Heard about these on the BBC's Today programme this morning and I have to say they look quite impressive at first glance: ARM processor,
256MB RAM, SD card slot, TV & audio out, dual USB, ethernet and GPIO for $35. I know there are plenty of similar boards out there but this one looks unusually complete for the price and can't help but think that far from being a simple hobbyist toy it's got to be a no-brainer for a lot of short run embedded stuff.-- Andrew Smallshaw andrews@sdf.lonestar.org
And basically no in-depth documentation plus impossible to buy processor itself.
Give it time, they've only got a static site up at the minute because of the load hitting the site after the publicity. The thing it being targeted at schoolkids so it it going to be easy to get up and running and it runs Linux so you would expect it to be fairly standard from a userland perspective.
-- Andrew Smallshaw andrews@sdf.lonestar.org
For me, it's not the Linux environment that is of interest.
What I would be looking for would be enough documentation to write, say, a RTEMS BSP for it. Up until recently, there was limited information on the Broadcom BCM2835 processor used by this board, although more information has been released over the last couple of weeks about the BCM2835.
However, the most annoying thing about this device is that the whole Farnell website is currently unavailable. No component browsing for me today...
Simon.
-- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world
Yes, noticed that here. The CPC site came back up about an hour and a half ago - presumably they've moved their subdivisions out of the direct line of fire. They're my usual goto point simply because the trade counter is less than a mile away.
Sod's law is that today is one of those rare occasions I actually need Farnell proper in a hurry - need some 26 way "Centronics" sockets for an IEEE-488 in-house thing. They're a bit too specialist for CPC but ISTR Farnell stock them. Obviously there must be a lot of interest in this board - let's hope it has a similar effect to the Spectrum/BBC Micro boom back in the 80s.
-- Andrew Smallshaw andrews@sdf.lonestar.org
Hm, really? Where? Available for free without NDA?
for instance. It was linked to via the Raspberry Pi blog a while ago, but as it's currently unavailable I can't provide a link to the post in question.
-a
"BCM2835 contains the following peripherals which may safely be accessed by the ARM"
I love the word "safely"!
And yes, I know it explains further on, but this was the first sentene I read. Perhaps "properly" or even "usefully" would have less of a red flag effect.
Looks like this could be fun. Hope it is robust and gets a good reputation. We want BBC not Sinclair/Amstrad.
as
.LOL, did you try searching this for "ethernet" :-). Looks like they have given some info though, will be unlike them if it is usable (my expectation only, I don't have the time for an in depth check).
Dimiter
You don't think kids today should learn what a wobbly RAM pack is?
-a
Broadcom is known to ignore smaller companies.
My former colleague at Atmel asked for a datasheet for an Ethernet PHY to put in a reference design. The reference design was outsourced to Solectron which was doing business with Ericsson and had good pricing on Broadcom PHYs.
He never got a reply, so Solectron was asked to redesign with National. Having a turnover of a mere 1-2 B$ is thus not so impressive to Broadcom sales...
BR Ulf Samuelsson
I can't blame the folks like Broadcom that are only interested in marketing parts in huge quantities -- I can see the cost savings from not having to support a bunch of onsie-twosie designs.
But I can sure as heck ignore them back!
-- My liberal friends think I'm a conservative kook. My conservative friends think I'm a liberal kook. Why am I not happy that they have found common ground? Tim Wescott, Communications, Control, Circuits & Software http://www.wescottdesign.com
Here's a posting I found which contains a link to the raspberrypi.org website:
(The link is currently dead presumably due to the website running a static page only for the moment.)
Simon.
-- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world
I wonder if the Farnell trade counter got the same treatment from the locals as the Farnell website did ? :-)
That would be really nice to see; I really hope this happens.
Simon.
-- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world
g n m
It does not take much support to post a datasheet on a website, you know. Whatever their reasons may be for keeping the data secret they are other than "cost saving on support".
Dimiter
And nostalgia's not what it used to be either :-(
Come to talk about RAM is it just me wondering where are the
128 (let alone 256) megabytes of RAM on this board? LOL, here is the video with it, I can't see it on the bottom side either.... But I did see a video on the BBC website where they claimed to be demonstrating that same board to be booting some sort of linux, ROFL.Dimiter
------------------------------------------------------ Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments
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I remember reading that the RAM chip is stacked on top of the CPU.
Yes, it appears to be like this (I was shown some photos on a Bulgarian forum). Pretty neat, sandwiching BGA-s is not hard to do - having solved the operating temperature issues.
Dimiter
Well I had a quick look at the static sites adn the "documentation" as other half is in education and needs the current with LAN version.
The "Quick Start guide" (14 pages including first page photo of board) makes me think the first problems, open source hacks, 3rd party consumables, will be decent power cables and supplies!!!!
The guide states
Power is by microB USB connector (power pins only)
Requires 5V @ 700mA
Yes 700mA on a USB connector.
How many cables are going to cause substantial power drops
How many systems/hubs are going to shut down power as the port is over current.
Even a standard 2.1/2.5 mm DC power plug would be easier to attach any wall wart capable of 5V @ 1A.
Geez somebody cannot even follow USB power specs what else have they ignored.
--
Paul Carpenter | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
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