picuntu

[cast-fish]

this is Ubuntu linux stable...for those dual core tiny PEN computers running at 1.6ghz dual core.

it is free  110 meg download and does not interfere with the Android already on the machine.

http://liliputing.com/2013/01/picuntu-brings-light-weight-linux-to-rk3066-mini-pcs-mk808-ug802-etc.html

Vince.

[hiro]

"stable" what do you mean?

[cast-fish]

i think it means it's not a release candidate. Its a regular distro

V.

[hiro]

I've been using kirkwoods, rpi and mk808 for a while now and I want to share my experience with these devices. Sadly I can't compare to A10.

Kirkwood is super cheap ARMv6, still the best platform for headless USB/gigabit linux (I'm using it as USB NAS, router, print server, http server). debian and arch installation works and is well documented.

The mk808 has USB, integrated wifi instead of ethernet, mali 400 graphics, hdmi and armv7 neon/vfp3 processing power. debian or ubuntu on that device is very capable especially compared to raspbian on rpi, which must be the slowest combination I ever used in the last 10 years.
It seems the "picuntu" brand stands mostly for very scattered or non-existing docs, mostly windows/novice/android-user style forum posts.
But there are some people in that community that make available good working kernels, one of them runs debian instead of picuntu's ubuntu.
All solutions still require flashing the kernel image from a windows PC.
the picuntu installer is a joke - a non-working bloated bash script, you'll probably want to edit it or do manually what it tries to do for you - I'm still searching for better docs.

The rpi is completely unresponsive, the usb hub that provides the 2 USB ports at the front is buggy, ethernet is connected via USB also and just 100Mbit/s.
If all you want is a very simple hdmi terminal without need for any processing power tinycorelinux on rpi might be an option, but don't even think about compiling stuff, it will take days.
In practice it's not cheaper than a mk808, which already comes with all needed accessories (cables, power adapter, smaller case), so I don't see any reason to buy this overpriced old ARMv6 hardware.
One good thing might be the accessible gpios, but I never tried them.
After my (8gigs) SD card got filled twice, first time because of swap and second time because of oversized source and build directories, it broke completely with fs corruption so I lost all my compiled libraries: boost, cheetah, wpa_supplicant, openssh,...
I dumped my rpi after that.
netbooting would have been useful...

[bmarkus]

From strictly technical point RPi is really a low and device compared to others due to not only poor USB performance but the v6 architecture's arithmetic limitations. For sure you can find many other boards with much better hw. And now it is the problem. Segmentation.

The big deal with RPi its wide availability and the user community behind. There are so many applications, hw extensions developed for the RPi which are not available for other boards. Also, if you have a strange idea to make for example an RPi based High Altitude Balloon for sure there will be others interested in, or if you are using it as  a headless Software Defined Radio server, you will find others to establish a project. And it makes a difference!

Once upon a time there was a ZX81. It was really a crap. For example they saved the cost of the bus driver IC's using serial resistors, etc. From engineering point it was a nightmare. But they made a revolution.

[hiro]

I don't think rpi has been able to create a revolution. The plug computers, kirkwood, dockstar, etc. introduced this new form factor that is now available to many people, even in consumer products. rpi just added a hdmi port to this underpowered platform. they also forked debian to raspbian and did some marketing. Not appealing to me at all. Only confusing.

I was able to use the rpi with rtl_sdr, but whereas I can decode my data without problems directly on the mk808 best I managed on rpi (with just as high cpu usage) was forwarding the raw data from usb via (usb-)ethernet. that's not really useful I think.
gnuradio really wants neon/vfp3 to work properly on ARM, on rpi it's way too slow.

[althalus]

 

I don't think rpi has been able to create a revolution. The plug computers, kirkwood, dockstar, etc. introduced this new form factor that is now available to many people, even in consumer products. rpi just added a hdmi port to this underpowered platform. they also forked debian to raspbian and did some marketing. Not appealing to me at all. Only confusing.

Because how many of those plug computers give you easily accessible GPIO pins? Because how many of those plug computers only cost $35? THESE are the two things that make the RPi special, not it's HDMI port. Point me to somebody building robots or embedded devices with a SheevaPlug.

[hiro]

Oh, I agree with you about the GPIO pins, but still most people who seem to blog about their rpi don't use them
My first kirkwood years ago was 20euros and the last 5 I bought were each 10 euros and there was no waiting time.
All these devices already had a case btw - consumer products.

[curaga]

The $35 has been greatly exaggarated - if you don't take a case, power supply and so on, it's still VAT + shipping = over 50 eur for us Europeans. With a case etc it's closer to 100.

[bmarkus]

My first kirkwood years ago was 20euros and the last 5 I bought were each 10 euros and there was no waiting time.
All these devices already had a case btw - consumer products.

Which one are you using?

[hiro]

seagate dockstar and pogoplug. I also have 2 iomega iconnect which must have been between 30 and 50 euros at their times.

[bmarkus]

What is about porting TC?

[bmarkus]

Basic pogoplug cost $49.95 net in US.

Basic shiva-plug cost 82.50 GBP net (available in June)

So what is about the prices?

Here in Budapest Rpi Model 'B' is 43 EUR including 27% VAT , Model 'A' is 30.3 EUR, no shipping, on stock.

If you are integrating with a robot, balloon, terminal, etc. you do not need a case and also power is provided by the hostings ystem.

[hiro]

I grabbed my devices when I saw whatever ARM stuff on sale in supermarkets, computer stores and online. Perhaps general availability of the rpi is better.

Tinycore would be a good option, but I'm still waiting for a non-windows installer. When i finish my current projects I might come back to this.

[cast-fish]

these pen computers are now quad core i see. There are many many brands "rockchip" etc...i have seen about 5 quad core brands.....starting at like 59 dollars. Those are A9 cortex cores, boxed with
power bricks etc. 

Several of them have the custom ubuntu all ready to go. They basically compete greatly with
things like the HardKernel things and are a lot cheaper.

I have seen quad core A9 cortex tablets  7 inch at 99 dollars now......running Jelly Bean Android. The review by some gurus pointed out that the actual global review of this tablet model is wrong!. It's been
banded around the globe as using a5 cortex cores but they are infact a9 cortex cores and the
chinese company tool the almost unprecendented step of building their own SOC chip and also
modifying the ARM internals under licence from ARM.

Them tablets give the same performance as a google Nexus but three times less cost.

http://www.cnx-software.com/2013/04/06/ainol-novo-7-crystal-ii-quad-core-7-tablet-is-available-for-99/

seen this heavily bench tested and the results were good.  People complain a little about the GPU
but it really isn't an issue. It performs great as a 3D games tablet also

Vince.