16-June-2012
SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz

Now available:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html


-- 
Don McKenzie

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

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $30 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.

Don McKenzie wrote:
> 
> 16-June-2012
> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
> 
> Now available:
> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html

Why should someone buy this?

Raspberry Pi:

- 256 MB RAM
- HDMI output
- 700 MHz CPU clock
- integrated GPU
- $25

OLINUXINO:

- 64 MB RAM
- no HDMI
- 454 MHz CPU clock
- no GPU (just some basic acceleration, like alpha blending)
- $68.47

-- 
Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
electronics and more: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankbuss

Don McKenzie <5V@2.5A> wrote:

>
>16-June-2012
>SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>
>Now available:
>http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html

Looks interesting! Can you connect a 800x480 TFT panel to this board?

-- 
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

On Saturday, June 16, 2012 12:12:05 PM UTC+1, Nico Coesel wrote:
> Don McKenzie <5V@2.5A> wrote:
> 
> >
> >16-June-2012
> >SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
> >
> >Now available:
> >http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
> >http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
> 
> Looks interesting! Can you connect a 800x480 TFT panel to this board?

It'll do 640 x 480 ... what sort of applications do you have in mind?

On 6/16/2012 3:03 AM, Frank Buss wrote:
> Don McKenzie wrote:
>>
>> 16-June-2012
>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>
> Why should someone buy this?
>
> Raspberry Pi:

When can someone buy this ??

>
> - 256 MB RAM
> - HDMI output
> - 700 MHz CPU clock
> - integrated GPU
> - $25
>

Price means nothing if you can not buy it !!



Still waiting.

hamilton

hamilton wrote:
> 
> Price means nothing if you can not buy it !!

Current price on eBay is about EUR 50 :-)

-- 
Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
electronics and more: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankbuss

W dniu 2012-06-16 11:03, Frank Buss pisze:
> Don McKenzie wrote:
>>
>> 16-June-2012
>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>
>> Now available:
>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>
> Why should someone buy this?

Although Raspberry Pi and OLinuXino are similar projects, there are different goals:
https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/blob/master/README

BTW. We have Olimex-iMX233-OLinuXino-Maxi in stock since 11 June ;)

Regards
Krzysztof

--
KRISTECH
www.kristech.eu

On 16-Jun-12 9:12 PM, Nico Coesel wrote:
> Don McKenzie<5V@2.5A>  wrote:
>
>>
>> 16-June-2012
>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>
>> Now available:
>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>
> Looks interesting! Can you connect a 800x480 TFT panel to this board?

This unit has been conceived, designed, manufactured, and brought to 
market by Olimex, and all after the RPi went on sale on the 29th of 
February 2012.

The development discussion group is at Yahoo Groups: 
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/olinuxino/

Most questions have already been answered there, as it is a very active 
group already.

The project is hosted at Github: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO

OLINUXINO is completely open source - including hardware and software, 
this means you have access to all CAD files and sources and you can 
reuse them for your own personal or commercial project. There are NO 
restrictions to manufacture and sell these board for your own use or resale.

OLINUXINO use widely available microcontroller iMX233 which cost USD 
5.50 in 100 pcs quantity, this means that people can spin off their own 
boards and manufacture them cheap as the processor is in TQFP easy to 
assembly by hobbyist package.

RASPBERRY PI have no released CAD files nor complete schematics, RPi 
uses processor from Broadcom which is not available for sale in small 
quantity, it uses BGA package which requires expensive setup to 
assembly. RPi is designed to be home gadget, OLINUXINO will work in 
industrial environment -25+85C and will be designed to be low cost but 
NOISE immune.

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

-- 
Don McKenzie

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

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $30 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.

Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> wrote:

>Don McKenzie wrote:
>> 
>> 16-June-2012
>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>> 
>> Now available:
>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>
>Why should someone buy this?
>
>Raspberry Pi:
>
>- 256 MB RAM
>- HDMI output
>- 700 MHz CPU clock
>- integrated GPU
>- $25

Its still a toy!

>OLINUXINO:
>
>- 64 MB RAM
>- no HDMI
>- 454 MHz CPU clock
>- no GPU (just some basic acceleration, like alpha blending)
>- $68.47

This is something you could mount in a case. The specs ain't great but
it will run a buildroot/busybox based Linux system just fine.

