PC' on sale for $199"

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2045583/intels-first-opensource-pc-on-sale-for-199.html

The PC, called the MinnowBoard (shown above), is basically a motherboard with no casing around it. It was codeveloped by Intel and CircuitCo Electronics, a company that specializes in open-source motherboards, and went on sale this month for $199 from a handful of retailers.

The Community page on the MinnowBoard website has promising links:

eLinux Wiki: http://www.elinux.org/MinnowBoard
Programming GPIO [PDF]: http://www.minnowboard.org/static/pdfs/GPIO%20Programming%20on%20the%20MinnowBoard.pdf

Anyone excited about this board? Will x86 open up use-cases that aren't feasible on ARM?

Cheers,

Drew

http://twitter.com/pdp7

Top Replies

Former Member over 12 years ago

http://uk.farnell.com/circuitco/minnowboard/atom-e640t-platform-sbc/dp/2319581
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
vsluiter over 12 years ago

For what it's worth: a lot of real-time OS's still require x86. But most of those (I know) are closed source themselves...
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
mcb1 over 12 years ago in reply to vsluiter

Gets to be expensive here in NZ
Even at 0.77 (NZ v USD) thats only $258.

Mark
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Former Member over 12 years ago

Drew Fustini wrote:

Anyone excited about this board?
possibly, but there's a danger this one is simply too expensive. It remains to be seen if a 1GHz single core Atom can meet the challenge of a quad core Cortex-A9 based i.MX6. The Sabre-Lite is cheaper, never mind the Wandboard, and the on-paper specs seem similar.
Will x86 open up use-cases that aren't feasible on ARM?
One area it'll help with is that Intel are pretty good about having open source video drivers, so one of the stumbling blocks for a lot of arm boards is removed.

The major plus point is that it's 'just a PC' so you'll be able to put just about any old x86 OS you like on it, much less hassle with waiting for your favourite linux distro to be ported to the board etc.

Do you know if e14 are going to stock any of the lures ? The breakout lure is going to be essential for any sort of tinkering due to the horrible choice of expansion connectors. Unless of course it's just another expensive XBMC system...
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
fustini over 12 years ago in reply to Former Member

selsinork wrote:

Do you know if e14 are going to stock any of the lures ? The breakout lure is going to be essential for any sort of tinkering due to the horrible choice of expansion connectors. Unless of course it's just another expensive XBMC system...
Thanks for your perspective about the board... in regard to lures, I hope so! I'll mail the product manager I know to see if there's any public info on this yet.

cheers,
drew
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to fustini

some discussion over in the minnowboard google group suggests that the BoB lure is only just going into production, reading between the lines none of the others have as yet and they were asking for ideas for future lures too.

Since these popped up on my 'in stock' notifications, I ordered one, some more discussion on it here http://www.element14.com/community/thread/26469
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel