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from the what-will-they-think-of-next? dept.
Ras Pi foundation announces a new product: the compute module.
The compute module contains the guts of a Raspberry Pi (the BCM2835 processor and 512Mbyte of RAM) as well as a 4Gbyte eMMC Flash device (which is the equivalent of the SD card in the Pi). This is all integrated on to a small 67.6x30mm board which fits into a standard DDR2 SODIMM connector (the same type of connector as used for laptop memory). The Flash memory is connected directly to the processor on the board, but the remaining processor interfaces are available to the user via the connector pins.
While not yet what I imagined by only the name i.e a unit to build a shoebox-sized Beowolf cluster of 1K-RasPi-cores the new form factor and pin-out should make this endeavour easier (ahem... for someone skilled in PCB design, EE practician, and a soldering-fu master that has achieved enlightenment... not quite my profile).
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday April 10 2014, @02:34AM
You have answered your own question. I also use COM boards (from Kontron.) But they are relatively expensive, so you cannot just buy one and slap it onto an inexpensive relay board, or something. However a $30 module, and a connector that will cost you $5 in volume, is something else entirely - it may be now suddenly viable if you don't need Atom or other x86.
Personally, when I aim for the lowest cost I use Atmel AVRs - these days that would be AVR32, for my own convenience. if I need Ethernet I drop a W5100 in. This combination covers pretty much everything, except the LCD/HDMI/DP. If those are needed then you need a bigger gun. This product might be very viable, especially considering the time to market. You, as a hardware guy, just connect all wires to all pins (as we do with FPGAs, modulo clocks and bank power) and call it a day. The rest is software - and with R-Pi it can be modularized. If all you want is {Ethernet,USB,RS232,SPI,I2C} to discretes, with soft real time requirements, then R-Pi might work just fine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 10 2014, @08:40AM
A lot of those COM boards are also designed for industrial apps with extended temperature range and such like. Many of them also guarantee their availability and support for many years, as well as having different options with pin compatibility e.g. faster CPU, more RAM or other peripheral choices.
I think it is this in part that pushes the price up.
It will be interesting to see if the Pi So-DIMM offers these assurances too. At $30 it could be quite disruptive.