-- 
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

Nico Coesel wrote:
> Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> wrote:
> 
>> Don McKenzie wrote:
>>>
>>> 16-June-2012
>>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>>
>>> Now available:
>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>>
>> Why should someone buy this?
>>
>> Raspberry Pi:
>>
>> - 256 MB RAM
>> - HDMI output
>> - 700 MHz CPU clock
>> - integrated GPU
>> - $25
> 
> Its still a toy!

It is a full computer with ethernet, USB, advanced video capabilites
etc. The drivers and the Linux kernel might be not as stable at the
moment, but it's definitely more than a toy.

>> OLINUXINO:
>>
>> - 64 MB RAM
>> - no HDMI
>> - 454 MHz CPU clock
>> - no GPU (just some basic acceleration, like alpha blending)
>> - $68.47
> 
> This is something you could mount in a case. 

It is not as easy as with mounting holes or slots, but that's just a
matter of the right case:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/859

> The specs ain't great but
> it will run a buildroot/busybox based Linux system just fine.

But why limiting yourself to busybox, if you can have a full featured
Linux system for a lower price? It is so much easier to just do an
"apt-get install foobar" and then just writing some Python or bash code
to use foobar, compared to trying to compile a program with all the
required libraries on a small busybox based platform.

But the advantage of the Olinuxino is that all of it, including
schematics and PCB files, are open source. And the CPU is available to
buy for your own projects, so you can build a less expensive platform,
or one with additional hardware for a project. The Broadcom CPU of the
Raspberry Pi is not available for hobbyists or small companies, and all
the GPU stuff (and some other details of the CPU) is not available for
mere mortals.

-- 
Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
electronics and more: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankbuss

On 17-Jun-12 7:46 AM, Frank Buss wrote:
> Nico Coesel wrote:

> It is not as easy as with mounting holes or slots, but that's just a
> matter of the right case:
>
> http://www.adafruit.com/products/859

well that is the nicest case I have seen for the RPi to date.

Don...


-- 
Don McKenzie

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

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $30 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.

Frank Buss wrote:

> and all
> the GPU stuff (and some other details of the CPU) is not available for
> mere mortals.

Of course, the Raspberry Pi foundation provides an OpenGl ES 2.0
implementation, which means you can develop your own nice 3D
application, just hackers like me want to know and play with the
low-level details of the GPU :-)

-- 
Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
electronics and more: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankbuss

Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> wrote:

>Nico Coesel wrote:
>> Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> wrote:
>> 
>>> Don McKenzie wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 16-June-2012
>>>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>>>
>>>> Now available:
>>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>>>
>>> Why should someone buy this?
>>>
>>> Raspberry Pi:
>>>
>>> - 256 MB RAM
>>> - HDMI output
>>> - 700 MHz CPU clock
>>> - integrated GPU
>>> - $25
>> 
>> Its still a toy!
>
>It is a full computer with ethernet, USB, advanced video capabilites
>etc. The drivers and the Linux kernel might be not as stable at the
>moment, but it's definitely more than a toy.

Unstable=useless. No way to fix that because everything is proprietary
means it is useless for use in anything serious.

>>> OLINUXINO:
>>>
>>> - 64 MB RAM
>>> - no HDMI
>>> - 454 MHz CPU clock
>>> - no GPU (just some basic acceleration, like alpha blending)
>>> - $68.47
>> 
>> This is something you could mount in a case. 
>
>It is not as easy as with mounting holes or slots, but that's just a
>matter of the right case:
>
>http://www.adafruit.com/products/859

I mean you can mount the Olinuxino in your own case because all the
connectors are on one side. You'll have a hard time including a Rpi
into your own product.

>> The specs ain't great but
>> it will run a buildroot/busybox based Linux system just fine.
>
>But why limiting yourself to busybox, if you can have a full featured
>Linux system for a lower price? It is so much easier to just do an
>"apt-get install foobar" and then just writing some Python or bash code
>to use foobar, compared to trying to compile a program with all the
>required libraries on a small busybox based platform.

With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either. I think you can
also run a regular Linux distro on the Olinuxino but with Busybox its
just easier to create an image which only contains the software you
really need. Another advantage is that you'll have the cross
compilation tools on your system as well.

