Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A Hardware Mashup Device Running Linux

Posted by Soulskill on from the diversity-breeds-creativity dept.

jonniee writes "Mike Riley over at Dr. Dobb's takes a look at 'The BUG,' from Bug labs. It's a Linux-based, Java-programmable electronic base with I/O ports for connecting BUGmodules — individual modules that supply additional functionality to the BUGbase. Four BUGmodules currently exist: a color LCD screen, a combined motion detector/accelerometer, GPS, and a 2-megapixel color camera. You can think of it as 'electronic LEGOs' that let you build different devices depending on how you plug the modules together."

3 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. Try Arduino, or build your own by schamberlin · · Score: 5, Informative

    The BUG looks pretty slick, but it's $350 just for the base module! Add on modules like an LCD or GPS are about $100 each. Ouch.

    For playing around with embedded electronics, try an open-source hardware Arduino board (http://www.arduino.cc), or just build your own using a PIC or AVR microcontroller. It's not as polished as the BUG and doesn't run Java, but it'll cost $40 instead of $400. Arduino has a decent set of software tools, and you can add modular "shields" for GPS, wireless, etc.

    1. Re:Try Arduino, or build your own by mr_da3m0n · · Score: 5, Informative

      I second the arduino. It uses a modified version of Wiring, which is a subset of C++ itself. It's actually pretty great to code for and work with, even for a total newbie on the topic like me.

      Arduinos are not only cheap, but you can build your own, for added geek points.
      http://www.freeduino.org/freeduino_open_designs.html

  2. Ideas by moniker127 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Its a step in the right direction. I saw this dealio on a youtube video a while back. I think it would be better if they figured out how to shrink the modules, and the price, but aside from that, great product. Really, if you think about it, this isnt like a cell phone. You can use this thing as a streaming wireless web camera, you can use it as a high def picture camera that attached GPS tags... you can use it for all sorts of industrial and consumer applications. 350 is not a lot to pay for that.