$39 Arduino Compatible Boardset Runs Linux On New x86 SoC

DeviceGuru writes "DM&P Group has begun shipping a $39 Arduino compatible boardset and similar mini-PC equipped with a new computer-on-module based on a new 300MHz x86 compatible Vortex86EX system-on-chip. The $39 86Duino Zero boardset mimics an Arduino Leonardo, in terms of both form-factor and I/O expansion. The tiny $49 86Duino Educake mini-PC incorportates the same functionality, but in a 78 x 70 x 29mm enclosure with an integrated I/O expansion breadboard built into its top surface. The mini-PC's front and back provide 2x USB, audio in/out, Ethernet, and COM interfaces, power input, and an SD card slot. The hardware and software source for all the boards, including the computer-on-module, are available for download under open source licenses at the 86Duino.com website."

Comments

Non-starter for me.

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

More expensive than a Raspberry PI, with a slower processor.
Add in the community that has grown up around the Raspberry and I know where my money will be going.

Re:Non-starter for me.

[Threni]

Slower than a Raspberry Pi? Wow! There must be a reason for making such a device, but I can't for the life of me imagine what it might be.

Re:Non-starter for me.

[Baloroth]

Far more GPIO (the Pi only has 8, which is rather pitiful), compatibility with Ardiuno (so lots of expansion modules readily available), built-in SATA/COM/parallel port support, etc. Not everything is about speed. Also, it's x86, so it's compatible with a totally different set of programs/OSes.

Re:Non-starter for me.

[JackDW]

I think it sounds quite good, but international shipping is $35.60, nearly doubling the cost.

Re:Non-starter for me.

[Goaway]

That one doesn't have any GPIOs or micocontroller buses. Completely useless for the kinds of things this board is meant for.

Re:Non-starter for me.

[BitZtream]

The latest "Arduino" is $90 http://blog.wickeddevice.com/?p=494 and still running a 8-bit CPU.

The latest Arduino board, the Due can be found here: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue

And its ARM based, a 32 bit CPU.

There is also the older Yun: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardYun

Which has a Atheros AR9331 daughter board as well as an 8bit CPU. It runs Linux out of the box.

The board you linked to is a clone, not an actual arduino, and there are hundreds of different clones that run all sorts of CPUs right down the the Intel Galileo which is an Atom board (x86)

Re:Other OS'es

[kthreadd]

You should. Most BSDs are compatible with x86 and I don't see anything in the spec list that would be a showstopper.

Re:wow its a vortex board

[tlhIngan]

Probably still better than Intel's Galileo board, which doesn't even have proper native GPIOs (they all go through a slow I2C I/O expander), is more expensive, and has worse power usage.

Compatibility is worse on this board though - it's a 486 core. Most modern Linux is compiled for i586 (Pentium) ISA, so you can't even run a stock Linux distribution (even the "i386" distros usually assume Pentium and up). You'll need to basically recompile everything for i486 instruction set to get it to work.

Last time I dealt with this, Puppy Linux was all that could run by default on it (I think it compiled everything i386 - though Linux needs 486 or better). Everything it didn't come with had to be recompiled from source as practically all binaries available were i586.

Though it can probably run Windows - I think XP should run just fine on it.

And yes, I've tried running i586 binaries on boards with the Vortex processor on them. You usually get a segfault or illegal instruction error sooner or later.