Busybox/buildroot has improved greatly over the past few years. There
are loads of programs already included so selecting the software you
want is just as easy as using a package selector. If a package is not
available you can create a new package with just a few lines of text.
In my experience 9 out of 10 pieces of software compile correct out of
the box. From the failing software 9 out of 10 only need minor
tweaking like configure options. All in all it works pretty well.

-- 
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

On 6/16/2012 11:56 AM, Frank Buss wrote:
> hamilton wrote:
>>
>> Price means nothing if you can not buy it !!
>
> Current price on eBay is about EUR 50 :-)
>
Eh-humm, and shipping to the us ??

Nico Coesel wrote:
> Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> wrote:
> 
>> It is a full computer with ethernet, USB, advanced video capabilites
>> etc. The drivers and the Linux kernel might be not as stable at the
>> moment, but it's definitely more than a toy.
> 
> Unstable=useless. No way to fix that because everything is proprietary
> means it is useless for use in anything serious.

There are some performance problems with SDHC and some USB problems
(missing key events reported by some users, including me), but it is all
in the open source part in Linux and some people are already working on
it to fix it. I don't know of problems in the closed source GPU part.
Most users who are using e.g. XBMC to use it as a media player are not
affected anyway.

> I mean you can mount the Olinuxino in your own case because all the
> connectors are on one side. You'll have a hard time including a Rpi
> into your own product.

I don't know much about mechanics, but it's just a light credit card
size PCB. Should be possible to mount it with some screws and plastic
washers or similar things.

> With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either. I think you can
> also run a regular Linux distro on the Olinuxino but with Busybox its
> just easier to create an image which only contains the software you
> really need. Another advantage is that you'll have the cross
> compilation tools on your system as well.

I'm using a cross compiler as well for the Raspberry Pi, but it is
possible to compile on the device itself, too (but the Linux kernel
needs some hours instead of minutes, main reason because of the slow SD
card and the slower CPU). But it is no problem to use Busybox on it,
too, if you really want. Some people even started to port u-boot for it.

Creating an image is easy, and can be just copied on the SD-card (with
'dd' in Linux and similar tools in Windows or Mac).

256 MB is good enough to start even some X11 desktop. E.g. installing
MySQL and Apache requires much less memory and then it is a full blown
Linux for me.

Years ago I've installed diskless stations with X11 and a Tcl/Tk
application written by me on computers with just 8 MB. Of course, you
can't run dozens of applications in parallel like on your desktop PC,
and maybe big applications like Eclipse might be difficult, but you can
do a lot with 256 MB.

> Busybox/buildroot has improved greatly over the past few years. There
> are loads of programs already included so selecting the software you
> want is just as easy as using a package selector. If a package is not
> available you can create a new package with just a few lines of text.
> In my experience 9 out of 10 pieces of software compile correct out of
> the box. From the failing software 9 out of 10 only need minor
> tweaking like configure options. All in all it works pretty well.

I know buildroot and it is interesting. Not needed for the Raspberry Pi,
but maybe someone should try to port buildroot for it. This would allow
even smaller SD cards.

I've helped developing a buildroot based system with 128 MB NAND flash.
With the 256 MB RAM you could even use a compressed RAM disk as the root
filesystem, which would make it really fast and good for embedded
systems, because no wear of the SD card, if you don't need to save
something, and fast program loading.

-- 
Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
electronics and more: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankbuss

On a sunny day (Sat, 16 Jun 2012 23:26:10 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fdd14f8.1214382578@news.kpn.nl>:

>With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either.


Are you out of touch with reality?
My old server has 385 MB RAM,
runs:
apache 2.1
named
sendmail
proftp
Nvidia latest driver on AGP! [1]
h264 encoding (ffmpeg, transcode, x264, mjpegtools, etc etc)
home control
dnla media server
newsreader
webbrowser (opera)
mediaplayer
webcam recording
sshd
telnetd (when enabled)
many other programs
all this at the same time on a Duron 950 MHz

Sure I normally do not run f*cking Qt on it, but that works too,
I run old fvwm, a much better window manager from days
when bytes were scarce.


[1] and that takes away a lot of RAM when playing video.






