The $9 CHIP Computer Reveals Its Open Source Details

http://makezine.com/2015/07/22/with-linux-and-creative-commons-the-9-chip-computer-reveals-its-open-source-details/

by dcschelt • 11 years ago

116 31 11 years ago

tdicola• 11 years ago

Wow that's awesome that they want everything in the mainline Linux kernel. Here's hoping they pull it off!

acqq3• 11 years ago

If I understand, that would be their major advantage to Raspberry Pi? But is the graphics of CHIP comparable to the one on Raspberry Pi?

wolfgke5• 11 years ago

But is the graphics of CHIP comparable to the one on Raspberry Pi?

The CHIP uses an Allwinner R8 SoC, which uses a Mali400 GPU (source: http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/06/07/allwinner-r8-module-d...). RPi uses a VideoCore IV GPU.

While there is no open source driver for Mali400 available, it has been partially reverse-engineered (lima). For the VideoCore IV there is an open source driver available, but the SoC on the RPi is special in the sense that when booting the VideoCore IV is the core to start, which later in the boot process starts the ARM core(s). On the VideoCore IV there runs a proprietary OS (probably RTOS) that is based on ThreadX. So most things the open source driver does are simply calls to this RTOS via a mailbox.

Nevertheless the RPI developers market the VideoCore IV GPU as the most open embedded GPU available. Indeed it is the only one, where an official open source driver is available and thus it is more friendly towards bare-metal programmers that want to write their own OS. On the other hand, the RTOS running on the VideoCore IV is a large blob in an instruction set that has not yet been deciphered.

aceperry• 11 years ago

I'm glad to have helped fund the kickstarter. It was advertised to come with a linux distro but at the time but they didn't have many details about that. Glad to see that they're becoming part of the mainline kernel. Developments like this are going to increase the popularity of linux and smaller computing devices.

voltagex_• 11 years ago

An embedded shop released u-boot source. I never thought I'd see the day - this is great news.

imrehg2• 11 years ago

Most embedded shops release u-boot source, just not in a very usable state, eg. based on old versions, zip package instead of version control, not following any of the development practices or internal organization of the original project... Same thing with the kernel. Excited to see mainline support!

Source: working in embedded, trying to fix how we release exactly these things.

Quequau• 11 years ago

I think the first time I started pushing for real version control and semi-reproducible builds in embedded device development was in 1991, when I was working on medical diagnostic devices. I really can not believe that in 2015 there are still places the still don't adhere to simple practises like that...many places unfortunately.

I mean it's like wearing pants. It's fine if you do not want to wear pants at home but once you're at work and doing something in a professional context it seems like a reasonable minimum bar to expect everyone to live up to.

catern• 11 years ago

Kind of amusing that the article explains how to set up the development environment using VirtualBox. I doubt many Linux kernel hackers use or want to use VirtualBox. At least, many ones working with mainline.

trengrj2• 11 years ago

I'd imagine a lot of kernel developers use virtualisation during development so that they can still boot their machine (though they probably aren't running Macs).

buserror3• 11 years ago

Not ARM developers; my workstation reboots every few months, my ARM boards every few minutes :-) That is, unless you have a qemu port for the SoC in question.

That's also why my host /sbin/reboot is "echo Wrong terminal, you idiot"

TD-Linux2• 11 years ago

I think he was referring to VirtualBox in particular - its kernel modules are endless sources of problems. KVM has its modules in mainline, so it's a more popular choice for kernel development.

buserror3• 11 years ago

Olimex deconstructed that $9 computer story a while back.

https://olimex.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/how-to-get-in-the-ne...

IshKebab• 11 years ago

TL;DR: It's going to be $39 after the Kickstarter.

mmetzger• 11 years ago

For what it's worth, there's some debate about that. The creators have specifically said "C.H.I.P. will still be $9" -

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598272670/chip-the-wor...

Of course, time will tell...

TD-Linux2• 11 years ago

Awesome! I would have funded the campaign had I known this information at the time.

The $9 CHIP Computer Reveals Its Open Source Details

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