Has anyone been following CHIP? kickstarter.com/projects/15 … ideo_share
It looks like it will be the perfect platform for flight tracking. $9 ($14 with shipping) for a device that has built in WiFi and Bluetooth, is more powerful than the rpi 2, has 4gb flash, runs standard flavors of linux, and has a USB port for the RTL-SDR dongle.
All you would really need is this device, an RTL-SDR dongle, and a power supply… Making it much cheaper than an RPi setup.
Hi,
Interresting device indeed, and not only for ADS-B projects 
. Thanks.
But this is still a project and the first deliveries should not begin before december, 2015.
Nice to see that all we need is already built-in, especially the WIFI transmiter.
I have noticed that this board doesn’t use a clasic SD-memory, but has a 4 GB flash onboard. Sure that it’s enough for an ADS-B receiver, and may be, is faster than the SD interface.
Added to my next year projects !
Cheaper in what sense? If somebody puts together all the software and works out the configuration issues, probably.
Do I want to learn the quirks and oddities of managing yet another splinter Linux distro? Not really!
My reference platform these days for the Pi is the Pi 2 – 4 processors and a gig of memory. The ability to use different size SD cards for the file system, and expand the file system to a USB device (see Adafruit guide here, works really well for things that do a lot of I/O: https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/04/13/new-guide-using-an-external-drive-as-a-raspberry-pi-root-filesystem-and-some-related-musings/), is important. Avid/rabid support groups make a difference as well.
I view built-in WiFI and Bluetooth as built-in power hogs. Also running WiFI reliably under Linux is still somewhat of a challenge… And that’s on the main-line distros…
I don’t know if it’s because of my background in the computer racket, or in spite of it, but these days 4 gigs seems pretty small, particularly for hosting development in a Linux system; if you’re doing cross development using a different host, 4 gigs should be plenty.
I’ve signed up; we’ll see what it turns into. Could be interesting.
bob k6rtm
Who is going to port dump1090 in once or more of it’s nuances to the CHIP? The business case appears to be jumping on the bandwagon. The Raspberry Pi started by someone asking “how can we get British kids interested in computers and programming?”. Different models.
One of the things that wins it for the pi is the removable storage.
These devices with fixed storage need a simple method to install stuff into that storage - this is one of the main things that bugs me with the BeagleBone Black, though hardwired storage is supposed to be more reliable it’s no good if you can’t get anything in there.
The Pi won because the world was waiting for a simple low cost computer with a mainstream OS and great support to perform simple tasks 24/7.
That is is shipping is also a point in its favour.
Shipping, and they’ve kept the faith – expanding from the original A and B, to the + models, and now the Pi 2, keeping more-or-less compatible with earlier devices. Stability depends on what you’re doing and how much you’re pushing things, but I’d say they’ve done a good job there as well.
bob
Very interesting! One big upside of the Pi is that it exists. The CHIP is a year away, so for all intents and purposes, it’s hypothetical at this point when it comes to dump1090.
…and by the time you get to dump1090 (and I’d bet on Obj to get dump1090-mobility running quickly if the toolchain is solid), all the hard work (or damage) is done: the important part, as you’ve undoubtably gathered from these forums, is the RF chain: antenna to the SDR and everything in between.
That’s going to cost in excess of $9, if you want performance.
bob k6rtm
Agreed, we’ve seen lots of [otherfruit] Pi type machines sold in Asia, but then the manufacturers whack on a big shipping charge … when it gets to Europe inport taxes are payable based on the value of the item + shipping charges - so these $40 boards were now $100 - not the success they could have been.
I’m sure the CHIP once developed and available as a product would be more than $9 once shipped.
I sense something different with CHIP already. It raised over $1M in under 5 days. This has generated a ton of press and many in the maker/hobbiest communities are embracing it.
Heck even recent articles about the rapberry pi cant help but mention the CHIP.
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/05/ … o-just-25/
engadget.com/2015/05/14/rasp … price-cut/
Granted, a lot can happen between now and December (when the first boards are expected to ship). As others have stated, the total cost will likely be more than $9 (heck the kickstarter charges $5 for shipping), and if you want VGA or HDMI then that too will add to the price. But… you do not need VGA or HDMI for most projects, you also do not need to purchase a SD card or wifi adapter so that is further savings compared to most raspberry pi setups.