Tiniest Linux COM Yet? 76
DeviceGuru writes: "An open-spec COM that runs OpenWRT Linux on a MIPS-based Ralink RT5350 SoC has won its Indiegogo funding. The $20, IoT-focused VoCore measures 25 x 25mm. How low can you go? Tiny computer-on-modules (COMs) for Internet of Things (IoT) applications are popping up everywhere, with recent, Linux-ready entries including Intel's Atom or Quark-based Edison, Ingenic's MIPS/Xburst-based Newton, Acme Systems's ARM9/SAM9G25 based Arrietta G25, and SolidRun's quad-core i.MX6-based MicroSOM. Now, an unnamed Chinese startup has raised over six times its $6,000 Indiegogo funding goal for what could be the smallest, cheapest Linux COM yet."
What about Wi-Fi microSD cards? (Score:4, Informative)
http://haxit.blogspot.com/2013... [blogspot.com]
http://hackaday.com/2013/08/12... [hackaday.com]
Re:Complete gibberish (Score:3, Informative)
Open-spec: Open specification (i.e. you don't need to sign anything to get the documentation)
COM: Computer-On-Module, otherwise known as a single-board-computer (but smaller), usually a SoC (System-on-Chip) with very few other components
OpenWRT: Linux distribution with a focus on small installed size, spin-off from the Linksys WRT54G router firmware which Linksys had to make available under the GPL.
Ralink RT5350: System-on-Chip with a MIPS CPU architecture core and assorted peripherals (network interfaces, serial interfaces, etc.), made by Ralink.
SoC: System-on-Chip, a single chip (package actually) implementation of a computer system, including all necessary peripherals and interfaces.
Indiegogo: Crowdfunding platform
IoT: Internet-of-Things, marketing term for putting many small things on the internet which were previously too dumb to network (light bulbs, toasters, etc.)
VoCore: Product name of an open-spec Ralink RT5350 SoC based COM running OpenWRT for which the developers seek funding on Indiegogo.
Re:Internet of Things isn't (Score:5, Informative)
> It occurs to me that this is just the sort of device that the Raspberry Pi people could very well have come up with in the 2 or 3 years since since the Model A and B were developed. It's a shame they never took the concept further.
They did, in April: http://www.raspberrypi.org/ras... [raspberrypi.org]
Re:all of it? (Score:5, Informative)
The board that provides wired ethernet and USB in their usual connectors(and presumably with the magnetics for ethernet) and a micro-USB +5v input is additional.
So you can get fully up and running for $20 (and a +5v source to apply to the correct contact), presumably good for adding a wifi connection and a moderately capable command-and-control module to something that can hang from the GPIO or USB data lines.
If you want the wired interfaces, and a little case, and need a PSU, because this isn't being integrated into something, it'll cost more.