Intel announces Edison, a computer the size of an SD card.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/6/5282472/intel-announces-edison-a-computer-the-size-of-an-sd-card

by zachlatta • 13 years ago

85 22 13 years ago

melling• 13 years ago

Is anyone working on pairing these small devices with keyboards, mice, tablets, monitors, televisions, glasses, etc? Everything has to be wireless, of course.

I'd like a keychain computer that I could drop next to whatever peripherals I happen to be near.

null_ptr• 13 years ago

Would you trust whatever peripherals you're near not to keylog all you type and screenshot all you see?

lukeqsee• 13 years ago

No, you couldn't. However, I doubt trust/security would be a motivation at that scale. It's essentially equivalent to carrying around a bootable flash drive.

nl5• 13 years ago

What a pointless comment.

Of course there are always security problems around using untrusted peripherals. Hell, there are security problems around using trusted peripherals.

That doesn't mean the possibilities shouldn't be explored.

(Incidentally, I don't think this is a very interesting use-case. We can already do that with phones, and I never see anyone doing it. But it isn't security issues that stop people doing it.

brink• 13 years ago

I hope the device is open and encourages hacking. But seeing that they're putting an app store on it, (I'm guessing for long term profit) they probably have little incentive to do so.

ajays• 13 years ago

FTA: "It's powered by a dual-core Quark SOC, runs Linux, and has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity"...

If it runs Linux, there's a good chance it's open (or could be made open).

benjamincburns6• 13 years ago

They're building an app store for the platform (Quark), not necessarily for this explicit device (Edison). Chances are they're using the app store to approach several major OEMs to say "use this SoC, it'll run your x86 software, and it even has an app store!"

There's nothing stopping you from taking one of these and loading whatever you want onto it, if you can even get your hands on one (you can't).

malkia• 13 years ago

Just put in a mouse, and add three more keys.

caprad• 13 years ago

Ctrl-alt-del? No, this runs windows.

nl5• 13 years ago

Interesting.

The Quark core 32nm (14nm by end of 2014), x86, core power consumption under 100mW[1]. Assuming performance scales with size/transistor count, that's probably 1/5th-1/10th the performance of Atom (I'm guessing - they claim 400MHz as a max speed at launch).

That's very competitive with ARM at the same size, but ARM doesn't have this "complete computer on a board" at that size (AFAIK).

[1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/7305/intel-announces-quark-soc...

wmf• 13 years ago

Eye-Fi did that a while ago: http://hackaday.com/2009/02/01/eye-fi-teardown/

benjamincburns6• 13 years ago

but ARM doesn't have this "complete computer on a board" at that size (AFAIK).

Knowing the industry terminology helps: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=arm+system+on+module

nl5• 13 years ago

Yeah, that's not the same thing. Or rather, it could be, but usually you need to do extra work (and buy extra parts) and then order a few thousand.

To quote:

Unlike SBCs, COMs [computer-on-module] typically lack real-world ports, and extend their I/O through a connector that supports compatible carrier boards based on standards like COM Express, QSeven, and SMARC. Others use proprietary connectors, often based on a 144-pin SODIMM layout, designed to work only with the company's own carrier boards.

http://www.linux.com/news/embedded-mobile/mobile-linux/71255...

(Although, to be fair I am assuming that the original article is accurate in stating which ports are available on the Intel version)

DonGateley• 13 years ago

If you are a Raspberry Pi fan or even an Arduino fan this is really big news. I'm already pausing to consider changing course on something I'm developing.

benjamincburns6• 13 years ago

Sorry to sound like a curmudgeon, but this shouldn't even register on hobbyist's radar unless Intel also announces that it'll be selling this direct to consumers. These types of things are built to market new processor platforms to OEMs. That doesn't mean that some hobbyist-friendly OEM can't build something nifty out of this, but having dealt with Intel before, chances are for someone small enough to be hobbyist-friendly, the folks at Intel won't even chuckle as they ignore the ringing phone.

z3phyr• 13 years ago

Off topic : In the race of making processors faster and smaller, are we heading to the direction of more power efficient analog computers again?

nawariata• 13 years ago

Technological progress have spoiled me, I was disappointed it wasn't the size of a micro SD card.

Intel announces Edison, a computer the size of an SD card.

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