>I think you can
>also run a regular Linux distro on the Olinuxino but with Busybox its
>just easier to create an image which only contains the software you
>really need. Another advantage is that you'll have the cross
>compilation tools on your system as well.

Busybox is a pest.
Many people use it, I have it in Mips cross compiled on the WAP54G (also a Broadcom chip),
even my Humax cable receiver runs busybox, its a VIRUS!!!

In these days you realy want a real system.
 

>Busybox/buildroot has improved greatly over the past few years. There
>are loads of programs already included so selecting the software you
>want is just as easy as using a package selector. If a package is not
>available you can create a new package with just a few lines of text.
>In my experience 9 out of 10 pieces of software compile correct out of
>the box. From the failing software 9 out of 10 only need minor
>tweaking like configure options. All in all it works pretty well.

I tried installing Eclipse and Android SDK in Ubuntu.
I am persistent, but so far no luck with their (debian based) package system.
Took about 10 minutes to get eclipse up in slackware from a txz,
but now the Android APK refuses to run in 64 bit Slackware.
I will have to install an 32 bit version of Linux if I can find an empty partition one day...
I do not like package systems, compile from source,
it is the only way,


>-- 
>Failure

On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:51:58 +0200) it happened Frank Buss
<fb@frank-buss.de> wrote in <jrj66v$lmv$1@newsreader4.netcologne.de>:

>Years ago I've installed diskless stations with X11 and a Tcl/Tk
>application written by me on computers with just 8 MB. Of course, you
>can't run dozens of applications in parallel like on your desktop PC,
>and maybe big applications like Eclipse might be difficult, but you can
>do a lot with 256 MB.

Exactly, 256 MB is enough to fly to mars and back.

On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jun 2012 07:55:52 +1000) it happened Don McKenzie
<5V@2.5A> wrote in <a44dn9Flo1U1@mid.individual.net>:

>On 17-Jun-12 7:46 AM, Frank Buss wrote:
>> Nico Coesel wrote:
>
>> It is not as easy as with mounting holes or slots, but that's just a
>> matter of the right case:
>>
>> http://www.adafruit.com/products/859
>
>well that is the nicest case I have seen for the RPi to date.
>
>Don...

Yes transparent plastic boxes are nice:
 http://panteltje.com/panteltje/pic/scope_pic/LCD_in_transparent_box_img_2033.jpg
Been using those for years:
 http://panteltje.com/panteltje/pic/gm_pic/gm_pic_in_box_front_img_2411.jpg

But how to -fix that box- to something?
Seems merely shifting the problem?
:-)

Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On a sunny day (Sat, 16 Jun 2012 23:26:10 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
>(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fdd14f8.1214382578@news.kpn.nl>:
>
>>With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either.
>
>
>Are you out of touch with reality?
>My old server has 385 MB RAM,

....and a hard drive to swap to. Firefox for example wants over 200MB
of memory for itself. Now imagine running a few other applications.

>but now the Android APK refuses to run in 64 bit Slackware.
>I will have to install an 32 bit version of Linux if I can find an empty partition one day...
>I do not like package systems, compile from source,
>it is the only way,

Its too soon for 64 bit. Wait at least 5 more years. Linux has
excellent support for >4GB memory in 32 bit mode by using a bigmem
kernel. Even in 32bit mode the modern x86's address bus is 36 or 40
bits wide.

-- 
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:53:33 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fddb4d9.1255304437@news.kpn.nl>:

>Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>On a sunny day (Sat, 16 Jun 2012 23:26:10 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
>>(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fdd14f8.1214382578@news.kpn.nl>:
>>
>>>With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either.
>>
>>
>>Are you out of touch with reality?
>>My old server has 385 MB RAM,
>
>...and a hard drive to swap to. Firefox for example wants over 200MB
>of memory for itself. Now imagine running a few other applications.

This is true, but also notice that 'harddisk swapspace' could well be
solid state FLASH disk.
No more seek times, and those FLASH, be it USB stick,
or (micro)SDcard, or whatever, are getting faster and faster.
I record HD TV no problem an a 10 Euro 16 GB USB stick.
So that sort of makes the 'swap' more like real memory.

So adding a bigger SDcard with a swap partition may get rid of the smaller memory problem.



