31 Jul
2022
31 Jul
'22
7:28 p.m.
On Jul 31, 2022, at 2:33 PM, Grant Taylor via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
...
Now I wonder what I'm conflating. I was thinking of something else that's /not/
running Linux but frequently used for tings. AT Tiny?
AT Tiny is a microcontroller.
You may be thinking of Arduino, which is another family of small cheap embedded computers
with a complete ecosystem. Unlike Pi and BeagleBone, Arduino uses a small RTOS. The
original ones were AVR based; later ones use ARM. Either way, a complete system might
cost 10-20 dollars. Check our "Arduino Nano" or "Adafruit Trinket".
I used the latter in my LK201 keyboard emulators.
Yet another one is Raspberry Pico, which in spite of the name is nothing like a Pi and
doesn't run Linux. It's conceptually like Arduino but both more powerful and less
expensive. I built a DDCMP sync line controller out of one of those. Once again, not
Linux but rather an RTOS.
Neither of these come standard with Ethernet, though I've seen option cards. In the
case of Pico, it seems possible to do 10 Mb/s Ethernet in software using its PIO
controller, though I haven't made the atttempt.
paul