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'My Name is C.H.I.P. and I'll Be Your $9 Computer Today' (Video)
Think of C.H.I.P as a tablet computer that runs Linux instead of Android, "without the tablet bits," says interviewee Dave, who gave a talk -- which was mostly live demos -- at OSCON 2015. 50,000 C.H.I.P.s have already sold for $9 through their successful Kickstarter campaign, and Next Thing Co. plans to stick with the $9 price for the foreseeable future -- plus add-on boards (that they call "shields") they hope to sell you, but that won't flatten any but the skinniest wallets; given the projected price scale, you'll have trouble spending as much as $50 for a fully-accessorized C.H.I.P. unit.
"But," you may ask, "is C.H.I.P. Open Source?" You bet! No hedging here, just flat-out Open Source, from the bottom to the top, with all software (and hardware specs) freely available via GitHub. And lastly, the "I'll Be Your $9 Computer Today' statement in the headline above is allegorical, not factual. We've seen projected shipping dates for C.H.I.P ranging from "by the end of 2015" to a simple "2016." Either way, we're waiting with bated breath.
"But," you may ask, "is C.H.I.P. Open Source?" You bet! No hedging here, just flat-out Open Source, from the bottom to the top, with all software (and hardware specs) freely available via GitHub. And lastly, the "I'll Be Your $9 Computer Today' statement in the headline above is allegorical, not factual. We've seen projected shipping dates for C.H.I.P ranging from "by the end of 2015" to a simple "2016." Either way, we're waiting with bated breath.
It's akin to a Raspberry Pi. It has a processor, memory, and storage. It also has composite out and USB on board the main board. If you want VGA or HDMI output, you have to spring extra for the extra shield(s).
What they should have said was it's a low end tablet without the touch screen/display.
I just read the Kickstarter page, and if they actually deliver on what they're saying this thing is, it's actually way more useful and interesting to most people than the raspi. "The world's first $9 computer" sounds idiotic at first, because you know better, but it actually is the world's first $9 "what most people think of when you say 'computer' that is actually end-luser functional out of the box." Describing it as a tablet without the tablet stuff is weird; it's more like a desktop from several years ago, only it goes in your pocket instead of being comparatively stupid huge and ungainly netbook. It's got a bunch of different ways to connect to various input and output, so you pretty much just throw it on a desk wherever you happen to be and just go to town.
Of course, this is massively unlikely to have the impact it deserves. Everyone's already got smartphones, which we already spent way more on and are prettier, even though you have to do all kinds of dumb shit to them to give them functionality as flexible as this thing does. It's mostly interesting if you imagine it as something they pulled out of an alternate history. Like, if things had been just a little more like cyberpunk than they already are, maybe your mom would've given you one of these when you were ten and people on your decker forum would make fun of you for using it.
that all you have to do is plug in CHIP and you have a media players ready to go with all connections say HDMI and USB.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
The video make it clear. They said that they are using components designed for tablets in order to take advantage of the economies of scale.
Indeed.
This is yet another product entering an ever-crowding field. This does not at all seem "new".
And it may not even be "better" or "cheaper" than the alternatives already available for purchase today.
Having said that, I'm more than happy to see this field growing. I find it hilarious we're getting to the point where shipping itself is possibly greater than product price for a "computer".
I'm having all sorts of fun with my Single-Board-Computers. I grabbed a couple (BananaPro) initially to act as simple TFTP servers with a bit of capacity for backup. I am still in an experimental phase to some degree but have started a soaking phase where part of the home network is dependent upon them. I've far surpassed my initial plans. At the moment I have this pair of SBCs working together as a High Availability cluster serving LTSP to clients. I'm typing from one of stations "soaking".