>>but now the Android APK refuses to run in 64 bit Slackware.
>>I will have to install an 32 bit version of Linux if I can find an empty partition one day...
>>I do not like package systems, compile from source,
>>it is the only way,
>
>Its too soon for 64 bit. Wait at least 5 more years. Linux has
>excellent support for >4GB memory in 32 bit mode by using a bigmem
>kernel. Even in 32bit mode the modern x86's address bus is 36 or 40
>bits wide.

Yes seems 64 bit is not here yet, performance increase over 32 bit is not even that much,
few percent I have benchmarked on video encoding, and that is where it counts here.


>-- 
>Failure

Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:53:33 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
>(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fddb4d9.1255304437@news.kpn.nl>:
>
>>Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On a sunny day (Sat, 16 Jun 2012 23:26:10 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
>>>(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fdd14f8.1214382578@news.kpn.nl>:
>>>
>>>>With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either.
>>>
>>>
>>>Are you out of touch with reality?
>>>My old server has 385 MB RAM,
>>
>>...and a hard drive to swap to. Firefox for example wants over 200MB
>>of memory for itself. Now imagine running a few other applications.
>
>This is true, but also notice that 'harddisk swapspace' could well be
>solid state FLASH disk.
>No more seek times, and those FLASH, be it USB stick,
>or (micro)SDcard, or whatever, are getting faster and faster.

That sounds like a way of wearing out the USB stick or SD card real
fast.

-- 
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

On Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:53:33 GMT, nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote:

>...and a hard drive to swap to. Firefox for example wants over 200MB
>of memory for itself. Now imagine running a few other applications.

 You are an idiot who was lied to about a firefox version 5 iterations
ago.

  I'll bet the "firefox environment" is far smaller on a current version.

  You Luddite dope.

On Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:53:33 GMT, nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote:

>
>Its too soon for 64 bit.

 What an idiot.

> Wait at least 5 more years. Linux has
>excellent support for >4GB memory in 32 bit mode by using a bigmem
>kernel. Even in 32bit mode the modern x86's address bus is 36 or 40
>bits wide.

 Hahahahaha!

On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jun 2012 12:01:52 GMT) it happened nico@puntnl.niks
(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4fddc635.1259748078@news.kpn.nl>:

>>This is true, but also notice that 'harddisk swapspace' could well be
>>solid state FLASH disk.
>>No more seek times, and those FLASH, be it USB stick,
>>or (micro)SDcard, or whatever, are getting faster and faster.
>
>That sounds like a way of wearing out the USB stick or SD card real
>fast.

It is true that that exposes the FLASH to a lot more writes.
But also modern FLASH has a lot more read write cycles than it used to be,
and for the memory sizes needed, the price, say cost, is very low.

I tested this by making a grml distro on a 8GB USB stick that I can
plug in my old eeepc.
That eeepc was one of the very first ones, and has only 4GB FLASH,
and a simpler version of Linux.
I wanted all the functionality I have in my normal grml server disk
on the eeepc, so, this is how that USB stick is partitioned:
panteltje10: ~ # fdisk /dev/sdc

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdc: 8011 MB, 8011120640 bytes
247 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders, total 15646720 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1a2b3c4a <- modified

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *          63     4194367     2097152+   6  FAT16
/dev/sdc2         4194368     5423168      614400+  82  Linux swap <-------------------------
/dev/sdc3         5423169     5546049       61440+  83  Linux
/dev/sdc4         5546050    15646719     5050335   83  Linux

I just boot from the BIOS into this disk...
This leaves the eeepc intact, and maybe in many years I can auction it for 100 x value or more,
as was one of the first apple computahs last week.
This little eeepc, that runs Linux, created a completely new market segment,
scared the sh*t out of MS, gave Jobs some ideas, and is now a very special thing.
No harddisk, all solid state, LED backlight, runs firefox, wifi.
So, anyways, grml ( www,grml.org ) runs perfectly using the USB stick with its swap partition.
600 MB swap is enough for most cases, except when you start to work with ESA pictures.
The FAT16 partition is needed else the BIOS does not boot.
The smaller Linux partition sdc3 is ext2 and holds the kernel,
the bigger partition is reiserfs and holds the rest,
Am not using this stick a lot (at all), but I will let you know when it no longer works :-)
Then, as I have a real HD image of it somewhere, I just copy the image to an other USB stick.
Backups, backups, backups.
Just got minidlna working in 32 bit Ubuntu (using a binary) and watched a movie with it.





