[HH] Raspberry Pi , FXI Cotton Candy

[Tom Metro]

Over on BLU...
Kurt Keville wrote:
> if you want to DL your distro of choice before the R.Pi store goes
> live, you can find most of them at http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Hub ... it 
> appears Fedora F14 remix will ship with it if you buy the pre-loaded
> SD card with it...
> 
> They are printing 10,000 of these in the first batch, and if I was a
> betting man, I would say they will be sold out in a day if their
> servers can handle it...

Apparently the servers couldn't.

They went live early AM on Wednesday, but the two distributors:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/bespoke/bespoke7.jsp?ICID=I-RASP-HPBLOF-0015&bespokepage=farnell/en_UK/promotions/raspberryPi.jsp
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=raspberrypi

were overloaded.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/02/raspberry-pi-retailers-toppled-by-demand-as-35-linux-computer-launches.ars
  At the time of publication, the Farnell website is still spitting
  errors. The RS site has been partially restored and is intermittently
  available, but isn't currently allowing users to purchase the
  Raspberry Pi. Instead, it displays a screen where users can register
  to express their interest in the product. The Raspberry Pi foundation
  managed to withstand the traffic by temporarily replacing the contents
  of its official website with a static page

Anyone manage to order one? Determine what shipping to the US will be?


I assume they chose Broadcom as their SoC vendor because that offered
the best way to hit their price target, but I have mixed feelings about
Broadcom. Their proprietary approach is a big reason why we can't run
FreeBSD on consumer routers. The FAQ says:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
  To get the full SoC documentation you would need to sign an NDA with
  Broadcom, who make the chip and sell it to us.


In other news...

Linux computer the size of a thumb drive now available for preorder
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/02/linux-computer-the-size-of-a-thumb-drive-now-available-for-preorder.ars
  FXI is preparing to launch the Cotton Candy, a tiny computer that
  looks like a USB thumb drive. The device, which can run either Ubuntu
  or Android 4.0, has a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, 1GB of RAM,
  and a Mali 400MP GPU that allows it to decode high-definition video.

  It has a USB plug on one side, which is used to power the system, and
  an HDMI plug on the other side, which allows it to be plugged into a
  display. It also has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth radios for
  connectivity and supporting input devices.
  ...
  The standard retail price is $199 plus tax and shipping. The product
  is expected to ship in March.

Preorder link: http://store.cstick.com/


Although both of these devices are touted as being good for video
playback, the big price and packaging differences puts them in different
markets.

CPU
Pi: 700 MHz Broadcom ARM11 SoC w/Videocore 4 GPU ("like a 300 MHz
Pentium 2, only with much, much swankier graphics")
FXI: dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU w/Quad Core ARM Mali-400MP GPU

RAM
Pi: 256 MB
FXI: 1 GB

I/O:
Pi: 2 USB 2.0, Ethernet, SD slot, HDMI, composite video (RCA), audio
FXI: 2 USB 2.0, microSD, HDMI, WiFi, Bluetooth

Size
Pi: 86 mm x 54 mm x 17 mm
FXI: specs don't list, but a rendering of it next to a ruler shows it is
about 80 mm (~3 in) long, including the protruding connectors.

Packaging
Pi: raw board ("We'll be making and selling cases by the summer")
FXI: plastic case like a USB thumb drive

Price
Pi: $35 (Model B)
FXI: $200

Both are powered via a USB port and neither include a power supply. The
FXI comes with Android and Ubuntu, while the Pi has several OSs you can
download and put on an SD card. (Not clear if the FXI actually will come
with one or more microSD cards with those OSs, or if you'll have to
download and put them on your own card(s), just as with the Pi, but the
spec sheet lists the OSs as if they are included.)

What I wonder, as far as a media streamer is concerned, whether the FXI
is really any better than an AMD Fusion-based nettop, like the Zotac
Zbox Nano AD10, which likewise sells for $200. Somewhat bigger box,
though still tiny, and it comes with a power supply and a WiFi antenna.

 -Tom