Best mini-PC?

[vlad777]

I want to use a mini PC (like raspberry pi) as an overblown micro controller.
That is, I want to use it without operating system and code on hardware level.

So, what mini PC has best documented hardware, and support for compiling (from asm, C++)
to bin/hex or whatever.

I will use USB but also do they have IO pins ?

Many thanks.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Sounds like you just described the Raspberry Pi.

 

[vlad777]

What about cubieboard?
Any advice, pros cons?

 

[()blivion]

I have always wanted something similar myself. But I am not as fond of the SoC based boards like the Raspberry Pi and the cubieboard, they are to low power for my overly masculine ideas of what a computer should be. Also, I prefer commodity hardware. I want something x86 compatible and powerful enough to be used as a full PC (>2x2Ghz + 2GB RAM), but with the I/O capability's of a μC. You can code on a bare x86 yourself if you want, though there are not really any benefits over using a small customized Linux (kernel).

The closest thing I have found that fits my ideal machine is *THESE* beauties. But your guess at the price is as good as mine.

I thought about opening a thread about the plausibility of designing something that repurposed standard commodity laptop PC hardware to make a sort of supper embedded system. Something that had ungodly amounts of computational power, but could still be used to blink LED's and such.

Edit/P.S. The cubieboard is superior to the Raspberry Pi in practically every way shape and form.

 

[vlad777]

Micro-PC is "overly masculine" compared to uC. Also you can run it all day with little power and no fans no heat and no platters spinning.
That is why I am interested.

 

[()blivion]

Micro-PC is "overly masculine" compared to uC.

I am aware of this, but as I was alluding to, in terms of total performance/power/masculinity personal computers are to media SoC's, as media SoC's are to Microcontrollers. And sometimes even more so. It's a difference similar to mouse < rabbit < bear. Or put another way, as powerful as Micro-PC's (media SoC's) are, real PC hardware is far and away more powerful. Even low power laptop hardware makes those two SoC based boards look pathetically inadequate. Even if they are more powerful than μC's, that doesn't mean they are decent enough to run modern PC software.

As for energy consumption, for the most part that is directly proportional to computational performance in use at any one time. The systems I link to vary, but they can use as low as only a few watts idle, to as high as 20~75 Watts + some serious MIPS/FLOPS at full load. The max being highly dependent on the CPU. If you don't need the extra power for sure and need to save money and space then going the lower power route is the obvious choice. That being said, having the power and not needing it is better than needing it and not having it. You can always clock faster hardware slower and idle it more often.

As for moving parts, they make all sorts of solid state drives nowadays. SD cards, thumb drives, raw FLASH chips, SATA laptop SSD's. And there are all sorts of heatsinks out there that will work with low power x86. A heatsink designed to work with convection can move a great deal of heat and not require a single fan. Truly, you don't have to deal with moving parts on x86 if you really don't want to. Though removing heat with just heat sinks/heat pipe has it's limits, and the bigger SSD's are pricey.

Finally, those boards are set in stone and highly specialized devices. You can't really repair them, you can't really upgrade them, you can't really adjust the performance. COM's have sockets for CPU, RAM, and standardized slots for expanding to almost any hardware configuration. And in a depressingly short time, the chips on those Micro-PC's will be eclipsed by the next big SoC that comes out. Just as the cubieboard has surpassed the Raspberry Pi. Also, there is a mountain of free and open x86 code on the net. There is plenty of ARM software, but not nearly as much. And a piece of computational hardware is only as good as the software that runs on it.


In the end, a good COM is what I want. What you want all depends on the application. . .

(1) To make a "dumb" device like a toaster or microwave have some intelligence, or to reduce a circuits size. You want an μC.
(2) To do some advanced algorithmic processing on a complex stream of data in real time, you want a DSP.
(3) To have a portable media device, complete with web, games, movies, music. And some basic I/O. A "Micro-PC" is the way to go.
(4) If you want the total computational power of a modern bleeding edge PC, that can be interfaced to hobby projects. A COM is what you need.

Maybe you just don't have as demanding expectations for computational performance as I do?
-()b

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Tell us what you plan to use it for.

 

[vlad777]

Maybe to record sound every time it hears something, or a brain for a simple robot with accelerometers.
And mostly to explore possibilities an learn.

 

[vlad777]

()b what simplest, commonest DSP would you recommend for hoby noob , just to get acquainted ?
Is there something in DIP package?

edit: Or a small dev board.

 

[()blivion]

Microchip makes some DSP's, though I don't know if the software dev tools are free for them or not. I don't know if any are honestly. Make a thread on the microcontroller section. Or Google search DSP tutorial. A good tutorial should start you off by recommending something with the smallest investment.

I'ts probably going to be one of the low count PIC24 or PIC32MX honestly. Probably a PIC32MX1xxFxxxB. B being a DIP package.