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With Linux and Creative Commons,The $9 CHIP Computer Reveals ItsOpen Source DetailsBy David Scheltema July 22nd, 2015 5:03 pm Category Electronics, Open Source Hardware

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We’ve been wondering exactly how open source CHIP, the

$9 computer, is. Turns out, it’s really freaking open!

THESE ARE THE FILES YOU ARE LOOKING FOR…

Open hardware files and the general Next Thing Co.docs

page.

The initial launch of

CHIP from the Oakland,

California-based Next

Thing Co. made big

waves a few months

back with its

capabilities (1GHz R8

ARM processor, 512MB

of RAM, 4GB of NAND storage, and WiFi and Bluetooth

built-in) and crazy-low price ( just $9, but international

shipping pushes that higher for some). Ultimately, the team

raised over $2 million dollars through crowdfunding and got

the attention of Makers and mainstream media alike. Yet,

much of the excitement surrounding CHIP has stayed

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$9 CHIP Computer Reveals Its Open Source Details | Make: http://makezine.com/2015/07/22/with-linux-and-creative-commons-the-9-...

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focused on the low cost and technical specifications.

Today, Dave Rauchwerk, CEO of Next Thing Co. shared

more details on their board, and we’re impressed with what

we heard: CHIP is licensed as Creative Commons

ShareAlike, the R8 data sheet is available, Next Thing Co. is

joining the Linux Foundation, and CHIP is getting even more

interesting than just a low cost board.

While inexpensive hardware is nice, and high clock rates

move bits and bytes faster, these mean nothing without a

robust software stack for Makers to develop in. To those

ends, Rauchwerk and his team have partnering with Free

Electrons, to add their embedded Linux engineering talents

to the mix, and that partnership is beginning to show with

today’s announcement of CHIP’s Linux support.

Next Thing Co. Releases "World's First" $9

Computer

OTTO, The Raspberry Pi Hackable GIF Camera

Raspberry Pi Inside

This is noteworthy. As of today, CHIP runs the 4.2 Linux

kernel. That’s the absolute most current version of the Linux

kernel and comes with all the latest and greatest features.

Typically, embedded systems running Linux do not use the

latest kernel. Instead, the kernel is downloaded and patched

with software which enables the board to boot it.

Rauchwerk says this will not be the case with CHIP. He and

his team are pushing towards mainlining all of CHIP’s code.

That’s a fancy way of saying the they are working on getting

their code for CHIP into the main branch of the Linux kernel.

Their new relationship with the Linux Foundation will

certainly help them accomplish this.

The biggest benefit of CHIP becoming mainline is to the

users and developers of the board. All the latest features of

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Linux will be available to developers. You will not have to

patch the kernel with custom board files — a laborious

process — and it will be significantly easier for distributions

of Linux to port their code to CHIP.

In addition to announcing that CHIP is currently running

Linux with latest 4.2 kernel, Rauchwerk unveiled their

software development kit (SDK).

Thanks to the way that Rauchwerk structured the shipping

dates for CHIP, the first 1,000 CHIP boards are heading to

kernel developers. While the kernel developer tier is simply

a name, Rauchwerk is confident that many of these backers

are in fact hardcore Linux kernel hackers. Releasing the

boards to developers allows for any potential Operating

System level issues that might arise on a new board to get

sorted out before the majority of backers even get CHIP.

In fact, installing the SDK is quite straight forward. You grab

a copy of VirtualBox 4.3( which is free), download and install

an extension package to enhance VirtualBox, and then clone

Next Thing Co.’s git repository.

git clone https://github.com/NextThingCo

/CHIP-SDK

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DAVID SCHELTEMA

I love to tinker and write about electronics.

My days are spent building projects and

working as a Technical Editor for MAKE.

Once you begin the installation of vagrant, the software will

pull all the necessary files from the Internet and configure

the development environment. Compared to many

development environment setups, it’s sort of magical.

“It’s not fair to the kernel hackers to make them do all this

dev/ops” says Rauchwerk, “Here is an out of the box turnkey

build system and hardware.”

The SDK is not the only new software from Next Thing Co.

They released a version of U-Boot (which has been heavily

modified to support the NAND onboard CHIP), a Linux build,

buildroot, and scripts to flash CHIP with the custom Linux

compiled by the SDK.

Today, Rauchwerk took steps to deliver on the open source

promise he made to all his crowdfunding backers and we

applaud the move. The most exciting thing about CHIP is not

that it is the first $9 computer, but that it is the first truly

Open Source $9 computer.

Related Topics #CHIP #COMPUTER #OPEN SOURCE #NEXT THING CO

#FREE ELECTRONS #KERNEL

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Comments �1

• •

johnBas5 •

If ARM would provide a standard platform for OS.

ARM boards wouldn't have to add their own code to the Linux

kernel constantly.

Server Base System Architecture (SBSA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

ARM Ecosystem Collaborates to Deliver Initial Server

Platform Standard

29 January 2014

http://www.arm.com/about/newsr...

ARM and Partners Deliver First ARM Server Platform

Standard

http://www.anandtech.com/show/...

ARM finally defines a platform as it sets its sights on the

server room

"Server Base System Architecture" defines the building blocks

of an ARM server.

http://arstechnica.com/informa...

http://www.datacenterdynamics....

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/...

• •

crhylove •

I love this!

• •

Max •

Cute, but no cigar.

1) This is certainly still not open hardware. There's no sign

whatsoever of the schematics for the board, other than some

vague promise to release it in a few months (!). NOT cool.

2) Chip will be a "$9 computer" when one can buy ten of them

for $90 with ~$20 shipping or less. As it is, shipping is more

than the alleged cost of the Chip, and you're not allowed to

order more than one. Actually, you're not allowed to order even

one right now, or more exactly you can't even PRE-order one -

you're only allowed to "reserve" one.

Until all that changes, this is called "proprietary vapourvare

with actual costs hidden into shipping".

Igor S

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$9 chip computer reveals its open source details _ make

Documents

chip computer

open source chip

linux kernel

chip i

linux foundation

distributionsof linux

biggest benefit of chip

low cost board