A Router-Based Dev Board That Isn't a Router

An anonymous reader writes with a link to an intriguing device highlighted at Hackaday (it's an Indiegogo project, too, if it excites you $90 worth, and seems well on its way to meeting its modest goal): The DPT Board is something that may be of interest to anyone looking to hack up a router for their own connected project or IoT implementation: hardware based on a fairly standard router, loaded up with OpenWRT, with a ton of I/O to connect to anything.

It's called the DPT Board, and it's basically an hugely improved version of the off-the-shelf routers you can pick up through the usual channels. On board are 20 GPIOs, USB host, 16MB Flash, 64MB RAM, two Ethernet ports, on-board 802.11n and a USB host port. This small system on board is pre-installed with OpenWRT, making it relatively easy to connect this small router-like device to LED strips, sensors, or whatever other project you have in mind.

Comments

Re:Scamaday

[BronsCon]

Actually... less than half the price and includes a few bits the Carambola lacks.

Re:A ton of BS

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe you're missing the fact it contains 20 GPIO pins; See if you're COTS router gives you that level of flexibility.

Re:Scamaday

[BronsCon]

Ahh yes, you are correct, it's only about 10 bucks cheaper; I was looking at the module price, not the price of the whole package. And much larger, but also supporting a wider range of logic levels and providing better overvoltage protection on its inputs. Also, what gives you the idea that the DPT's RF isn't calibrated?

Face it, your argument boils down to "it costs less and has more features". The only potential downside is for projects relying on "perfect" RF, assuming you are correct about the DPT-board's RF not being factory calibrated; for prototyping, or projects that will primarily make use of the ethernet ports (or not rely on networking at all), it's still a less expensive and better-featured option than the Carambola. If you're far-enough along in your design process that size has become a consideration, you're probably past the point of needing physical ports on your development board, which makes the DPT module (the blue board) about $24 cheaper and a better option; if your project outgrows that, you're far enough along that you're having custom boards fabricated and neither product is an option.

This has its place, especially given the software suite it will ship with. That place is early-stage prototyping and proof-of-concept development, where silly mistakes like overvolting an input or connecting to the wrong pin, which would kill the Carambola, are most likely.

It's a "flexible scamming" project.

[Animats]

It's one of those "flexible funding" Indiegogo projects, where they get to keep the money even if they don't get enough money to make anything. Great scam; just come up with some popular idea, overprice the project, and keep the money.

Re:Scamaday

[TheRealMindChild]

If you require "perfect RF", you are doing something wrong

Re:Scamaday

[BronsCon]

I think my point was made for anyone who wasn't insistent on being pedantic...

Re:A ton of BS

[BronsCon]

Well, you wouldn't necessarily use 20 GPIOs on a router... but, then, this isn't a router, just a dev board based on a SoC commonly used in routers, running on a software stack also commonly used in routers.

WRTnode

[complete loony]

A similar board, http://wrtnode.com/.

Why flash and not microSD?

[no_such_user]

Instead of flash memory soldered to the board, microSD is ubiquitous and cheap -- and makes the device effectively unbrickable. Sure, there are bootloaders with recovery features, but it's not as simple as writing a new image to SD. Raspberry Pi got it right in this department. It's a shame there's no PCIe bus on the raspi...

Re:Why flash and not microSD?

[petes_PoV]

MicroSD required mechanical connectors to the device and is a great deal more expensive that flash - in a very price-sensitive market. Given that an IoT thing could find its way into any environment, the last thing you want is for its operation to be dependent on the correct operation of nasty, cheap (and they *would* have to be cheap for comparable production costs) connectors and uSD cards of variable quality - that are outside your control.

Far better to have everything firmly and permanently attached to the board. Why solder in a connector whan it's just as easy (and takes the same amount of board space) to solder in flash instead. That way you don't get the blame when an idiot user "recycles" an old uSD card and blabs all over the internet how crap and unreliable your product is, as their card keeps corrupting.

RPi got it completely wrong in this respect. You don't hear of corrupted software & kernels on all the cards that use flash. If it's more "difficult" for noobs to use, then that's no bad thing either as it discourages those who are lacking in the clue department. This is not meant to be a plaything for children.

GPIO's useful for Internet of Things

[billstewart]

Sure, if you're just routing, and don't want to connect to various hardware I/O things, you can get a simpler board. But if you want to talk to sensors or build yourself a toaster controller or weather station or add lots of blinky lights or whatever, they're useful.

Re: Yeah, 2 ports + WiFi - so?

[billstewart]

No, generally a router has an inside and an outside, and sometimes a third port as a DMZ; you're thinking of a router with an ethernet hub attached, like many home routers. There are routers with more routed ports, and there are one-armed routers also, though that's less likely to be useful.

Re:A ton of BS

[BronsCon]

The DPT board runs on a completely open stack and everything used by BH is open... so... it can. It doesn't yet, which is no surprise since the board is still under development and you're probably the only person that's voiced that request so far.

Re:Price is reasonable - $35, not $90

[Imbrondir]

Yes thats a good price if he delivers the project. He is simply pointing out the great difference between Indiegogo and kickstarter, where in the former if you miss project target funding, you may still keep all funding without delivering anything to funders.