OLinuXino, a serious Rasberry Pi competitor?

[Don McKenzie]

OLinuXino, a serious Rasberry Pi competitor?

After talks at the recent Embedded conference in Germany (2012), Olimex
decided to go ahead with the production of two new boards that were very
similar to the Rasberry Pi. The first one they should have prototypes in
the coming weeks.

The second will be 3 to 6 months before production boards will be seen,
so I won't cover it in this report, however the CPU specs on this second
board, are almost identical to the RPi microcontroller chip, and board.

Olimex describes this board as a bridge to the linux development
community and the Duinomite/Arduino/Maple/Pinguino world of developers.

This will be completely Open Hardware / Open Source Project, all CAD
files will be available so everyone can download modify, and use them.
Same with the software.

More Info:
http://www.duinomite.com/olinuxino-a-serious-rasberry-pi-competitor/

Cheers Don...

======================


--
Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/

DuinoMite the PIC32 $35 Basic Computer-MicroController
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/the-maximite-computer.html
Just add a VGA monitor or TV, and PS2 Keyboard.
Arduino Shield, Programmed in Basic, or C.

 

[Nico Coesel]

OLinuXino, a serious Rasberry Pi competitor?

After talks at the recent Embedded conference in Germany (2012), Olimex
decided to go ahead with the production of two new boards that were very
similar to the Rasberry Pi. The first one they should have prototypes in
the coming weeks.

The second will be 3 to 6 months before production boards will be seen,
so I won't cover it in this report, however the CPU specs on this second
board, are almost identical to the RPi microcontroller chip, and board.

Olimex describes this board as a bridge to the linux development
community and the Duinomite/Arduino/Maple/Pinguino world of developers.

This will be completely Open Hardware / Open Source Project, all CAD
files will be available so everyone can download modify, and use them.
Same with the software.

More Info:
http://www.duinomite.com/olinuxino-a-serious-rasberry-pi-competitor/

What's the form factor? Does it have 0.1" headers so you could add
processor horsepower to a veroboard / stripboard? That would be great
for quick one-off tinker stuff.

 

[Don McKenzie]

What's the form factor? Does it have 0.1" headers so you could add
processor horsepower to a veroboard / stripboard? That would be great
for quick one-off tinker stuff.

It is so new, I am still asking questions Nico. Still in the initial
design stages.

I know I will be very disappointed if it doesn't have GPIO at .1"

The Olimex UEXT expansion which it will also use, is standard serial
UART, SPI, and I2C, using 10 pins at .1"

See:
http://olimex.com/dev/OTHER/UEXT.pdf

Cheers Don...

====================


--
Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/

DuinoMite the PIC32 $35 Basic Computer-MicroController
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/the-maximite-computer.html
Just add a VGA monitor or TV, and PS2 Keyboard.
Arduino Shield, Programmed in Basic, or C.

 

[Paul]

It is so new, I am still asking questions Nico. Still in the initial
design stages.

I know I will be very disappointed if it doesn't have GPIO at .1"

The Olimex UEXT expansion which it will also use, is standard serial
UART, SPI, and I2C, using 10 pins at .1"

See:
http://olimex.com/dev/OTHER/UEXT.pdf

Cheers Don...

====================

Hopefully also unlike rPI have mounting holes and a decent power
connector.

--
Paul Carpenter | [email protected]
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/> PC Services
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/fonts/> Timing Diagram Font
<http://www.gnuh8.org.uk/> GNU H8 - compiler & Renesas H8/H8S/H8 Tiny
<http://www.badweb.org.uk/> For those web sites you hate

 

[Paul]

It is so new, I am still asking questions Nico. Still in the initial
design stages.

I know I will be very disappointed if it doesn't have GPIO at .1"

The Olimex UEXT expansion which it will also use, is standard serial
UART, SPI, and I2C, using 10 pins at .1"

See:
http://olimex.com/dev/OTHER/UEXT.pdf

Cheers Don...

====================

Word from partner who IS a teacher of ICT and computing in UK, if they
want embedded in schools (which is sadly lacking in UK) they should
contact and get involved with Computing At School group/seminars/conf
in UK.

Plenty of open source followers there.

If need more info I can get details for you.

