Topic: chumby hacker board questions and pricing
All,
I'm new to hacking and been looking for a small linux embedded board for gps/camera/gprs project. I felt beagleboard/gumstix is expensive and hawkboard has problems. chumby hackerboard has all I need (3x USB 2.0 ports!). I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone will answer to help me in decide if this is the right board.
[1] Are the USB ports bus powered? Can I connect my USB webcam, USB GPRS modem and my USB GPS stick and expect it to be powered by the board?
[2] When is the boards EOL? Will there be new boards be released in the future?
[3] Why are the hacker boards so expensive? Amazon.com sells chumby one from $93 and the hacker board is for $89. I can get a lot more parts with chumby one (LCD, battery, charger, speaker .. and more).
[4] What is the difference between the chumby one builtin board vs hacker board? (Does the chumby one have 3x USB ports?
[5] Has anyone powered this board by solar panels or has any ideas how to go about this?
[6] Are there any cheaper alternatives for linux embedded development other than chumby one?
Thanks in advance!
Anand