CHIP – The World's First Nine Dollar Computer (opens in new tab)

(ardevon.com)

28 pointsandre3310y ago14 comments

14 comments

The impressive thing is that some IC manufacturer can design, manufacture, and sell all that capability in one IC for a few dollars. That's an incredible achievement. Soldering it onto a breakout board, not so much. There have been lots of little boards in that price range or lower. If you go to hardware conferences, you probably have a few free breakout boards given out at company booths.

As for the $40 version with keyboard and screen, you can beat that price on Amazon.[1] There are several tablets under $40 now, and by $50 or so, they're not that bad. That's what those low-cost SOIC chips are made for, after all.

The tablet/phone industry is desperately trying to prop computer prices up. The industry would like a price point around $500 for tablets. But it's not working.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Android-Allwinner-Cameras-Capacitive-S...

mcphage10y ago

That's what these are—SoCs from cheap Chinese tablets. They've been pretty up-front about that fact.

yuvadam10y ago

This SoC has notoriously bad kernel and firmware support. I'm expecting similar devices with much better support to hit the market by the end of the year.

simple1010y ago

Agreed, Allwinner doesn't put much effort into device drivers on Linux, especially graphics.

lifeisstillgood10y ago

For me projects like this is where OLPC has found its new home. The poorest of the world are still at huge disadvantage- but that their children could be gifted a working Linux box for a day to a weeks wages, with the access and education that potentially opens, means an end run around needing governments to get their acts together.

It does not fix clean water, immunisation or physical security I know - but sub 20usd computers are a boon to the next two generations. Probably more so than our kids generations unable to reach past the retina display.

beambot10y ago

And then you have the $12 Gonkai phone with 32-bit 260MHz CPU, quad-band GSM, Bluetooth, MP3 playback, and an OLED display plus keypad for the UI.

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=3040

Western "open source" pales in comparison to the hacker communities in Asia.

EDIT: To be clear... CHIP is a very cool effort. But the headline is entirely too sensationalist; it is not the "world's first $9 computer."

JulianWasTaken10y ago

I'm not sure why you'd call that "pales", those specs are widely different...

2 more replies

nivla10y ago

Phones, the most compact DIY computer if they could be rooted. A while back I picked up the Alcatel C1 for $9 at the local frys. It had decent specs but could not be rooted despite being an android. :(

Windows phone is better in this category. Cheap and packed with features but not rootable. I really wish if someone could jailbreak Windows Phones. Christ, for the specs, the price of those Lumia's could get ridiculously low. Quad-core cpu, 5mp camera, IPS Touchscreen/GPS/Bluetooth/NFC/Proximity sensor etc in a compact size with backup battery and micro sd support for somewhere between $35-$50? [1][2]. Aghh never understood why these manufactures are too keen on locking down their phone. Wouldn't they get a bigger sales by opening them up?

[1]http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-Nokia-Lumia-530-Prepaid-S...

[2]http://www.bestbuy.com/site/boost-mobile-microsoft-lumia-635...

beagle310y ago

> Wouldn't they get a bigger sales by opening them up?

At these prices, they aren't making any money on the phone - perhaps even subsidizing it. So they might get bigger sales, but they won't be making more money (or even losing more). Keep in mind that the old .com adage "We're losing on every sale, but we're making up for it in volume" is not the way to success.

Also note that the models you linked to are vendor locked. This almost surely means vendor subsidized as well - if you find the unlocked version of the same phone, it will likely be $30-$50 more.

geon10y ago

> with 32-bit 260MHz CPU

The Chip has a 1 GHz CPU and 1/2 GiB RAM. The Gonkai has 8 MiB RAM...

Apples are way better than oranges!

noxin10y ago

Well, unless it actually costs 39 dollars.[0]

> After the Kickstarter their computer will sell for 39$.

[0] https://olimex.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/how-to-get-in-the-ne...

Zekio10y ago

I think projects like these are great, so I spend 139 usd to just support the project

andre33OP10y ago

It's really cool. I wish the gameboy-ish case you can put it in was a bit thinner, but give it a couple of years..

sctb10y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9513850

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