tiistai 12. toukokuuta 2015

CHIP from Next Thing - too little too late

Raspberry Pi and Arduino Uno are names many people know. Arduino Uno (micro controller) is already ten and Raspi three years old. Those devices have been around for ages!

Year 2016 will bring us CHIP from Next Thing - a single-board-computer (SBC) similar to Raspberry Pi.

CHIP is aimed at makers and hackers. However Next Thing is saying you can use CHIP daily as your primary computer.

These are the specs of CHIP:
  • 1 GHz processor
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 4 GB internal storage
  • Built-in wifi anf bluetooth
  • Composite output (VGA and HDMI via external adapter)
  • Price 9 $ (before taxes?)
  • About the same size as Raspi
  • Able to run Linux
I think CHIP has too little to offer. Besides it's too late. How come?
  • CHIP is not able to run Linux fast enough in graphics mode. There is too little RAM memory available. I can guarantee you it's not fun to run Raspbian and LXDE window manager on the 1st generation Raspberry Pi with only 256 or 512 MB RAM. You'll be disappointed when doing the same on CHIP.
  • Makers already purchased their devices (Raspis and Arduinos...). Next Thing is thinking like Microsoft...
  • There is nothing new with CHIP. Although cheap some sort of new approach would have been needed; smaller size or more powerful hardware than Raspi has.
  • Composite output only?
My verdict: CHIP, you are welcome. Next Thing, re-write Linux so that Desktop use is smooth.





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