>-- 
>Failure

On 17/06/12 09:26, Nico Coesel wrote:

> With 256MB ram you can't run full blown Linux either.

Blink, wow "Full blown" If i want the full blown bloatware Linux, then 
I'll backup 32Gb or such, but I've had usable Linux desktops systems 
running on as lttle as 32Mb and still have a major server running on 
96mb. Go figure.

On 17-Jun-12 7:32 PM, Jan Panteltje wrote:
> On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jun 2012 07:55:52 +1000) it happened Don McKenzie
> <5V@2.5A>  wrote in<a44dn9Flo1U1@mid.individual.net>:
>
>> On 17-Jun-12 7:46 AM, Frank Buss wrote:
>>> Nico Coesel wrote:
>>
>>> It is not as easy as with mounting holes or slots, but that's just a
>>> matter of the right case:
>>>
>>> http://www.adafruit.com/products/859
>>
>> well that is the nicest case I have seen for the RPi to date.
>>
>> Don...
>
> Yes transparent plastic boxes are nice:
>   http://panteltje.com/panteltje/pic/scope_pic/LCD_in_transparent_box_img_2033.jpg
> Been using those for years:
>   http://panteltje.com/panteltje/pic/gm_pic/gm_pic_in_box_front_img_2411.jpg
>
> But how to -fix that box- to something?
> Seems merely shifting the problem?
> :-)

Sure, perhaps an option to have a wider bottom panel with 4 outside 
mounting holes.

Or two wider panels for the top and bottom, so you can vertically stack 
them. :-)

But those boxes are sweet. Has my mind running with a few ideas.

Cheers Don...

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

-- 
Don McKenzie

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

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $30 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.

On 17/06/2012 5:04 AM, Don McKenzie wrote:
> On 16-Jun-12 9:12 PM, Nico Coesel wrote:
>> Don McKenzie<5V@2.5A>  wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> 16-June-2012
>>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>>
>>> Now available:
>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>>
>> Looks interesting! Can you connect a 800x480 TFT panel to this board?
>
> This unit has been conceived, designed, manufactured, and brought to
> market by Olimex, and all after the RPi went on sale on the 29th of
> February 2012.
>
> The development discussion group is at Yahoo Groups:
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/olinuxino/
>
> Most questions have already been answered there, as it is a very active
> group already.
>
> The project is hosted at Github: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO
>
> OLINUXINO is completely open source - including hardware and software,
> this means you have access to all CAD files and sources and you can
> reuse them for your own personal or commercial project. There are NO
> restrictions to manufacture and sell these board for your own use or
> resale.
>
> OLINUXINO use widely available microcontroller iMX233 which cost USD
> 5.50 in 100 pcs quantity, this means that people can spin off their own
> boards and manufacture them cheap as the processor is in TQFP easy to
> assembly by hobbyist package.
>
> RASPBERRY PI have no released CAD files nor complete schematics, RPi
> uses processor from Broadcom which is not available for sale in small
> quantity, it uses BGA package which requires expensive setup to
> assembly. RPi is designed to be home gadget, OLINUXINO will work in
> industrial environment -25+85C and will be designed to be low cost but
> NOISE immune.
>
> =========================
>
At $25 per unit, who would want to build their own?

On 18-Jun-12 1:05 PM, keithr wrote:

>> =========================
>>
> At $25 per unit, who would want to build their own?

$25 a unit. Where did you see one for sale at that price Keith?

Don...

