Move over, Raspberry Pi: Here's the HummingBoard

in hardware on 2014-07-03 11:49 (#3PW)

Probably time to admit I'm addicted to these awesome little gadget boards and devices. And I just discovered this one: the HummingBoard.

Get ready to fall in love with new HummingBoard - a small and powerful, low-cost ARM computer that ignites the imagination. Whatever your dream, the HummingBoard will help make it happen - the possibilities for creating the next great IoT innovation are truly limitless. The HummingBoard allows you to run many open source operating systems - such as Ubuntu, Debian and Arch - as well as Android and XBMC. With its core technology based on SolidRun's state-of-the-art Micro System on a Module (MicroSOM), it has ready-to-use OS images, and its open hardware comes with full schematics and layout. Best of all, as a Linux single board computer, the HummingBoard is backed by the global digital maker community, which means you can alter the product in any way you like and get full kernel upstreaming support and all the assistance you need.

The big, obvious advantage is that the USB hub is powered, which would allow you to connect it to an external hard drive full of your data, something that's kind of a hassle with the Raspberry Pi (well, not a huge hassle, but an extra step).

Horrible summary (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-07-07 13:32 (#2C5)

I can't believe that the summary mentions only powered USB ports as an advantage to the RasPi. This is probably the least exciting difference.
And the useless sales pitch does not help much.

How about mentioning faster CPU to start with and then swappable CPU/RAM, optional Gbit Ethernet, mSATA, PCI express... and that it fits in the same cases as RasPi.

Re: Horrible summary (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-08 01:53 (#2C8)

First, give old Zafiro a break; he or she is spinning the plates here as fast as he can, kind of a one man band trying to keep this site alive. And frankly he did cite the most tangible improvement over the Pi.

People can't cost-justify upgrading CPU or RAM in $2,000 PCs after 3-5 years -- how the heck is it cost justified to replace a CPU or RAM module on a 2 year old $45 board? The whole idea is rather stupid. Devices this size practically beg to be replaced wholesale when they need to be upgraded. (And apparently the maker agrees with me, since rather than offering the tiny replacement CPU/Eth/RAM modules they're really just selling 3 different models of board.)

Agreed that the quoted sales blurb was remarkably useless.

Re: Horrible summary (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-07-08 13:22 (#2C9)

Well said regarding giving Zafiro a break. I am too used complaining about editors on the other and the old site. My apologies to him/her.

Regarding your comment about upgrading CPU/RAM, in lots of cases it would be much easier to upgrade parts than a whole device. I have a RasPi running as a control device for machinery. Swapping it for anything not 100% compatible would mean lots of work. It would be much easier to put a RAM stick inside.

Also:
- Why do you think so many people run their RasPis overclocked? Because the CPU is slow as a dog.
- Why do you think they released a new revision with 512MB RAM? Because I cannot even upgrade packages on my 256MB model without having a swap partition on the SD card.
If I could I would add RAM straight away, I would not wait several years. And if the replacement RAM was standard, me and lost of other people would have piles of old RAM kicking around. Free upgrade.

And the maker does not agree with you.
1. They CPU/RAM is upgradable. If they agreed with you why would they offer this?
2. They are simply selling three different models. The difference is not only the CPU/RAM but also addition of USB ports, PCI express, SATA etc.
3. I am guessing that the upgrade parts/modules are coming. Otherwise having upgradable parts does not make sense (unless they are standard off-the-shelf components).