This computer costs just $13 [video] | Hacker News Reader

This computer costs just $13 [video]

mashable.com

25 pointsgregg198215 comments

They are intended for really different purposes:

Raspberry Pi: 512M RAM, ~700 MHz @700mA. Usage: replacement for desktop computers or media centers. Stellaris: 32k RAM, 80 MHz @30mA. Usage: Embedded systems, sensor networks. Good luck trying to mount a Debian-like OS in the stellaris.

Anyways, another "great" technical article from Mashable.

Disclaimer: I use Stellaris, msp430 and other TI tools daily.

This is not a general-purpose computer, this is a microcontroller. This Stellaris LaunchPad is comparable to many other small devices such as the Arduino family. These boards are used for embedded development and are not able to run a full-blown desktop operating system such as Linux, but instead run smaller programs with the purpose to control LEDs or motors.

It is called "Stellaris Launchpad":

http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/stellaris_head.html?DCMP=s...

Wired's Geek Dad has a better write up of same board (http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/11/a-13-arm-single-board-c...)

I found the phrase "just like DOS" kind of funny - presumably the writer has a Mac, and has never touched Terminal.

Yea that phrase also caught me off guard and had me wondering what year this was.

Why? DOS is probably the CLI by far most people know. Naming anything else would be pretty stupid.

I cringed at that line.

Why would he be a Mac user? Since he mentioned DOS I think it's much more likely he's a Microsoft/Windows guy who remember the DOS days.

Mashable is a silicon valley operation, I just assumed... Plus the same goes for Windows and the command prompt, but in the valley, unix is ubiquitous, and yet non-existent as far as the press knows.

Seems very similar, and at a similar price, to a family of ST boards, which have been out for a while: http://www.st.com/jp/evalboard/product/252419.jsp

I did one of the TI seminars and got one of their eval boards for free. Their 'StellarisWare' which was basically a bunch of code which did the basic stuff you needed (like init all the registers and what not, provide a simple printf() etc) was really handy. And GCC support was pretty complete, unpacked the archive and blam, was using gmake to build demos on my Linux box. I still fired up the Windows VM to run the downloader as it worked better than the tools on Linux but still, very nice kit. I have encouraged them to add a bit more RAM to their line.

Pretty cool, but has no graphics out, which excludes a lot of what people are using the raspberry pi for.

I think it's bit a stretch to call Cortex-M series MCU a "computer". Can you even program it on itself?

I got mine for free.

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