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


-- 
Don McKenzie

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

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $30 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 <user@domain.invalid> wrote:

>On 17/06/2012 5:04 AM, Don McKenzie wrote:
>> On 16-Jun-12 9:12 PM, Nico Coesel wrote:
>>> Don McKenzie<5V@2.5A>  wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> 16-June-2012
>>>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>>>
>>>> Now available:
>>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>>>
>>> Looks interesting! Can you connect a 800x480 TFT panel to this board?
>>
>> This unit has been conceived, designed, manufactured, and brought to
>> market by Olimex, and all after the RPi went on sale on the 29th of
>> February 2012.
>>
>> The development discussion group is at Yahoo Groups:
>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/olinuxino/
>>
>> Most questions have already been answered there, as it is a very active
>> group already.
>>
>> The project is hosted at Github: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO
>>
>> OLINUXINO is completely open source - including hardware and software,
>> this means you have access to all CAD files and sources and you can
>> reuse them for your own personal or commercial project. There are NO
>> restrictions to manufacture and sell these board for your own use or
>> resale.
>>
>> OLINUXINO use widely available microcontroller iMX233 which cost USD
>> 5.50 in 100 pcs quantity, this means that people can spin off their own
>> boards and manufacture them cheap as the processor is in TQFP easy to
>> assembly by hobbyist package.
>>
>> RASPBERRY PI have no released CAD files nor complete schematics, RPi
>> uses processor from Broadcom which is not available for sale in small
>> quantity, it uses BGA package which requires expensive setup to
>> assembly. RPi is designed to be home gadget, OLINUXINO will work in
>> industrial environment -25+85C and will be designed to be low cost but
>> NOISE immune.
>>
>> =========================
>>
>At $25 per unit, who would want to build their own?

In many cases you don't want to put an eval board + baseboard in a
product. Since SoCs are quite complex (The manual for Freescale's
IMX51 is over 4000 pages) it is a really good idea to start with a
working design rather than to start from scratch. One of my customers
used the Beagleboard to prototype their product and used the
schematics from the Beagleboard as a basis for their own (PCB) design.

-- 
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

On 18/06/2012 3:04 PM, Don McKenzie wrote:
> On 18-Jun-12 1:05 PM, keithr wrote:
>
>>> =========================
>>>
>> At $25 per unit, who would want to build their own?
>
> $25 a unit. Where did you see one for sale at that price Keith?
>
> Don...
>
> ====================
>
>
Sorry, mine was invoiced at $33.50, still probably less than you could 
purchase the components for unless you are a major manufacturer.

On 18/06/2012 5:20 PM, Nico Coesel wrote:
> keithr <user@domain.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 17/06/2012 5:04 AM, Don McKenzie wrote:
>>> On 16-Jun-12 9:12 PM, Nico Coesel wrote:
>>>> Don McKenzie<5V@2.5A>  wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 16-June-2012
>>>>> SINGLE BOARD LINUX COMPUTER with i.MX233 ARM926J @454Mhz
>>>>>
>>>>> Now available:
>>>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-imx233-olinuxino-maxi.html
>>>>> http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html
>>>>
>>>> Looks interesting! Can you connect a 800x480 TFT panel to this board?
>>>
>>> This unit has been conceived, designed, manufactured, and brought to
>>> market by Olimex, and all after the RPi went on sale on the 29th of
>>> February 2012.
>>>
>>> The development discussion group is at Yahoo Groups:
>>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/olinuxino/
>>>
>>> Most questions have already been answered there, as it is a very active
>>> group already.
>>>
>>> The project is hosted at Github: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO
>>>
>>> OLINUXINO is completely open source - including hardware and software,
>>> this means you have access to all CAD files and sources and you can
>>> reuse them for your own personal or commercial project. There are NO
>>> restrictions to manufacture and sell these board for your own use or
>>> resale.
>>>
>>> OLINUXINO use widely available microcontroller iMX233 which cost USD
>>> 5.50 in 100 pcs quantity, this means that people can spin off their own
>>> boards and manufacture them cheap as the processor is in TQFP easy to
>>> assembly by hobbyist package.
>>>
>>> RASPBERRY PI have no released CAD files nor complete schematics, RPi
>>> uses processor from Broadcom which is not available for sale in small
>>> quantity, it uses BGA package which requires expensive setup to
>>> assembly. RPi is designed to be home gadget, OLINUXINO will work in
>>> industrial environment -25+85C and will be designed to be low cost but
>>> NOISE immune.
>>>
>>> =========================
>>>
>> At $25 per unit, who would want to build their own?
>
> In many cases you don't want to put an eval board + baseboard in a
> product. Since SoCs are quite complex (The manual for Freescale's
> IMX51 is over 4000 pages) it is a really good idea to start with a
> working design rather than to start from scratch. One of my customers
> used the Beagleboard to prototype their product and used the
> schematics from the Beagleboard as a basis for their own (PCB) design.
>
That is not the intent of the Rpi, if that is what you want to do then 
another product is probably what you want.

