C.H.I.P. - $9 Debian Based Computer

[Cosimo]

C.H.I.P. spec is a 1GHz R8 ARM processor with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of NAND storage, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in.

It is Kickstarter funded:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598272670/chip-the-worlds-first-9-computer

Just arrived:




The techie stuff:

http://docs.getchip.com/#welcome-to-the-chip-operating-system

Want one:

http://getchip.com/pages/chip

Have fun with your projects.

 

[mortals]

$9 + $20 shipping with no option of ordering multiples (plus $15 add-on board for hdmi)

The guys who made/sold these really did well on marketing but that seemed to be all it was

As you can now get a rasp pi zero for £4 these seem pretty terrible.

Some quotes from around the time this was hyped / advertised

Ah, hoped to get some questions about C.H.I.P. answered by this interview but no luck. Like for example, are the GPIOs 5V tolerant? Will they add an unregistered mail shipping option, or alternatively ordering many boards with a single $20 shipping fee? The shipping fees right now completely cancel out the price advantage of this board.

Continuing the fake marketing that this is $9

First impressions of this product: hipsters selling to hipsters

Technically this cannot compete with raspberry pi as you have to spend a lot more just to get the function of a Pi B (which is $25?)
This board + the HDMI add-on = $24 (+ $20+ for shipping PER BOARD)
Also this has no microsd & a single USB

The best thing about this project is marketing

Smoke & Mirrors applies here,
screenshots of a custom linux OS – no reference to sourcecode
‘fully opensource’ – closed source drivers (mali-400)
‘worlds first $9 computer’ – costs $29+
(per board as they have no option to order 10 and pay combined shipping)

Pocket CHIP – who has pockets that big ?

Would suspect as these are made in china, shipping will be from china & cost nowhere near $20+

They even continue marketing with "CHIP Operating System" which is Ubuntu

Soz if I'm being overly negative, just seems a bit of a rip off for something with no microsd & s-video output also was annoyed at the time that these were advertised due to all the false hype of $9 COMPUTER (even people in USA were paying $29 per unit)

 

[Moothead2]

Outside of a few specific uses I can't help but look at these <$10 devices as anything more than a novelty that people only buy because they're such a low price. They often require additional hardware to add back in the mostly essential functionality taken away to make it smaller/cheaper that they usually end up costing closer to $30 anyway. I think if you're looking at a device like this just go for the Pi 2. Anyone who's looking at these devices anyway aren't going to be isolated by the £30 cost.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Outside of a few specific uses I can't help but look at these <$10 devices as anything more than a novelty that people only buy because they're such a low price. They often require additional hardware to add back in the mostly essential functionality taken away to make it smaller/cheaper that they usually end up costing closer to $30 anyway. I think if you're looking at a device like this just go for the Pi 2. Anyone who's looking at these devices anyway aren't going to be isolated by the £30 cost.

I see what your intention is, however those of us who have grown up where magazines were the main medium and computers cost upwards of an arm and a leg, I am definitely not complaining!