SBCs: All hands on deck!

The C.H.I.P.

Introducing: the C.H.I.P.

 Today I received the last of the Single-board computers I ordered. Despite ordering the devices spread over a year, they all ended up arriving within one week. The C.H.I.P. was the device that I was most excited about, so it's sort of appropriate that it arrived last. This way, it couldn't steal the thunder of any of the other packages.

There are many reasons why I was so excited about this delivery. I had waited for this device the longest. I had spent the most money on it. The device has the most interesting features in my opinion. The PocketC.H.I.P. is just pure awesomeness. And there's probably more reasons.

Top view and bottom view

The C.H.I.P actually has some of its most important components moved to its bottom side, including its processor. This happened late in development, as they changed to a larger version of the same processor. To protect the processor, the computer now comes with a case, which only covers its bottom. This is definitely true for all the Kickstarter C.H.I.P.s, but I'm not sure if the "store-bought" C.H.I.P.s will also have this case.

Safe and well

Additionally, the Kickstarter version of the C.H.I.P. also comes with a Composite cable. This is a cable you can just buy at many stores, but it seems to be a bit undermarketed. It is also the same cable you could use for analog video on your Rapberry Pi 2 or 3.

In NTC Pink!

Unlike many of the other boards, this board is definitely not trying to be another Raspberry. Fro example, it uses female GPIO headers, as opposed to the male headers we've gotten so used to since the original Raspberry. This has the advantage that they could actually mark all the headers on the board.

You'll have no reason to use the wrong header

 For comparison's sake, let's just put it side to side with a Raspberry (it's a model 2B).

They're quite different - at least, to the trained eye

I actually own three C.H.I.P.s now. There was one in my pledge, another in the PocketC.H.I.P. that was in my pledge, and then finally one extra I added after the Kickstarted ended. I also pre-ordered a couple more, so there's several more of these machines on the way. I guess I may have gone a little overboard...

The power of threes!

Compared to the Pi Zero

The Chip lives in the same product space as the Pi Zero. It's the closest product in size and cost, and its specs are in fact rather similar. Let's put the two side by side.

Fighting for <$10 mastery

 As you can see, they are actually rather comparable in size. The Pi Zero is thinner, but it's also slightly longer. In the end, the C.H.I.P. is a bit bigger, though.

That's TWO computers!

Putting the Zero on top of the Chip, shows how close in size they are. The Zero actually fits so nicely between the GPIO headers of the Chip that it almost looks like there's only one board there. When talking about height, though, the story is a bit different.

No competition there...

The extras

I backed at the "All the things" level, so there's more things that were in the package. Let's have a look.

All the things!

There's the two C.H.I.P.s, the HDMI extension board, the VGA extension board, the Composite cables (which we already looked at) and the PocketC.H.I.P. Though it's a bit outside of the scope of the single-board computer - and a bit more expensive, I really like the PocketC.H.I.P. so let's have a closer look at it.]

Not truly pocket-size, is it?

On the front, we see a fully featured keyboard and the screen. The screen has a resolution of 480x272 and has a resistive touch layer (so no multitouch!). Neither is exactly optimal, but they definitely kept the costs down. There's also the possibility of using your GPIO headers, as they seem to be connected to the holes at the top of the device.

On the other side...

The backside clearly shows the C.H.I.P. It is held in place by its GPIO headers, so you can get it out with some carefully applied force. You can also see the battery, which gives the device its portability. The battery is charged through the CHIP, which has the required circuitry for this.

Jumpin' 'n' Dashin'

Getting the PocketC.H.I.P. up and running was extremely easy. I just held down the power (and home) button for a couple of seconds and that was it...

The whole family

Since this was the last of the boards I was expecting, let's all pose together for a photo.

Clearly, if a board's green, it must be a Raspberry

Alright, alright. The raspberry belongs in there as well...

You see?

And finally

Before I end this blogpost, there's one more thing I've got to do. You see, I've completely forgotten the shot with the pen for comparison. So here you go:

Same pen as before.

SBCs: The saga continues

Today, the Orange Pi arrived. Of all the boards, this one will probably be the one that is the most challenging to get to work. Its main problem is that the software support and documentation is simply non-existent.

