Re: cheap armhf hardware
On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 8:49 AM, Tim Small <tim@buttersideup.com> wrote:
> On 15/02/11 18:03, Rick Thomas wrote:
>> Does there exist an inexpensive self-contained armhf box that folks
>> can use for development and experimentation? Something like the
>> Sheeva Plug for armel?
ah - i forgot, in the list i sent yesterday: Odroids, from
http://hardkernel.com. they now have several designs, the games
console which was the original has also been redesigned since its
introduction to take their "module" board, so even the games console
has a 1ghz Samsung S5PC110 with 512mb RAM.
i have debian already running on (the original) 800mhz S5PC100-based
Odroid - but not the armhf version. instructions are on the project
page on http://dev.odroid.com, it's pretty straightfoward - the
machines all boot direct from Micro SD card so you really can't screw
things up.
if they'd designed the tablet (10in 1388x768) with a 4-port USB hub
built-in then DANG that machine would be bloody perfect as the basis
for pretty much anything, including a laptop.
the only downside of the Odroids is that ugh they used proprietary
Marvell WIFI SD-based modules. i _did_ tell them about this but it
was too late, they'd already spent the money on the designs, in
secrecy.
the upside of the Odroids is that they are embracing an open design
ethos, releasing the full schematics and respecting free software
licenses right from the word go, which is very very cool.
> If your main criteria is inexpensive, then perhaps something like a ZTE
> Blade with a damaged screen would work well? You can get one new in the
> UK for 90gbp (branded "Orange San Francisco"), or if you're not bothered
> about a screen then they seem to go for less than half that price on
> ebay if they have cracked screens.
>
> You get:
>
> 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 (which I believe is ARM1136J(F) based).
wookey points out that ARM11 is the older architecture. as wookey
now works for ARM he's not in a position to point out that ARM's _own_
architectures (pre-cortex) are ... well.. bodge-jobs, basically :) i
have a friend who worked for LSI Logic who was called in to help
"speed up" the ARM architecture 15-20 years ago, and a preliminary
analysis showed them it was... rubbish! ARM didn't quiiite accept
their analysis and they didn't have the money to spend on LSI's tools.
oops :)
anyway, the Cortex series was *bought in* - from a Houston-based
VC-funded firm that ran out of money (i *think* that's the story) and
is based around a modern Harvard Architecture, etc. etc.
the Cortex design is radically different from previous ARM designs;
it's modern and shit-hot and that's why linaro had to do the gcc
optimisations for A8 because A8 doesn't have the superscalar stuff,
that came in for A9s.
so - no, telechips TCC8902 don't cut it (there is some serious
mis-selling going on over that one because it's 1ghz, and people are
getting it confused with Dual-Core Cortex A9s such as the next.co.uk
surfer pro) and anything from Zenithink (ZT-180) is also guaranteed to
be GPL violating and ARM11-based too.
it's not hard to find this stuff, rick. if it's got the word
"Cortex" in it, it's armhf suitable. the trick is in finding stuff
that *isn't* GPL violating... *sigh*...
oh - wait, yes: i just remembered another one. the older Archos 5
and Archos 7 tablets used OMAP3530 as well, and archos actually (gosh,
shock) respected the GPL (because they're based in the USA and so had
to). there might be other Cortex-based tablets they're doing, but
they _also_ did cheap-and-cheerful ARM11 ones so do your research ok?
best,
l.
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