[Coco] Alternatives to the Raspberry PI (for CoCo emulator/server)

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 08 December 2012 12:23:20 Bill Traynor did opine:

> I would include the Beaglebone on this list:
> 
> http://beagleboard.org/bone
> 
> It's slightly more expensive at $89 but the value is found in 1) It's
> completely Open Source.  Not binary blobs required for anything 2)
> There's a vibrant community around it, and 3) it's highly expandable
> with Capes, which are being added by the week.

It is also being looked at as a platform for the next generation of 
linuxcnc because of its healthy compliment of 46 i/o lines.  Despite its 
relatively slow 720 mhz clocking at the present time, we have already 
turned stepper motors with it albeit at limited rpms.  For servo systems 
that only need attention at nominally 1 millisecond intervals, it is 
showing lots of promise.  As the arm gains cores and clock speeds, there 
will come a time when it can do anything we can do with the intel D525MW 
motherboard, which is currently running my pair of table top machines.  
Which on my 7x12 lathe, can with a 16 tpi screw moving the carriage, with a 
2 to 1 reduction gear between a 425oz/in motor and that screw, which is 
being driven by an 8 step microstepping driver, can issue steps at a fast 
enough rate to move the carriage at 36 to 37 inches a minute, a pretty 
impressive rate for a stepper driven machine.  For the math challenged, 
that means is is issuing a nice, steady, step signal at 40 kilohertz, 
entirely developed in software. With a timing accuracy of 7 microseconds 
error, absolute worst case.

The advantage this one has over ALL the others, is the row of i/o pins 
along the sides of the card.  No problem at all in turning those into a 
pair of parallel printer ports, and given 2 of those, linuxcnc can control 
every aspect of a machining center such as you can see on youtube if you 
search for "machining a toyota racing engine block".

> On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Frank Swygert <farna at att.net> wrote:
> > While the Raspberry Pi (RPi) has everyone beat on costs, memory is a
> > big limitation at only 256MB or 512MB. There are at least three
> > alternatives that can run Linux, and aren't bad on price considering
> > the added memory and features...
> > 
> > The Rikomagic is closer to the RPi in price at $41.85 plus shipping,
> > but it has 1GB DDR3 RAM and WiFi built-in. There is also a $66
> > dual-core version.
> > 
> > http://store.cloudsto.com/**component/virtuemart/**
> > rikomagic/rikomagic-mk802-ii-**detail.html?Itemid=0<http://store.cloud
> > sto.com/component/virtuemart/rikomagic/rikomagic-mk802-ii-detail.html?
> > Itemid=0> http://www.amazon.com/OEM-**SYSTEMS-COMPANY-MK802-Android/**
> > dp/B008H3B736/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=**ALTVS0Q5KJ7M3<http://www.amazon.com/OEM
> > -SYSTEMS-COMPANY-MK802-Android/dp/B008H3B736/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=ALTVS0Q5KJ
> > 7M3> http://www.amazon.com/Version-**Rikomagic-Android-Rockchip-**
> > RK3066/dp/B00A0I7ZWS/ref=?ie=**UTF8&m=ALTVS0Q5KJ7M3<http://www.amazon
> > .com/Version-Rikomagic-Android-Rockchip-RK3066/dp/B00A0I7ZWS/ref=?ie=U
> > TF8&m=ALTVS0Q5KJ7M3>
> > 
> > The Odroid from Korean company Hardkernel is very intriguing also. It
> > costs more, but is more capable $89 for a quad core processor, 2GB
> > RAM, and has an ethernet jack (plus 2 USB ports and micro SD card
> > slot). It also comes with a finned heatsink/case.
> > 
> > $135 gets a bigger board (still not much bigger than the RPi) with 6
> > USB ports, regular size SD card slot, and lots of added features
> > (same 2GB RAM though). For the money I think it's worth it, fewer
> > additional items (like a USB hub) needed. It's closest to a full
> > fledged computer.
> > 
> > http://www.hardkernel.com/**renewal_2011/products/prdt_**
> > info.php?g_code=G135341370451<http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/p
> > roducts/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135341370451>
> > 
> > The Cubieboard looks really good too. IT may not be readily available
> > yet though. Sells for $49 for a 512MB version, a price isn't listed
> > for the 1GB version.
> > 
> > http://cubieboard.org/
> > 
> > The one thing all of these have in common is that they use ARM
> > processors. So it's Android or Linux, no Windows, although MS has
> > announced that Windows 8 will be developed for the ARM architecture.
> > 
> > http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/**archive/2012/02/09/building-**
> > windows-for-the-arm-processor-**architecture.aspx<http://blogs.msdn.co
> > m/b/b8/archive/2012/02/09/building-windows-for-the-arm-processor-archi
> > tecture.aspx>
> > 
> > It seems that it won't be fully compatible with Windows 8, or with x86
> > software though. They are just calling it "Windows 8" for the
> > recognition, apparently, though to me that implies that it would run
> > other Windows 8 software. Someone less tech savvy who just buys would
> > be very disappointed... Search "Windows on ARM" for more on that if
> > you wish.
> > 
> > --
> > Coco mailing list
> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > http://five.pairlist.net/**mailman/listinfo/coco<http://five.pairlist.
> > net/mailman/listinfo/coco>
> 
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco


Cheers, Gene
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