The model that I got is called the Orange Pi PC. I ordered it from China for about 17 euros including shipping, with of course the drawback that it takes a couple of weeks before it arrives. It is clearly modeled closely after the Raspberry Pi. It's specs are very reminiscent of the Raspberry. It trades the DSI connector for a microphone and a power switch, while it has a different type of power supply and has a processor that is significantly faster (at least, on paper). However, the rest of the specs closely match and the two boards are even exactly the same size.

I'm expecting to receive my pledge rewards for the CHIP tomorrow, so then I should have all the boards (and all within the span of a week). The next thing is to get "making". I've already managed to run Debian on both the Pine and the Zero, but I haven't had the time to get much further than that. Let's see what we can do with all these boards.

SBCs: And so it begins

Over the past year or so, I have invested money in a number of different Single-Board Computers (that's Raspberry Pi-like things or credit-card size computers). I Kickstarted both the C.H.I.P. and the Pine A64. I also ordered an Orange Pi recently and ordered a Raspberry Pi Zero as soon as it became readily available. It seems the delivery dates all magically converged. While the CHIP and the Orange Pi are currently in transit, I received both the Pine and the Zero today.

Let's start with the Pine A64.

The Pine A64

I hadn't realized quite how big this board is. I mean, a Raspberry Pi (a normal one, not the zero) fits in it twice!

Raspberry for scale

It's a pretty powerful board that was pretty cheap as well (though once you added shipping it was comparable in price to a Raspberry). When I backed the project, I thought that I would perhaps be able to use its hardware supported HEVC decoding to my advantage, but I learned later that it will be a challenge at best to get a grapics driver with hardware support working under linux.

The case does look really good, if you ask me

And once again, it's big...
That pen easily fits on top of the case

But of course the better known product is the Raspberry Pi. I didn't quite realize how small this thing was! (Well, not until a coworker showed me his Zero this morning.)

The Raspberry Pi Zero
That's the same pen, by the way

I don't know what I'll do with the Zero, but I definitely had to have it. And besides, I have to add to the comparison I wrote late last year once my CHIP arrives.

Raspberry for scale. I just love being able to say that.

Alright, I guess I'm off to see if I still have two SD cards lying around. And, more importantly, whether I can still find my card reader.

The Raspberry Pi Zero and Pine A64 side by side

Has a game aged well?

I recently read a bit on Reddit that talked about "video games becoming outdated". It said that it didn't understand the concept, since technology can go out of date, while art cannot. Today, I want to talk about the same general concept. However, I'll call it "aging well" and "not aging well".

So, the idea is that some games have aged well. What does that mean? It means that though it was made in a different time, it still holds up to the changed standards. It means that it feels like it could have been made more recently. It means that when playing it you aren't bothered by the signs that the game is old. It means that it doesn't feel like it was limited because of restrictions that are no longer there.

Other games have not aged well. The controls may feel wrong and even with some tweaking you aren't getting to what you're used to today. The story might not hold up to standards that are set these days. It may be that it simply looks really bad to someone used to more newfangled graphics. The pacing might not be what we've come to expect. Perhaps it's simply the learning curve that couldn't pass today.

It should definitely be said that this is a very personal and opinion-based thing. It's better possible to discuss why you feel that a game has or has not aged well than to debate whether red is more beautiful than green or not, but in the end it is still about an opinion. It's like how we can discuss why we like a game and whether it is a good game, but at the end of the day we're still going to have our own opinions (hopefully).

Of course, this whole concept is not limited to games only. The same terminology is often used when talking about film. Both tv shows (as well as their individual episodes) can age well or poorly. It''s all about whether or not it holds up today. Whether or not it feels antiquated. Both these media are rather young and still actively evolving. Music is also going through a lot of changes, so it could probably apply there as well, even if I don't see it. I don't know if it can apply to more traditional forms of art, such as sculpting or painting. I don't know so much about them, but at the surface it doesn't seem to be the same there.

That's my views on aging of games and a couple of other media as well. I'm not sure if I can really put a conclusion on it and if I try to summarize it, I just end up paraphrasing something from the second or third paragraph, so I'll just leave it at this: not all games have aged equally well.