--
Paul Carpenter | [email protected]
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/> PC Services
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/fonts/> Timing Diagram Font
<http://www.gnuh8.org.uk/> GNU H8 - compiler & Renesas H8/H8S/H8 Tiny
<http://www.badweb.org.uk/> For those web sites you hate

 

[Don McKenzie]

Hopefully also unlike rPI have mounting holes and a decent power
connector.

http://www.olimex.com/about.html

The company has over 20 years’ experience in designing, prototyping and
manufacturing printed circuit boards, sub-assemblies, and complete
electronic products.

I doubt very much if you will see any of these problems Paul.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the first proto boards look like in
about 2 weeks.

Cheers Don...

=====================================



--
Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/

DuinoMite the PIC32 $35 Basic Computer-MicroController
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/the-maximite-computer.html
Just add a VGA monitor or TV, and PS2 Keyboard.
Arduino Shield, Programmed in Basic, or C.

 

[Nico Coesel]

http://www.olimex.com/about.html

The company has over 20 years’ experience in designing, prototyping and
manufacturing printed circuit boards, sub-assemblies, and complete
electronic products.

I doubt very much if you will see any of these problems Paul.

You never know. I've worked with designers with 20+ years of
experience who totally forget about mounting holes, forget about
clearance around screw heads or move holes on the next batch while
there are 100's of cases in stock with holes that match the 'old'
version. Did I already mention small 2mm / 78mil mounting holes? If it
where one project you might call it a mistake. On almost every project
its a real nuisance.

 

[Don McKenzie]

You never know. I've worked with designers with 20+ years of
experience who totally forget about mounting holes, forget about
clearance around screw heads or move holes on the next batch while
there are 100's of cases in stock with holes that match the 'old'
version. Did I already mention small 2mm / 78mil mounting holes? If it
where one project you might call it a mistake. On almost every project
its a real nuisance.

I just had a look at the RPi videos, and they seem to have mounting
holes and a DC power input plug.

So I wonder what Paul was referring to.

Cheers Don...

================


--
Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/

DuinoMite the PIC32 $35 Basic Computer-MicroController
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/the-maximite-computer.html
Just add a VGA monitor or TV, and PS2 Keyboard.
Arduino Shield, programmed in Basic, or C.

 

[keithr]

I just had a look at the RPi videos, and they seem to have mounting
holes and a DC power input plug.

So I wonder what Paul was referring to.

Cheers Don...

I don't think that it has mounting holes, DC power is via a micro USB
connector.

 

[keithr]

OLinuXino, a serious Rasberry Pi competitor?

After talks at the recent Embedded conference in Germany (2012), Olimex
decided to go ahead with the production of two new boards that were very
similar to the Rasberry Pi. The first one they should have prototypes in
the coming weeks.

The second will be 3 to 6 months before production boards will be seen,
so I won't cover it in this report, however the CPU specs on this second
board, are almost identical to the RPi microcontroller chip, and board.

Olimex describes this board as a bridge to the linux development
community and the Duinomite/Arduino/Maple/Pinguino world of developers.

This will be completely Open Hardware / Open Source Project, all CAD
files will be available so everyone can download modify, and use them.
Same with the software.

More Info:
http://www.duinomite.com/olinuxino-a-serious-rasberry-pi-competitor/

I suppose that it is the most sincere form of flattery. Looks like
Olimex disagrees with all those on the other thread that reckon that the
Pi is a waste of time.

 

[Nico Coesel]

I suppose that it is the most sincere form of flattery. Looks like
Olimex disagrees with all those on the other thread that reckon that the
Pi is a waste of time.

Maybe. But knowing Olimex they probably come up with a product that
actually appeals to people who like to build stuff. Less gadget, more
real world applications. I don't think there is a manufacturer of
embedded development boards with a wider variety. They must be doing
something right.

 

[Nico Coesel]

It's a nice idea and initiative, but I don't see it going anywhere.
These boards need community support - there are lots of groups who have
ported different Linux distributions and software for the Pi. Part of

The (community) support is already there. Freescale has all the
software (Linux and Win CE BSPs) and documentation on their website
and offers several fora to users.

 

[keithr]

Maybe. But knowing Olimex they probably come up with a product that
actually appeals to people who like to build stuff. Less gadget, more
real world applications. I don't think there is a manufacturer of
embedded development boards with a wider variety. They must be doing
something right.

