> 4 R.PI boards = 140$ > El-cheapo switch = $20 > 4 cheap ethernet cables = $20 > 4 USB cables (power) = > > I would buy a cheap (or bundled) motherboard and the best sub-150$ AMD > cpu getting multiple cores at 2+ GHz in the process. .
That's more or less what I have now. > This seems to > beat the pants off a cluster of R.PIs speed wise not to mention you don't > have to parallelize as much. And it is a PC, not a cellphone. And it is > x86. The PI is roughly equivalent to a fast Intel PIII. It's about as fast and as much memory as the original 800 MHZ CPU I started with. The real problem is the I/O demands, currently I am using an Arduino as a sort of smart I/O card. The PC is still swamped with I/O, especially with the cameras. > > By the way, I am a fan of your project! The project is not practical "as is," but is intended as a guide on how to do your own. The current design is getting quite old and stale. The idea of having I/O modules which also comprise a "super computer" seems more cool. > > Best -F > > > On Apr 7, 2013, at 4:29 PM, [email protected] wrote: > >> As many of you know, I have a robot project. >> >> http://www.linuxpcrobot.org/ >> >> Over the years I have tried to keep the robot as a viable platform and >> maintain development costs to the sub $500 range. >> >> The Raspberry PI is a weak desktop, to be honest. It lacks most of the >> I/O >> goodness of the Arduino. It is a poor choice for a robot. Unless..... >> >> What about a functional cluster of PI systems on the robot? Tied >> together >> with an ethernet switch? Use something like MPI for distributed >> processing >> across multiple PI devices, and use each PI as a specialized I/O module. >> >> Right now, I use an Intel Atom CPU to do everything and it is loaded >> with >> all the cameras and controls. 3 or 4 PIs may be able to handle the load >> better. Given the cost of a DC ATX power supply, mother board, and RAM, >> I >> may be able to get 3 or 4 PI systems running. >> >> Any comments? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Hardwarehacking mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking > > _________________________________________ > -- "'Problem' is a bleak word for challenge" - Richard Fish > (Federico L. Lucifredi) - flucifredi at acm.org - GnuPG 0x4A73884C > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
