Intel Edison 2xCore x86 = $50

[mhectorgato]

Intel Releases Edison, A Computer Slightly Larger Than An SD Card

The key feature of the Edison is, of course, the Intel CPU. It’s a 22nm SoC with dual cores running at 500 MHz. Unlike so many other IoT and micro-sized devices out there, the chip in this device, an Atom Z34XX, has an x86 architecture. Also on board is 4GB of eMMC Flash and 1 GB of DDR3. Also included in this tiny module is an Intel Quark microcontroller - the same as found in the Intel Galileo - running at 100 MHz. The best part? Edison will retail for about $50. That’s a dual core x86 platform in a tiny footprint for just a few bucks more than a Raspberry Pi.

Intel is using a 70-pin connector to break out 40 pins, including an SD card interface, two UARTs, two I²C busses, SPI with two chip selects, I²S, twelve GPIOs with four capable of PWM, and a USB 2.0 OTG controller. There are also a pair of radio modules on this tiny board, making it capable of 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Wonder if Win8.1 embedded will run on it eventually??

(3rd image from the PDF, shows how tiny this SoC really is!)
Link Intel hardware design guide PDF:
https://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-23161

[godefroi]

Another everything-killer. I wonder what a full system costs, with the interesting stuff broken out. Would be interesting to have NETMF ported to the bare metal.

[Justin]

Don’t forget the cost of a big battery :whistle:

[mhectorgato]

@Justin

Don’t forget the cost of a big battery :whistle:

Only if you want completely wireless - otherwise a wall,wart will do.

I don’t picture this for wearables or ultra-low power.

[godefroi]

@mhectorgato

I don’t picture this for wearables or ultra-low power.

Definitely not. I would guess it’s in the RasPi range when it comes to power consumption.

[Justin]

@godefroi

@mhectorgato

I don’t picture this for wearables or ultra-low power.

Definitely not. I would guess it’s in the RasPi range when it comes to power consumption.

Tell that to marketing then…
Also 1.8v IO will be a pain…

[mhectorgato]

Sparkfun just released (err announced) several boards for Edison:

https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/272

Looks like they designed to stack using the same 70 connector as on the Edison.

[mhectorgato]

@Justin

@godefroi

@mhectorgato

I don’t picture this for wearables or ultra-low power.

Definitely not. I would guess it’s in the RasPi range when it comes to power consumption.

Tell that to marketing then…
Also 1.8v IO will be a pain…

The Sparkfun battery “block” is a only 400mah … wonder what type of runtime that would provide (understood that this is dependent on CPU load and amount of wireless communications)/

[mhectorgato]

@andre.m

another senseless “iot” device

Disagree completely. It’s tiny, has 2 types of wireless built in and is reasonably priced.

Obviously will need to wait and see, but so far looks very capable.

From the marketing page:

•The Intel Edison module uses a 22-nm Intel® Atom™ SoC, formerly Silvermont that includes a dual core, dual threaded CPU at 500 MHz and a 32-bit Intel® Quark™ processor MCU at 100 MHz. It supports 40 GPIOs and includes: 1 GB LPDDR3, 4 GB EMMC, and dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth® Low Energy on a module the size of a postage stamp.

•The Intel Edison module will initially support development with Arduino* and C/C++, followed by Node.JS, Python, RTOS, and Visual Programming support in the near future.

[godefroi]

I would be VERY interested in seeing it benchmarked against the Pi. I’ve recently run into a hitch with a Pi, with something it just doesn’t seem to have the horsepower to handle (tvheadend). I’m having to consider other options.

Currently, I’m looking at a VIA L2007 board. It’s not fanless, so not ideal, but I can get the motherboard, CPU, and 2GB RAM for under $60.

[Justin]

@ mhectorgato - so far all I can find is 100ma 3v3 and 100ma 1v8
So if it is 200ma…not long…

Edit that might be what the module can supply from the spec and not possibly what it consumes. All they state for draw is 35mW in standby with WiFi and no active figures…

[godefroi]

Think of it as a more powerful Raspberry Pi in a smaller form factor, and a little more expensive. It also, as others have said, has built-int wireless.

This is NOT a competitor to Cortex-M microcontrollers, it’s a whole other beast.

Kinda makes you wonder about G-400, though. This is cheaper (significantly cheaper in the case of the G400-D), MUCH more powerful, and has built-in WiFi and BT4.

[mhectorgato]

@andre.m

arduino on a dual core with 1 gig of ram, what a joke

Why compare it to an Arduino?

It’s much smaller, more powerful and more capable (with BT and WiFi on board).

Like godefroi, it’s more akin to a Pi than Arduino.

[mhectorgato]

@andre.m

@ mhectorgato - “•The Intel Edison module will initially support development with Arduino* and C/C++, followed by Node.JS, Python, RTOS, and Visual Programming support in the near future.”

is arduino listed?

Yes “initially support development with Arduino”

But it still is not similar or, imo, comparable to Arduino hardware.

It’s like comparing a Yugo and BMW, just because of the similarities, but ignoring the differences.

[godefroi]

@andre.m

is arduino listed?

Arduino in this context is a programming environment. It’s not a hardware spec or anything else, just like NETMF isn’t.

Hydra and USBizi are vastly different things, but nobody complained when they said “program with Visual Studio and NETMF”. No reason to complain when Intel says “program with Arduino”.

[skeller]

@ Justin - Quote from Intel:
"Edison is a low power device. In general it will not draw more than 200 mA (approximately 430 mA (final value TBD) when transmitting over Wi-Fi) from the main power source. "

(https://communities.intel.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/23161-102-2-27296/edison-arduino_HG_331191-001.pdf)

200mA is double the G400-S spec. Based on processor speed and cores, plus the addition of the radios 200mA seems reasonable. Its probably not the best solution for a battery/solar powered IoT sensor. But as a gateway device or other line powered application it looks promising.

[Justin]

@ skeller - Ta

Still way to hungry for wearable’s…

[skeller]

@ Justin - I would agree. But I guess it depends on how big a battery you want to wear.

Having the additional Quark processor @ 100Mhz should allow the atom processor to shut down for long periods of time.

[Valkyrie_MT]

@godefroi

Another everything-killer. I wonder what a full system costs, with the interesting stuff broken out. Would be interesting to have NETMF ported to the bare metal.

You won’t need to bother with NETMF on this. It will run Full .Net with windows embedded. For less than $50, this is a game changer. I just wonder if it has a watchdog and how long it would take to boot.

[Gus_Issa]

@godefroi

Kinda makes you wonder about G-400, though. This is cheaper (significantly cheaper in the case of the G400-D), MUCH more powerful, and has built-in WiFi and BT4.

Do not wonder Our commercial customers are very happy with NETMF. Using a full operating system comes with benefits but has negatives as well. They will not use this nor use rpi. Also, price is not the main decider for them. They used to pay $160 each for chipworkx do now G400 is lower cost and at better performance.