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Tiniest Linux COM Yet?
DeviceGuru writes: "An open-spec COM that runs OpenWRT Linux on a MIPS-based Ralink RT5350 SoC has won its Indiegogo funding. The $20, IoT-focused VoCore measures 25 x 25mm. How low can you go? Tiny computer-on-modules (COMs) for Internet of Things (IoT) applications are popping up everywhere, with recent, Linux-ready entries including Intel's Atom or Quark-based Edison, Ingenic's MIPS/Xburst-based Newton, Acme Systems's ARM9/SAM9G25 based Arrietta G25, and SolidRun's quad-core i.MX6-based MicroSOM. Now, an unnamed Chinese startup has raised over six times its $6,000 Indiegogo funding goal for what could be the smallest, cheapest Linux COM yet."
These little guys appear to be running Linux, and some are even hackable (I'm not affiliated with any of these companies/blogs): http://www.monoprice.com/Produ...
http://haxit.blogspot.com/2013...
http://hackaday.com/2013/08/12...
Open-spec: Open specification (i.e. you don't need to sign anything to get the documentation)
COM: Computer-On-Module, otherwise known as a single-board-computer (but smaller), usually a SoC (System-on-Chip) with very few other components
OpenWRT: Linux distribution with a focus on small installed size, spin-off from the Linksys WRT54G router firmware which Linksys had to make available under the GPL.
Ralink RT5350: System-on-Chip with a MIPS CPU architecture core and assorted peripherals (network interfaces, serial interfaces, etc.), made by Ralink.
SoC: System-on-Chip, a single chip (package actually) implementation of a computer system, including all necessary peripherals and interfaces.
Indiegogo: Crowdfunding platform
IoT: Internet-of-Things, marketing term for putting many small things on the internet which were previously too dumb to network (light bulbs, toasters, etc.)
VoCore: Product name of an open-spec Ralink RT5350 SoC based COM running OpenWRT for which the developers seek funding on Indiegogo.
> It occurs to me that this is just the sort of device that the Raspberry Pi people could very well have come up with in the 2 or 3 years since since the Model A and B were developed. It's a shame they never took the concept further.
They did, in April: http://www.raspberrypi.org/ras...
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It's the whole thing (RT5350 SoC (OpenWRT device tree file), 32MB of RAM and 8 of Flash, along with the antenna and assorted support passives).
The board that provides wired ethernet and USB in their usual connectors(and presumably with the magnetics for ethernet) and a micro-USB +5v input is additional.
So you can get fully up and running for $20 (and a +5v source to apply to the correct contact), presumably good for adding a wifi connection and a moderately capable command-and-control module to something that can hang from the GPIO or USB data lines.
If you want the wired interfaces, and a little case, and need a PSU, because this isn't being integrated into something, it'll cost more.