On 6/18/2012 1:58 AM, keithr wrote:

> Sorry, mine was invoiced at $33.50, still probably less than you could
> purchase the components for unless you are a major manufacturer.
>

Are you in the US ??

Can we get the Rpi at all over here yet ??

thanks

On 18/06/2012 11:11 PM, hamilton wrote:
> On 6/18/2012 1:58 AM, keithr wrote:
>
>> Sorry, mine was invoiced at $33.50, still probably less than you could
>> purchase the components for unless you are a major manufacturer.
>>
>
> Are you in the US ??
>
> Can we get the Rpi at all over here yet ??
>
> thanks
>
No, I'm in Australia, I ordered it from RS components in the UK. It is 
supposed to be on its way now after a wait of 3 months.

On 6/18/2012 7:23 AM, keithr wrote:
> On 18/06/2012 11:11 PM, hamilton wrote:
>> On 6/18/2012 1:58 AM, keithr wrote:
>>
>>> Sorry, mine was invoiced at $33.50, still probably less than you could
>>> purchase the components for unless you are a major manufacturer.
>>>
>>
>> Are you in the US ??
>>
>> Can we get the Rpi at all over here yet ??
>>
>> thanks
>>
> No, I'm in Australia, I ordered it from RS components in the UK. It is
> supposed to be on its way now after a wait of 3 months.
>

$33.50 plus what for shipping ??

hamilton

On 18-Jun-12 11:23 PM, keithr wrote:

> No, I'm in Australia, I ordered it from RS components in the UK. It is
> supposed to be on its way now after a wait of 3 months.

Yes, me too. Below are my figures (on the 2nd June)to Australia:

Don...

================================================
RS Stock No. 	Qty 	Description 	Unit Price 	Goods Value
756-8308	1	Raspberry Pi Type B Single Board Computer	US$35.00	US$35.00
2000114151	1	HDMI cable for Raspberry Pi	US$5.49	US$5.49
2000117882	1	4GB SD Card with Raspberry Pi OS installed	US$16.19	US$16.19

Running Total 	US$56.68 	

Standard Delivery (Despatch expected within 8 week(s))	US$8.02	
Order total 	US$64.70 	



-- 
Don McKenzie

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

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $30 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.

In article <jrnbm4$ieq$1@dont-email.me>,
hamilton  <hamilton@nothere.com> wrote:
>On 6/18/2012 7:23 AM, keithr wrote:
>> On 18/06/2012 11:11 PM, hamilton wrote:
>>> On 6/18/2012 1:58 AM, keithr wrote:
>>>
>>>> Sorry, mine was invoiced at $33.50, still probably less than you could
>>>> purchase the components for unless you are a major manufacturer.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Are you in the US ??
>>>
>>> Can we get the Rpi at all over here yet ??
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>> No, I'm in Australia, I ordered it from RS components in the UK. It is
>> supposed to be on its way now after a wait of 3 months.
>>
>
>$33.50 plus what for shipping ??

Three boards for the Dutch Forth Chapter have arrived last week.
Nobody complained about the shipping costs.

>
>hamilton

Groetjes Albert


--
-- 
Albert van der Horst, UTRECHT,THE NETHERLANDS
Economic growth -- being exponential -- ultimately falters.
albert@spe&ar&c.xs4all.nl &=n http://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst

On 2012-06-18, hamilton <hamilton@nothere.com> wrote:
> On 6/18/2012 1:58 AM, keithr wrote:
>
>> Sorry, mine was invoiced at $33.50, still probably less than you could
>> purchase the components for unless you are a major manufacturer.
>>
>
> Are you in the US ??
>
> Can we get the Rpi at all over here yet ??

Assuming USA, your suppliers are "Premier farnell" (AKA newark.com )
and "RS components". (AKA alliedelec.com) they seem to not have any 
yet.

If you're in a hurry seems to be plenty on ebay as about double RRP
(still cheap)

-- 
⚂⚃ 100% natural

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to news@netfront.net ---