I think that people are missing the point with the Pi, it isn't intended
as an embedded development board, it is a small cheap and fairly capable
Linux system. From the specs so far, it looks the more capable of the
two, but I'll leave judgement until I've seen both.

Hopefully both will find their audience, but I'll try the Pi first.

 

[Nico Coesel]

Support from Freescale is something totally different from community
support. It's a good start, but it is not the same. It just means that
iMX evaluation card. It came with a Linux build and BSP. But the chip
had a graphics accelerator, and the driver for that was partially closed
source, and developed by a third-party (paid for by Freescale). So we
had to choose between keeping the out-of-date Linux kernel provided with
the BSP, or compiling a new kernel but losing the accelerated graphics.

What is the problem with an 'out of date' kernel? If it works, it
works. Bug fixes can often be backported without much problems.

Freescale would not pay the third-party to update the graphics drivers
- they were already promoting the next iMX chip instead. I don't know
if Freescale has done it better this time, but that's a danger you face
when support is by manufacturer only.

The same goes for any PC videocard.

The Pi has /real/ community support - there are already half a dozen
well-known Linux distributions that support it, as well as major
software packages like xmbc.

I see the same problem with the RP if Broadcom doesn't provide a new
graphics driver.

 

[[email protected]]

I suppose that it is the most sincere form of flattery. Looks like
Olimex disagrees with all those on the other thread that reckon that the
Pi is a waste of time.

If you read the other thread completely, that includes Olimex. But
knowing they have a competing product on the way helps explain some of
their negative comments about the Pi.

-a

 

[asdf]

The Pi has /real/ community support - there are already half a dozen
well-known Linux distributions that support it, as well as major
software packages like xmbc.

Still some parts of the PI are closed tight, NDA's and that stuff, which
is what turned me completely off after the initial enthusiasm.
So any competition in that field is welcome, especially if it brings more
openness.

 

[Nico Coesel]

I don't think that it has mounting holes, DC power is via a micro USB
connector.

I see no mounting holes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Raspberry_Pi_Beta_Board.jpg

It would be very nice if the Olimex board becomes something like this
board:
http://www.conitec.net/english/linuxboard.php

The board by Conitec is just too expensive. I did look at it to build
products around but the price was a showstopper.

 

[Mel Wilson]

What is the problem with an 'out of date' kernel? If it works, it
works. Bug fixes can often be backported without much problems.

Well, "if it works". We got caught by that with an ARM9 Linux board. The
manufacturer's plan seemed to be to design bespoke products, then make some
more money by offering the hardware on the open market (nothing wrong with
that idea, IMHO.) But the original customer got a 2.4 kernel and wanted
nothing more. USB was the major I/O on the board, and all the really useful
USB features came in kernel version 2.6. We couldn't upgrade ourselves
because of proprietary SD card drivers. The original customer didn't want
an upgrade. The manufacturer wouldn't release an upgrade. There we were.
Mini-ITX boards work just fine.

Mel.

 

[Paul]

I just had a look at the RPi videos, and they seem to have mounting
holes and a DC power input plug.

So I wonder what Paul was referring to.

Cheers Don...

================

All the pictures and user guide show NO mounting holes and was discussed
early in rPI thread. Without ability to mount on or in something for
education it will be a nightmare. Let alone more will be "lost" or
is sometimes known as "trousered".

Power is by MicroB USB connector, and takes 700mA according to User
Guide. So I see a lot of problems with crappy cables being used to power
it and PCs complaining about over current.

--
Paul Carpenter | [email protected]
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/> PC Services
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/fonts/> Timing Diagram Font
<http://www.gnuh8.org.uk/> GNU H8 - compiler & Renesas H8/H8S/H8 Tiny
<http://www.badweb.org.uk/> For those web sites you hate

 

[hamilton]

I see no mounting holes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Raspberry_Pi_Beta_Board.jpg

It would be very nice if the Olimex board becomes something like this
board:
http://www.conitec.net/english/linuxboard.php

The board by Conitec is just too expensive. I did look at it to build
products around but the price was a showstopper.

I wonder if Conitec had portrayed their board as a educational
non-profit board would they have had thousands of people clamoring to
buy one, and the price would have dropped to a reasonable level ??

Building 100 of anything is expensive, build 10,000 can get cheap in a
hurry.

Just wondering....