1 (edited by anandchida 2011-04-27 09:58:59)

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

Re: chumby hacker board questions and pricing

anandchida wrote:

[5] Has anyone powered this board by solar panels or has any ideas how to go about this?

I use an ordinary 12v A/C inverter with my solar panels to run my chumby and dell mini when the sun is shinning.

here's links that might help with the rest
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?cPath … cts_id=278
http://wiki.ladyada.net/chumbyhackerboard
-dan