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Brazilian Devs Launch Tiny $1 STEM-Oriented Microcontroller Board On Indiegogo (hackerboards.com)
DeviceGuru writes: A team of Brazilian developers has just launched an open-source microcontroller board called the "One Dollar Board," that's so simple and inexpensive that it can be distributed as standard teaching materials to kids in schools all over the world. The tiny board appears to contain a single 8-pin microcontroller chip, along with a handful of passive components, making it considerably more simple and affordable than the similar STEM-oriented and open-sourced BBC Micro:bit board. More details about the One Dollar Board are on its Indiegogo campaign page, where you can get one for a contribution of $1 (duh!), plus unspecified shipping and import duties.
Well, is there any (computer) hardware which is *not* "STEM-oriented". WTF is that even supposed to mean? Is that a passive aggressive euphemism of "it's for nerds, duh"?
So call it open spec hardware. Can we get back on topic now?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Read about this on CNX. A commenter pointed out that there are already lots of Arduino compatible boards available on Ebay.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
The pro mini's are about 1.25$ atm, arduini nanos with usb port are 1.75$, and the cheapest stm32 boards (which also have arduino ported to them) are about 2$ (and far more powerful than an arduino nano).
What the hell is this project possibly thinking of being able to add to that (except for high shipping costs, since i doubt that unlike the chinese prices i quoted above, i doubt theirs will include shipping).
No it doesn't. It means that between the engineer and customer, marketing got involved.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Hardware doesn't have source code.
Wrong, analog hardware may not have source code, but digital hardware like microcontrollers and CPUs are written in hardware programming languages like Verilog (syntax similar to C) and VHDL (syntax similar to Ada).
And to answer my own question as I just got around to parsing through the actual campaign, the code is apparently to grant access to content(?) and acts as a tracking system to show where the boards are being used globally. The first part is kinda nebulous but a visual representation of where they are being deployed is kinda cool :)
now with a free zika virus sample in orders of one or more!
/I'm sorry
Well, this particular hardware doesn't come with source code.
Yes, a synthesiser takes your description of the logic in source code and synthesises the digital logic. FTFY.
I'd have a bunch of those and use them as give-away business cards / presentation USB / Car windows ICE scraper.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Technically, these languages are called hardware description languages (HDLs), mister turd brain. But they have a similar model to compiled software programming languages where you write the source code and feed it to a compiler which then figures out what digital logic elements are needed and how to connect them. So, very similar to compiling your C program (verilog code) into machine code *.exe (net list: consisting of primitive digital logic like AND, OR, XOR gates and flip-flops and how they're connected).
These boards are so minimal, you could as well buy a microcontroller with a not too miniaturized package and solder some wires on it.
Since I can buy an arduino or ESP8266 for essentially the same price what is this getting me besides some new unsupported hardware?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
You can now get some models of the ESP8266 board for under $2, and it's both Arduino compatible and it has Wi-Fi. It's rather incredible, actually.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
> Well, is there any (computer) hardware which is *not* "STEM-oriented".
The best-known computer hardware in the world isn't science, engineering, or math oriented, it's consumption and marketing oriented. I suppose it's "technology" in a sense.
Although you have a point on RTL, much more is needed to deliver a RTL design to chip level. And most of those designs are also fab-dependant - a 24nm bulk to be manufactured at let's say TSMC is different from a 24nm bulk at Samsung.
There is not much difference between analog and digital here. Unless your plan is to use an FPGA for the digital part - but even there, your luck may vary depending on the FPGA manufacturer and tools.
Alvie
I guess the answer is "no."
It used to be, only Liberal Arts majors, artists, poets, sculptors, athletes, trades people, businessmen, and musicians could get their hands on, or knew anything about microcontrollers.
First, the $1 is misdirection: You still need a real computer to do anything with this. Second, ATTINY85-based boards with similar connectivity are about $1.50 for a single on Ebay including shipping from China. Search for "Digispark" (which was a Kickstarter project that produced CC-BY-SA 3.0 open software and hardware and got $300'000 for the $5000 asked). And the Digispark works with the Arduino IDE. I have a few.
Bottom line: These people are years late to the game and there is absolutely nothing revolutionary or new in what they are trying to do. In fact, they could be trying to repackage the Digispark.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.