News Raspberry Pi computer, is it rational?

Notebook

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Understood.
Luckily we never had to get to reflow-ovens level, wasn't that kind of maintenance.
I didn't mind fine pitch ICs, my hands were steadier then...

I do remember when magnetic core memory board in one of the studio lighting equipment was updated by a ...RAM CHIP!
It looked quite lonely sat in the middle of an 8" square circuit board. Whish I'd kept the magnetic core board.
Progress.

Good grief, there is a sales brochure for it.

http://www.theatrecrafts.com/archive/documents/thorn/thornqfilebrochure.pdf
 
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Marijn

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Next kit is a 6 digit Nixie tube clock.

Those look cool. Some of the kits are quite expensive as well.

Are Nixie tubes the same as vacuum tubes?

https://www.tindie.com/search/?q=nixie&p=1
https://www.tindie.com/products/davidmpye/iv-11-vacuum-fluorescent-display-clock-kitwifi/

---------- Post added at 10:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 AM ----------

The main feasibility question is for example, could a SoC drive a sail winch servo?

A quick search led me to the Arduino site which says
Note that servos draw considerable power, so if you need to drive more than one or two, you'll probably need to power them from a separate supply
 

Notebook

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Yes, they are expensive. I'll buy one or two a year and that about it. Running out of novelties now, so this could be the last for awhile.

Re Nixies, I don't really know much about them except they need 180V.
Wiki says its not a thermionic device, so not a vacuum tube in the Marconi sense.
But...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube

We used a lot of them as "station-clock" where I worked, some early time-code edit suites also used them before 7-segment LED came out.


They have a dangerous side-effect. If you stare too long at them you start to see the individual digits move back and forth. Bit like staring at windscreen wipers to see if they are flipping over...
 
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Artlav

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So, anyone got a Pi 4 ?
If you do, would you mind running some of my benchmarks on it?

The thing is kinda pricey around here, and i'm trying to resist the temptation of buying *yet another Pi* just to see what it can do and then drop it into a box of maybe later.

https://orbides.org/etc/bench_rpi4.tar.gz
Not sure if it's 32bit or 64bit, so i compiled for both.
 

llarian

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Artlav, I have an RPi4 4Gb ram. I run it in a black aluminum case with active cooling (two small fans). I can't promise when I could run your benchmarks but I'll take a shot at it. Do you want that run with or without the casing?

Here are the technical specs for the unit I have:

SoC: Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core A72 (ARMv8-A) 64-bit @ 1.5GHz.
GPU: Broadcom VideoCore VI.
Networking: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz 802.11b/g/n/ac wireless LAN.
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM.
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
GPIO: 40-pin GPIO header, populated.
Storage: microSD.
 
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Artlav

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With the case, i guess. The benchmark is quick enough that cooling shouldn't matter that much, unless the thing thermal throttles within seconds as some reviews suggested.
Is the OS 64bit or 32bit?
 

llarian

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I'll have to check again on the OS. I have had no problem with thermal throttling in this configuration but then I have not been pushing it too hard.

Edit: What I am using presently is the 32 bit OS. I haven't tried the 64 bit that is available but there should be no problem in installing it on another chip and giving it a try.

2nd edit: Artlav, today is your Christmas Day. Have a Happy Christmas.
 
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Notebook

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Coronavirus: Raspberry Pi-powered ventilator to be tested in Colombia

A team in Colombia is to test a ventilator made with a Raspberry Pi computer and easy-to-source parts.
The design and computer code were posted online in March by a man in California, who had no prior experience at creating medical equipment.
Marco Mascorro, a robotics engineer, said he built the ventilator because knew the machines were in high demand to treat Covid-19.
His post prompted a flood of feedback from healthcare workers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52251286
 

Notebook

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I can imagine the lawyers having a field day if anyone dies or is injured using this.

On the other hand it may encourage development for low-tech, low cost units?
 

jedidia

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most people would be struggling to recommend using Linux as an OS for this.

As long as you build in good redundant alarms for when it fails, I think you should be able to make do in a crisis. Wouldn't want to see it in a hospital in "peace-time", but this isn't that.
 

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I thought I might chip into this discussion.

I've recently bought a Raspberry Pi 4 - 4 GB RAM, quad core ARM processor; 1.5 GHz. It has one Gigabit Ethernet port; two USB-3 ports; two USB-two ports; one USB-C port; wifi; bluetooth. The operating card is, by default, confined to an micro-SD card - but it is easy to amend the thing so that the OS runs off of an SSD drive connect to one of the USB-3 ports. The operating system is a Debian variant and supports desktop operation.

I bought the Pi to see if it could function as a useful adjunct to my iPad. I do a fair amount of mathematically intensive work working with Mathematica and Python and these are not well supported on the iPad. And yet, when I travel (again), I like to travel light so I prefer to take my 0.5 kg iPad to my 3.0 kg (with peripherals, cables and widgets) MacBook Pro.

To maintain some capability to work with Mathematica and Python, I've hooked up the Pi 4 to the iPad so that it has an Ethernet connection (and is powered by) the iPad via the USB-C cable. I can then use the iPad as a console and keyboard for the Pi 4 which can be accessed via a VNC server running on the Pi. On the Pi, itself, I've installed (a free copy of) Mathematica, Miniconda and assorted LaTeX toolkits. Via Git servers maintained on the Pi, I maintain copies of my working files. The total weight of the kit is 0.7 kg - not bad for a low-end laptop equivalent. And the Pi plus bits only cost <100 USD.

All in all, the whole package achieves more or less what I want which is a workable, low weight, low cost laptop equivalent that achieves some real functionality when I'm on the move.
 

Marijn

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Finally, I've bought a Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB). I have no plan what to use it for. Just curiosity. It's in good company:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m2nyBPYRQgBc_cTYDPAP0QxHJoPP60Zp/view

The smaller black case on the right is also a new toy. It's also an ESP32, but with ethernet and external antenna for wifi and bluetooth.

Edit: IMG tag not working?
 
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